First Among Sequels

A Thursday Next Novel

By: Jasper Fforde

Narrated by: Emily Gray

Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Beloved for his prodigious imagination, his satirical gifts, his literate humor, and sheer silliness, Jasper Fforde has delighted book lovers since Thursday Next first appeared in The Eyre Affair, a genre send-up hailed as an instant classic. Since the no-nonsense literary detective from Swindon made her debut, literature has never been quite the same. Neither have nursery rhymes, for that matter. With two successful books of the Nursery Crime series under his belt, Fforde once again takes up the brilliant adventures of his signature creation in the highly anticipated fifth installment of the Thursday Next series. And it's better than ever.

It's been 14 years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult 16-year-old. However, Thursday's got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinback Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes what's going on: there is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And that's not all: The Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel.

Packed with word play, bizarre and entertaining subplots, and old-fashioned suspense, Thursday's return is sure to be celebrated by Jasper's fanatical fans and the critics who have loved him since the beginning.

Delve into Jasper Fforde's literary universe with the other books in his Thursday Next fantasy/detective series.

©2007 Jasper Fforde (P)2007 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Fans of satiric literary humor are in for a treat." ( Publishers Weekly)

Just Fun

I have loved the Thursday Next books, but I worry they've run their course. The creativity is still there -- cheese smuggling and fictional piano juggling. I imagine jasper putting a bunch of random concepts on slips of paper and pulling two out and trying to figure out how to make them weave together into a story. This is great fun, but the story has lost steam. The exciting bits are mostly gone and the evil twin(s) scenario -- designed no doubt to lambast pulp fiction -- just don't motivate the same way as restoring an eradicated lover or defeating a nemesis like Acheron Hades. Even Goliath has taken a back seat in this one. Fforde talks about what happens to serial novels gone soft. I hope he didn't just do it here.

awesome

It started a little slow, and I thought maybe Thursday had been tapped out. But then it became one of the best books I have listened to. As usual he wraps up all the loose ends, even ones that you hadn't realized were loose. Very satisfying.

The narrator was wonderful. She nailed every voice (male and female) so well that I never thought about who was reading, just the character.

Fun as ususal

I highly recommend reading Jasper Fforde's series about the magic world of books in the order in which they were written. Not to do so will confuse the reader. Having said that - the newest book, while not the best - is great fun and leaves the reader with a cliff-hanger for an ending. Can't wait for the "Second Among Sequals."

love these books

Thursday Next has wonderful escapades into the book world. It is a great way to imagination.

One of my top five 🤪

A favorite of mine that I just had to hear again. It has been several years but it still lives up

Another Good One

Narrator dd an excellent job, especially differentiating between copies of the same character. Aworthy addition to the series.

Some Kind of Magic?

Its amazing that an entire series can be written about the power of British pluck. Anything could happen in these stories. No device needs to be supported by the rest of the story as long as the main character has her tea at regular intervals.
This series is not bad, and its not very good either, and inexplicably, I have read every single book in the series and am looking forward to more. how could I possibly rate this without missleading a little.

Enjoyable twist on Sherlock

Good read and the narrator is good. But, if you are going to have Sherlock in the story, you know his character would have been much more dynamic to make it believable.

Oh No, Another Cliffhanger

The story continues a few years after the last Tuesday Next adventure with a lot of great twists and turns. At several points you'll think th e story is about to wrap up but there will be another plot twist. Lots of laugh out loud humor, too, as usual. Can't wait to get into the next one!

Most fun series ever!

I love the Thursday Next series. If you're a book nerd who loves the classics and wordplay and alternate universes and hardboiled detective stories and straight up mysteries and a bit of scifi and time travel, this is for you. Jasper Fforde is endlessly clever and inventive. All these books stand alone just fine by themselves, but if you're patient enough to work your way through them all you'll discover Fforde has done something more significant than just write a bunch of random sequels.