Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Well of Lost Plots

(Third in the Thursday Next Series), by Jasper Fforde.

Quickie Recap: Following her stellar work for fiction in The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book, Thursday Next seeks refuge in an unpublished novel. With a baby on the way by her disappeared husband, Thursday deserves a break, but you can't really expect her to get one. There's a new technology about to be released that will change reading forever, supposedly for the better, but when readers of advance copies start being murdered for their secrets, its more sinister intentions are revealed and it's up to Thursday to once again save fiction.

Quickie Recap Recap: The above, of course, does not make sense to you. It barely makes sense to me and I just read the damn thing. The truth is, Thursday's universe is so unique you really just have to read it to understand.

Quickie Review: Fforde is incredible. He can afford to write a book about the recycling of about 8 basic plots because he is secure in the knowledge that his series is of true original content. Right down to the last detail I am constantly blown away by how thoughtful and imaginative he is as a writer. His novels live and breathe because they are infused with so much detail. You cannot just jump into The Well of Lost Plots blind; start at the beginning, with The Eyre Affair, and do yourself the favour of entering a universe created for the book lover in all of us.

Quickie Recommendation: Every time I read a Fforde, my recommendation is the same, that:

a) you read the book, cause it's awesome

and

b) that Mr. Fforde make babies with me

I won't embarrass myelf this time by proposing that he swing by around, say 7ish, or that he bring the wine and I'll supply the steaks, and that we'll both get drunk and just see what happens. I will, however, stick with the whole READ THIS BRILLIANT SERIES thing, because I surely do believe in it.

2 comments:

Lorna said...

Me too---I couldn't pass up a book with an author so firmly placed in the alpha listings, and luckily the first I read was the first in the series.

when you've finished ravishing Mr FF, send him over to my place for a post-pleasure brandy. Just let me know first---I don't keep brandy for me.

Gonçalo Azevedo said...

Fforde is amazing. It's like Terry Pratchett was er... 'gang-raped' by all the greats, and Fforde is the illegitimate love child. I'm currently awaiting the paperback edition of 'First among sequels'!

;)