The Eyre Affair

I'm sure that car was originally described as being
painted with Escher lizards, but the Kindle version
is just stripey. I wonder if ebook technology has
finally allowed Text Grand Central to issue proper
rolling upgrades (as promised in print editions of
the Thursday Next series.)

In a world almost, but not quite entirely unlike ours, Thursday Next works for SO-27, the specialist branch of the police force that deals with crimes involving literary heritage. A veteran of the ongoing (in 1985) Crimean war, she is called upon to pursue infernal supervillain and former English Lit professor Acheron Hades when he steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and starts bumping off minor characters. When he turns his attention to Jane Eyre, Thursday knows that it is only a matter of time before England's cultural milieu is irreparably damaged. After all, everyone loves Jane Eyre (even if most of them do think it would be better if Jane and Rochester had married at the end.)

I first read The Eyre Affair in print... many years ago, and have since recommended it to various people, to the point of buying copies for two friends whom I thought would enjoy it. Coming back to it in a Kindle edition, I'm less wowed than I was back then. I still enjoyed it and the writing is still witty and pacy, but I suspect that novelty was a big part of its impact. Having moved on to the later books (I bought it in a three pack with Lost in a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots,) I find it to be a good start, but ultimately not as strong on its own as it was back then. This saddens me somewhat, although I;m finding the others good enough not to write off the entire canon based on a lukewarm re-reading.

As an aside, it's fascinating to read in ebook format a series which was originally written for purely print media and which postulated the advance of book technology to allow rolling updates and DVD-style special features; in short, something akin to an ebook, but with real pages.

This has been a brief review, I know, but I will probably add some additional thoughts after I wrap up The Well of Lost Plots.