The Last Dragonslayer

Jasper Fforde's The Last Dragonslayer is a lot more accessible than his other books. I liked The Eyre Affair, though I get the feeling that that series requires a PhD in English to be truly appreciated. And Shades of Grey is one of the most difficult books I've ever succeeded in reading. By comparison The Last Dragonslayer is positively straightforward. Which makes sense, as it was written for children. The world he creates is still absurd, a mishmash of high fantasy and modern technology that is a little too unrecognizable to really qualify as urban fantasy. But I felt like I understood most of the references this time around.

It's not that his plot require that much brainpower. This is a pretty simple chosen one story about an orphan who finds out that she's the last in a long line of dragon slayers and it's been prophesied that she will slay the final living dragon. There are twists and turns, but nothing too outlandish. No, the absurdity is in the details, in this world Fforde has built up. The satire is subtle. Not so subtle that I missed it, but subtle enough that I feel like the average child would  miss it. Which makes me wonder how much I missed in his other books.

I'm glad I picked this up. It was fun and interesting and I'm looking forward to reading it to my kid. I'm glad there's a sequel and I hope there are more. I feel a little silly that I had to turn to Fforde's children's literature to understand him as an author, but I actually feel like I understand him a bit better now. Maybe I'm finally ready to tackle the Thursday Next series, assuming I can ever bring myself to make it through Great Expectations.

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