The Woman Who Died a Lot

The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just sit back and enjoy the wacky ride. Thursday Next is back, a bit more battered than before but still just as determined to save the world from the Goliath Corporation. This time around she's also battling to save the library budget from elimination, find a missing criminal who can manipulate memories, prevent an imminent scheduled smiting of the Swindon business district by the Global Standard Deity, discover the purpose of the illegal body doubles, find out what Jack Schitt is plotting and stop him, keep a genius daughter with bad taste in boyfriends on track to get her Anti-Smite Shield invention working, and figure out why her son is going to murder someone on Friday at 14:02. Among other things. It's a whirlwind of complicated and crazy subplots.

Favorite moments: the reference to Nancy Pearl on page 100!  Thursday's desk has a dedicated red phone with a single button labeled "NP."  It's the emergency hotline to Nancy at the World League of Librarians, and if you summon her, she'll be on the first gravitube from Seattle.  HA!  Also, page 108 and the "Shush Law" that OK'ed violence by librarians against thieves and vandals.

What I love most about Fforde's novels is that they are so very chaotic and zany. They are nonstop action and nonsense that somehow come together in the end to make perfect sense in their own unique way. This series is pure fun , and I love escaping into Fforde's crazy reality.

For reader's advisors: setting and story doorways. Some mild swearing.

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The Last Dragonslayer

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange is a foundling, raised by the Sisterhood (officially "The Blessed Ladies of the Lobster") and serving out her indentured servitude as the acting manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management, an organization of kooky wizards who do magic for hire. Magic has been steadily fading lately, however, and business is bad. And then one day there is a widespread premonition that Maltcassion, the last dragon, will be killed by the last Dragonslayer on Sunday at noon. Big Magic is coming, war is imminent...and Jennifer is right at the center of it.

Fans of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series will recognize his wacky sense of humor--just dive right in and go with it! The setting is again an alternate reality Britain, albeit a different version this time. Great fun for both teens and adults.

For readers' advisors: Setting and story doorways



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One of Our Thursdays Is Missing

One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Thursday Next is back! Or no, wait, Thursday Next is missing! It's up to the written Thursday, with the assistance of her trusty butler, Sprockett, to figure out what happened to her. What was she working on when she vanished, why did a book with its ISBN number scrubbed off suddenly dissolve and scatter a long swath of debris across numerous genres, and what is up with the murderous Men in Plaid?

The latest installment in the Thursday Next series takes place almost entirely within BookWorld. Fforde keeps readers on their toes with his literary humor, complicated plot twists, and off-the-wall imagination. I can't wait for the next one--there are lots of loose ends just waiting to be tied up. Or not. It is Jasper Fforde, after all. :)

For readers' advisors: setting and story doorways



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