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Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Publisher Unknown (1969)
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:The fifth installment in Jasper Fforde's New York Times bestselling series follows literary detective Thursday Next on another adventure in her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England�from the author of Early Riser Jasper Fforde has thrilled readers everywhere with his gloriously outlandish novels in the Thursday Next and Nursery Crime series. And with another genre-bending blend of crime fiction, fantasy, and top-drawer literary entertainmentis Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, Fforde's famous literary detective is once again ready to make the world safe for fiction. Thursday Next is grappling with a host of problems in BookWorld: a recalcitrant new apprentice, the death of Sherlock Holmes, and the inexplicable departure of comedy from the once-hilarious Thomas Hardy novels, to name just a few�all while captaining the ship Moral Dilemma and facing down her most vicious enemy yet: herself.… (more)
Media reviews
Yale Review
By the time we reach the fifth volume, First Among Sequels, Fforde has firmly regained his footing, and the plot moves along like a well-turned simile.
New Statesman
First Among Sequels is for adults who want sophisticated wit with their fantasy, but who still possess an appreciation for the intricate worldbuilding of a well-imagined children’s novel.
Kirkus
While Fforde's humor can be affecting, it can also grate with its self-consciousness, as the author nudges readers to admire his verbal dexterity.
It's an ingenious premise that makes for a thrill ride of a read. And it's not entirely necessary — though perhaps more fun — to read the books in the proper order. Fforde gives enough background in "Thursday Next" to inform readers of all they need to know to find both books hilarious,
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exhilarating and just a bit exhausting. Show Less
Publishers Weekly
Fans of satiric literary humor are in for a treat.
User reviews
LibraryThing member kewing
This fourth in the Thursday Next series starts a little slowly, filling the background and gaps between this and the previous title in the series. It's not as startlingly creative as The Eyre Affair, perhaps because we expect so much after such a sterling start, but, when this installation gets
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going, it is a satirical and witty romp, with some serious guffaws along the way. Fforde (and Thursday) are in good, if not expected, form. Show Less
LibraryThing member pmtracy
The Thursday Next series just keeps getting better. This installation was more cohesive than past volumes even though there were considerable time displacements and jumps between the “real world” and BookWorld.
The oddities of this alternative reality version of our world are getting sillier.
In this novel, Thursday needs to deal with BookWorld versions of herself. Here Fforde takes the metafictional genre and turns it inward on itself as he references the other works in the Next series and has Thursday working with the characters-including an unflattering version of herself.
The main plot line addresses the fate of the Chronoguard and time travel. In true Next novel fashion, the key to saving the guards rests in locating a secret recipe for UNscrambled eggs that her Uncle Maycroft had hidden inside “A Dark and Stormy Night.” The subplot focuses around the decreasing Outland read-rate of books as based on the read-o-meter. To make classic fiction more popular, there is a plan to redo them as reality TV shows. This would lead to the irreversible rewriting of classics like Pride and Prejudice. Thursday needs to overcome a number of obstacles to keep the classics safe.
Fforde continues to surprise the reader with his range as he presents a very poignant scene where Thursday suddenly becomes aware that her daughter Jenny is just a figment of her imagination. As the result of a memory worm placed by Aornis, Thursday is doomed to continually realize she doesn’t have a daughter, then forget that she has made that realization. Her family explains that they are aware of the illusion and they “play along” to minimize the mental strain on Thursday. The emotion in portraying this to the reader is that felt by anyone dealing with a mental illness in their family. It was quite touching.
What was unusual about this novel is that Fforde appears to have left a stray string. Either he missed ending this plot line or I passed over it in my reading. Was there any closure regarding Sherlock Holmes being found dead in “The Final Problem?”
I was afraid the series was closing, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was continued in One of Our Thursdays Is Missing.
The oddities of this alternative reality version of our world are getting sillier.
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One example is Thursday’s involvement in underground cheese trading that has her dealing with the Stiltonistas, or cheese mafia. Illegal cheese manufacturing and sales is quite lucrative; especially if you have varieties strong enough to make someone pass out.In this novel, Thursday needs to deal with BookWorld versions of herself. Here Fforde takes the metafictional genre and turns it inward on itself as he references the other works in the Next series and has Thursday working with the characters-including an unflattering version of herself.
The main plot line addresses the fate of the Chronoguard and time travel. In true Next novel fashion, the key to saving the guards rests in locating a secret recipe for UNscrambled eggs that her Uncle Maycroft had hidden inside “A Dark and Stormy Night.” The subplot focuses around the decreasing Outland read-rate of books as based on the read-o-meter. To make classic fiction more popular, there is a plan to redo them as reality TV shows. This would lead to the irreversible rewriting of classics like Pride and Prejudice. Thursday needs to overcome a number of obstacles to keep the classics safe.
Fforde continues to surprise the reader with his range as he presents a very poignant scene where Thursday suddenly becomes aware that her daughter Jenny is just a figment of her imagination. As the result of a memory worm placed by Aornis, Thursday is doomed to continually realize she doesn’t have a daughter, then forget that she has made that realization. Her family explains that they are aware of the illusion and they “play along” to minimize the mental strain on Thursday. The emotion in portraying this to the reader is that felt by anyone dealing with a mental illness in their family. It was quite touching.
