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First Among Sequels [Paperback]

Jasper Fforde (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Book Description

Publication Date: 24 July 2008
Thursday Next is back. And this time it's personal . . .Officially, Literary Detective Thursday Next is off the case. Once a key figure in the BookWorld police force, she is concentrating on her duties as a wife and mother. Or so her husband thinks . . . Unofficially, Thursday is working as hard as ever - and in this world of dangerously short attention spans, there's no rest for the literate. Can Thursday stop Pride and Prejudice being turned into a vote-em-off reality book?

Who killed Sherlock Holmes?

And will Thursday get her teenage son out of bed in time for him to save the world?

Frequently Bought Together

First Among Sequels + One of Our Thursdays is Missing (Thursday Next 6) + Something Rotten (Thursday Next 4)
Price For All Three: £17.87

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Product details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks (24 July 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0340752025
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340752029
  • Product Dimensions: 13 x 2.7 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 17,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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› Visit Amazon's Jasper Fforde Page
Jasper Fforde
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Review

'Fforde's books are more than just an ingenious idea.  They are written with buoyant zest and are tautly plotted. They have empathetic heroes and heroines who nearly make terrible mistakes and suitably dastardly villains who do.  They also have more twists and turns than Christie, and are embellished with the rich details of Dickens or Pratchett'

(Independent)

'A riot of puns, in-jokes and literary allusions that Fforde carries off with aplomb' (Daily Mail)

'Fforde is a master entertainer, and a wordsmith of dexterous genius.'

(Scotsman)

'Fans of the late Douglas Adams, or, even, Monty Python, will feel at home with Fforde'

(Herald)

About the Author

Jasper Fforde traded a varied career in the film industry for staring out of the window and sucking the end of a pencil. He lives and works in Wales and has a passion for aviation.
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant book- but start with "The Eyre Affair" and read them in order 15 July 2007
By Mr. Stuart Bruce TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
"First Among Sequels" is brilliant. I may as well mention that first.

It's a chaotic book. Other reviewers have said that the lack of a main 'villain' is disappointing, I think the opposite- Fforde juggles various plots at the same time and the result is a sort-of murder mystery where any one of several different characters, in different worlds, could be the key. Among the various plot threads are some ideas of pure genius- for example the time-travelling authority the ChronoGuard who have been happily travelling through time on the assumption that time travel would eventually be invented in order to allow them to do it, but who have now reached 23 minutes before the end of the universe only to find that time travel hasn't been invented after all so they're not sure what they're going to do about it. Fforde refers back to ideas from each of the first four books and brings new things in at the same time. These books are heading toward bursting point.

With the ongoing Thursday Next series I'd say that you should definitely start at the beginning ("The Eyre Affair"), partly because you might find "First Among Sequels" very confusing otherwise, but also because reading this book will spoil your reading of the previous books, as , unlike something like the Discworld series, you'll know who's survived and who hasn't.

The fact Fforde is now five books into the series allows him to become introspective, and weave his own books and fictional versions of his own fictional characters (fictional squared?) into the narrative. When I first read that I was worried that this book would be in danger of heading, um, up it's own bottom. Thankfully it manages to avoid that and Fforde weaves "First Among Sequels" into the original "The Eyre Affair" in a way that enriches things rather than messing them up. I was reminded of "Back To The Future II", which in my eyes is a good thing.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Fforde delivers again 18 Aug 2007
By P. G. Harris TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
If you haven't read any Japser Fforde before, go and buy the Eyre Affair, and work through the series. If you have read the earlier Thursday Next novels and are wondering whether to buy this one, it really is a no-brainer. All the usual Fforde touches are present, intricate plot, laugh out loud one liners, underlying erudition, engaging characters. One may worry that five novels in, Fforde could get tired or formulaic, but to my mind, he avoids both such traps admirably. My one gripe is that the political satire is a touch heavy handed, but that is a minor concern. Definitely recommended.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Thursday's back! 2 July 2007
By Mr. N. Haynes
Format:Hardcover
After the two Nursery Crime books featuring Jack Spratt this return to the Swindon of Thursday Next feels somewhat slow to start with; of course the inate plot complexity of inter-fiction travel, alternative Swindon, the People's Republic of Wales, the impossibility of time travel and introducing the reader to two fictional versions of Thursday mean quite some time needs to be spent filling in backstory. However once the story gets into full swing its right back to the playful perception flips of the earlier books.

This book is more satisfying than Something Rotten, its predecessor in the series with many teasing little tangents to relish - somebody stealing the jokes out of Thomas Hardy; the funniest books in literature, or the fact that the ChronoGuard could only travel in time because they assumed somebody would be bound to invent time travel at some point in the future.

That said, and whilst I loved the body of the book I was frustrated by an ending that failed to resolve the story and left the reader hanging like at the end of one of those black and white Flash Gordon episodes; cliff hangers are fine if you only have to wait another week for resolution, but two years? Give us a break!

For followers of the series this is a definite must buy, but for a first dip into the world of Jasper Fforde I'd strongly suggest you start with the Eyre Affair (the first Thursday Next book) or The Big Over Easy - a lighter, less complex read featuring stronger characterisation and more laughs.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Just read it
This series is just excellent and should be read by anyone who enjoys reading and laughing out loud!!! Muff said
Published 1 month ago by john
4.0 out of 5 stars JASPER FFIRST........
What can one say about this fella?? I was first introduced to this genius when I lived in Bassett (now RWB),strangely enough courtesy of my old mate who lived in New Brighton at... Read more
Published 2 months ago by MISERABLE LES
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book...
This book is a change of pace from the first four in the series. I think you need to read them before you come to this to understand the context and background to the story. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Anon
4.0 out of 5 stars More fun from Fforde!
I don't know how he does it, but Jasper Fforde maintains the pace throughout this funny book. Love the characters and their eccentricities!
Published 5 months ago by sarah bourne
5.0 out of 5 stars I knew his heart was in the right place ...
Sooo glad to find Fforde is a Kathy Reichs / Temperance Brennan person. Thursday 1-4 is of course pure Patricia Cornwell.
Published 10 months ago by Mike Daplyn
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
While his Nursery crime series are my favourites this is a cracking good read . perhaps not a politically sharp as Pratchett he produces bloody good books
Published 11 months ago by DiggerBoot
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent dose of Fforde
First Among Sequels is the fifth novel in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. The narration starts in 2002, some fourteen years after Something Rotten. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Cloggie Downunder
4.0 out of 5 stars Fifth among Sequels
I liked this book, honestly I did.

The first in the "Series" was a good stand-alone book, I guess the Author didn't know if anyone would like it or if he would publish... Read more
Published 24 months ago by J. Adams
4.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best so far
I must admit to start off with I wasn't especially impressed with First Among Sequels when compared to other books in the Thursday Next series, it seemed pretty slow to get going... Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2011 by Lucybird
5.0 out of 5 stars Fforde does it again!
If you're a fan of Thursday Next then you won't be disappointed as there are 3 of them in this book... Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2010 by Mrs. M. Heaton
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