Rating: 
Summary: suspenseful literary fun. :)
Review: this book is almost too clever for its own good. almost. thursday next, the heroine with a past, engages in a genre-jumping, hair raising, time traveling adventure that will warm the cockles of bookworms everywhere. thursday pursues the second most wanted man in england, the perfectly named archeron hades, as he sets out to destroy national literary treasures by altering original manuscripts. fforde pulls from so many different genres to assemble "the eyre affair" that the assigned categories of "science fiction" and "fantasy" are certainly underinclusive. however, he does create a very complete and convincing world for the story to take place within - the hallmark of any decent fantasy book. i wish that the characters had been developed more, but i suspect that that is what the rest of the series is for...book lovers will delight in the hundreds of literary allusions (both subtle and blatant), as well as the epigraphs. i especially liked the teasing snippets from thursday's autobiography. fforde's digs at government secrecy and the blurred line between corporate power and government power are both humorous and incisive. good stuff all around.
Rating:
Summary: smart and funny with a bit of everything
Review: "The Eyre Affair" is a wonderful read. Set in an alternate history where literature, philosophy, and art inspire passionate debate and even rioting among the general populace, the book tells the story of literary police agent Thursday Next. In Thursday's world, time travel is possible and the line between fiction and reality is blurred. Using his unusual powers, the aptly named Acheron Hades has managed to hijack Jane Eyre - the woman, and thus the book. Thursday must set the world of literature right, capture the evildoer, and save her own skin. Everything about this book is likeable. It has elements of many several - detective, science fiction, literary references, even a romantic subplot. The characters, while underdeveloped, are quirky and entertaining. The story is readable and absorbing. It's not classic literature, and it's written with the bare nonchalance of many detective stories, but it sets out to delight and surprise and entertain, and it succeeds. It's the perfect Saturday pastime for any lover of books.
Rating:
Summary: A Literary Fantasy? One Must Pause And Consider.
Review: One must pause and consider, but not for long, or your local bookseller won't have this charming, literate, amazing, and altogether incredible work on its shelves. Someone quicker than you might have snatched the last copy. This is a book for real biblophiles to share. The inside jokes and references send you scurrying for the originals, dictionaries, bios, and god knows what else, which is not good, because it detracts from the story. Alternate history/universe; true. Premise; ungodly and unheard of (except in university English departments, where literary theft is an open secret provided, of course, you only steal fromt the best). Characters and dialogue; so entertaining that you'll miss that obscure reference to Beawolf because your eyes are still tearing from the belly-laugh that preceeded it. Thursday Next is a unique character, combining traits of Miss Marpel, Emma Steele (ala THE AVENGERS), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (although far too hip and sophisticated for the more sophomoric elements), and a mature and savy Hermione Granger! She's just right, for the world she inhabits. And that world will give any serious reader pause, and probably "un-serious" said reader for the duration of the story! "The Eyre Affair" is pure fun, start to finish. Oh, it's a roller-coaster, make no mistake. A slow, sedate leaving of the gate, one really high hill to climb (suspension of disbelief), but once over the top, you'd better hang on with both hands! This ride is merciless, and doesn't let up, chapter after chapter after chapter of unending twists, turns, surprises, thrills, tenderness, affection, love, horror, honor, and at rock-bottom, humanity. So my hat, so firmly planted about my ears for much too long, has been tossed gaily into the air. A little roof-top shouting is not too much for this FIRST novel. I haven't been this excited about a FIRST novel since "LOSING JULIA," although for altogether different reasons. Just trust me. Read it. Enjoy it. Then be jealous of whom you give a copy to, knowing THEY'RE about to read it for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: Witty sci-fi
Review: The Eyre Affair is set in a parallel world where time travel is commonplace and literature is held in high regard. Thursday Next is an operative in the Special Operations Network's Literary Division. When Thursday is recruited to help capture high profile criminal, Acheron Hades, she's thrilled at the chance for career advancement. However, Acheron comes up with a devious plot to kidnap literary characters and forever change the novels they come from. I picked up this book because Jane Eyre is one of my absolute favorite books. I couldn't pass up the chance to see familiar characters in new situations. I was pleasantly surprised that the entire book, not just the Jane Eyre parts, were highly enjoyable. The setting is quirky and interesting and Thursday is a heroine I'd gladly keep reading about. Fforde could certainly get a lot of mileage out of this series before it gets stale. The writing is witty and full of literary jokes. A good portion of the book is purely Sci-Fi so people who can't stand that genre may want to skip it.
Rating: 
Summary: Bedazzle
Review: Thursday Next is a Special Operative in literary detection in an England of 1985 where time travel is routine for some and altering literature is a serious offense. A man from Thursday's past named Acheron Hades is quickly gaining attention for his heinous crimes, especially after he steals the original manuscript for "Martin Chuzzlewit". Thursday's uncle has created a machine through which one can enter books, and Hades has kidnapped him. After killing off a minor character in the book, Next and her fellow operatives know Hades means business, and when he next steals the original "Jane Eyre", Thursday takes it personally because it's her favorite book. In this wildly imaginative thriller, Jasper Fforde keeps readers dazzled with his quirky tale that references pop culture, literary classics, and historical alternatives. "The Eyre Affair" is a witty book that will delight many bibliophiles and will leave many heads spinning.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't Finish It
Review: I was excited to read this book. It sounded imaginative, fun and different; especially when somebody compared this to the works of the late Douglas Adams. Instead, it was just boring. I read about half this book and it just did not grab me. No, I'm sorry, not at all. I've since decided to move on to something different.