What was unusual about this novel is that Fforde appears to have left a stray string. Either he missed ending this plot line or I passed over it in my reading. Was there any closure regarding Sherlock Holmes being found dead in “The Final Problem?”
I was afraid the series was closing, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was continued in One of Our Thursdays Is Missing.
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LibraryThing member MikeFarquhar
First Among Sequels is Jasper Fforde's latest installment in his Thursday Next series, and finds that time has moved on a bit - Thursday is now aged 52, has three kids, is happily married to the now-not-erased-from-history Landen, and has retired from both Special Ops and Jurisfiction, content to
It's all eminently readable, but as with many series of this sort, it's beginning to take on the air of being written on auto-pilot. The prose is comfortable rather than novel, and there are few flashes of brilliance. A good book for reading on a beach.
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spend her time running Acme Carpets. Or at least, that's what her family thinks. In reality Thursday is still both doing SpecOps work - hunting down rogue genetic chimaeras and vampires across the landscape of this alternate Britain; and serving as a Literary Agent for Jurisfiction, policing the boundaries between reality and fiction. This is the fifth in the Next series, and to be honest, by this point you pretty much have to be familiar with what has gone on before to hit the ground running. There are a few intertwined plots here, as Thursday struggles to deal with her literary counterpart from the series of novels based on her life; her teenage son who's stroppily refusing to get out of bed and meet his destiny; the return of her ghostly uncle, and over everything, the growing problem of less people reading books in the face of reality TV. Fforde's style is well-established now - bouncing happily from point to point, with literary asides and in-jokes strewn here, there and everywhere.It's all eminently readable, but as with many series of this sort, it's beginning to take on the air of being written on auto-pilot. The prose is comfortable rather than novel, and there are few flashes of brilliance. A good book for reading on a beach.
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LibraryThing member craso
Jasper Fforde is always a joy to read and this book does not disappoint. The setting is fourteen years after the last Thursday Next book. Her family has grown and her job at SpecOps has become the Acme carpet business. She is still jumping into the BookWorld, the ChronoGuard is still causing time
Fforde injects a lot of social commentary into this novel. There is a genre dispute between Ecclesiastical, Racy Novel, and Feminist. Racy Novel’s threat to use a “dirty bomb” on Ecclesiastical and Feminist is much like the terrorist threats we hear on the news today. Also, the low reader rate issue is a real problem. People are more interested in reality television, and have such a short attention span, that they aren’t reading novels. I wish that these problems could be resolved in the real world as easily as they were resolved in the BookWorld.
The ending of the last Thursday Next book led me to believe that the series had ended.
It has been three years since “Something Rotten” came out. Fforde has since written two volumes in the Nursery Crime Series. He uses the first half of this new book to remind us of the major characters and plot points from the first four books. This was a great help. It made it easy to pick up the thread of the story. He also gets us caught up on what has happen in the fourteen years that has past in Thursday’s life. This book ends with so many unresolved plot points that we can be sure there is another Thursday Next book in the future.
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trouble, and Goliath is still trying to conquer the world. Fforde injects a lot of social commentary into this novel. There is a genre dispute between Ecclesiastical, Racy Novel, and Feminist. Racy Novel’s threat to use a “dirty bomb” on Ecclesiastical and Feminist is much like the terrorist threats we hear on the news today. Also, the low reader rate issue is a real problem. People are more interested in reality television, and have such a short attention span, that they aren’t reading novels. I wish that these problems could be resolved in the real world as easily as they were resolved in the BookWorld.
The ending of the last Thursday Next book led me to believe that the series had ended.
It has been three years since “Something Rotten” came out. Fforde has since written two volumes in the Nursery Crime Series. He uses the first half of this new book to remind us of the major characters and plot points from the first four books. This was a great help. It made it easy to pick up the thread of the story. He also gets us caught up on what has happen in the fourteen years that has past in Thursday’s life. This book ends with so many unresolved plot points that we can be sure there is another Thursday Next book in the future.
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LibraryThing member brokenangelkisses
Beware: this book will make you laugh out loud on trains, in planes and cars. I wouldn’t advise trying to read it on a bicycle. This is a BookWorld novel featuring Literary Detective Thursday Next, which means that there is sense of familiarity with the character and setting, but this is coupled
This is just a brief overview of how the situation stands at the beginning of the novel but it cannot do justice to the Fforde’s inventiveness. New and old characters work together to avoid the end of time and the death of reading, two events which may be related. Most episodes that might initially seem entertaining but discrete are eventually stitched together in a logical/ fantastical/ postmodern manner that would surely have Douglas Adams chuckling. Some episodes that aren’t developed may be resolved in later books in the series. Part of the joy of this series is identifying the references to other published works and finding old characters responding appropriately to new situations. The Bennet family all behave in a suitable manner when their novel is under threat and their response to Thursday’s intervention is classic.
There is certainly a lot happening but the novel only became confusing once. I have read chapter 36 several times now and still can’t work out how Fforde creates a particular event. Fortunately, once passed, this one wrinkle didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the rest of the novel. If you are prepared to suspend disbelief, there are many enjoyable parallels between the real world and the BookWorld. Similarly, wordplay is a key feature of these novels but, again, rather than create confusion this helps readers to develop links between the real and the textual.
