★★★★☆ In which Landen is not entirely forgotten

The Well of Lost Plots

Jasper Fforde

The third book of Jasper Fforde's the Thursday Next series is called The Well of Lost Plots, so it behooves us to clarify what that is. Book two, Lost in a Good Book, spent much of its time on the exposition of an infrastructure for moving around within and between books. Certain gifted people -- our Thursday is one -- can, by reading the text of a book, transport themselves into the book, where they can interact with the characters, take action to change the plot (although this is frowned upon), or just hang out. There is, in fact, a whole large organization to facilitate this sort of thing. The law enforcement authority is called Jurisfiction, and they work in a structure called The Library. The English Library has 26 floors above ground housing all published books (alphabetized by author). In addition, it has 26 below-ground floors housing books that have not yet been published. This below-ground library, where all books come from, is called The Well of Lost Plots.

We're used to Thursday being a real-world SO-27 literary detective. In The Well of Lost Plots she has taken maternity leave because she is pregnant with Landen Parke-Laine's child, which is quite a trick, since Landen died in a accident at the age of two. During her leave she stays in an unpublished book called Caversham Heights, where she plays the part of one of the characters. Caversham Heights being unpublished, is housed in The Well of Lost Plots. Thursday joins Jurisfiction in The Well of Lost Plots.

Landen is not forgotten. Well, he *IS* forgotten, intermittently. Landen, if you remember, was eradicated in Lost in a Good Book. That is, the Goliath corporation altered history in such a way as to cause him to have died at the age of two. However, they did this while preserving Thursday's memory of him and also her pregnancy with (Thursday devoutly hopes) Landen's baby. Thursday, who is a champion at pissing people off, has another enemy in addition to Goliath - -the mnemonomorph Aornis Hades. Aornis wants revenge for Thursday's killing of her big brother Acheron Hades in The Eyre Affair. Aornis, being a memory-changer, is trying to erase Thursday's memory of Landen.

Are you confused yet? Good! That shows you sort-of understand. The Well of Lost Plots has two plots. The main plot concerns Thursday's activities in the Library as a Jurisfiction agent. You will not be surprised to learn that there's dirty work afoot. The subplot concerns Thursday's efforts to resist Aornis subversion of her memory.

In summary, The Well of Lost Plots is the sort of literary madness you've come to expect from a Thursday Next book. It bristles with allusions and clever and funny plot devices. If you like what Thursday Next is all about, you will enjoy this one.

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