Jasper Fforde has 3 series ongoing (Thursday Next, Nursery Crime and Shades of Grey) and yet he’s still found time to start a YA fantasy series, The Chronicles of Kazaam. The first book, The Last Dragonslayer,  sets up the world and introduces us to the main character, Jennifer Strange, a 15 year old foundling (sort of a cross between an indentured servant and an orphan) who runs a hotel/magic business since the disappearance of her boss, the Great Zambini. But a prophecy foretells great change and there are rumors of a much bigger change coming down the road, Big Magic. Let’s see what happens.

Jennifer Strange is 15, but she’ll be 16 real soon she keeps reminding people and she’s in charge of the magic business/hotel for magicians. She books jobs, collects payment and, most importantly, fill out the forms for all the magic that is used. Unlike the days of the Mighty Shandar, the amount of magic available has decreased from a flood to a trickle. And the bureaucracy around magic has increased significantly.

While she is starting to train the next foundling, there is a prophecy that the last dragon will die on Saturday. This is a huge event because the dragon lands are protected from humans. The Mighty Shandar has setup a series of dragon preserves with barriers that will kill any human that crosses it, except for the dragonslayer. The dragonslayer is authorized to protect people from dragons and dragons from people. When a dragon dies, the barrier surrounding it drops and there is a huge landrush to grab land that had been cut off from people due to barriers. So, the prophecy is a huge deal for people. And, at the same time, the amount of magic available seems to be increasing. And there is a rumor that there will come a time of Big Magic soon and a lot more magic will be available for magicians.

Jennifer finds herself tracking down the dragonslayer who not only knows Jennifer, but says that she is the newest (and last) dragonslayer and promptly dies. Now Jennifer has only a few days to figure out why she is prophecized to kill the dragon, what’s going on with Big Magic, stop a couple wars and learn the truth about the Mighty Shandar.

Overall, this is a fun story that moves along quickly. Jennifer is a great character who is levelheaded, and at times naive, while surrounded by quirky magicians, a new foundling and others who want to use her or harm her. There are a couple of fun twists, one that could be seen ahead and one that was a fun surprise twist. The ending was a nice surprise, since he actually ended a story rather than make the reader wait for additional books to see what happens. And after the ending, I’m curious to see what direction Fforde takes the series. Recommended.