Get Lost in a Good Series

I just finished reading Jasper Fforde's The Woman Who Died a Lot.  This is the seventh book in the witty Thursday Next series.  If you haven't heard of this series, do yourself a favor and check it out.

The series is based in an alternate version of Great Britain and follows the adventures of Thursday Next, a Special Operative Literary Detective, who's mission is to protect the world's prized literature.  But this isn't your normal detective series, not by a long shot!  The series begins with The Eyre Affair, in which Archeron Hades, the third most wanted man in the world, wants to kidnap the character Jane Eyre and eliminate her from literary history!  It's up to Thursday to try to actually enter the novel and save Jane from this fate. 

Each book is full of many comical moments and clever turns of phrase.  Thursday owns a pet cloned dodo which is all the rage in this alternate reality.  She battles vampires, minotaurs, and even creatures from the books she enters.  Thursday also does battle with the evil Goliath Corporation, which is bent on creating a global monopoly of everything imaginable.  She even becomes part of Jurisfiction, the policing agency within the BookWorld.

It is very unique in how the line between the real world and literature blurs as the series continues.  The fact that literature is valued so highly in this alternate universe is refreshing, too.  Check out The Eyre Affair and I'm sure you'll want to continue through the series!