Rating:
Summary: A wild trip into an alternative universe.
Review: Jasper Fforde has a rich imagination that moves in wacky directions, an off-the-wall sense of humor that never quits, and a deep knowledge and love of literature which give shape and substance to this hilarious "thing" he's created. Not really a mystery, sci-fi thriller, satire, or fluffy fantasy, this wild rumpus contains elements of all these but feels like a completely new genre. Fforde combines "real" people from the "historically challenged" world of his plot with characters from classic novels, adding dollops of word play, irony, literary humor, satire--and even a dodo bird--just for spice. With "real" characters who can stop time or travel back and forth in it, hear their own names (the names here are really terrific!) from 1000 yards away, appear in duplicate before themselves to give advice, travel inside books, and change the outcome of history, the reader journeys through Fforde's looking glass into a different and far more literary universe than the one we know. Thursday Next, a SpecOp-27 in the Literary Detective Division of Special Operations, is looking for Acheron Hades, who has stolen the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and killed one of the characters in it, thereby changing the story forever. Thursday and the Literatecs are trying to prevent him from getting inside Jane Eyre and committing further murders. If you have not read Jane Eyre recently, your pleasure in this book will be greatly enhanced if you look up a brief plot summary on-line before proceeding too far--the ending of Jane Eyre as we know it is different from the ending of Jane Eyre as Thursday Next knows it, and the differences themselves become a delightful part of this plot. Though some readers seem to feel that the book would benefit from a bit of pruning in order to strengthen its conclusion, that suggestion seems to me to be too much like Acheron Hades changing Martin Chuzzlewit or Jane Eyre--if you do that, something is irreparably lost--and this book is so much fun that I'd hate to lose even a single word!
Rating: 
Summary: Very Clever, but....
Review: A lot of credit has to be given to Jasper Fforde for creating a parallel universe that is quite quirky and very fun to explore. England is embroiled in a 130 year war with Imperial Russia over the Crimean Penninsula. There is tension along the British border with the People's Republic of Wales--a totalitarian regime. French Revisionists are apparently traveling back in time to wipe out British heros (Churchill, Nelson etc). Long distance travel is done by zeppelin. People keep extinct creatures as pets (our heroine has a dodo, version 1.2). Uncle Mycroft invents a device that allows travel into a literary work. The world's third most evil man pulls a character out of Dicken's Martin Chuzzlewit and assassinates him. Richard III is performed a la Rocky Horror Picture Show. In short, there is a lot of stuff going on in this book and the reader needs to pay careful attention. The first two-thirds of the book (the setup) is great fun. But the problem with the book is that Fforde cannot pull off an ending that equals the setup. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common woe of many "clever" books. It seems as though Fforde expended all his energy on creating this ultra-clever parallel universe and lost sight of the plot. I felt the ending was contrived and that is saying a lot in a book whose entire premise is contrivity. I wish I could give the book five stars because I really like it. Maybe Fforde will deliver a more satisfactory climax in the sequal(s).
Rating:
Summary: A Literary Wonderland
Review: Jasper Fforde has taken elements from a wide range of literary genres and combined them to take you on a trip that your English Professor never knew. You name it, he dipped into it, time travel, historical, crime drama, romance, but most especially satire. Thursday Next is the tough but vulnerable female protaganist in the story working the London LiteraTec office. After an almost deadly encounter with an old acquaintance, Acheron Hades (the 3rd most wanted villian in England when he's not presumed dead), the ride starts and doesn't slow down until the (possibly) happy ending. With Thursday's father a rogue agent from the time corp, events like happy endings can change without notice.
Wrap yourself tightly in your suspension of disbelief and be prepared to march the brain cells around to remember the details of great classic books and historical events.
Well written, characters with depth to them and a plot full of enough twists to be a 3 pipe problem for Sherlock Holmes. No, he doesn't appear this time but I'm sure Mr. Fforde has other Thursday Next adventures to share with us and I'm looking forward to them.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing
Review: Imagine if Raymond Chandler melded with Douglas Adams to produce a sci-fi hardball detective mystery replete with literary references, and you'd have something like The Eyre Affair. The book takes place in a strange version of 1980's England, where the Crimean war has been going on for over hundred years, where Baconians knock on your door to try to convert you to their view of Shakespearean authorship, where a special operations squad exists explicitly to investigate literary crimes, and where the Chronoguard has the ability to travel through time. The novel follows the adventures of Thursday Next, a LiteraTech who is caught up in the hunt for arch criminal Acheron Hades, who is determined to abduct and ransom fictional characters, notably Jane Eyre. The book is not at all academic in tone; it reads like a fast, enjoyable work of popular fiction, but you have to be well read to appreciate it. If you are familiar with the English classics you will have a good sense of what is transpiring, and you will be able to pick up on various clues and enjoy the "inside" literary jokes.
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