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First Among Sequels
 
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First Among Sequels (Paperback)

by Jasper Fforde (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £9.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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First Among Sequels + Something Rotten + The Well of Lost Plots
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  • This item: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

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Product details

  • Paperback: 401 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (5 Jul 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340835753
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340835753
  • Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 13.8 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 107,449 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
'A born wordsmith of effervescent imagination' (Christina Hardyment, Independent )

‘[Fforde's] brand of inspired lunacy truly stands on its own . . . this new book completes his creation of a world of true literary comic genius' (Sunday Express on THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS )

'Don't ask, just read it. Fforde is a true original' (Sunday Express on LOST IN A GOOD BOOK )

'Ingenious – I'll watch Jasper Fforde nervously' (Terry Pratchett on THE EYRE AFFAIR )

'Jasper Fforde's imagination is a literary volcano in full spate . . . SOMETHING ROTTEN is arguably Fforde's best book yet . . . Fforde has a knack of creating memorable characters whom the reader greets like long-lost friends . . . Buy it; chuckles guaranteed.' (Independent )

'The pleasure in Fforde's quirkily brilliant books is that they can be enjoyed on so many levels by all ages.' (Sydney Morning Herald )

Product Description

Fourteen years after Thursday Next pegged out at Superhoop ‘88, her Jurisfiction job has been downgraded due to a potential conflict of interest, since her previous adventures are now themselves in print. Thursday’s time is spent worrying about her teenage son Friday and tutoring new recruits. This being fiction, however, jeopardy is never far away. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinbach falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. Before this can be righted, Miss Marple dies in a narratively inexplicable car accident, bringing her series also to a close. Thursday, receiving a death-threat clearly intended for her written self, realises what is going on – there is a serial killer is loose in the Bookworld. Meanwhile, Goliath have perfected a 22-seater Prose Portal Luxury Coach, and plan on taking literary tourists on a holiday to the works of Jane Austen. Thursday alone realises the true intent of Goliath's unwanted incursions into fiction, but she can't fight all these battles on her own. She must team up with the one person she really can't get along with – the written Thursday Next, currently starring in The Great Samuel Pepys Fiasco. But it's no time to be picky. . .



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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

First Among Sequels
63% buy the item featured on this page:
First Among Sequels 4.3 out of 5 stars (22)
£9.99
The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next)
11% buy
The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next) 4.3 out of 5 stars (94)
£5.99
Lost in a Good Book
11% buy
Lost in a Good Book 4.5 out of 5 stars (31)
£5.49
Something Rotten
8% buy
Something Rotten 4.7 out of 5 stars (19)
£5.99
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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (8)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars I always liked time travel stories, 5 Jul 2007
By Dominik Fungipani (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Amazon Germany kindly dropped this book into my mail a full week before the official publication date. Considering the novel's plot that once more revolves around various forms of time travel and its paradoxes this could of course just be a marketing scheme worthy of Goliath, indeed, but just as fine with me.
Having said that I just finished the book today, July 5th and it was a good, fluent and certainly entertaining read. The missing footnotes (see Mr Fforde's website for addendum) are a downer, but you can fill in the gaps without much trouble.
As with most of the Thursday Next series, a main plot is hard to make out. Fforde does sidesteps and elongated narratives that are seemingly unrelated to the presumed main story. Without spoilering, most of those ARE indeed connected in the end, yet some remain to be resolved in the next sequel. True to its title, the novel ends with a cliff hanger, so beware. However, I do not feel cheated but am eagerly expecting the next installment.
In all, it has everything one came to love about Thursday Next, treats you to at least three big surprises in best postmodern Fforde fashion, and finishes one of my favorite story elements for good (though you never know with this one...). As sad as this is, it is exercised beautifully. One star deduction, however, for a feeling of "could have been even better" that I did feel during the whole read. Too many things going on maybe while there is no strong antagonist (in other words: no Hades, not really at least) and the one that poses the biggest threat only gets introduced well into the second act.
Summing it up: Ffans will be more than happy to see Thursday return; people who never read any of her adventures before could start with this one - which is a surprise in its own - but I suggest picking up "The Eyre Affair" and work your way up from there.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, 17 Jul 2007
By Sarah Barker "Sarah B" (Wiltshire) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Firstly to all those people who have like me found the lack of footnotes rather irritating. If you go on to Fforde's website he explains that this is a publishing error and everyone is entitled to a free second edition with the footnotes printed. Alternatively the footnotes are also on the website to print out and stick in if you so wish.

Anyway on to the book. There aren't many words to describe how brilliant I think this book is. He has so many ideas that he cleverly weaves together with as little effort as possible. While all the time travel stuff can be somewhat confusing it's comforting to know that Thursday herself also does and as the reader all you need to know is the absolute basics!

If you live in and around Swindon this, and all the books in the series, are especially familiar. The old TK Maxx is mentioned before it moved elsewhere and having been in the store personally makes the story line written about the store even more hilarious, Chippenham is in there too and Devizes, all of which will mean nothing to most people but it's what makes me love it more!

The book leaves you champing at the bit for the next installment (which unfortunately isn't out until 2009!) as the ending is left on a huge cliff hanger leaving you wondering at Thursday's fate.

Anyway this is an absolute must for a Fforde fan. However if you're a newby to this series start at the beginning, it'll make much more sense.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Thursday's back!, 2 Jul 2007
By Mr. N. Haynes "Stern" (Blighty) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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 Another brilliant book from Fforde!
I didn't think that Fforde could possibly manage another Thursday Next book that was as good as the original series, but he has managed it and more! Read more
Published 25 days ago by Larewen Evenstar

5.0 out of 5 stars Timelessly Entertaining
I can only give Jasper Fforde so much praise before I just start repeating myself.

This latest offering (with the return of Thursday Next) is absolutely amazing and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Pheonix329

3.0 out of 5 stars Bottom of the pile
There is a whole lot going on in this book, maybe too much. There are several episodes that are totally self contained and seem to be included as padding to make the book longer... Read more
Published 11 months ago by L. Hogan

5.0 out of 5 stars Another cracker from Jasper
I don't laugh out loud much these days - but if I do I'm probably reading a Fforde novel. Having browsed the earlier reviews on this site I would add these comments: I agree there... Read more
Published 17 months ago by APJ

4.0 out of 5 stars A bridge novel?
The first four Thursday Next novels were contained within a story arc that ended with the fourth novel. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Ray Blake

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate in Literate Satire and Imaginative Story Telling
In the Thursday Next series, we've been taken into a Wonderland of imagination that creates a humorous, whimsical place where stories and characters are born, develop, thrive, and... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Professor Donald Mitchell

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate in Literate Satire and Imaginative Story Telling
In the Thursday Next series, we've been taken into a Wonderland of imagination that creates a humorous, whimsical place where stories and characters are born, develop, thrive, and... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Professor Donald Mitchell

4.0 out of 5 stars Frothy, fast and fun fun fun
Relentless pace and crazy ideas that other authors would devote a whole book to are taken up, turned over for a joke and discarded inside a few pages. Read more
Published 21 months ago by sam

5.0 out of 5 stars Well I Loved it
Yes Jaspers back again another madcap story that wanders all over the place but what the hell it was entertaining stuff,I have loved all of the previous books and this is no... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Stephen F. Wilkins

4.0 out of 5 stars Still good, but not AS good as the previous Thursday Next novels
This is by far the weakest of the 5 Thursday Next novels thus far written. While still original, entertaining and by turns laugh out loud funny and incredibly creepy, it doesn't... Read more
Published 22 months ago by alimarcam

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