“The ‘Alive’ simulator at the BookWorld Conference is one of those devices that all characters should try at least once. The experience of being real has two purposes: firstly, to assist characters in their quest for a greater understanding of people and, secondly, to discourage characters from ever attempting to escape to the RealWorld. Most customers last ten minutes before hitting the panic button and being led shaken from the simulator.”

Book Review:

Review by Eleanor Bukowsky  (MAR 8, 2011)

In Jasper Fforde’s One of Our Thursdays is Missing, the fictional Thursday Next takes center stage. Although she and the real Thursday look alike, they differ in a number of ways. The real Thursday Next is a veteran agent of Jurisfiction, fiction’s “policing elite.” She’s tough and ruthless towards her enemies, and will do anything to protect the integrity of the BookWorld. Her fictional counterpart, on the other hand, is gentle and dignified. She would rather hug than fight. As originally written, Thursday was a “violent and disorderly” character “who slept her way around the BookWorld and caused no end of murder, misery and despair.” The fictional Thursday toned down the character considerably, which led to a precipitous drop in readership. When the real Thursday (let’s call her RT) goes missing, the fictional Thursday (FT) steps up to the plate, endangering her life to find RT and keep the enemies of the BookWorld from starting a Genre War.

Fforde indulges in his unique brand of inspired insanity, sprinkling his narrative with a plethora of puns, satirical jibes (FT opens her door to greet three “Dostogerskivites”–refugees from “Crime and Punishment”– who state that are on their way home from “a redemption-through-suffering training course”), wacky chase scenes, and a great deal of assorted mayhem. Those who have not read the previous installments of this series will be hopelessly lost. Even regulars will need to be on their toes to keep up with the byzantine plot.

FT is tapped to do a job for the JAID, the Jurisfiction Accident Investigation Department. Along with her butler, a loyal and highly competent robot named Spockett, she undertakes the task, only to find that it is a far more dangerous job than she had first imagined. Her adventures will take her on a brief foray into the RealWorld, where she has a poignant encounter with Landon, RT’s beloved husband. Upon returning to the BookWorld, she will need all of her wits, acting talent, and courage to stay alive and find Thursday before it is too late. Much to her chagrin, she and Sprockett are being stalked by the tenacious and deadly “Men in Plaid.”

One of Our Thursdays is Missing is hopelessly silly and incredibly imaginative. If you look carefully, you will notice that Fforde slips in insightful commentary about such topics as the economic downturn, the rise of e-readers, trendy publishing fads (fantasy and vampires are on an upswing), vanity presses, faked memoirs, and pseudo-intellectuals. Those who love literary allusions, clever spoofs, and original and off-beat plots and characters will find this installment a welcome and entertaining addition to the Thursday Next canon.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 50 readers
PUBLISHER:	Viking Adult (March 8, 2011)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Jasper Fforde
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review: Shades of Grey Nursery Crime series: The Big Over Easy The Fourth Bear And more Thursday Next novels: Lost in a Good Book The Well of Lost Plots Something Rotten First Among Sequels

Bibliography:

Thursday Next Series:

• The Eyre Affair (2002)
• Lost in a Good Book (2003)
• The Well of Lost Plots (2004)
• Something Rotten (2004)
• First Amongst Sequels (2007)
• One of our Thursdays is Missing (2011)
• The Woman Who Died a Lot (October 2012)

Nursery Crimes:

• The Big Over Easy (2005)
• The Fourth Bear (2006)

Colors Trilogy:

• Shades of Grey (2010)

The Dragonslayer Series:

• The Last Dragonslayer (2010 UK; October 2012 US)
• The Song of the Quarkbeast (2011 UK; 2013 US)
• The Return of Shandar (2012 UK; 2014 US)

“I looked into the darkness and tried to visualize where Travis might be. Although I couldn’t see anything, the road in front of me led past the flak tower, through the empty grassland, past the bridge and, beyond that, to the linoleum factory.

