History Literature / TheEyeOfZoltar

After bringing back Big Magic and saving dragons from extinction in the first book; then stopping the monopolization of magic's return (and preventing the takeover of the Kingdom of Hereford from the already-despotic King Snodd IV by an even more despotic magician) in book two; sixteen year old Jennifer Strange thought she might catch a break... or at the very least she could go back to trying to run Kazam, the [=UnUnited=] Kingdom's premiere employment agency for wizards, sorcerers, and soothsayers.

[[InsistentTerminology Refusing to call it a quest]], Jennifer sets out to search for the jewel with the aid of the young dragon Colin (whose life hangs in the balance) and trainee magician Perkins (who Jennifer may or may not be dating). On the orders of King Snodd IV, Jennifer is also forced to take along the [[SpoiledBrat hideously spoilt]] Princess Shazza -- who has been [[FreakyFridayFlip bodyswapped]] with a scullery maid by her [[TheHighQueen sorcerous mother Queen Mimosa]] in a last-ditch effort to instill a sense of humility in the future ruler of Hereford.

* CerebusSyndrome: Not that Jennifer's adventures in ''Literature/TheLastDragonslayer1'' and ''Literature/TheSongOfTheQuarkbeast'' didn't operate on high stakes with a certain element of mortal danger, but there was always an underlying tone of fun and irreverence to them. ''The Eye of Zoltar'' goes a lot darker. The book starts with Jennifer traveling to the Cambrian empire with Perkins (who she may or may not be dating) and their dragon friend Colin to recover a magical artifact and save the day, all while babysitting a [[FreakyFridayFlip spoiled princess stuck in a scullery maid's body]] -- a dangerous endeavor, yes, but it could still be great fun. But over the course of the adventure Jennifer is forced to offer up her freedom as collateral for Colin's transmogrified rubber body; watch as [[spoiler: Perkins siphons off his own life force]] to protect their party before he's utterly disintegrated by a last powerful spell; and lose part of her foot in an epic battle. And finally when she thinks she's won, that the dragons are safe from Shandar and all her sacrifices will have been meaningful, she learn that [[spoiler: Trolls have overrun the Troll Wall and swept across the [=UnUnited=] Kingdom with Shandar's aid, the Kingdom of Snodd has fallen and and the royal family has been slaughtered. The last part Jennifer learns when she witnesses the spoiled princess stuck in a maid's body (who lost a hand while valiantly defending Jennifer) feel the pain of her original body dying miles and miles away in Hereford.]]

%%* Foreshadowing: Once again, Kevin Zipp's prophecies all come true. In the first chapters, he foresees that the aggressor will be the victor of the next troll war, that the babies he's predicting the future of won't survive the week, and that Perkins will grow old in the Cambrian Empire.
%%** Jennifer thought the "aggressor" would be King Snodd IV, who was gearing up another campaign to attack the trolls. [[spoiler: While she is visiting the Cambrian Empire, the Trolls launch a surprise attack that decimates the [=UnUnited=] Kingdoms.]]
%%** The children Kevin predicted wouldn't survive the week [[spoiler: all die in the first wave of Troll attacks, possibly eaten by the trolls]].
%%** Perkins [[spoiler: turns out to be a "Burner" who can only CastFromLifespan. He trades away years of his life for powerful feats of magic to get Jennifer and the party out of increasingly perilous situations, finally casting a spell so strong it uses up the remaining ten or so years of his life and evaporates his body on the spot]].

%%* ProphecyTwist: Kevin Zipp's prophecies always seem to come true, just in a way no-one expects.

* WorkingTitle: The book's working title was "Strange and the Wizard."

