First Among Sequels (Thursday Next #5)
This book is in a Controlled Release!
1 journaler for this copy...
From Publishers Weekly
Full of bizarre subplots, many of which don't go anywhere, bestseller Fforde's fifth novel to feature intrepid literary detective Thursday Next (after 2004's Something Rotten) blends elements of mystery, campy science fiction and screwball fantasy à la Terry Pratchett's Discworld. With the Stupidity Surplus reaching dangerously high levels all over England, Acme Carpets employee and undercover SpecOps investigator Next has her hands full trying to persuade her 16-year-old slacker son, Friday, to join the ChronoGuard, which deals with temporal stability; if Friday continues to sleep away his future, the end is near—for everyone. To complicate matters, a malicious apprentice begins making classic works of literature into reality book shows (Pride and Prejudice becomes The Bennets), a ruthless corporation tries to turn the Bookworld into a tourist trap, and the Cheese Enforcement Agency tries to bust Next for smuggling killer curd. The fate of the world may lie in a Longfellow poem. Fans of satiric literary humor are in for a treat.
Full of bizarre subplots, many of which don't go anywhere, bestseller Fforde's fifth novel to feature intrepid literary detective Thursday Next (after 2004's Something Rotten) blends elements of mystery, campy science fiction and screwball fantasy à la Terry Pratchett's Discworld. With the Stupidity Surplus reaching dangerously high levels all over England, Acme Carpets employee and undercover SpecOps investigator Next has her hands full trying to persuade her 16-year-old slacker son, Friday, to join the ChronoGuard, which deals with temporal stability; if Friday continues to sleep away his future, the end is near—for everyone. To complicate matters, a malicious apprentice begins making classic works of literature into reality book shows (Pride and Prejudice becomes The Bennets), a ruthless corporation tries to turn the Bookworld into a tourist trap, and the Cheese Enforcement Agency tries to bust Next for smuggling killer curd. The fate of the world may lie in a Longfellow poem. Fans of satiric literary humor are in for a treat.
I ended up listening to this in audiobook format. Now to find a new home for the hardcopy.
My review of the audio edition:
I raced through this audiobook in two days as I had a lot of driving to do. I enjoyed Emily Gray as the narrator more this time than I did the last time. I still like the original narrator from the first two books better, but I found Ms. Gray's voices for the different characters less grating in this book than in Something Rotten (the previous book in the series).
In this book, we're back to meta-cleverness as Thursday interacts with the fictional versions of herself from the books about her adventures, we see lots of back and forth with JurisFiction and book hopping, and we get more depth on Thursday's family. I was glad to have much more book-world here than in Something Rotten--the book world plots are the more clever and inventive. Still, here the changes to the fantasy-England were interesting.
In this installment, readership has dropped and reality TV is replacing books for entertainment. Meanwhile, the book pokes gentle fun at time-travel stories and nonetheless attempts to explain some time travel paradoxes in the Thursday Next universe. The jokes and explanations didn't always quite come together, but I enjoyed the effort and continue to find Fforde extremely fun.
I'll definitely read the next in this series at some point.
My review of the audio edition:
I raced through this audiobook in two days as I had a lot of driving to do. I enjoyed Emily Gray as the narrator more this time than I did the last time. I still like the original narrator from the first two books better, but I found Ms. Gray's voices for the different characters less grating in this book than in Something Rotten (the previous book in the series).
In this book, we're back to meta-cleverness as Thursday interacts with the fictional versions of herself from the books about her adventures, we see lots of back and forth with JurisFiction and book hopping, and we get more depth on Thursday's family. I was glad to have much more book-world here than in Something Rotten--the book world plots are the more clever and inventive. Still, here the changes to the fantasy-England were interesting.
In this installment, readership has dropped and reality TV is replacing books for entertainment. Meanwhile, the book pokes gentle fun at time-travel stories and nonetheless attempts to explain some time travel paradoxes in the Thursday Next universe. The jokes and explanations didn't always quite come together, but I enjoyed the effort and continue to find Fforde extremely fun.
I'll definitely read the next in this series at some point.
Sent via paperbackswap.com