Overall the novel is highly entertaining, genuinely witty and a real page turner. It does end on a cliffhanger, but the final few pages are so clearly setting up the next in the series that you do not feel that anything has been left out of this novel. If you haven’t read about Thursday Next before then it is worth starting with ‘The Eyre Affair’ for sheer enjoyment, but the references to past events are suitably developed to allow newcomers to enjoy this story on its own.
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with a sense of newness as Fforde has moved the narrative to fourteen years after Thursday’s adventures in ‘Something Rotten’ and settled her down with her family. Fortunately for readers, Thursday is not that settled as a wife and mother and still finds time to fit carpets, do SpecOps work and exercise her veto at the Council of Genres while working for Jurisfiction. Actually, she doesn’t fit many carpets, but then she is trying to train up two new Jurisfiction cadets without letting her husband know that she’s doing anything more dangerous than the occasional estimate for new materials.This is just a brief overview of how the situation stands at the beginning of the novel but it cannot do justice to the Fforde’s inventiveness. New and old characters work together to avoid the end of time and the death of reading, two events which may be related. Most episodes that might initially seem entertaining but discrete are eventually stitched together in a logical/ fantastical/ postmodern manner that would surely have Douglas Adams chuckling. Some episodes that aren’t developed may be resolved in later books in the series. Part of the joy of this series is identifying the references to other published works and finding old characters responding appropriately to new situations. The Bennet family all behave in a suitable manner when their novel is under threat and their response to Thursday’s intervention is classic.
There is certainly a lot happening but the novel only became confusing once. I have read chapter 36 several times now and still can’t work out how Fforde creates a particular event. Fortunately, once passed, this one wrinkle didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the rest of the novel. If you are prepared to suspend disbelief, there are many enjoyable parallels between the real world and the BookWorld. Similarly, wordplay is a key feature of these novels but, again, rather than create confusion this helps readers to develop links between the real and the textual.
Overall the novel is highly entertaining, genuinely witty and a real page turner. It does end on a cliffhanger, but the final few pages are so clearly setting up the next in the series that you do not feel that anything has been left out of this novel. If you haven’t read about Thursday Next before then it is worth starting with ‘The Eyre Affair’ for sheer enjoyment, but the references to past events are suitably developed to allow newcomers to enjoy this story on its own.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
More madcap surreal adventures in Thursday Next's world.
Set in 2002 some 14 years after Something Rotten, Thursday and Landen have been happily living together, Friday is now 16 and hasn't yet joined the Chronoguard - somewhat surprisingly as he was known to have started by 13. Somethign Other is
Lots happens, but I felt this was a much slower start than some of the previous works, and while still funny in many places it's lost some of the quirky humour of them too. However the more direct political commentry make sup for someof this. I don't liek time travel stories particularly with odd paradoxes so one of the major plotlines really didn't appeal to me.
Overall - good but not brilliant, Fun but not superb. Read the others first, much of the in book references that made them so superb have been replaced with in book references to the previous TN books, which just doens't work quite as well.
It is a pre-requisite to have read the previous books. Not much makes sens in any of Fforde's works, but it'll have made even less sense if you don't have the relevant knowledge of th preceding books.
Set in 2002 some 14 years after Something Rotten, Thursday and Landen have been happily living together, Friday is now 16 and hasn't yet joined the Chronoguard - somewhat surprisingly as he was known to have started by 13. Somethign Other is
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happening with their two daughters. Goliath has only just managed to survive the fiasco of Superhoop and SpecOps has been drastically downsized, however Thursday and the rest of the Swindon crew manage to hold things together. In the bookworld, there is massive concern over falling Outlander reader rates - due in part to the massive social changes intrduced by computer games. There is some great social commentry here, along with sarcastic asides from the CommonSense political party which is still in power. Meanwhile THursday's exploits have been published which means that she also exists as written characters Thursday1-4 and Thursday5. This is planned and succeeds in being very confusing, particularly as the written versions don't quite share the same plot line as the original's we read. This is deliberate, but again confusing, expecially when Thursday has to train Thursday as Jurisfiction cadets.Lots happens, but I felt this was a much slower start than some of the previous works, and while still funny in many places it's lost some of the quirky humour of them too. However the more direct political commentry make sup for someof this. I don't liek time travel stories particularly with odd paradoxes so one of the major plotlines really didn't appeal to me.
Overall - good but not brilliant, Fun but not superb. Read the others first, much of the in book references that made them so superb have been replaced with in book references to the previous TN books, which just doens't work quite as well.
It is a pre-requisite to have read the previous books. Not much makes sens in any of Fforde's works, but it'll have made even less sense if you don't have the relevant knowledge of th preceding books.
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LibraryThing member xicanti
Fourteen years after her last adventure, Thursday Next must save the Book World's declining Read Rates, put an end to such dastardly schemes as Reality Book Shows, and persuade her teenage son to join the ChronoGuard before he destroys history forever.
I had a fantastic time with the first four
But then the book really hit its stride. Fforde introduced a few new twists and turns. The plot picked up a bit. I started snickering to myself. I crowed with delight or gasped in shock at each new development. I snickered some more. I out-and-out laughed a few times. I told my mother, (a ffellow Fforde ffan), that I'd been mistaken. This was indeed as good as the rest of the books. In fact, it's emerged as perhaps my favourite in the series.
