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The Eyre Affair
RECOMMENDED: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is $1.99! I loved this fantasy novel and highly recommend it to readers who love the classics. Admittedly, the book does take a while to get into as you try to settle into the world building, but I think Fforde eventually finds his footing and the following books in the series just get better.
Welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, veryseriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem, militant Baconians heckle performances of Hamlet, and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense.
All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection, until someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature. When Jane Eyre is plucked from the pages of Brontë’s novel, Thursday must track down the villain and enter the novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide.
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The Bone Shard Daughter
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Steward is $2.99 and a Kindle Daily Deal! This fantasy novel was mentioned on a previous Hide Your Wallet, though I’ve heard it can be a little bit of a dark read. I think both Elyse and Carrie read it and have shared mostly favorable thoughts.
In an empire controlled by bone shard magic, Lin, the former heir to the emperor will fight to reclaim her magic and her place on the throne. The Bone Shard Daughter marks the debut of a major new voice in epic fantasy.
The emperor’s reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands.
Lin is the emperor’s daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.
Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright – and save her people.
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The Mask of Mirrors
RECOMMENDED: A Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick is $2.99 and another KDD! M.A. Carrick is the name for the writing duo of Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms. Carrie wrote a Lightning Review of this one and gave it a B+:
Readers who like political scheming, fashion as a weapon and a tool, secrets, and swashbuckling will enjoy this, and as a special treat for Tarot fans the characters have their own form of cartomancy which is described in detail in the book.
The Mask of Mirrors is the unmissable start to the Rook & Rose trilogy, a dazzling and darkly magical fantasy adventure by Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, writing together as M. A. Carrick.
Fortune favors the bold. Magic favors the liars.
Ren is a con artist who has come to the sparkling city of Nadežra with one goal: to trick her way into a noble house, securing her fortune and her sister’s future.
But as she’s drawn into the elite world of House Traementis, she realizes her masquerade is just one of many surrounding her. And as nightmare magic begins to weave its way through the City of Dreams, the poisonous feuds of its aristocrats and the shadowy dangers of its impoverished underbelly become tangled…with Ren at their heart.
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To Taste Temptation
To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt is $3.99! This is book one in the Legend of the Four Soldiers series and was mentioned in a Rec League on Historical Romance House Parties. Readers warn that the beginning is a little slow.
The ton loves a good scandal, and theyre giddy when wealthy Samuel Hartley arrives. Not only is he self-made, American, and in the habit of wearing moccasins, he is also notorious for fleeing a battle in which several English gentlemen died. What the ton doesnt know is that Samuel is in London because of this massacre. He believes his regiment was given up to the enemy and wont rest until he finds the traitor.
Lady Emeline Gordon is captivated by Samuel. Not only does he defy convention, but he survived the battle that killed her brother. Samuel suspects that the person responsible is Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, Emeline’s fiance. Though Emeline believes Vale is innocent and refuses to break off her betrothal, she and Samuel begin a passionate affair. Can their relationship survive the fallout from Samuels investigation?
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The Eyre Affair and its sequels are amazing. I’ve rec’d and gifted them to friends numerous times and the best way I can describe them as are books for people who just love books! Like, not just literature, but the actual writing process and mechanics of stories being written and read, and absorbed by the reader. There are lots of references to books I’ve never read (or even heard of) but Fforde does a good job of providing enough context that you don’t feel lost. And Thursday may be the greatest protagonist ever written: practical, industrious, clever, funny, strong moral compass, but also totally human and relatable. And her family members are such fun, too. This series is on my Squee list!
Highly recommend Mask of Mirrors. I’d also note it takes place in an LGTBQ+ normative world.
Agreeing with Laureen. And the better you know a book such as Jane Eyre or Hamlet, the more you’ll like Fforde’s books. Enjoying dreadful puns (such as “Landen Park Lane”) also helps.
Thirding the Thursday Next series along with Laureen and Msb. Fforde is the Monty Python of literature. I keep praying somebody will have the good sense to turn these into a streaming series, starring Billie Piper as Thursday.
I adore THE EYRE AFFAIR and the sequels. (I even play an online game where my moniker is Thursday Next.) I also like the Nursery Crimes series, although THE CONSTANT RABBIT was a bit much. (Very clearly a send-up of UK politics—there’s a not-at-all veiled version of Nigel Farage and UKIP.)
Now if only we could get the sequel to SHADES OF GREY—I have been waiting for YEARS…
I love the Thursday Next series, especially the first couple of books.
@FashionablyEvil: I just saw recently that there’s finally a release date for the sequel, Red Side Story – this July!
@BethB—excellent! I have a friend who’s a librarian and on various galley sites and when this one was initially announced there was a section with key selling points which included a note that Fforde had “long gaps between books. He is now back on track with regular deliveries and this is a huge opportunity to build his sales and profile further.”
I couldn’t quite tell if that was actually a selling point (seems like more a point for a personnel file?) or if his publisher had just been driven to the brink by his past behavior.
Personally, I have always sort of assumed that someone who writes stuff as wild as Fforde either has a somewhat unique connection to reality and/or enjoys recreational substances at a level that may not be conducive to a regular publication schedule.
Fforde fans, have you visited his website? I don’t think it’s been updated lately, although there are references to RED SIDE STORY and other brilliant/screwball predictions. The hours spent there will not be a waste of time (Book Updates! Swindon! Toad News!), but pack a lunch.
https://www.jasperfforde.com/appearances.html