Something Rotten
Jasper Fforde
393 pages
published in 2004

Something Rotten is the fourth novel in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, which concludes the story and ties up all the remaining plot points from the previous three books. There may be some spoilers here if you haven't read the previous novels, The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots. Like the previous books this was entertaining, funny in places but slight. Nevertheless, this was an improvement on the previous book, which I thought to be the weakest in the series.

In Something Rotten Thursday Next comes out from her hiding place in the realm of unfinished stories back into the real world, to take on her old enemy the Goliath Corporation and force them to uneradicate her husband, Landen Park-Laine. This may turn out to be more easier than she though, as the corporation has seemingly turned over a new leaf and is in the process of setting right all of their previous misdeeds in return for their victims forgiveness. Landen may therefore be much more easily restored to her than Thursday thought possible.

Things howver are never that simple for Thursday. For starters, she has to deal with the increasing sexual tension between Hamlet (who escaped from the Bookworld and who's tired of being indecisive) and Lady Hamilton (whose husband, Lord Nelson, died at the Battle of Trafalgar rather than live to a ripe old age as history intended), both of which are staying at Thursday's mother's house. Not to mention the small matter of the fictional Yorrick Kaine who has become the rightwing chancellor of England and who is stirring up anti-Danish hatred for his own nefarious ends. All that and Thursday also has to ensure beloved regional croquet team Swindon Mallets, must win the upcoming Superhoop, or the World Will Be Destroyed (again).

And that's just mentioning the major plotlines. Like its predecessors, Something Rotten has been overloaded with plot, all of which amazingly enough tie together in the end, but blink and you miss something. All this makes Something Rotten something of a rollercoaster ride, fun when you're in it, but not leaving much behind apart from perhaps a slight queasiness.

Which is why, like rollercoasters, I can only take Fforde's novels in small doses. I wouldn't want to read the entire Thursday Next series in one setting, as it would just tip over from enjoyment into annoyance somewhere in the second or third installment. Seperately though, they are nice divertisments, fun to read but of little importance.

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