Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Guest Blog--Thursday Next: First Among Sequels

I was very content to get my hands on the next in the Thursday Next series (thanks to my blogger sister). I enjoyed the read, but I was a bit suprised by a few things. Fforde has been quite consistent to his format since The Eyre Affair, the first in the series. However, I noticed some slight changes in Thursday Next that made me miss the old ways. For one, the book is set in 2002 rather that in the 1980s like the other four books. While Fforde's world was already futuristic in 1984, I felt a bit sad to have jumped ahead almost twenty years. Fforde also changed the chapter headings. The change is very slight, but again I longed for the fimiliar format.

Otherwise, Thursday Next continues with the usual fare that we've come to know in the previous books--journeys into the Bookworld, a little Special Ops work, and warped time.

I found the book overall enjoyable but not necessarily groundbreaking. I long for the brilliance of The Eyre Affair where Spec Ops Agent Thursday Next changes a novel into the beloved story it is today. That element, so dear to book lovers, is missing from Fforde's latest work.

1 comment:

Blogger said...

This is very disappointing news. I love these books because they are so different from everything else out there. I won't rush to read it.