Fforde's stories are so far over the top they can't even see the ground, but he tells them with such conviction that you can't help but believe what he says. Time travel is possible. International travel is all via gravitubes that shoot around inside the earth's core. Cloning has helped scientists restore extinct species, including dodos and early humans. Illegal cheese dealing is a serious offense. And, what's more,the characters in books are sentient. They run a police force that helps cut down on textual crime. There are only fifteen pianos that cycle through all of English literature. It's crazy talk, but it works. And it's a hell of a lot of fun to read.
I am tempted to say that Fforde is gags-over-plot, but I'm not sure that's entirely fair. True, the plot of FIRST AMONG SEQUELS takes a backseat to all the zany stuff, but the resolution is a direct result of all the strange happenings. It's convoluted and fascinating and - I'll say it again - wicked fun to read. Everything that happens is firmly rooted in story, with frequent references to classic and contemporary lit. And, best of all, the ending leaves things open for yet another Next novel. (And his website calls the series an Octology! How exciting is that?) I can't wait.
I highly recommend this, but I think you might do best to read the first four Thursday Next books before you tackle it. Make sure you take a wee break between each one, too, so the ideas don't get too stale.
(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).
I had a fantastic time with the first four
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Thursday Next books, but I was initially disappointed with this one. The first hundred pages are basically just more of the same. We spend time in the Bookworld. We learn (and relearn) about particular fictional practices. We get some zany humor. There's very little plot. I was rather put out. Tangents and worldbuilding stuff have always been a big part of Fforde, but I felt like the formula was wearing thin. I wanted something more, please.But then the book really hit its stride. Fforde introduced a few new twists and turns. The plot picked up a bit. I started snickering to myself. I crowed with delight or gasped in shock at each new development. I snickered some more. I out-and-out laughed a few times. I told my mother, (a ffellow Fforde ffan), that I'd been mistaken. This was indeed as good as the rest of the books. In fact, it's emerged as perhaps my favourite in the series.
Fforde's stories are so far over the top they can't even see the ground, but he tells them with such conviction that you can't help but believe what he says. Time travel is possible. International travel is all via gravitubes that shoot around inside the earth's core. Cloning has helped scientists restore extinct species, including dodos and early humans. Illegal cheese dealing is a serious offense. And, what's more,the characters in books are sentient. They run a police force that helps cut down on textual crime. There are only fifteen pianos that cycle through all of English literature. It's crazy talk, but it works. And it's a hell of a lot of fun to read.
I am tempted to say that Fforde is gags-over-plot, but I'm not sure that's entirely fair. True, the plot of FIRST AMONG SEQUELS takes a backseat to all the zany stuff, but the resolution is a direct result of all the strange happenings. It's convoluted and fascinating and - I'll say it again - wicked fun to read. Everything that happens is firmly rooted in story, with frequent references to classic and contemporary lit. And, best of all, the ending leaves things open for yet another Next novel. (And his website calls the series an Octology! How exciting is that?) I can't wait.
I highly recommend this, but I think you might do best to read the first four Thursday Next books before you tackle it. Make sure you take a wee break between each one, too, so the ideas don't get too stale.
(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).
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LibraryThing member lorax
This is the fifth book in a series. If you didn't know that, go read the first four, starting with _The Eyre Affair_. They're great.
Assuming you did know that, I don't need to give an introduction to the basic premise. This is weaker than its predecessors -- I still enjoyed it but I didn't love it.
Still a fun read, but I'd probably suggest waiting for the paperback.
Assuming you did know that, I don't need to give an introduction to the basic premise. This is weaker than its predecessors -- I still enjoyed it but I didn't love it.
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It's set fourteen years after the end of _Something Rotten_, the world has changed, and not for the better. It's just less interesting -- Fforde spends more time satirizing developments like text messaging and reality TV shows that don't fit well with the previously-established world, and the joyous innovations like the Gravitube and the restored mammoths that were featured in previous books take a back seat. (There are in-story justifications for some of these changes, but they come late in the book and are rather spoilery). I think more could have been done with the metafictionality of the TN1-4 and TN5 characters (the written Thursdays from the first five books -- yes, in this universe there are only four), but as it was I just found them tedious.Still a fun read, but I'd probably suggest waiting for the paperback.
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LibraryThing member hklibrarian
This novel is a little slow of the mark, but it picks up the pace rather quickly, which is no surprise with the beloved author. He knows how to spin an incredible yarn and does a fabulous job, as usual. In fact he leaves you hanging by a thread at the nail biting end--you just know that there will
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be yet another exciting novel in the works--yet not soon enough for your taste. BRAVO, BRAVO!!!! Show Less
LibraryThing member Tricoteuse
Another wonderfully funny addition to the Thursday Next series. Fforde's puns and wit are back with the literary references that make these books so entertaining. This isn't my favorite of the series, but it's definitely worth reading.
LibraryThing member karieh
WOW do I love Jasper Fforde's books! I like his Nursery Crime series but my heart belongs to Thursday Next. When I saw that Fforde had written a fifth, my credit card almost melted from the speed with which I purchased it.
