Publisher's Weekly Review
With the real Thursday Next missing, the "written" Thursday Next leaves her book to undertake an assignment for the Jurisfiction Accident Investigation Department, in Fforde's wild and wacky sixth BookWorld novel (after Thursday Next: First Among Sequels). As written Thursday Next finds herself playing roles intended for her real counterpart, BookWorld's elite try to deal with a border dispute between Racy Novel and Women's Fiction. It's not always possible to know where one is in BookWorld, which has been drastically remade, or in Fforde's book, which shares the madcap makeup of Alice in Wonderland, even borrowing Alice's dodo. Outrageous puns (e.g., a restaurant called Inn Uendo) and clever observations relating to the real book world (e.g., the inhabitants of "Vanity" island now prefer Self-Published or Collaborative) abound. Fforde's diabolical meshing of insight and humor makes a "mimefield" both frightening and funny, while the reader must traverse a volume that's a minefield of unexpected and amusing twists. 10-city author tour. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
When we last saw intrepid Jurisfiction cop Thursday Next (in Thursday Next: First Among Sequels), she was, once again, kicking butt while saving both the real world and the world of literature. However, just as the BookWorld faces a major geopolitical crisis, Thursday has gone missing. Can her BookWorld equivalent, the written Thursday, find her in time to prevent war among genres? Written Thursday is less than confident as she struggles with snippy coworkers, a substitute who hits the hyphens hard and brings home goblins, relentless and homicidal Men in Plaid, and a foreboding trip up the Metaphoric River. But written Thursday does have a stellar butler, Sprockett, and her likeness to the real Thursday is very useful in the investigation, if confusing to those around her. More concerned with the inner workings of BookWorld than the alterna-England of the real Thursday, this entry gives a backstage view of the world of literature and just what happens to characters when their books aren't being read. VERDICT More metafiction fun from the best-selling Fforde-maybe not the easiest place to join the series, but a must-read for fans. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/10.]-Devon Thomas, -DevIndexing, Chelsea, MI (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