And then I heard him. A series of short cries as the night terrors began to take hold. No one was immune, not even the wisest prefect or sagest Colorman. We all knew what it was like – even indoors the absence of light has an effect upon the senses that brought forth a multitude of terrifying apparitions. But only if you panicked, and let the terror get a hold. Once you were in the grip of a night terror, it would take nerves of steel to get you out.

Without thinking, I slipped off my shoes and socks and felt the warmth of the Perpetulite on my feet. If I didn’t stray from the roadway, I would have nothing to fear.”

Book Review:

Review by Ann Wilkes (JAN 1, 2010)

Reading Shades of Grey requires a shift in perspective. In this fantasy world of Jasper Fforde’s one’s place in society is based on their perception of color and which colors they can perceive. People wear a small badge or “spot” to indicate their hue perceptivity.

The Word of Munsell, or the Rules, governs everything in this grey world. Even what you wear, how you tie your tie, what you may say, where you may go, etc. They also forbid, without explanation, counting sheep, making new spoons and using acronyms, among other crazy things. The Previous, the people who lived before the Something That Happened left their technology behind, but none of their history survives intact. The Collective of the Colortocracy is ignorant of its own history. Every living creature is bar-coded – even the people. Much of the technology from before the Something That Happened gets “Leaped Back,” or rendered unusable because it doesn’t fit into the new order for reasons the Colortocracy doesn’t explain.

The protagonist, a young man by the name of Eddie Russet is sent to the Outer Fringes to conduct a chair census to learn humility after playing a prank on the prefect’s son. His swatchman father is invited to fill in for East Carmine’s swatchman so accompanies Eddie to that village in the Outer Fringes. Instead of doctors, this backward future Earth has swatchmen who heal their patients by showing them a swatch of the prescribed hue for their particular ailment.

On the way to East Carmine, Eddie and his father happen on a man in a paint shop who dies while wearing the wrong color spot and Eddie meets and takes a fancy to Jane who will later leave him for dead, hanging upside down over the maw of a man-eating plant.

“The last time you smiled at me I found myself under a yateveo.”

She laughed. The sound was lovely – yet quite out of character. It would be like hearing a fish sneeze. “Honestly,” she said, “are you going to drag that up every time we meet? So I threatened to kill you. What’s the big deal?”

“How can you not think it’s a big deal?”

“Okay, I’ll demonstrate. You threaten to kill me.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Come on, Red, don’t be such a baby.”

“All right: I’ll kill you.”

“You have to say it like you mean it.”

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

And she punched me in the eye.

Once in East Carmine, Eddie’s curiosity, his desire to improve things, his ambition to marry up the color wheel and his love for Jane lead him into one adventure after another.

Fforde’s wit and unmatched talent for satire make this first book of his newest trilogy another winner. Layers upon layers of intrigue and betrayal move the story toward revelation after bizarre revelation. I will miss Eddie and his grey world, but I wish Fforde had not left so many new questions unanswered in the end. I will, of course, pounce on the next volume as soon as it’s available.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 121 readers
PUBLISHER:	Viking Adult (December 29, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Ann Wilkes
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Jasper Fforde
EXTRAS:	Official site for Shades of GreyExcerpt Ann Wilke’s interview with Jasper Fforde
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Thursday Next series: Lost in a Good Book The Well of Lost Plots Something Rotten First Among Sequels One of Our Thursdays is Missing Nursery Crime series: The Big Over Easy The Fourth Bear

Bibliography:

Thursday Next Series:

• The Eyre Affair (2002)
• Lost in a Good Book (2003)
• The Well of Lost Plots (2004)
• Something Rotten (2004)
• First Amongst Sequels (2007)
• One of our Thursdays is Missing (2011)
• The Woman Who Died a Lot (October 2012)

Nursery Crimes:

• The Big Over Easy (2005)
• The Fourth Bear (2006)

Colors Trilogy:

• Shades of Grey (2010)

The Dragonslayer Series:

• The Last Dragonslayer (2010 UK; October 2012 US)
• The Song of the Quarkbeast (2011 UK; 2013 US)
• The Return of Shandar (2012 UK; 2014 US)