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reviewed The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next, #7)

Jasper Fforde: The Woman Who Died a Lot (Hardcover, 2012, Viking)

The Bookworld's leading enforcement officer, Thursday Next, has been forced into semiretirement following an assassination …

Review of 'The Woman Who Died a Lot' on 'Goodreads'

You know that exquisite fresh feeling you got from reading [b:The Eyre Affair|27003|The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1)|Jasper Fforde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309201183s/27003.jpg|3436605]? Don't expect it here. This one felt forced, even awkward (very mild spoiler: first-person narrative does not lend itself well to alternate-timeline and memory-manipulation storylines. I would guess that Fforde realized this about 1/3 into his writing.).

Fforde is brilliant. He keeps proving it over and over: [b:The Big Over Easy|6628|The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, #1)|Jasper Fforde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309287709s/6628.jpg|2504943], [b:Shades of Grey|2113260|Shades of Grey (Shades of Grey, #1)|Jasper Fforde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327563734s/2113260.jpg|2118671], even [b:The Last Dragonslayer|13316328|The Last Dragonslayer (The Last Dragonslayer, #1)|Jasper Fforde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346791460s/13316328.jpg|13380425]. Not merely creative, but able to tell stories with his ideas.

We all go on autopilot sometimes. Even geniuses are human. This one had its fun moments, but I still feel disappointed.

@esm Yea, but the story felt bulletproof in this one, motivations consistent, a lot of subtle stuff and math jokes (like buying books vs paying Michelin chef).

Actually around the budgeting bit and msnchild bit, I was cognizant of how much calculations are required to write stuff like this. It's antithetical to "autopilot writing".