This is the latest of Fforde’s very funny “Thursday Next” series, which also includes The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, and The Well of Lost Plots. In this book, Thursday returns to the Real World after an absence of two-and-a-half years. She’s got Hamlet, Prince of Denmark in tow; it seems that he and Ophelia have had a falling out, and Ophelia needs a little space. Meanwhile, page-runner Yorrick Kaine is trying to take over England with the help of the Goliath Corporation, and Thursday’s time-hopping father needs her help to prevent the resulting world cataclysm. In short, it’s a typical Thursday Next book.

The first of the series was outstanding; the second was also quite good; the third had its problems; and this one does too. In particular, it starts slowly–say that again, even more slowly–so slowly that it took me several weeks to get through it. The ending was OK, and I’m curious to see what comes next; but action-wise, this book is clearly the low point in the series to date.