Thursday has decided to return to Swindon, although she enjoys her job in the book world. When her son Friday starts speaking Lorem Ipsum she knows she has to return to the real world to raise him. Beyond that, she also wants to find a way to uneradicate her husband, Landen, who has never met his son, and she finds herself in charge of protecting Hamlet. There’s also an all-important croquet match to be won, some time travelling of course, and a few discoveries along the way that make this installment a must-read for fans of the series so far.
I’ve always enjoyed this series, but I think I liked this book better than the rest. I found it a little hard to get into – it’s that adjustment period fitting myself back into Fforde’s world – but once I was in I was hooked, and a bit sorry it had taken me so long to actually get to this particular book. Once I remembered where I was, all those emotional connections came back, and I was really wrapped up in the story, particularly Thursday’s quest to get her husband back. Being apart from the one you love is pretty terrible, and even in a fictional world, the fact that no one remembered him was just heartbreaking.
The story for itself was quite a good one, too, and I just love the huge number of literary references scattered throughout. Hamlet was pretty obviously the big one for this book, although there is quite a memorable scene with the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. Fforde pulls in some historical references too with Thursday’s time traveling father, which obviously just pulled me in even further; there isn’t much I like better than fantasy AND history in one book! Especially when the book has an ending as wonderful as this one did – I’m almost not sure I want to go to the next one, but I’m also very curious about what happens next.
This is a bit of a short review as I’m never sure where to go with series books that I’ve already reviewed some of, so I’ll just leave you by saying I enjoyed Something Rotten very much. The whole Thursday Next series is wonderful for those who enjoy fantasy or science fiction and, of course, books.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
I’ve been meaning to read Jasper Fforde for so long, but just haven’t gotten my hands on any of his books. This is the series I plan to start with though… Soon…
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I love these books so much, and each one is like literary candy for me. I can’t wait to see if he is going to come out with another one, although I have heard amazing things about Shades of Gray (which I have on my Kindle, but have not yet read) He also has the Nursery Crimes series out, which I haven’t tried yet either. I just love Fforde and think he’s an amazing author. So glad to know that you loved these books too!
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Thursday is one of my favorite literary characters and she gets better with each book (my favorite from the series is “First Amongs Sequels”, followed by “Something Rotten”). I keep obsessively checking Jasper’s website to see what he’s doing and if he’s announced the release for Thursday’s next book.
This is one series I keep meaning to get to – I’ve read so many great reviews!
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That’s just how I felt about the last Thursday Next book. It took me a little while to readjust, but once I did, I loved it best of all!
I really enjoyed this one, but I think I might have read it too soon after the others. I do like to leave a little space between Fforde’s books–but not too much, or I start forgetting things.
I wonder if anyone has named their kid Thursday because of these books….