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Dark Reading Matter
Thursday Next (Related to this series)
- Author
- Jasper Fforde
- Narrator
- Emily Joyce, Rich Keeble
- Publisher
- Hodder & Stoughton
- Publish Date
- 15 October 2026
- Run Time
- 13 hours 28 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Swindon-based Literary Detective Thursday Next is embarking on her eighth and final adventure: 'Dark Reading Matter' and she is well aware of the fact. The problem is, others are too. Old foes and new are plotting a terrible revenge: To disrupt the narrative and make Dark Reading Matter not just unreadable but unpublishable. Thursday can't let that happen and needs to use all her guile and narrative trickery to unmask the antagonists and guide the series to a satisfactory conclusion.
It won't be easy. The Martians have broken out of their HG Wells novel and threaten both the real world and the Bookworld. Agents from a higher reality want unfettered access to the Dark Reading Matter, the realm where deleted books and unrealised literary ideas end up. A Gateway to Hell has opened up at Wantage's Shakesmania, the nation's second to worst Shakespeare theme park and the cosy world of Enid Blyton has been hi-jacked by Ultra Right Wing Nationalists. With Reality Field Distortion experiments going haywire, a partially redacted donkey, a Bookworld on the brink of losing its imaginative energy to Big Tech and a murderous stamp collector with Philaticide on their mind, Thursday has to navigate a tightrope of borderline unusable narrative devices to bring the series to a satisfactory conclusion.
It's a tall order, but Thursday has a secret weapon: Her own adaptability, her husband Landen, a host of stalwart friends and ultimately the most loyal compatriots she can call upon: Her readers.
'Hugely funny and gloriously imaginative' Daily Express
'Fans of the late Douglas Adams, or, even, Monty Python, will feel at home with Fforde' Herald
Critics Review
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Cleverly constructed, with engaging characters and lots of good jokes . . . one of the quirkiest dystopias ever imagined
Guardian
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The jokes are excellent, the pacing breathless and the last line a classic
Observer
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Great fun and full of quirky worldbuilding detail
SFX
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A fun yarn with . . . a generous dose of rollicking adventure
Reader's Digest
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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Fforde paints a Terry Pratchett-esque picture laced with laughter
Daily Express
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That mischievous little monkey Jasper Fforde was on his best form yet with Red Side Story . . . It was possible to invest a little in the characters, as well as enjoying the incessant puns and Fforde's marvellously eccentric imagination
The Spectator
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A born wordsmith of effervescent imagination
Independent
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Brilliantly funny . . . His relentless imagination and his affection for his characters are contagious and irresistible
New York Times
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True literary comic genius
Sunday Express
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Forget all the rules of time, space and reality; just sit back and enjoy the adventure
Telegraph
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Sheer inventiveness, wit, complexity, erudition, unexpectedness and originality
The Times
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Reading a Fforde novel feels like taking off on a magic carpet, only to be picked up by another and another and taken on new flights of fantasy . . . you just sit back and enjoy the ride
Scotsman
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A serious minded comedy
Mail on Sunday
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Jasper Fforde
- Narrator
- Emily Joyce, Rich Keeble
- Duration
- 13 hours 28 minutes
- Release Date
- 15 October 2026
- ISBN
- 9781529393712
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Hodder & Stoughton
- Genre
- Comic (humorous) fantasy, Comical (humorous) crime and mystery
Synopsis
The final novel in the highly acclaimed and beloved Thursday Next series. Will Thursday find her happy ending?Swindon-based Literary Detective Thursday Next is embarking on her eighth and final adventure: 'Dark Reading Matter' and she is well aware of the fact. The problem is, others are too. Old foes and new are plotting a terrible revenge: To disrupt the narrative and make Dark Reading Matter not just unreadable but unpublishable. Thursday can't let that happen and needs to use all her guile and narrative trickery to unmask the antagonists and guide the series to a satisfactory conclusion.It won't be easy. The Martians have broken out of their HG Wells novel and threaten both the real world and the Bookworld. Agents from a higher reality want unfettered access to the Dark Reading Matter, the realm where deleted books and unrealised literary ideas end up. A Gateway to Hell has opened up at Wantage's Shakesmania, the nation's second to worst Shakespeare theme park and the cosy world of Enid Blyton has been hi-jacked by Ultra Right Wing Nationalists. With Reality Field Distortion experiments going haywire, a partially redacted donkey, a Bookworld on the brink of losing its imaginative energy to Big Tech and a murderous stamp collector with Philaticide on their mind, Thursday has to navigate a tightrope of borderline unusable narrative devices to bring the series to a satisfactory conclusion. It's a tall order, but Thursday has a secret weapon: Her own adaptability, her husband Landen, a host of stalwart friends and ultimately the most loyal compatriots she can call upon: Her readers.'Hugely funny and gloriously imaginative' Daily Express'Fans of the late Douglas Adams, or, even, Monty Python, will feel at home with Fforde' Herald
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