Thursday Next is back again. She has a lot to handle. She is now well known for some of her actions she has most recently taken. Cordelia Flank does not know when to leave the poor girl alone for press releases and all that entails. But when the love of her life is eradicated, she is furious! She must figure out how to get him back and that might mean she will have to become a book jumper apprenticed to none other than Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. A member of the Goliath Corporation promises her to get her love back if she extracts one of their own from the poem “The Raven.” But learning how to be a book jumper is not easy especially when a play thought to be lost suddenly appears. Side trips into Kafka and Beatrix Potter keep her busy. But then she thinks she is the victim of lethal coincidences but she cannot prove anything because every one thinks she is crazy if she mentions her love. What will this poor girl deal with next?
Mr. Fforde redeems himself with this book. The first one was not horrible yet I was not used to his writing style at all. I loved seeing Thursday’s father come back. He is such a sweet man. I have to say Mr. Fforde is definitely creative with what he comes up for this book.
Thursday is such a sweetie. But she is also a tough gal and will not put up with anything that is less than satisfactory. Not having a moment to lose, she is focused on finding out what happened wrong and helping her enemy if that is what it takes to get her love back. Her brother Joffy is quite the character being a minister. He is supportive in this book and I wanted to hug the man. Of course you cannot forget her partner Bowden Cable. The man is a saint with what he puts up with. He may be a minor character but he knows how to play off of Thursday as well as offer up unnecessary information. As I said before, I love Thursday’s father. He may jump in and out of her life literally but he is a dear.
The ending bummed me out but definitely left me wanting more. I want to get my hands on a copy of The Well of Lost Plots soon. I loved all the cross references between this and the last book. The literary things that happened in the book made me smile even when she had to jump in “The Raven.” What imagination this author has. He certainly has found a fan in me. I may not have liked The Eyre Affair as much but it is definitely important to read it. The books following will not make any sense without it.
Jasper Fforde/ Literary/ Chunkster/ 416 pages/ 4 out of 5
Hopefully off to another couple of review books and then a couple of my own choosing. :)