%% The Questing Federation were powerful, and would insist on a minimum staffing requirement: at least one strong-and-silent warrior, a sage-like old man, and either a giant or a dwarf–and all of them cost bundles, not just in salary but in hotel bills too. To go on a quest these days you needed serious financial backing.
%% [[working title ''Strange and the Wizard'']]

%%* Foreshadowing: Once again, Kevin Zipp's prophecies all come true with a twist. He predicts that the aggressor will be the victor of the next troll war, that the babies he's predicting the future of won't survive the week, and that Perkins will grow old in the Cambrian Empire.
%%** Jennifer thought the "aggressor" would be King Snodd IV, who was gearing up another campaign to attack the trolls. [[spoiler: While she was in the Cambrian Empire, the Trolls launched a surprise attack that decimated the [=UnUnited=] Kingdoms.]]

* BalefulPolymorph: A Justified/ Exploited example -- after Colin takes a direct hit to his wing from the Cambrian Empire's anti-aircraft artillery, [[spoiler: Perkins transforms him into rubber [[EmergencyTransformation to save him from a deadly fall]]]]. Unfortunately, he's stuck in that form until the spell wears off. And the impact [[spoiler: causes his new rubber body to go bouncing off miles and miles away from where he "landed," leaving him essentially lost to Jennifer & Co]].

--> Inside, it was sumptuously comfortable; outside, the hood was so long that in misty weather it was hard to see the radiator ornament. I chose the car partly because it started pretty much the first time, party because it looked nice, but mostly because it was the biggest.

-->"That's an Australopithecine," I said. "What Perkins did was a Genetic Master Reset. The only way to release [[spoiler: Ralph]] from the spells was a complete scouring of anything that made him [[spoiler: Ralph]]. And since [[spoiler: Ralph]] ''was'' human, a master reset brought him back to the first thing that would eventually turn out to be [[spoiler: Ralph]] that wasn't quite human."
-->"You turned [[spoiler: Ralph]] into a caveman?" said Curtis, staring accusingly at Perkins.

-->"How about this," I said. "We modify our plans with regard to ongoing facts as they become known to us, then re-modify them as the situation unfolds."
-->"You mean wake it all up as we go along?" asked Perkins.
-->"Right."
* FantasticDrug: Curtis, one of the jeopardy tourists Jennifer and Perkins encounter in The Cambrian Empire, asks them for some recreational spells he can get high off of with his travel companions. Jennifer tells him "no" flat out, [[spoiler: but later Curtis' friend Ralph gets into Perkins' suitcases an overdoses on magic]].
--> "So listen, I know you run Kazam, so got any ''S''? Y'know, something to while away the dull evenings between bouts of excitement and terror?"
--> "''S''?"
--> ''"Spells,"'' he said in a low voice. "The weirder the better, but none of that 'changing into animals' stuff because it can totally mess with your head."
--> He laughed in a clumsy attempt to charm me. The use of magic for recreational purposes was stupid, dangerous, and irresponsible. Supplying mind- or body-altering spells to idiots like Curtis would also have you drummed out of the magic industry quicker than you could say ''zork''.
--> "No," I said, "and here's why: You'll start with something simple like a Pollyanna Stone that tells you what you want to hear. Pretty soon you'll move on to stronger and heavier spells that promote unrealistic levels of optimism and self-delusion. After that you'll be always looking for the next spell, and when the spells lose their power you'll be lost, frightened, and bewildered, and your life will tip into a downward spiral of recrimination and despair."
--> "Okay, okay," he said, backing away from my icy stare. "I only asked. Boy, some people are so square."

%%* Foreshadowing: Once again, Kevin Zipp's prophecies all come true with a twist. He predicts that the aggressor will be the victor of the next troll war, that the babies he's predicting the future of won't survive the week, and that Perkins will grow old in the Cambrian Empire. Jennifer thought the "aggressor" would be King Snodd IV, who was gearing up another campaign to attack the trolls -- in reality, the Trolls launched a surprise attack that decimated the UnUnited Kingdoms. The children Kevin predicted wouldn't survive the week all die in the first wave of Troll attacks, possibly eaten by the trolls. And Perkins [[spoiler: turns out to be a "Burner" who can only CastFromLifespan. He trades away years of his life for powerful feats of magic to get Jennifer and the party out of increasingly perilous situations, finally casting a spell so strong it uses up the remaining ten or so years of his life and evaporates his body on the spot]].
* FreakyFridayFlip: Queen Mimosa body-swaps the spoiled Princess Shazza with Laura Scrubb, one of the palace's indentured orphan servants, [[LiteralTransformativeExperience in order to teach the princess some humility]].

