Jasper Fforde, Lost in a Good Book
I finally got around to the middle volume in the thus-far Thursday Next trilogy written by Jasper Fforde, Lost in a Good Book, after having read both The Eyre Affair and The Well of Lost Plots some time ago. I was using it purely for relief, I have to say, so I got out of it an approximation of what I put into it - which is to say, not much, but it was very pleasant.
This parallel version of Earth is one where books dominate culture, where the Crimean conflict is into roughly its 150th year, and where the work of jet airplanes is performed by airships and "gravity wells" through the planet's core. In this outing, our heroine Thursday has her husband eradicated by the Goliath Corporation and runs afoul of another branch of SpecOps (special operations). Drama (in the book) and hilarity (for the reader) ensue, some of it featuring her pet dodo and much of it examining the aftermath of her changing the ending of Jane Eyre after pursuing into it criminal mastermind Acheron Hades. Not everything goes well, but where would the excitement come from if it did? Quite suspenseful, I found this one, even if I only had about a third of a mind to devote to it.
Honestly, I think this series is about the most inventive piece of pure fun I've read since the still-lamented passing of Douglas Adams. The first volume really is terrific, and the next two hold up their end admirably. I wasn't sold on The Big Over Easy (the first volume in Fforde's detective series featuring Jack Spratt), but The Fourth Bear was excellent.
This parallel version of Earth is one where books dominate culture, where the Crimean conflict is into roughly its 150th year, and where the work of jet airplanes is performed by airships and "gravity wells" through the planet's core. In this outing, our heroine Thursday has her husband eradicated by the Goliath Corporation and runs afoul of another branch of SpecOps (special operations). Drama (in the book) and hilarity (for the reader) ensue, some of it featuring her pet dodo and much of it examining the aftermath of her changing the ending of Jane Eyre after pursuing into it criminal mastermind Acheron Hades. Not everything goes well, but where would the excitement come from if it did? Quite suspenseful, I found this one, even if I only had about a third of a mind to devote to it.
Honestly, I think this series is about the most inventive piece of pure fun I've read since the still-lamented passing of Douglas Adams. The first volume really is terrific, and the next two hold up their end admirably. I wasn't sold on The Big Over Easy (the first volume in Fforde's detective series featuring Jack Spratt), but The Fourth Bear was excellent.
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