First Among Sequels
Thursday Next, Book 5
By: Jasper Fforde
Narrated by: Emily Gray
Series: Thursday Next Novels, Book 5
Categories: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy
Narrated by: Gabrielle Kruger
There is another 1985, somewhere in the could-have-been, where the Crimean war still rages, dodos are regenerated in home-cloning kits and everyone is deeply disappointed by the ending of 'Jane Eyre'. In this world there are no jet-liners or computers, but there are policemen who can travel across time, a Welsh republic, a great interest in all things literary - and a woman called Thursday Next. In this utterly original and wonderfully funny first novel, Fforde has created a fiesty, loveable heroine and a plot of such richness and ingenuity that it will take your breath away.
By Anie on 19-03-2016
The Big Over Easy
Nursery Crime Adventures, Book 1
Narrated by: Luke Thompson
Best-selling author Jasper Fforde begins an effervescent new series. It's Easter in Reading - a bad time for eggs - and no one can remember the last sunny day. Humpty Dumpty, well-known nursery favourite, large egg, ex-convict and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered beneath a wall in a shabby area of town.
brilliant as always
Early Riser
Narrated by: Thomas Hunt
Every Winter, the human population hibernates. During those bitterly cold four months, the nation is a snow-draped landscape of desolate loneliness and devoid of human activity. Well, not quite. Your name is Charlie Worthing, and it's your first season with the Winter Consuls, the committed but mildly unhinged group of misfits who are responsible for ensuring the hibernatory safe passage of the sleeping masses. You are investigating an outbreak of viral dreams which you dismiss as nonsense - nothing more than a quirky artefact born of the sleeping mind. When the dreams start to kill people, it's unsettling.
By catwomanOz on 01-10-2018
Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
"Hundreds of years in the future, after the Something that Happened, the world is an alarmingly different place. Life is lived according to The Rulebook and social hierarchy is determined by your perception of colour.Eddie Russett is an above average Red who dreams of moving up the ladder by marriage to Constance Oxblood. Until he is sent to the Outer Fringes where he meets Jane - a lowly Grey with an uncontrollable temper and a desire to see him killed.
A world mostly seen in monochrome
By andrew on 29-09-2019
The Last Dragonslayer
Narrated by: Jane Collingwood
In the good old days, magic was powerful, unregulated by government, and even the largest spell could be woven without filling in magic release form B1-7g.Then the magic started fading away.Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for soothsayers and sorcerers. But work is drying up. Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and even magic carpets are reduced to pizza delivery.So it's a surprise when the visions start.
By Michelle on 11-08-2016
Rivers of London, Book 1
By: Ben Aaronovitch
Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May.
Wow! A fantastic book
By DarkFish on 31-05-2016
Fated
Alex Verus, Book 1
By: Benedict Jacka
Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
Camden, North London. A tangled, mangled junction of train lines, roads and waterways. Where minor celebrities hang out with minor criminals and where tourists and moody teenagers mingle. In the heart of Camden, where rail meets road meets leyline, you might find the Arcana Emporium, run by one Alex Verus. He won't sell you a wand or mix you a potion, but if you know what you're looking for, he might just be able to help.
Good Solid Story
By Readalot on 19-03-2018
Rotherweird
Rotherweird, Book 1
By: Andrew Caldecott
Narrated by: Kris Dyer
Rotherweird is a twisted, arcane murder-mystery with shades of Deborah Harkness, Hope Mirrlees and Ben Aaronovitch, Mervyn Peake and Edward Gorey at their disturbing best. The town of Rotherweird stands alone - there are no guidebooks, despite the fascinating and diverse architectural styles cramming the narrow streets, the avant-garde science and offbeat customs. Cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: nobody, but nobody, studies the town or its history.
Thoroughly enjoyable
By amanda on 21-03-2019
By: Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett
Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
The world will end on Saturday. Next Saturday. Just before dinner, according to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655. The armies of Good and Evil are amassing, and everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist.
Amazing Story!
False Value
Peter Grant is facing fatherhood and an uncertain future with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand-new London start-up - the Serious Cybernetics Company. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous 'silicon roundabout', Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant's favourite son.
Wayfarers, Book 1
By: Becky Chambers
Firefly meets Mass Effect in this thrilling self-published debut! When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The Wayfarer, a patched-up ship that's seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past. But Rosemary gets more than she bargained for with the Wayfarer.
By simon on 16-12-2017
Louisiana Longshot
A Miss Fortune Mystery, Book 1
By: Jana DeLeon
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
It was a hell of a long shot.... CIA assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever - in Sinful, Louisiana. With a leak at the CIA and a price placed on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off-grid, but she never expected to be this far out of her element.
