Utterly disappointing. Seriously.There is a fine line between satire and stupidity. Up until now Fforde has rode that line well, sometimes straying somewhat close but never crossing it. This book left the line 100 yards back after spitting on it. I honestly don't even know where to start in explaining why I disliked this book so much. Granted I haven't been much of a fan of the entire series, but if this book had been the first I wouldn't have even used the rest to level my table or prop my door open. First off Thursday is a bit of an idiot normally, but she is 2x as bad this book. Dead god and so is her mother. Thursday tells her mom about an assassin being after her, and her 12 other equally horrible problems and all her mom can do is say thats nice dear because she is too busy thinking about battenberg cake. Oh my god I wanted to slap them all.What annoyed me litterally more than anything else was the take on politics. It was so over the top it was just stupid. The 'candidates' had debates over 'terrible things' without ever naming those things, threw around statistics about the number of puppy and kitty deaths in the nation but never economics, and participated in talking events such as 'Evade the Question Hour' in which they were awarded points for how well they threw off a question and responded about something totally different or just outright lied, and were taken points from if they actually answered a question in a sane or truthful way. I understood this was supposed to be ironic and making fun of our political system but it just went so far it stopped being relevant and was just dumb.For the plot this book suffered like all the rest in that the main plot isn't even address until the end. Plus this fantasy book has genre elements of paranormal and horror when Thursday is all of a sudden going into the underworld. That made no sense in the strand of the story. But there are just too many elements. Then there is the issue that the whole of the Earth's future is based off a croquet game. There's an assassin after Thursday. There is still the fact that Landon is eradicated. There is the whole major issue in the book world with Hamlet and the characters revolt in Shakespeare's plays. The ongoing issue of Kane trying to take over power and become Dictator or England. Etc. etc. etc. Seriously there is like 8 other huge plots going on at the same time as this. Then despite ALL these plot points, it somehow manages to come together in the end - albeit extremely THINLY. Too coincidental, too sparse. All in all I just wanted it to end. With every disc I listened to I asked myself why I was still listening and yet thought - my god it HAS TO GET BETTER. I was wrong.I am definitely not reading the 5th book which takes place like 15 years later. Nothing could make me read another Thursday Next book after this.
The fouth instalment of the Thursday Next series is my favourite one, the one in which all the plotlines set out earlier are woven together and political satire enters the series in a grand way.In Something Rotten, Thursday returns from the book world to late-1980s England with her two-year-old son, two dodos and the Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, who wishes to see a bit of the world. As it happens, Hamlet's arrival in the real world poses a bit of a problem, for unbeknownst to Thursday, a fictional character, Yorrick Kaine, has been trying to get himself elected dictator of the British Isles, and he has just launched a vitriolic campaign against all things Danish, including Kierkegaard and Out of Africa. Just as worryingly, the almighty Goliath Corporation is trying to pass itself off as a religion rather than Big Brother, which, if everything goes according to plan, will change life in Britain significantly, and not for the better. Needless to say, Thursday has to sort things out, which she does while trying to evade an assassin, visiting the world of the dead and making sure that the local croquet team wins the cup, as the thirteenth-century saint St Zvlkx, who is always right, has predicted that the fate of the world depends on this match. Naturally, she also spends a bit of time trying to get back her husband, who still has an existence problem, but first she has to arrange a baby-sitter for her son, which proves just as difficult.Something Rotten gets off to a slow start, but once it gets under way (some 100 pages into the book), it's excellent; the second of half of the book may well be the best part of the series so far. The political satire is thick and hilarious, the cameos and conspiracy theories are great fun, the loose ends are tied up very nicely, and in the end, nearly everyone gets what he/she deserves. What more could a reader want?
What do You think about Something Rotten (2005)?
It explains several things that I missed since I read the rest of the series without reading this book. There are also some very unexpected twists. Not the most riveting book in the series, but still well-written. A good intro to Spike, but I like their adventures more in other books. Also, I think Spike may have been spiteful towards Thursday in other books, but I don't know where that came from. He doesn't seem angry or upset at her in this one. Oh well! It was a good and entertaining read though!
—Vanessa
Another fun installment in the Thursday Next Series. Thursday has decided it’s time to come back to the real world, she has been living in the book world for 2 years, since her husband Landen was eradicated, but as you know trouble follows our Thursday and as much as she wants Landen back there are some bad people out there that want her eradicated in every sense of the word.I so enjoy these books it’s been too long since I picked one up and it was the best way to end my year in reading! Hamlet was hilarious in his pining for but hating Ophelia and what he thinks of all the movies and books on his “life” and the Shakespeare’s , yes many more than one since he was cloned but none of them seem to have the originals talent.Thursday gets Landen back and then loses him again, it is all a big game played by Goliath and new baddy Kaine who may or may not be a fictional character, who seems to have it out for the Danish, and who does Thursday have living her who else but Danish Prince Hamlet.There is, as usual many great characters in this book but most of them aren’t literary characters and I missed them, and Miss Havisham!Emily Gray as always does a wonderful job at the narration, I love all her different voices she is very, very talented!I read the last book in 2012 and I think it is time I finished this series, so I will be listening to the rest of these this year.4 Stars
—MissSusie
Since this is probably my favorite of the Thursday Next novels, I will write about it- but I would highly recommend all of them. Thursday Next inhabits an England that seems to be from a parallel universe- our own time period, but vastly different. People actually love reading, and literature is a huge part of society and culture. Several hundred people have even officially changed their names to John Milton. Thursday Next is capable of entering the book world and has now spent several years as part of the Jurisfiction unit inside fiction. In Something Rotten, she returns to the real world with her son, Friday, and faces off against the Goliath Corporation in order to recover her eradicated husband. A better and more thorough review you might check out on Amazon. I just love the fact that this series is a bunch of books about books that is filled with humour, irony, and wit (along with a bunch of crazy sci-fi action)- something that people who read a lot will find terribly funny and entertaining. Also makes you want to read Hamlet, if you haven't already.
—Ann
