• The Well of Lost Plots

  • A Thursday Next Novel, Book 3
  • By: Jasper Fforde
  • Narrated by: Emily Gray
  • Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (798 ratings)

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The Well of Lost Plots  By  cover art

The Well of Lost Plots

By: Jasper Fforde
Narrated by: Emily Gray
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Publisher's summary

Jasper Fforde has done it again in this genre-bending blend of crime fiction, fantasy, and top-drawer literary entertainment.

After two rollicking New York Times best-selling adventures through Western literature, resourceful literary detective Thursday Next definitely needs some downtime. And what better place for a respite than in the hidden depths of the Well of Lost Plots, where all unpublished books reside?

But peace and quiet remain elusive for Thursday, who soon discovers that the Well is a veritable linguistic free-for-all, where grammasites run rampant, plot devices are hawked on the black market, and lousy books—like the one she has taken up residence in—are scrapped for salvage. To make matters worse, a murderer is stalking the personnel of Jurisfiction and it’s up to Thursday to save the day.

A brilliant feat of literary showmanship filled with wit, fantasy, and effervescent originality, this Ffordian tour de force is the most exciting Thursday Next adventure yet.

©2004 Jasper Fforde (P)2012 Penguin

What listeners say about The Well of Lost Plots

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

All in all a fun book

Emily Gray’s narration as always is great she gives each and every character its own unique voice and quality. I am so glad the rest are available with this narrator on audible. Between this series and Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate Series Emily has become one of my favorite narrators.

This one was a bit different in that it seemed to end many different times but then didn’t. Loved the ultraword storyline, a book can only be read 3 times; it cracked me up as such a jab at the e-book publishing world. But considering this was written in 2003 it made me wonder does Fforde have ESP?

It is also a hard book to review because there are a lot of plots going on at the same time. But I guess we are in the well of lost plots so Fforde had to mash as many in as he could, but it was almost too much. As I said the book felt like it ended a couple times when actually it kept going so this threw off the rhythm of my enjoyment. I still loved all the literary references and the writing still makes me laugh but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the previous books. I did enjoy the addition of the generic characters they are the people in books you just see once, the person passing on the street the shopkeeper and such, kind of like extra’s in TV shows that can be changed into whatever character is needed for the next book that comes along. And I think Lola & Ronald and Grandma Next were my favorite characters in this one.

What I do love about this series is all the literary references and this had them shooting left and right and I still feel that you need to have at least some knowledge of the classic (even if it’s from PBS Masterpiece Theater) which is how I knew Miss Havisham as I just watched Great Expectations last week. Because I’ve honestly only read a few Dickens novels but have been meaning to read more (really I have).

All in all this is a fun book and I will continue on with this series.

3 1/2 Stars

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

So far, book #2 is the best

As I listen to these books, I keep asking myself if I am enjoying them. The suspension of disbelief required to enjoy these novels is steadily increasing. I am not sure I will make it through book #4! The first book essentially dealt with the real world, although an alternate version. Book #2 also primarily was set in the real world--but with some notable exceptions... Book #3 (Well of Lost Plots) occasionally puts a toe into the real world, but primarily deals with a world that obeys completely different rules. One problem I have with a totally made up world is that you can't predict what's normal. Anyone can, really, do absolutely anything at all. This gets a little annoying. Someone can die of misspellings, for example. Pests can steal words from novels. Fictional characters can race fictional cars in the real country of Wales. Etc. Without rules, it's hard to enjoy a book. What if Romeo and Juliet rose from the dead and had a zombie wedding? What if Robinson Crusoe built a rocket ship and went to Mars? You have to have limits on your fictional universe for people to enjoy your story. If absolutely anything can happen, then you feel no empathy for anyone in the story. No one has to die or get hurt, right? If someone's poor, maybe a wizard will appear and give them a unicorn and a chest full of gold! This book tends to celebrate how clever the author is rather than focusing on delivering a solid plot. Fforde is, however, very clever, and there is a great deal of enjoyment in that. I feel the same way about these books as I felt about Piers Anthony's Xanth novels. I read somewhere around 15 Xanth novels, groaning and cringing all the way. It's like that with Jasper Fforde's work. I will, however, buy book #4, so I have to give it four stars. The literary allusions are very amusing, though the idea of people living in books is too much for me. I could never get a clear picture in my mind of the world he creates. I've read SF books about other planets that I could relate to better.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

just a mashed up mess

The first 2 books were great but this one is full of distractions and too many characters. What is the deal with the generics calling each other names and cursing? This book feels like the author raked all the characters from stories he loves into his left over plot ideas making big mess that no editor bothered to sort it. Then the narrator tries to do different voices for the various characters but most are just squeaky.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Meh.

