Beverly's Reviews > The Last Dragonslayer

The Last Dragonslayer is a good YA novel with a simplistic plot best suited for younger teens, but a whimsical style and satirical humor that is probably way over their heads. Like many novels that are the first in a series, The Last Dragonslayer suffers from way too much attention spent on introducing a huge cast of characters most of whom play little or no part in the events of the rising action. All of the characters are original, comical and interesting, but the reader learns little about them. The protagonist, Jennifer Strange, a 15 year old orphan, does not begin her quest until page 132 - almost exactly halfway through the book. While trying to run a struggling employment agency for magicians in a land where the demand for magic is dwindling, Jennifer discovers she is the chosen Last Dragonslayer. She has no idea why, no fighting skills, has never seen a dragon, and has no experience dealing with corrupt, greedy dishonest people who come out in droves when word gets out that she is the chosen one. The second half of the book is fast paced and filled with very funny jabs at pop culture, capitalistic greed and corrupt politicians, but there is little intensity or depth. One of the dragons explains the conflict rather than the conflict unfolding through the events. I wish the story had started on page 132 and gone into much more detail about the conflict among the empires and the conflict between the dragons and the humans. The Last Dragonslayer could have been much better.