I found the first half rather tedious and thought I'd like this book considerably less than the first two Thursday Next books: the BookWorld is introduced at length and it seems like an endless stream of literary in-jokes. But around the middle it really picks up and turns into a very suspenseful and hilarious thriller. Just the showdown I did not find very convincing, just like that of «Lost in a Good Book»: perhaps the «evil new technology» trope was used a little too bluntly.

Here's a great behind-the-scenes by the author: www.jasperfforde.com/sfhub.php

Very entertaining to read about Fforde's struggle with copyright in order to get permission to use others' characters. About the Minotaur that had to replace a Morlock: "Dangerous, fond of human flesh, imprisoned, in the public domain. He had all the necessary criteria." On the other hand: "Oddly, I didn't need permission to use Godot because he isn't a character."

Fforde admits that if he had his way, there would be a lot more aircraft geekery in his books. But as it is, I find the scene where Thursday and Randolph start up the Bristol Pegasus Aero-engine while discussing Randolph's feelings for Lola particularly brilliant. All this painstakingly detailed tech talk is so different from the rest of the book, completely unexpected and makes for a very nice contrast with the dialogue it's interleaved with.