It’s two-for-one day here on the blog. I have reviews of the second and third audiobooks in the Thursday Next series. As with all reviews of later-in-series books, they will be a little spoilery if you haven’t read the previous books.
Title: Lost in a Good Book
Author: Jasper Fforde
Narrator: Elizabeth Sastre
Genre: Fantasy (?)
ISBN: 1565117573
Pages: 399
Audio: 11 hours 6 minues
Year: 2002
Publisher: Highbridge Audio
Source: Library
Rating: 4.5/5
Somebody is manipulating coincidences, Thursday’s husband has been eradicated yet she remains pregnant with his child, and she must join Jurisfiction – the policing agency in the Book World, to get him back and avoid a catastrophic end to the world.
Fforde once again creates a complicated and intertwined plot with intriguing characters and nonstop action. Lost in a Good Book feels a lot like a set-up for the rest of the series. There isn’t one overarching story but it is still able to stand alone. This is where we meet Mrs. Haversham and the rest of the Jurisfiction agents, learn how books are really made, and continue to be flummoxed by the impossibilities of time travel. This book promises a lot more fun in the rest of the series.
I was a little put off at first with the narrator change from the first book but once I got into it, I very much enjoyed Sastre’s narration. I was happy to see that she also narrates The Well of Lost Plots.
Title: The Well of Lost Plots
Author: Jasper Fforde
Narrator: Elizabeth Sastre
Genre: Fantasy (?)
ISBN: 0143034359
Pages: 375
Audio: 12 hours 12 minutes
Year: 2003
Publisher: Highbridge Audio
Source: Library
Rating: 4.5/5
Still husbandless, Thursday has retired to the unpublished story of Caversham Heights for the remainder of her pregnancy. But she finds anything but peace in her book world vacation. Yorrick Kane has surfaced again and together with Text Grand Central is pushing for the implementation of Ultraworld, a new BOOK version, that seems too good to be true. On top of this, Thursday must handle her normal Jurisfiction caseload and fight an old enemy inside her mind.
This series just gets better with each book. Fforde can weave a story better than anyone. With twists and turns that you can’t see coming yet fit perfectly into the story, The Well of Lost Plots continues to please its readers. With he hilarity of Heathcliff Protection Duty, the sadness of the loss of a good friend, and the dirty tricks both real and fictional politicians play, The Well of Lost Plots is anything but boring. Throw in all of the references to novels that any literature lover will adore and you once again have a wonderful book.
my books. my life. 
I need to continue with this series! The first book was pretty disorienting to me at first, but by the end I quite enjoyed it. And you’re not the first to say the series only gets better and better!
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I felt the same way with the first book. It was a few years before I picked up the next one. It was a lot to take in. But it really does get better with each book.
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I adore this series. Something Rotten, the 4th one, is wonderful too. I just read the first book in his new series, Shades of Grey, and I missed all the literary references, but he’s still brilliant.
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I loved Shades of Grey. I’d really like to read the next in the series but I heard it won’t be until 2014 or something crazy like that.
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Nice review, Michelle! I haven’t read the first book in the Thursday Next series yet. I am hoping to read it soon. Your comment on the next volume in the ‘Shade of Grey’ series coming out in 2014, made me smile. It made me remember a graphic novel series called ‘Berlin’ by Jason Lutes. It is one of my alltime favourite graphic novels – but I have been waiting for the third and final volume of the trilogy for years now!
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