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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Aug 2004, 384 pages
Paperback:
Jul 2005, 416 pages
Can Thursday find a Shakespeare clone to stop the hostile takeover of Hamlet by Orphelia? Can Swindon win the world croquet championship and thus prevent the end of the world? All this and more is revealed in this, the 4th volume in the Thursday Next series.
Detective Thursday Next has had her fill of her responsibilities as the Bellmanin Jurisfiction, enough with Emperor Zhark's pointlessly dramatic entrances, outbreaks of slapstick raging across pulp genres, and hacking her hair off to fill in for Joan of Arc. Packing up her son, Friday, Thursday returns to Swindon accompanied by none other than the dithering Danish prince Hamlet. Caring for both is more than a full- time job and Thursday decides it is definitely time to get her husband Landen back, if only to babysit. Luckily, those responsible for Landen's eradication, The Goliath Corporation— formerly an oppressive multinational conglomerate, now an oppressive multinational religion— have pledged to right the wrong.
But returning to SpecOps isn't a snap. When outlaw fictioneer Yorrick Kaine seeks to get himself elected dictator, he whips up a frenzy of anti-Danish sentiment and demands mass book burnings. The return of Swindon's patron saint bearing divine prophecies could spell the end of the world within five years, possibly faster if the laughably terrible Swindon Mallets don't win the Superhoop, the most important croquet tournament in the land. And if that's not bad enough, The Merry Wives of Windsor is becoming entangled with Hamlet. Can Thursday find a Shakespeare clone to stop this hostile takeover? Can she prevent the world from plunging into war? Can she vanquish Kaine before he realizes his dream of absolute power? And, most important, will she ever find reliable child care? Find out in this totally original, action-packed romp, sure to be another escapist thrill for Jasper Fforde's growing legion of fans. escapist. (The New York Times Book Review)
1
A Cretan Minotaur in Nebraska
Jurisfiction is the name given to the policing agency inside books. Working with the intelligence-gathering capabilities of Text Grand Central, the many Prose Resource Operatives at Jurisfiction work tirelessly to maintain the continuity of the narrative within the pages of all the books ever written. Performing this sometimes thankless task, Jurisfiction agents live mostly on their wits as they attempt to reconcile the author's original wishes and readers' expectations against a strict and largely pointless set of bureaucratic guidelines laid down by the Council of Genres. I headed Jurisfiction for over two years and was always astounded by the variety of the work: one day I might be attempting to coax the impossibly shy Darcy from the toilets, and the next I would be thwarting the Martians' latest attempt to invade Barnaby Rudge. It was challenging and full of bizarre twists. But when the peculiar and downright weird becomes commonplace, ...
Harriet Klausner
As usual with a Thursday Next novel, literary giants are shredded and “exposed” as Jasper Fforde takes characters like Hamlet with his foibles and places him in the real world. The latest adventures are wild, over the edge, and very amusing. Fans need to set aside time because they will be LOST IN A GOOD BOOK literally sharing SOMETHING ROTTEN affair with the heroine as she tries to keep the myriad of lost plots straight. Once again nothing is sacred as Jasper Fforde satirizes with humorous word play literature and real icons.
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