Would you recommend The Well of Lost Plots to your friends? Why or why not?

I think if you are a huge fan of the Thursday Next series, you'll like this book. While there is plenty of exposition to catch you up if you hadn't read the previous books, I can't imagine caring much about Thursday or this story if I hadn't just read the previous installment. There are plenty of literary and grammatical jokes for the book nerd, but I was a bit let down by the story itself. Just not as intrigueing as previous Fforde novels.

What about Emily Gray’s performance did you like?

Emily Gray reads well and is a great voice for Thursday. Unfortunately there are a lot of characters and voices to keep up with in this book, and she doesn't always pull that off.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyably delightful

Very creative. A pleasant funny read suitable for the whole family. Sadly, I must now read the entire series.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I want to be a jurisfiction agent

Jasper Fforde does not disappoint with this novel. It is fun and fully immerses us in the book world. Emily Gray does a great job with the narration. She has a diverse set of voices and believe me with the number of characters in this book this was no easy task.

Our Ms. Next becomes a Jurisfiction agent in the Well of Lost Plots. This is a purely fictional world filled with Ms. Havisham, The Cheshire Cat, Heathcliff, etc. You also have a vast number of characters from books that have not been published and generics. You'll have to read the book to truely understand how enjoyable the generics are. Ms. Next is still trying to get Landon back and is in hiding - that is why she is in the Well of Lost Plots.

Enjoy this book. It is science fiction but focuses on a many literary concepts such as the idea that there are no more original thoughts/plots and characters are just recycled versions of other characters so you can hire on multiple Heathcliffs, Merlins, and so on. It is delicious for any book lover.

Emily Gray, as mentioned above did a great job. I bring attention to this because I was critical of her performance in the previous Next Novel. She did not handle male characters well previously. She overcame this issue. Landon was a miniscule part of this book but there were many male characters and she did a fabulous job. If you are on the fence because the narration of the last book left you disappointed don't worry. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, awful narration

I love Fforde, he’s a true genius, And this is one of my favorite books. However, the narrator, who has a genuinely pleasant voice naturally, tends to do overblown “character voices“ including a weird robot voice, and lots of “Chicago wiseguy from the 30s”stereo typical nasally voices… Honestly, most of her male voices are absolutely awful-Landon is completely flat and without any sort of emotion or inflection at all. Particularly with the main characters love interest, it’s really irritating, considering she did not do this for the first novel.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

3rd Installment off the rails - hard to listen

I couldn't finish. In general, I like the narrator - but this was dreadful. The male characters - I know it's hard for opposite gender to do justice... but she used a cartoon gangster nasal voice for another inspector, it was horrid. I started to realize it was the cause of my headaches. I'd leave it running. I'd walk away. Not a good book.

I'm not even entirely clear on the plot. Yes, I get she was hiding out in a book, part of basement book lost plots, full of ingenious and inventive whimsical concept for different literary elements... but it's just a jumbled mess. The voices are grating, none of the characters you'd met so far really showed up, it did not further the plot (so far as I reached) with her husband... all in all it just felt like a giant waste of time.

I'm sorry. I just can't understand those that find this one 5 star worthy.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great fun

An enjoyable journey in an alternate literary world full of interesting and likeable characters. This is the most imaginative and entertaining series-ever.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love this book

What did you love best about The Well of Lost Plots?

The whole storyline is fantastic. I loved the had had, that that conversation. It was a joy to listen too.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Well of Lost Plots?

The death of Miss Haversham.

What about Emily Gray’s performance did you like?

I loved the way she pronounces things and that she uses tone to relay emotions.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Adventures in Jurisfiction

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