Not only is Fforde's prose immediately engaging and the premise of these
To be reading a book that mentions not only one of my most beloved children's series (Moomintroll books by Tove Jansson) but also includes a character is just encountered a month ago (Dr. Temperance Brennan of "Bones" fame) - it's like winning a small lottery! He allows the reader to pat him/herself on the back for recognizing many literary references while not making him/her feel ignorant about the hundreds that are probably missed.
His commentary on the current state of world affairs is also wonderful...as the Council of Genres discusses reclassifying several classic works - "...Orwell's 1984 is no longer TRULY fiction so has been reallocated to non-fiction." "...Racy Novel gets along with Comedy and Erotica fine, but Ecclesiastical and Feminist don't really think Racy Novel is worthy of a genre at all and often fire salvos of long-winded intellectual dissent across the border, which might do more damage if anyone in Racy Novel could understand them. For its part, Racy Novel sends panty raiding parties into its neighbors, which wasn't welcome in Feminism and even less in Ecclesiastical - or was it the other way around?"
Love this one also: "Books suffer wear and tear...For this reason all books have to go into the maintenance bay for a periodic refit, either every thirty years or every million readings, whichever comes first. For those books that suffer a high initial readership but then lose it through boredom or insufficient reader intellect, a partial refit may be in order. Salmon Thrusty's intractable masterpiece The Demonic Couplets has had its first two chapters rebuilt six times, but the rest is relatively unscathed."
Throughout the book - Fforde makes his love of books (of the writing process/relationship between author and reader, really) abundantly clear. Thinks Thursday, "Reading, I had learned, was as creative a process as writing, sometimes more so. When we read of the dying rays of the setting sun or the boom and swish of the incoming time, we should reserve as much praise for ourselves as for the author. After all - the reader is doing all the work - the writer might have died long ago." Last quote - on poetry: "Whereas story is processed in the mind in a straightforward manner, poetry bypasses rational thought and goes straight to the limbic system and lights it up like a brushfire. It's the crack cocaine of the literary world."
So combine a love of reading with a good mystery, a world where cheese is an illegal but much desired substance, there is a Toast Advisory board and the issues of the day are a declining read rate, a huge surplus of stupidity and short attention spans seem to be the order of the day...and I'm all in.
Can't wait for the next installment!!!
Not only is Fforde's prose immediately engaging and the premise of these
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books delightful (The ability to jump into books? Sign me up for that!), but he also involves the reader and his/her literary experience regardless of the level.To be reading a book that mentions not only one of my most beloved children's series (Moomintroll books by Tove Jansson) but also includes a character is just encountered a month ago (Dr. Temperance Brennan of "Bones" fame) - it's like winning a small lottery! He allows the reader to pat him/herself on the back for recognizing many literary references while not making him/her feel ignorant about the hundreds that are probably missed.
His commentary on the current state of world affairs is also wonderful...as the Council of Genres discusses reclassifying several classic works - "...Orwell's 1984 is no longer TRULY fiction so has been reallocated to non-fiction." "...Racy Novel gets along with Comedy and Erotica fine, but Ecclesiastical and Feminist don't really think Racy Novel is worthy of a genre at all and often fire salvos of long-winded intellectual dissent across the border, which might do more damage if anyone in Racy Novel could understand them. For its part, Racy Novel sends panty raiding parties into its neighbors, which wasn't welcome in Feminism and even less in Ecclesiastical - or was it the other way around?"
Love this one also: "Books suffer wear and tear...For this reason all books have to go into the maintenance bay for a periodic refit, either every thirty years or every million readings, whichever comes first. For those books that suffer a high initial readership but then lose it through boredom or insufficient reader intellect, a partial refit may be in order. Salmon Thrusty's intractable masterpiece The Demonic Couplets has had its first two chapters rebuilt six times, but the rest is relatively unscathed."
Throughout the book - Fforde makes his love of books (of the writing process/relationship between author and reader, really) abundantly clear. Thinks Thursday, "Reading, I had learned, was as creative a process as writing, sometimes more so. When we read of the dying rays of the setting sun or the boom and swish of the incoming time, we should reserve as much praise for ourselves as for the author. After all - the reader is doing all the work - the writer might have died long ago." Last quote - on poetry: "Whereas story is processed in the mind in a straightforward manner, poetry bypasses rational thought and goes straight to the limbic system and lights it up like a brushfire. It's the crack cocaine of the literary world."
So combine a love of reading with a good mystery, a world where cheese is an illegal but much desired substance, there is a Toast Advisory board and the issues of the day are a declining read rate, a huge surplus of stupidity and short attention spans seem to be the order of the day...and I'm all in.
Can't wait for the next installment!!!
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LibraryThing member readafew
First Among Sequels is the 6th 5th book in the Thursday Next series. It occurs 14 years after the events in Something Rotten. In that interim Special Operations was disbanded and Thursday and some of the other ex-SO people started ACME carpets, to keep themselves employed (and cover their
Overall, it was a pretty good book and I have to say it's worth a read if you've read the others. I still think that the first book Jane Eyre is still the best (maybe because it was the first?) but this is a nice continuation. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger which is very different than all the other Fforde books I've read. Good solid book with lots of literary references (I'm sure there are more than the ones I caught!) and fun enjoyable read.