--> A Helping Hand™ is Memory Pre-Loaded with every dexterous act imaginable, from mending barometers to building box-girder bridges. With a pair of them, you could play Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto, which is seriously hard. More relevant now, a Helping Hand™ can wield a sword as expertly as if it were conducting open-heart surgery -- which are not as unrelated as one might think.

--> I’d been an idiot to think that this journey was anything but a quest. Searches were nice and soft and cuddly and no one needed to be killed. A quest always demanded the death of a trusted friend and one or more ethical dilemmas.

* DancingPants: Shandar is able to animate suits to do his bidding. They're called "Hollow Men", and they're great for doing heavy lifting, bodyguard work, manual labor, and [[spoiler: murdering anyone who discovers Shandar's guanolite factory in the Cambrian Empire]].

* CoolCar: After The Once Magnificent Boo "borrows" Jennifer's orange Volkswagen to fly a captured Tralfamosaur back across the border, Jennifer picks out a new car from the basement parking garage of Zambini Towers -- a gorgeous Bugatti Royale. It's such a CoolCar that [[spoiler: upon driving it into the Cambrian empire, the car is immediately seized by the ruler of the Cambrian Empire. Jennifer is issued a voucher for the value of the Bugatti, promising her a vehicle of equivalent value if she brings the voucher to Cambrianopolis]].

%%--> "What Perkins did was a Genetic Master Reset. The only way to release [[spoiler: Ralph]] from the spells was a complete scouring of anything that made him [[spoiler: Ralph]]. And since [[spoiler: Ralph]] was human, a master reset brought him back to the first thing that..."

[[InsistentTerminology Refusing to call it a quest]], Jennifer sets out to search for the jewel with the aid of the young dragon Colin (whose life hangs in the balance) and trainee magician Perkins (who Jennifer may or may not be dating). On the orders of of King Snodd IV, Jennifer is also forced to take along the [[SpoiledBrat hideously spoilt]] Princess Shazza -- who has been [[FreakyFridayFlip bodyswapped]] with a scullery maid by her [[TheHighQueen sorcerous mother Queen Mimosa]] in a last-ditch effort to instill a sense of humility in the future ruler of Hereford.

* CerebusSyndrome: Not that Jennifer's adventures in ''Literature/TheLastDragonslayer1'' and ''Literature/TheSongOfTheQuarkbeast'' didn't operate on high stakes with a certain element of mortal danger, but there was always an underlying tone of fun and irreverence to them. ''The Eye of Zoltar'' goes a lot darker. The book starts with Jennifer traveling to the Cambrian empire with Perkins (who she may or may not be dating) and their dragon friend Colin to recover a magical artifact and save the day, all while babysitting a [[FreakyFridayFlip spoiled princess stuck in a scullery maid's body]] -- a dangerous quest, yes, but it could still be great fun. But over the course of the adventure Jennifer is forced to offer up her freedom as collateral for Colin's transmogrified rubber body; watch as [[spoiler: Perkins siphons off his own life force]] to protect their party before he's utterly disintegrated by a last powerful spell; and lose part of her foot in an epic battle. And finally when she thinks she's won, that the dragons are safe from Shandar and all her sacrifices will have been meaningful, she learn that [[spoiler: Trolls have overrun the Troll Wall and swept across the [=UnUnited=] Kingdom with Shandar's aid, the Kingdom of Snodd has fallen and and the royal family has been slaughtered. The last part Jennifer learns when she witnesses the spoiled princess stuck in a maid's body (who lost a hand while valiantly defending Jennifer) feel the pain of her original body dying miles and miles away in Hereford.]]
* CoolCar: After The Once Magnificent Boo uses Jennifer's orange Volkswagen to fly a captured Tralfamosaur across the border, Jennifer picks out a new car from the basement parking garage of Zambini Towers -- a gorgeous Bugatti Royale.

