One of Our Thursdays is Missing is the sixth book in the Thursday Next series and therefore this review may contain spoilers for the previous books.
BookWorld is on the brink of a genre war. Literary detective Thursday Next is scheduled to attend peace talks with Speedy Muffler of Racy Novel but now she’s missing. Is something sinister afoot in BookWorld or has she just gone undercover? If there’s one person who knows how to find Thursday, it’s Thursday.
Thursday Next goes all meta; this instalment is not narrated by RealWorld Thursday but by BookWorld Thursday. It’s a bit slow to get into and it’s probably the weakest book of the series, but part of me wonders if this is intentional. Thursday is only an A8 character, who doesn’t have all that many readers any more (not after she replaced her sexy and violent predecessor). She’s not likely to be as convincing and captivating a character as the real Thursday, is she? And I do think the story improves as it goes on.
It’s still Jasper Fforde though so every page is entertaining even if the story isn’t perfect. If you just like reading about BookWorld, it’s still worth picking up. There’s plenty of poking fun at genre stereotypes and jokes for the grammar geeks. I did enjoy Sprockett, the robotic butler who would always be on hand to provide just the right cocktail for the occasion. Everyone needs a butler.
BookWorld has gone under a transformation too; once held in a library format, they have now been converted to a geographic model and Fiction now exists as an island. That means there’s a great map at the front of the book and if you look closely you can find such gems as MP Expenses among the genres.
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Also reviewed @ Sam Still Reading | Lucybird’s Book Blog
Book Source: Purchased
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![[gifted] Thanks @gambit589 @orbitbooks_uk for this ARC of Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy.
The blurb: Desperate to undo the curse binding them together, an impulsive sorcerer and his curmudgeonly rival venture deep into a magical forest in search of a counterspell - only to discover that magic might not be the only thing pulling them together.
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Oh, I love the Thursday Next series, but have only gotten to "Something Rotten", so I only skimmed your review in fear of spoilers 😉
But I adore the whole concept of the literature-travelling hero and the whole organisation and world "behind" the books 🙂
Thanks for linking to my review. I had to read back on it to remember what I thought!
I went to Jasper Fforde's book tour for this book, he was talking about how people always want to fit his books into a genre but that they don't really. He said they could put this one in the fantasy section though- because of the map
It'd be hard to argue that any of the books aren't fantasy. It's about jumping into books! I'm not sure the map makes any difference (I've read some historical fiction with maps too).
I love these books though I haven't read one for a year or two now, he is a brilliant writer and they are one of the few 'fantasy' type novels that I've ever read.
I read this a year or so ago and loved it. It's one of those books you feel you should have written yourself but this guy went out and did. So inventive. Great review, great website here.
I loved the first two in this series and then somehow never picked up any more of them. I really should. Sounds like they're still going strong.