Book Review: The Eyre Affair

The Eyre Affair
A Thursday Next Novel
by Jasper Fforde
Rating: 5 starts out of 5
"it was amazing"

Here is another recommendation from one of my sisters, and Melanie always passes on excellent books. This is book one in a series I will most definitely be reading. In fact Melanie says they only get better from here.

Fforde has a way with words, and an obvious sense of humor. Thursday Next is the name of our main character and heroine. She works in Special Ops as a LiteraTech (Literary Detective). Our story begins when a Dickens manuscript is stolen and SpecOps is called in to investigate. The bad guy, Acheron Hades (Fforde creates great names for characters), has stolen the manuscript for his own evil purposes. It's an original, so if he alters it then all other copies will be altered as well. Hades then kidnaps Thursdays Uncle who has invented a portal that allows someone to enter into a book. Hades goes inside and snatches a character from the book that he then has killed. This outrages the community as a whole. But this was a small taste to get their attention. The main character is next if his demands are not met.

Wow, there is way too much going on in this book to do any sort of sufficient summary. Long story short, the Dickens manuscript is burned and Hades needs a new one. He goes after Jane Eyre herself this time. It's now up to Thursday to track down Acheron Hades get Jane Eyre back in her novel and set things right.

Jasper Fforde is very funny and clever with his wordplay throughout the book. It made for a very enjoyable read, even if I occasionally had to reread a paragraph to make sure I understood what was said.

One of the reasons I enjoyed Thursday’s character so much is that she is a kick-butt female lead. She takes action and gets the job done when no one else will do it. Plus she has morals too.

next book: a re-read of Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier