Reviews

I love Miss Havisham in this book. She's hilarious, and turns the character into something so different than what Dickens created which is a good thing. This book was an excellent sequel that expanded Thursday's world into a whole second one. I really enjoyed the story here as Thursday learned her way around the book world and Jurisfiction. Fforde really picks up speed with his series.

lesserjoke's review against another edition

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2.0

Two books in, I think I have to conclude that this series is just not working for me. There are plenty of clever ideas, but they're delivered in such a scattershot manner that none of it really coheres together. I'm frustrated by the lack of clear rules for the central notion of 'jurisfiction,' and I don't get the same enjoyment that author Jasper Fforde apparently does from seeing classic literary characters like Miss Havisham behave in incongruous ways. Perhaps the series would work better in a short story format, given how Fforde prioritizes individual scenes over an overarching plot, but I find that these first two novels are not living up to its potential.

sandrinepal's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Bit of a meh. I found myself zoning out repeatedly. The whodunnit drive is much weaker than in the first installment and the plotlines end up feeling hopelessly tangled. It made it that much harder to care. Also, the time spent in books was less focused and spread across many different books, instead of the deep dive into Jane Eyre which felt so enjoyable in The Eyre Affair. In the first book, I did feel like there was a honeymoon period of discovering all the idiosyncrasies of the Thursday Next universe, but in this second tome, Fforde just keeps adding new quirks at every turn and instead of being charming, it just becomes tiresome. 2.5 stars.

moond4ncer's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

fellrnr's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

Another silly, absurd, intelligent book. Not quite as good as the first, but still a lot of fun

mastercabs's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I love Fforde. I will continue reading the Thursday Next books until I run out of them. This did a good job of expanding the already rich universe set out in The Eyre Affair. The characters are well fleshed out and interesting. The near end of the story (and existence) was as surprising as it was interesting. Based on what I've read about potentially world-ending cataclysms, this was almost more scary than amusing.

SPOILER:

I didn't give this a 5/5 because it just didn't interest me as much as some of Fforde's other books. Landon, as a friend of mine pointed out, didn't make me like him enough to feel his absence, which was sort of integral to the story here.
All-in-all, this was another good book in which to get lost.

seyda_neen's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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