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clandestine activities). Thursday has not given up Jurisfiction either world and still spends quite a bit of her time there solving problems. When we meet up with her shes testing her fictional double (Thursday5) to see if she's Jurisfiction material. She also gets to deal with her other double Thursday1-4, as well as all her other duties. Thursday has a full plate in this book and is kept busy running from one fire to the Next.Overall, it was a pretty good book and I have to say it's worth a read if you've read the others. I still think that the first book Jane Eyre is still the best (maybe because it was the first?) but this is a nice continuation. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger which is very different than all the other Fforde books I've read. Good solid book with lots of literary references (I'm sure there are more than the ones I caught!) and fun enjoyable read.
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LibraryThing member Helenliz
This book had me somewhat confused. I felt a lot like I did in Science (aged about 13) when I had 2 weeks off with suspected Meningitis and missed the start of the section on electricity & magnetism. Even with the notes afterwards, I felt like I was missing something and it never quite made sense.
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Starting a series at book 5 shouldn't be that much of an issue (a writer who can't write a book so that you can at least grasp what's going on even if you don't start at book 1 is one of my bugbears). So this book left me largely confused as to what was going on, why it was going on and why I was supposed to care. Which is a shame, as the surmise seems intriguing, I'm just not sure that it and I connected. Show Less
LibraryThing member Snukes
I confess I was a little disappointed in this book. It seemed overly dependent on the gimmicks that were primarily background in the first four books (the methods and quirks of the Bookworld), the plot felt more shallow, and the characters less interesting. All the same, it was still fun, and I'm
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likely to keep reading future installments. Show Less
LibraryThing member lizzyb7
This is the fifth of the Thursday Next and a welcome return. I really enjoyed reading this - I think I got distracted during Something Rotten and didn't enjoy it as much as a should have done but reading this makes me think I need to go back and try again.
I love the BookWorld - it's a fantastically
It may not be the point of the book but it reminds me what an amazing process reading is. Makes me think of the Marshall McLuhan quote:
"Whence did the wond'rous mystic art arise, Of painting SPEECH, and speaking to the eyes? That we by tracing magic lines are taught, How to embody, and to colour THOUGHT?"
But it's also a highly entertaining read which also engages emotionally. From the slapstick of the dodo fanciers to the sadness of Milton's goodbye, I look forward to Thursday's return.
I love the BookWorld - it's a fantastically
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inventive creation and I think some of my favourite parts of this book was Thursday's descriptions of how that world works. It may not be the point of the book but it reminds me what an amazing process reading is. Makes me think of the Marshall McLuhan quote:
"Whence did the wond'rous mystic art arise, Of painting SPEECH, and speaking to the eyes? That we by tracing magic lines are taught, How to embody, and to colour THOUGHT?"
But it's also a highly entertaining read which also engages emotionally. From the slapstick of the dodo fanciers to the sadness of Milton's goodbye, I look forward to Thursday's return.
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LibraryThing member flouncyninja
The government is trying to figure out how to deplete the Stupidity Surplus now that the CommonSense party is in charge. The Book World is trying to stop the falling Real World read rate, and Thursday faces the increasingly dangerous Thursday from the trashy novel versions of her SpecOp/Book World
This is probably my favorite of the Thursday Next books after "The Eyre Affair". The sudden jump in time from the 1980s to 2002 really gave a lot of mystery to what had been going on in Thursday's life. The usual underlying theme of time travel causing events and Thursday fighting to put things right were mixed with two Thursday "clones" (from the meta-TN books with the Thursday Next books) working in the book world. Multiple copies of her son, a ghost of her great uncle, an imaginary daughter, the disbanding of Spec Ops and the subsequent underground version of Spec Ops that formed, and the usual shenanigans from the Acme corporation just added many levels of interesting subplot to what might have otherwise just been another adventure to save the world.
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adventures. Not to mention an alternative version of her son is threatening to replace her lazy, unwashed, real version of her son.This is probably my favorite of the Thursday Next books after "The Eyre Affair". The sudden jump in time from the 1980s to 2002 really gave a lot of mystery to what had been going on in Thursday's life. The usual underlying theme of time travel causing events and Thursday fighting to put things right were mixed with two Thursday "clones" (from the meta-TN books with the Thursday Next books) working in the book world. Multiple copies of her son, a ghost of her great uncle, an imaginary daughter, the disbanding of Spec Ops and the subsequent underground version of Spec Ops that formed, and the usual shenanigans from the Acme corporation just added many levels of interesting subplot to what might have otherwise just been another adventure to save the world.
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LibraryThing member wortklauberlein
Quirky, spot-on satire. Literary allusions fly fast and furious, unlike the plot, which moseys along. The ruling political party in this contemporary/future/past England is the Common Sense Party, elected on a platform that included depleting the Stupidity Surplus. Among the ideas for eating up the
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surplus, a reality book-TV show based on "Pride and Prejudice" and called "The Bennetts," in which viewers get to vote one Bennett out of the house each week. Also tackles those pesky time-travel paradoxes in a winning way. I'm told one should start with the first in the series, "The Eyre Affair," but I happened upon the last first, and am not sorry I did. Show Less
LibraryThing member cathyskye
First Line: The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was once again the lead story in The Owl that morning.
