The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde: I’m not entirely sure what just happened

The Last Dragonslayer 

by 

Jasper Fforde

I’m not entirely sure what just happened. 

I mean this book was quirky sure, but really funny all the way up to . . . well, the end. It’s really more disappointing than it should be because this is literally one of my favorite genres ever! The here’s a book written in a fairy tale way with strange wizards and talking animals and a chosen hero while simultaneously poking fun at the entire genre.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede were part of that genre and they are the epitome of awesomeness. Granted this book took a bit more unique approach, setting their magical fairytale in a modern day kingdom with cars and huge brand companies, but frankly that just made it more interesting! 

There is one thing I like more than the mixed up fairytale trope is the modern day magic trope so needless to say I was probably a bit too excited.

Anyway I’ll actually explain what I didn’t like in my dislikes because I actually have a formula, now if I could just follow it.

Characters

Jennifer Strange: She’s a foundling, which is apparently equivalent with the word indentured servant (ew). Basically the person who ‘bought? I think’ her from the orphanage runs a house full of random wizards who stay there waiting around for jobs. Until he casts a spell wrong and basically *poofs* out of existence. 

So basically a fifteen year old is now in charge of a house full of jobless, high maintenance wizards who are super crabby about the fading magic that is making them somewhat absolute. So yeah I liked Jennifer most of the time. She was funny and sarcastic but she was also occasionally really, really dumb.

The Quarkbeast: Does this guy really count? I mean he was technically a pet but . . . what a pet he was. I think he was kind of like a giant metal dog or something 

that could chow down on metal and made everybody who saw him run for the hills screaming. Basically I liked him.

Malicatessian: the dragon that everybody predicted would die about a week from the start of the book. Why is that important? Well he reigns over a huge plot of land called the Dragonlands which of course everybody wants a piece of when he dies. 

Because you know human beings are just that ridiculously crappy.  

Likes

Again the genre: everybody has a genre that they just go crazy over. This is one of those. And it was fabulous. At least in the beginning.

The writing style: It was just utterly ridiculous. One minute you’d be talking about dragons or strange metal dogs or temperamental wizards, and the next sentence would be about Kind Snodd and his Utterly Useless Brother. Or was it mostly useless I can’t remember. The whole book was like that. Frankly I found it really funny at times but occasionally it was a bit annoying. Though admittedly I think it was kind of supposed to be that way.

Dislikes.

I’m going to be talking about the ending so if you don’t want spoilers shoo!

They killed the dog

because goodness knows there’s nothing more cliché than killing the friggen pet. Basically there was much raging. Yeah these kind of books are all about the clichés I know! But in essence they’re also supposed to turn the clichés on their head. It didn’t help that I was subsequently smacked with like three more tropes. For instance . . .

There was not one, but two! Special snowflake tropes.

 I mean look at that title “The Last Dragonslayer”. So yeah I expected a Special Snowflake, but I did not expect to get hit by a second one twenty pages away from the end. Basically not only is Jennifer revealed to be the last Dragonslayer she also ends up being a Beserker. Who were introduced about fifteen pages before that bombshell was dropped. 

Yeah I am not happy with this trope riddled ending.

Speaking of the ending: So all these people who were camping around the Dragonlands were apparently only there because the dragon cast a spell on them? To make them greedy? And for some reason that allowed said dragon to use their ‘emotional energy’ to break the spell that keeps the dragons trapped in the Dragonlands?  Now back up ya’ll. In the last thirty pages I have been told that

1. The dragons are actually the good guys

2. The mighty Shander the greatest wizard of all time was actually a sleaze-ball

3. he trapped said dragons inside the dragonlands for some reason or another

4. magic is emotional energy that can be harvested

5. dragons multiply when they’re killed?!

6. why

What?! The ending of this book made literally no sense to me okay just no . . . 

verdict