If you like creative word-play, dangerous situations, and endearing characters, then Jasper Fforde is the author for you! For those of you who read my post on Walter Moers and liked what you saw, I encourage you to also give Jasper Fforde a try.
Fforde has written several series, in addition to a few stand-alone novels. When sharing a series, I’ll also link the second book for continued reading!
The Eyre Affair is the book that hooked me. Thursday Next is a literary detective. This usually means busting up counterfeiting rings and tracking down stolen manuscripts. But, then he appears. A man whose name cannot be spoken because he will hear it and know. A man so powerful that he can reach right into a book and snatch the characters out of the pages. And kill them. While horrible on its own, it is made all the worse because once a character is dead in the real world, they’re gone, as though they never existed–even in their own books. The kidnappings have started with minor characters, but soon higher-profile targets are selected. So, when Jane Eyre is next on the chopping block, Thursday must find a way to track down her kidnapper before it’s too late.
If you liked this title, the series continues with: Lost in a Good Book.
In Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron, your place in society is determined by your vision. Not your ideas for bettering the world, but your actual sight. What colors can you see? Eddie Russett, our hapless hero, is a Red. He can only see colors on the lower end of the spectrum. If something is not a shade of red, it is black, white, or grey. Despite his low class status, Eddie is fine with the way things are. That is, until he meets Jane, a Grey who shows him that the finely ordered society is not as idyllic as he once thought it was. Told from his position hanging upside-down in the maw of a carnivorous plant (where Jane has pushed him), Eddie struggles to share the story of how he got there, before he’s eaten alive.
Magic was once an indispensable part of life. But, now the magic is drying up. Jennifer Strange, a young foundling who runs an employment agency for magicians, has her work cut out for her, because her clients are losing their powers. And of course, there are the visions. Jennifer is plagued by prophecies of the death of the last dragon at the hands of a mystical dragonslayer. And something else is coming. Something big and magical. The Last Dragonslayer is Fforde’s first book written for children and teens.
If you liked this title, the series continues with Song of the Quarkbeast.
During the cold winter months, humanity goes into hibernation. Well, that is to say….most of humanity goes into hibernation. Charlie Worthing is part of a small group whose job it is to monitor the rest of humanity as they go sleep away the cold weather. But, then the dreams start. At first, they’re just nightmares experienced by the hibernating masses. But, then, the dreams start to kill. When Charlie starts having the dreams, too, things get scary–especially when his visions start coming true. Find out what happens next in Fforde’s newest book, Early Riser!