Great friendship story
By Fiona Maxwell on 08-04-2017
The Very First Damned Thing
An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
By: Jodi Taylor
Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary's series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary's as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It's two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
Best to read this out of order
By Kaz on 03-11-2017
Etiquette and Espionage
Finishing School, Book 1
By: Gail Carriger
Narrated by: Moira Quirk
It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school. Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners - and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped.
Three Mages and a Margarita
The Guild Codex: Spellbound Series, Book 1
By: Annette Marie
Narrated by: Cris Dukehart
Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig. It went downhill the moment they asked me to do a trial shift instead of an interview - to see if I'd mesh with their "special" clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete dickheads, and I was an asshole right back. That's the definition of fitting in, right? I expected to get thrown out on my ass. Instead, they...offered me the job? It turns out this place isn't a bar. It's a guild.
on a whim purchase
By Nicole Phillips on 22-04-2019
Witchmark
By: C. L. Polk
Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
Magic marked Miles Singer for suffering the day he was born, doomed either to be a slave to his family's interest or to be committed to a witches' asylum. He went to war to escape his destiny and came home a different man, but he couldn't leave his past behind. The war between Aeland and Laneer leaves men changed, strangers to their friends and family. Even after faking his own death and reinventing himself as a doctor at a cash-strapped veteran's hospital, Miles can't hide what he truly is.
The Colour of Magic
Discworld 1
By: Terry Pratchett
Narrated by: Nigel Planer
The Colour of Magic, the first novel in Terry Pratchett's wildly imaginative Discworld series, takes the listener on a remarkable journey. The magical planet of Discworld is supported by four massive elephants who stand on the back of the Great A'Tuin, a giant turtle swimming slowly through the mysterious interstellar gulf. An eccentric expedition sets out to explore the planet, encountering dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and, of course, "The Edge" of the planet.
not convinced
By D. Hill on 08-03-2017
By: Geraldine Brooks
In 1996, Hanna Heath, a rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna discovers a series of artifacts in its ancient binding, she begins to unlock the book's mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed past, tracing the book's journey from its salvation back to its creation.
Interesting story, great story concept
By Karen on 03-04-2016
Fourteen years after her last adventure, Thursday Next, literary detective, finds herself in an unusual situation her job policing the fictional characters of the BookWorld has been downgraded since her previous escapades are now themselves in print.
However, a pressing threat may call her back into action: first Sherlock Holmes and then Miss Marple are found dead, stopping their series in their tracks. When Thursdays written self also receives a death threat, it becomes clear that a serial killer is on the loose.
Meanwhile, the Goliath Corporation plan on taking literary tourists on holiday in the novels of Jane Austen. Thursday alone realizes the true intent of Goliaths unwanted incursions into fiction, but she can't fight all these battles on her own. She must team up with the one person she can't really get along with: the written Thursday Next.
©2007 Jasper Fforde (P)2007 Recorded Books
The Fourth Bear
Something Rotten
The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic
Michelle-meer
Good addition to the cannon
I was surprised so much book time had gone by since the last book.
It was a good read, not as funny as some of it's predecessors, but a good read.
Fforde as good as ever.
If you could sum up First Among Sequels in three words, what would they be?
I could not ...
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
I preferred the previous narrator - Gabrielle Kruger. Ms Gray's reading lacked the character, both of Thursday as narrator, and of the other characters
I was surprised to realise that the reader appeared to be using an American text - frequent use of 'gotten' where my edition uses the English form of 'got'. This might not matter - but I am intrigued to know if there are any other changes.
mrs c westwood
Why is this an American version?
Loved the story, but perplexed at the American terminology spattered throughout. Isn't it a little insulting to american readers to suggest they couldn't understand what biscuits, car bonnets and boots are but that us Brits can deal with the US version? Also, many of the voices didn't go well with the characters and I swear she pronounced Reading as reading at one point. Annoyances aside, still a good listen with lots of content and twisty, turny things.
d t
Rambly but fun return
Listening to them in order. It's nice to return to the series, but there's quite a lot of dialogue used as narrative exposition,which feels clunky compared to the earlier ones.still, it was fine and I'll no doubt carry on with them.
Though i personally enjoy the other narrator in this series more, this one is Perfectly good.
Thanks JF
did I miss a book?
felt like I was missing something the whole way through, but it did resolve in the end. As with the previous couple of books, I did find some of the voices a little distracting, but some of the accent were also pretty good!
Now where's the next one?!