Look Out: Big Magic!

I adore Jasper Fforde, and not just because he has a redundant F in his name, although that is pretty wonderful.  Happily enough, he's written yet another witty romp through social commentary and literary conventions, but this time for teens.  The Last Dragonslayer is, in a word, fantastic. 

Jennifer Strange is fifteen years old and runs Kazam Mystical Arts Management, an employment agency for magicians.  Tempermental magicians whose powers are fading as the whole world slowly loses magic.  But when the whispers of of Big Magic start and a prediction of the last dragon dying is delivered, she suddenly has more problems than just tempermental magicians and forms to fill out in triplicate.  How can she save herself, her new trainee foundling, the Kazam agency, and the dragon while dealing with scheming magicians, crafty kings, and hordes of people waiting for the dragon to drop dead so they can claim his land?  And most importantly, who is the last dragonslayer and where is he?

P.S. - Also, there's a Quarkbeast.  Quarkbeasts are awesome.

~ Book Ninja

Braaaiiinns!

Yay, October!

It's that time of year again--the perfect opportunity to read stories that will make you scared to be alone in your house. And what better way to send shivers up your spine than with that quintessential creature-feature, zombies? The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan serves up the perfect blend of suspense, terror, and gore to make you wish you still had that nightlight.

Mary lives in a small village in the middle of the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Through all hours of the day and night, she and the other villagers are plagued by the incessant moans of the Unconsecrated--undead humans longing for warm flesh. The only thing that separates the living and the dead is a chainlink fence, and when Mary's mother reaches through it to be bitten by her Unconsecrated husband on the other side, lives are torn apart in a way no one imagined.