The Song of the Quarkbeast: The Chronicles of Kazam, Book 2 by Jasper Fforde

Jennifer has lost her sorcerer master and is now managing the staff of Kazam Mystical Arts Management.  She's calm, has good common sense, and is smart enough to recognize a trap when she sees one.  When she's challenged by competitor to build half a bridge with the winner taking all, she doesn't want to do it but she has to.

HMH Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss allowed me to download an ebook of this story for review (thank you).  It was published September 3rd, so you should be able to find it at your local bookstore now.

The King is greedy, Blix wants to be the Royal Sorcerer (and eventually the King), and they both want to see Kazam go away.  Kazam does things right; that would be an impediment in the world they foresee.

Jennifer has a variety of sorcerers working for her.  Some are very strong, one can see the future, one is a good finder, and much more.  But she immediately runs into a problem when her two most experienced active sorcerers are turned into stone when a project backfires.  That's an ugly kettle of soup, let me tell you.  

Then Blix gets most of the rest of her staff put in jail for crimes committed long ago.  She knew her boss accepted them with no questions asked, but Blix is willing to do all he can stop them from winning.

There's only one thing that is going to cause his plot to come undone, and it's not anything he can control.  It pleased me to see how Mr. Fforde came up with a unique answer to the question:  How do we stop Blix and the evil king?

The best part is that this is just Book 2.  There will be another.  I'm hoping Jennifer will get her boss back soon.  She's doing a fine job, but she misses him.  Guess we'll have to keep reading to see, right?

Happy reading.