As fate would have it, this is another story about a character going into other stories -- in this case, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Also, fate being a funny thing (and perhaps me tilting my Fantasy Reading List in a certain direction), the author is not just Welsh, but from North Wales, our very favorite part, and the story is set in a parallel 1980s universe, where Wales is a separate country from England with its own language and closed borders.
Heh.
This Penguin book is mainstream, and the author has written several other stories in this setting. The pacing is not fantasy or science fiction genre, but perhaps is a little slower (mystery genre?) and the plot gets almost irritatingly predictable in parts, but this book saves itself with (1) genetically engineered dodos (Pickwick belongs to the Protagonist), (2) tongue in cheek literary jokes, and (3) a constant pick-up of pace that makes the ending very delightful, and laugh-out loud amusing. I am almost won over: I may read the other books.
Every book should have genetically engineered dodos in it, I think. Come to think of it, I may need a dodo for the Christmas Tree...
Lessons for writers: make your story more and more exciting as it goes along until the ending is just stellar. That seems a much better strategy than the alternative, one would think.
Heh.
This Penguin book is mainstream, and the author has written several other stories in this setting. The pacing is not fantasy or science fiction genre, but perhaps is a little slower (mystery genre?) and the plot gets almost irritatingly predictable in parts, but this book saves itself with (1) genetically engineered dodos (Pickwick belongs to the Protagonist), (2) tongue in cheek literary jokes, and (3) a constant pick-up of pace that makes the ending very delightful, and laugh-out loud amusing. I am almost won over: I may read the other books.
Every book should have genetically engineered dodos in it, I think. Come to think of it, I may need a dodo for the Christmas Tree...
Lessons for writers: make your story more and more exciting as it goes along until the ending is just stellar. That seems a much better strategy than the alternative, one would think.
Visit Jasper Fforde as his terribly fun website.
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