Dark Reading Matter

I'm back home and had a lovely time visiting my mom. The good thing about 3+ hour plane rides is the uninterrupted reading time. This meant that I have now finished reading Dark Reading Matter by Jasper Afford, the book my mom bought me on Friday. 

Since it has been a long time since the last Thursday Next book has been published and because this was the last book in the series, I didn't know what to expect. It felt as though there was the possibility of it either being really good or really bad. It had also been several years since I had last read the series, back when I read it out loud at tea time after we had finished Jane Eyre. I wondered if I would remember enough of it for this book to make sense. It was with a bit of trepidation that I jumped in. 

I'm happy to report I really enjoyed it! I think if you love the Thursday Next series then you will enjoy it as well. If you don't know the series, this particular book is not the place to begin. It will be utterly baffling. If you like the series but it's been a while, as long as you remember the basic story arcs, main characters, and understand the quirks of both Thursday's version of England and of the book world, you should be okay. Jasper Fford does a good job of reminding readers of what has happened and there are more than a few mentions about the length of the gap between the books. 

This book has everything I love about the series... word play, literary references, satire (so much satire), cultural and political commentary, footnotes, etc. Many of my favorite characters made an appearance, if only for brief cameos. I was kind of hoping that the author had figured out a way to allow Miss Havisham to appear if only briefly, but alas, this was not to be. 

Even as I was reading (and enjoying) it I was still wondering how the entire series was going to be wrapped up to make it feel complete. I'm not going to give any hint of a spoiler, but I will say that the ending was just about perfect in my opinion. It made me smile as I closed the book. I found it very, very satisfying. 

If you're a Thursday Next fan, run out and get a copy and read it. If you've never read Thursday Next (despite my related urgings over the past twenty years), go find a copy of The Eyre Affair and begin there. At least by starting now you know the series is complete and you don't have to wait around for twelve years for it to come out. 

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