The Great Troll War cover art

The Great Troll War

The Last Dragonslayer Chronicles, Book 4

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The Great Troll War

By: Jasper Fforde
Narrated by: Jane Collingwood
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About this listen

The final instalment of the Last Dragonslayer Chronicles, demonstrating that with a small band of committed followers, a large tin of resolve and steely determination, almost anything can be achieved....

Sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange and her sidekick and fellow orphan Tiger Prawns have been driven to the tip of the UnUnited Kingdoms - Cornwall - by the invasion of the Trolls. Their one defence is a six-foot-wide trench full of buttons, something which the Trolls find unaccountably terrifying (it's their clickiness).

Worse than being eaten by Trolls is the prospect of the Mighty Shandar requisitioning the Quarkbeast and using him to achieve supreme power and domination - an ambition that has been 400 years in the planning and which will ultimately leave the Earth a cold cinder, devoid of all life.

Nothing has ever looked so bleak, but Jennifer, assisted by a renegade vegan Troll, a bunch of misfit sorcerers, the Princess (or is she now the ruler?) of the UnUnited (or are they now United?) Kingdoms, and Tiger, must find a way to vanquish the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen, and along the way discover the truth about her parents, herself, and what is in the locked glovebox of her VW Beetle....

©2021 Jasper Fforde (P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Royalty Magic Users Magic Emotionally Gripping
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This was my favourite of the four part series. The twists and turns were great fun, and the characters very charismatic. Loved how the other books tied in together as they had initially felt quite separate to me. Would love to see an entire book for the epilogue, but still an excellent way to end the tale.
Also, thoroughly enjoyed the poke at Redside Story still being in the works 🙈

Overall lots of fun, whilst also being able to contemplate some aspects of life and humanity more deeply (or not if you prefer!)

Would happily recommend to family, friends, and colleagues .. basically anyone who likes a good book !

Fabulous end to the series

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Jasper Fford's book have long held a firm affection in our family, The Last Dragon Slayer series being a standout as we shared them with our two daughters over the years. Fforde weaves his tale of flawed magic into an irresistible finale with all the wonder, love, oddities, mystery and palatable complexity contained in the previous three Jennifer Strange books. As always, he's written Jennifer with that magnetic combination of curiosity, resilience and strength. The world of the Un-United Kingdoms, and its motley characters, charm, amuse and infuriate us no less in this, the final installment in the series. And I would love to rave about it, but... BUT. Fforde, I assume unwittingly, severely undermines his heroine as a role model for his female-identifying readers in a baffling fashion. Perhaps he never set out to write a feminist main character at all. But I for one reveled in joy that my daughters had such a wonderful female role model in Jennifer Strange. The books drew them and me in for this very reason. Therefore imagine my disappointment when, after detailed description of the Hollow Men as Shandar's leathal guards, Fforde reveals the Hollow Women in Shandar's inner sanctum who function solely as ...domestic maids. Hollow Women, made of magic, given female designation across the board, who do nothing but sweep, washing up, serving food, etc. The sexism, again, probably unconscious on the author's part, sticks out like a lasagne at a cake stall. The inequity in designations and designated jobs pretty much sends the message that this what women usually do unless you are magical like Jennifer or Once Magnificent Boo. Yes, The Princess and Molly are wonderful characters. But to bring these pointlessly gendered magical beings in right towards the end really let us down. Finally, though honestly appropriate, the change in voices at the end threw me to the point of losing focus on the book itself. TLDR: Great book if you can overlook the pointlessly gendered beings and the narrator voice switch.

I'd Love to Give This Five Stars, but...

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