* AgeGapRomance: ZigZagged -- Jennifer and Perkins are both teens, but Perkins starts to suffer from a bad case of YoungerThanTheyLook once he starts [[CastFromLifespan casting spells fueled by his lifespan]]. He's still mentally a teenager, but winds up looking like a man in his twenties, then forties, then fifties Jennifer even worries that their apparent age difference is getting to be "a teensy-weensy bit inappropriate."

* BalefulPolymorph: A Justified/ Exploited example -- after Colin takes a direct hit to his wing from the Cambrian Empire's anti-aircraft artillery, [[spoiler: Perkins transforms him into rubber [[EmergencyTransformation to save him from a deadly fall]]]]. The trouble is, he's stuck in that form until the spell wears off.

%%* EmergencyTransformation: Colin is shot out of the sky by the Cambrian Empire's anti-aircraft defenses, which punch a few new holes in his wings. Perkins transforms Colin into a rubber statue to save him from death as he plummets towards the ground, but then Colin goes bouncing off in an unknown direction and is all but lost to Jennifer & Co. Perkins also has no means to de-transform Colin until the spell wears off.

** ''Enjoy the Unspoiled Charms of the Cambrian Empire Without Death or Serious Injury"

%%* GiantFlyer: Leviathans

Refusing to call it a quest, Jennifer sets out to search for the jewel with the aid of the young dragon Colin (whose life hangs in the balance) and trainee magician Perkins (who Jennifer may or may not be dating). On the orders of of King Snodd IV, Jennifer is also forced to take along the [[SpoiledBrat hideously spoilt]] Princess Shazza -- who has been bodyswapped with a scullery maid by her sorcerous mother Queen Mimosa in a last-ditch effort to instill a sense of humility in the future ruler of Hereford.

%%* CerebusSyndrome: Not that Jennifer's adventures in the previous books didn't operate on high stakes, but there was always an element of fun and adventure to them. ''The Eye of Zoltar'' goes a lot darker. The book starts with Jennifer traveling to the Cambrian empire to recover a magical artifact while babysitting a [[FreakyFridayFlip spoiled princess stuck in a scullery maid's body]]. Along the way, Jennifer is forced to offer up her freedom as collateral for Colin's transmogrified rubber body, watch as her love interest siphons off his own life force to protect their party before he disintegrates, lose a toe in battle, and finally she learn that The Kingdom of Snodd has been attacked and the royal family slaughtered when she witnesses the spoiled princess she's guarding feel her original body dying.

%%* EmergencyTransformation:

--> "How about this," I said. "We modify our plans with regard to ongoing facts as they become known to us, then re-modify them as the situation unfolds."
--> "You mean wake it all up as we go along?" asked Perkins.
--> "Right."

%%* Foreshadowing: Once again, Kevin Zipp's prophecies all come true with a twist. He predicts that the aggressor will be the victor of the next troll war, that the babies he's predicting the future of won't survive the week, and that Perkins will grow old in the Cambrian Empire. Jennifer thought the "aggressor" would be King Snodd, who was gearing up another campaign to attack the trolls -- in reality, the Trolls launched a surprise attack that decimated the Ununited Kingdoms. The children Kevin predicted wouldn't survive the week all die in the first wave of Troll attacks. And Perkins [[spoiler: turns out to be a "Burner" who can only CastFromLifespan. He trades away years of his life for powerful feats of magic to get Jennifer and the party out of increasingly perilous situations, finally casting a spell so strong it uses up the remaining ten or so years of his life and evaporates his body on the spot]].

----