Review: The Eyre Affair

Welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel it routine, cloning a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. 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 Bonte's nove, Thursday must track down the villain and enter the nover herself to advert a heinous act of literary homicide.

Meet Thursday Next. She's part "Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew and part Dirty Harry" (Michiko kakutanti, The New York Times).

When I received this book and read the back cover my initial thought was Gina, you must stop throwing your hand in the air and waving everytime a free book to read is offered. But as this was the first book sent for me to review and needed to be forwarded to others, I put down the good book I had started and figured I would get this over with.

I was totally wrong about this book. I am now glad I waved my hand. It captured my attention right away and I found it a fascinating read. The only way I know to describe it is mystery meets fantasy. I found it quite easy to read and I had to keep reading because I had no idea where the author was going with this book what with time travel and all. I really liked the characters and especially some of the character names like Thursday Next and Jack Schitt. I found Thursday to be a great mixture of strength and vulnerablity.

If you are looking for something different but good to read that is still a mystery, "The Eyre Affair" is the book. I haven't had time to check but I believe this is the start of a series as the front cover says "A Thursday Next Novel" like this is the start of a series. I will watch for future Thursday Next novels. With the fantasy elements, like time travel and literally entering a book, the author could take Thursday anywhere in the follow ups.

Overall it was just a fun read for me. No detailed gore (which I usually read and enjoy). Note that someone with more experience with literature will probably pick up some references in the book that had no meaning for me, but is not necessary to the plot of the book nor for the enjoyment of the book.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Gina Metz - RAM

Book Review: The Eyre Affair