I stumbled across the first book in this series on a table at a local Barnes & Noble. The only reason why I bought The Eyre Affair was that I am a Jane Eyre fan-- and the plot
In Thursday Next, First Among Sequels, it's been fourteen years since the action in Something Rotten. Thursday and her husband have several children, including a very cranky sixteen-year-old named Friday. Thursday puts on her uniform and shows up for work at Carpet World in Swindon every day. But things are not quite as they seem. (If you've read Fforde, you know that last sentence is a given.)
Sherlock Holmes dies at Rheinback Falls, and the series comes to a screeching halt. Miss Marple dies in a car accident, and she's stuck her nose into her last investigation. When strange things begin to happen to Thursday's fictional self, she knows what's going on: there's a serial killer loose in the Bookworld. To top it all off, Goliath Corporation -- which has been strangely silent the past few years-- wants to deregulate book travel. It's time for the real Thursday to stand up, to stop making illegal cheese buys, and to save the Bookworld once again!
When I began reading these books, I was afraid that half the puns, other word play, and references to things British were zooming over my head at the speed of light. Now that I'm a bit older, I've mellowed. Yes, I may very well be missing some bits, but I don't care-- I love all the bits that I do understand.
These books always have an interesting storyline-- like the one in which the serial killer resides-- but there is so much more going on. Reading Fforde's take on modern society (such as the stupidity surplus) is so true that it's funny, and I laugh even though I have a good idea that I shouldn't. If you tire of social commentary, puns, satire, the twists and turns of the plot... and you just want a good laugh, reading the scene of Thursday's illegal cheese buy is out-and-out hilarious. Fforde's world is even facing declining book sales just like our world.
For those of you who have hesitated to read these books because you believe you're just not well-informed about classics like Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice, I urge you to reconsider. There's been a book or two that's been included in the series that I'm not well-acquainted with, but it really didn't make a difference. More than anything else, reading these books is all about FUN. That's "fun" in capitals-- something that we all could use a good strong dose of.
I stumbled across the first book in this series on a table at a local Barnes & Noble. The only reason why I bought The Eyre Affair was that I am a Jane Eyre fan-- and the plot
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sounded like fun. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! There is a reason why the books in this series are consistently nominated for (or winners of) the Dilys Award-- they are so filled with word play, social commentary, satire, and literary allusions that they are just plain fun to sell. I know that I've waved more than my fair share of copies of The Eyre Affair in the faces of people who asked me what I thought they should read.In Thursday Next, First Among Sequels, it's been fourteen years since the action in Something Rotten. Thursday and her husband have several children, including a very cranky sixteen-year-old named Friday. Thursday puts on her uniform and shows up for work at Carpet World in Swindon every day. But things are not quite as they seem. (If you've read Fforde, you know that last sentence is a given.)
Sherlock Holmes dies at Rheinback Falls, and the series comes to a screeching halt. Miss Marple dies in a car accident, and she's stuck her nose into her last investigation. When strange things begin to happen to Thursday's fictional self, she knows what's going on: there's a serial killer loose in the Bookworld. To top it all off, Goliath Corporation -- which has been strangely silent the past few years-- wants to deregulate book travel. It's time for the real Thursday to stand up, to stop making illegal cheese buys, and to save the Bookworld once again!
When I began reading these books, I was afraid that half the puns, other word play, and references to things British were zooming over my head at the speed of light. Now that I'm a bit older, I've mellowed. Yes, I may very well be missing some bits, but I don't care-- I love all the bits that I do understand.
These books always have an interesting storyline-- like the one in which the serial killer resides-- but there is so much more going on. Reading Fforde's take on modern society (such as the stupidity surplus) is so true that it's funny, and I laugh even though I have a good idea that I shouldn't. If you tire of social commentary, puns, satire, the twists and turns of the plot... and you just want a good laugh, reading the scene of Thursday's illegal cheese buy is out-and-out hilarious. Fforde's world is even facing declining book sales just like our world.
For those of you who have hesitated to read these books because you believe you're just not well-informed about classics like Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice, I urge you to reconsider. There's been a book or two that's been included in the series that I'm not well-acquainted with, but it really didn't make a difference. More than anything else, reading these books is all about FUN. That's "fun" in capitals-- something that we all could use a good strong dose of.
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LibraryThing member kaelirenee
While I greatly enjoyed another romp into BookWorld and a "where are they now" look at the Park-Laine-Next family, this book didn't have the same magic as the first few, or as the Jack Spratt series. Still, for anyone interested in the Thursday Next books, this is a must read. Reality books and the
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scene where she's stuck in an ethics lesson make it worth the read alone. Show Less
LibraryThing member ethelmertz
Another great read from Jasper Fforde. I had it signed by the author!
LibraryThing member tangential1
Sadly, this book did not live up to the standards set by the previous four Thursday Next novels. For one thing the plot never really got off the ground. Well into the 100 page mark we are still wading through unnecessary exposition and the by the time we find out what the central conflict is we are
The beauty of the previous novels was the simplicity of the central plot line combined with the randomness of the world he created. All of the exposition was provided in the little short paragraphs that preceded each chapter so the actual story was not cluttered with attempts to explain the mass amounts of made-up stuff that make the TN series so fun. Depressingly he really didn't achieve any of that in this one.
