First Among Sequels

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First Among Sequels
One of our Thursdays is Missing
 

First Among Sequels is an

BookWorld, and is the first of a new four-part Nextian series.[1]

The title was originally announced, at the end of Fforde's novel The Fourth Bear, as The War of the Words.

Plot introduction

In order to save the future, undercover SpecOps investigator Thursday Next attempts to convince her son Friday to join the ChronoGuard. To complicate matters, she'll have to deal with renegade apprentices, ruthless corporations, and a sting operation from the Cheese Enforcement Agency.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title First Among Sequels was met with stiff resistance from Fforde's publishers because it had 'sequel' in the title, and it was felt that telegraphing the 'sequelness' of the book might be a bad move. It was decided, however, to capitalise on the fact that this was a series - a sort of 'Have you discovered Thursday Next yet?' approach to marketing.[1]

First Among Sequels is the first part of a new four-part

One of our Thursdays is Missing[1] and The Woman Who Died a Lot
.

The title is a parody of

British Constitution the position of prime minister has no official existence, and the office holder is simply the 'most powerful' of the Queen's advisors in Cabinet
.

Characters

Major themes

As with the other Thursday Next novels, time travel forms a central part of the plot for First Among Sequels. Fforde has, however, stated that:

"I was getting slightly browned off with the whole time travel idea, and like you do with less popular characters, I wanted to kill it off." – Jasper Fforde.[1]

It emerges that SO-12, the ChronoGuard have been travelling through time, even though time travel hasn't yet been invented, on the basis that it will be at some time. One of the main plot lines in this novel follows Thursday's and Friday's attempts to ensure that invention never happens, thereby avoiding the end of the world.

The other major theme of this novel is the translation of

BookWorld comes up with the idea of setting a novel's central characters a series of tasks, and allowing readers to choose how the novel should proceed, vote out unpopular characters and decide which plot lines should be followed. This idea is first attempted on Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice
. Fforde, not a fan of reality TV, uses the popularity of such shows, shorter attention spans, and falling levels of reading to illustrate the "diminishing Now" of instant gratification:

"The Now is a bit short at present, and I think it needs lengthened - read books, plan ahead, and watch less junk TV." – Jasper Fforde.[1]

Literary significance and reception

Upon release, First Among Sequels reached number 45 in the

New York Times Best Seller list.[5]

Reviews of the novel have been complimentary, although it has been noted that it is best to read the series in order to avoid confusion.[6] As with other Thursday Next books, the novel is peppered with literary references to 'classic' (and not so classic) novels, which may put readers off. Fforde himself was initially concerned about this, but "now I don’t worry so much. I don’t use really obscure characters. They’re ones people have heard of even if they haven’t read the book." – Jasper Fforde.[7]

Reviews

"Grab a cup of tea, some chocolate biscuits, and settle down in a very comfortable chair for a long, funny, and quite witty read." – Greenman Review.[8]

Publication history

Additionally, the UK version of the audiobook was released on 8 October 2007 by Hodder & Stoughton,

ISBN 978-1-84456-144-5.[10]

The Jasper Ffforde ARG

An alternate-reality game was commissioned from Coney by UK publishers Hodder & Stoughton to promote the launch of First Among Sequels in the UK. The campaign won a Book Industry 'Nibby'.[11]

Errata

The entire first print run of the UK Hodder edition of First Among Sequels is missing the

footnoterphone speech. These should be on pages 194, 195, 332, 333, 339, 392 and 393.[12] Since the books are already in the shops and thus too late for error slips, the missing text can be found on the Jasper Fforde website in the 'Book Upgrades' section.[13]

Notes

  1. Something Rotten
    .
  2. ^ This is not a part of the 'real world' Thursday Next series of novels.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Special features for First Among Sequels – note that a code word (from the novel) is required to access this page.
  2. ^ Amazon UK sales ranking. ASIN 0340835753. Ranking may have changed since access.
  3. ISBN 978-0670038718
    . Ranking may have changed since access.
  4. ^ USA Today best seller list – enter "fforde" in the author search field.
  5. ^ NYT Best Seller List for the week of 12 August 2007
  6. ^ Complete-review's review of First Among Sequels
  7. ^ Times Online profile of Jasper Fforde
  8. ^ Greenman review Archived 2007-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ US Audiobook
  10. ^ UK Audiobook
  11. ^ "British Book Awards: Event supported by Casinobonukset".
  12. ^ "Upgrade Alert First Among Sequels V1.1 (UK)".
  13. ^ Missing Text – image of the missing text for printing.

External links

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