This is the seventh Thursday Next book. It’s been a over a year since I read the last one. So much has happened in this series since I started it years ago. It remains one of the most unique and fun series I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Sometimes it is all over the place, but I feel that Fforde has streamlined a lot the subplots. I really should reread them all one day when he completes the series.
As usual with a Thursday Next book, earlier characters and villains are prominent and conflicts arise very quickly. I find these books satisfying because a lot of the new plot lines and the ones from previous ones are resolved by the end of the book. Thursday has a lot of enemies so there’s an ongoing supply of antagonists, but it does feel satisfying when she wins at the end of the book.
There was more religious satire in this one and I love this series for being one largely about books and literature. The series now has spanned about twenty years in Thursday’s life and I’ve liked the progression of her and the other characters. I like Thursday as a mother and as a detective/heroine entering her 50s. The spirit of the books is always fun and infectious.
A lot of technology has advanced in Thursday’s universe, but I still like the idiosyncratic nature. I like the idea of that those inhabitants love toast enough to permit restaurant a Toast restaurant chain. I do miss the Book World plots, but there are hints that will return soon. I mostly do not want this series to end though
Jasper Fforde always seems like a cool author. He and Nick Hornby always come off so well in their books as in writers I’d like to have a pint with them. All in all, another very fun Thursday Next book.
Read April 24-25 2013.