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at the epilogue. It definitely felt like Fforde was too caught up thinking up literary puns and providing too much nonsensical technical information for the bookworld to be bothered with a point to the story. The beauty of the previous novels was the simplicity of the central plot line combined with the randomness of the world he created. All of the exposition was provided in the little short paragraphs that preceded each chapter so the actual story was not cluttered with attempts to explain the mass amounts of made-up stuff that make the TN series so fun. Depressingly he really didn't achieve any of that in this one.
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LibraryThing member malundy
I love these books though I have to say I consider it the weakest of the series. Still, if you like the Thursday next series, you will want to read this book.
It takes place 14 years after Something Rotten and most of the SO branches have been disbanded. Thursday has several events to contend with.
For the first time, I think, Fforde introduces a contemporary fiction character who will probably figure in the next book. It is forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. He also includes some situations that could be linked to current political situations.
A great read. Recommended.
It takes place 14 years after Something Rotten and most of the SO branches have been disbanded. Thursday has several events to contend with.
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One is the possible end of time which seems to be dependent on whether or not her son Friday joins the ChronoGuard. The other is the decline of reading and the rise of reality TV shows and its effect in bookworld. She also has to contend with two bookworld version of herselfFor the first time, I think, Fforde introduces a contemporary fiction character who will probably figure in the next book. It is forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. He also includes some situations that could be linked to current political situations.
A great read. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member rcooper3589
BOOK #22
REVIEW: I had know idea this book was coming out and I was overly happy when I saw it sitting on a table at Barnes and Nobel. I couldn't wait to start reading it, and once again, Fforde has done a wonderful job! I loved this book and all the twists and turns (even though at times they
FAVORITE QUOTES: I'm trying to figure out whether the lack of progress is writer's block, procrastination, idleness or just plain incompetence. // Human's like stories. Humans need stories. Stories are good. Stories work. Story clarifies and captures the essence of the human spirit. Story, in all its forms- of life, of love, of knowledge- has traced the upward surge of mankind. And story, you mark my words, will be with the last human to draw breath, and we should be there, too, supporting that one last person. // "Nostalgia used to have a minimum twenty years before it kicked in," he said in all seriousness, "but now it's getting shorter and shorter. By the late eighties, people were doing seventies stuff, but by the mid-nineties the eighties-revival thing was in full swing. It's now 2002, and already people are talking about the nineties- soon nostalgia will catch up with the present and we won't have any need for it.
REVIEW: I had know idea this book was coming out and I was overly happy when I saw it sitting on a table at Barnes and Nobel. I couldn't wait to start reading it, and once again, Fforde has done a wonderful job! I loved this book and all the twists and turns (even though at times they
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seemed a bit deus ex machina- or however it's spelled!) the novel took. I really enjoy how Fforde's imagination just runs and we're taken along for the crazy ride. I love meeting all the fictional characters and jumping in and out of my favorite books. I also like how the more you read the more you get out Fforde's novels. I highly, highly!, recommend this book. (But be sure to read the first ones first!)FAVORITE QUOTES: I'm trying to figure out whether the lack of progress is writer's block, procrastination, idleness or just plain incompetence. // Human's like stories. Humans need stories. Stories are good. Stories work. Story clarifies and captures the essence of the human spirit. Story, in all its forms- of life, of love, of knowledge- has traced the upward surge of mankind. And story, you mark my words, will be with the last human to draw breath, and we should be there, too, supporting that one last person. // "Nostalgia used to have a minimum twenty years before it kicked in," he said in all seriousness, "but now it's getting shorter and shorter. By the late eighties, people were doing seventies stuff, but by the mid-nineties the eighties-revival thing was in full swing. It's now 2002, and already people are talking about the nineties- soon nostalgia will catch up with the present and we won't have any need for it.
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LibraryThing member PirateJenny
It's years after the events in Something Rotten and SpecOps has officially been disbanded. Consquently Thursday and many of her former coworkers are working at Acme Carpets, taking care of the strange things that are still going on. But sadly for Thursday and Bradshaw, there are no literary crimes.
This carries on the series wonderfully and leaves the perfect cliffhanger for the next book.
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In fact, nobody seems to be reading anymore. But this does leave time for Thursday to attend to duties in Jurisfiction, and there are plenty of those. She's currently training a cadet, who is a little more earthy-crunchy than Thursday would like, but really it's Thursday's own fault. There's an unnecessary refit of Austen going on. But worse, Sherlock Holmes is missing, presumed dead. And there's been an attempt on the life of Temperence Brennan. In the Outland, Friday is doing his best to be an angsty teenager, even to the point of being a member of a band, and has no interest in joining the ChronoGuard though since he saved Thursday in the past, that's kind of a problem. Felix8 is still running around trying to kill Thursday. Nobody ever seems to see the third Next child, Jenny. Oh, and Thursday hasn't told Landen that she's been working Jurisfiction.This carries on the series wonderfully and leaves the perfect cliffhanger for the next book.
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LibraryThing member chewbecca
a wonderful sequel. very glad fforde decided to write another one.
Subjects
Original publication date
2007-07-05
Other editions
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (Hardcover)