Something Rotten

"We need someone like you, Miss Next – a human with drive, a propensity towards violence and the ability to take command – yet someone governed by what is right."

The fate of the world rests on the outcome of a croquet match between Reading and Swindon. Thursday Next is back in the real world with her two-year-old son, Friday, and Hamlet in tow and somehow she's at the centre of possible Armageddon. The government is on the cusp of declaring war with Denmark and being seen collaborating with a Dane could be hard to explain. Not only that but she needs to get her old job back and that means agreeing to be the SO-14 Danish Book Seizure Liaison Officer.

Whilst full of laugh out loud moments, I missed the setting of BookWorld and probably didn't enjoy this one as much as The Well of Lost Plots. Two years have passed between books which is a little confusing at first and made me wonder if I'd picked up the right one. Everything comes together in the end but at times I felt it was a bit disjointed, maybe a bit too much going on in addition to the humour we know and love. However every part is relevant and well thought out.

So with no more Miss Havisham, you may be feeling a gap in your life. Hamlet is a completely different character but he makes an excellent companion for Thursday. I'm especially fond of the moment he bonds with Alan, the son of Thursday's dodo, Pickwick. He's intrigued by how he is portrayed in the real world, the Will Speaks and the many film adaptations. He's a bit like a mentally unstable puppy that is prone to talking a lot.

I do love this series in general, there's nothing else quite like it.