Listen free for 30 days
-
First Among Sequels
- Thursday Next, Book 5
- Narrated by: Emily Gray
- Series: Thursday Next Novels, Book 5
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Eyre Affair
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Gabrielle Kruger
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Audio problems mar an otherwise entertaining read
- By Charlie on 06-06-13
-
The Big Over Easy
- Nursery Crime Adventures, Book 1
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Luke Thompson
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 fun!
- By MISS J A CALVO on 05-04-19
-
Shades of Grey
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"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.
-
-
Surreal, Crazy - and wonderful
- By Veronica on 23-01-12
-
The Constant Rabbit
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Knox lives quietly in one of those small country villages that's up for the Village Garden of the Year award. Until Doc and Constance Rabbit move in next door, upsetting the locals (many of them members of governing political party United Kingdom Against Rabbit Population), complicating Peter's job as a Rabbit Spotter, and forcing him to take a stand, moving from unconscious leporiphobe to active supporter of the UK's amiable and peaceful population of anthropomorphised rabbits.
-
-
My favourite book of 2020
- By Miss Ruth on 05-07-20
-
Early Riser
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Thomas Hunt
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Turned into a marathon.
- By A. R. Daw on 22-02-19
-
The Last Dragonslayer
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Jane Collingwood
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Clever and Good
- By Kevin on 24-12-12
-
The Eyre Affair
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Gabrielle Kruger
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Audio problems mar an otherwise entertaining read
- By Charlie on 06-06-13
-
The Big Over Easy
- Nursery Crime Adventures, Book 1
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Luke Thompson
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 fun!
- By MISS J A CALVO on 05-04-19
-
Shades of Grey
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"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.
-
-
Surreal, Crazy - and wonderful
- By Veronica on 23-01-12
-
The Constant Rabbit
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Knox lives quietly in one of those small country villages that's up for the Village Garden of the Year award. Until Doc and Constance Rabbit move in next door, upsetting the locals (many of them members of governing political party United Kingdom Against Rabbit Population), complicating Peter's job as a Rabbit Spotter, and forcing him to take a stand, moving from unconscious leporiphobe to active supporter of the UK's amiable and peaceful population of anthropomorphised rabbits.
-
-
My favourite book of 2020
- By Miss Ruth on 05-07-20
-
Early Riser
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Thomas Hunt
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Turned into a marathon.
- By A. R. Daw on 22-02-19
-
The Last Dragonslayer
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Jane Collingwood
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Clever and Good
- By Kevin on 24-12-12
-
Doing Time
- Time Police, Book 1
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Zara Ramm
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A long time ago in the future, the secret of time travel became known to all. Everyone seized the opportunity - and the world nearly ended. There will always be idiots who want to change history. And so, the Time Police were formed. An all-powerful, international organisation tasked with keeping the timeline straight. At all costs. Their success is legendary, and the Time Wars are over. But now the Time Police must fight to save a very different future - their own. This is the story of Jane, Luke and Matthew - arguably the worst recruits in Time Police history....
-
-
Brilliant - Another Jodi Taylor Hit
- By Jodi Taylor on 27-02-20
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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?
-
-
An intro....not much more
- By Robyn on 29-11-16
-
The Ordeal of the Haunted Room
- Chronicles of St. Mary's
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Zara Ramm
- Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the longest night of 1895, a terrible storm rages above Harewood Hall. Max, Markham and an injured Peterson are welcomed in by the Harewood family but quickly realise that the gathering is far from celebratory. For tonight marks the Ordeal of the Haunted Room. Every Harewood heir must endure one terrifying night alone in the Haunted Room before he can inherit the family seat. Legend says that ghosts will murder anyone who isn't the true heir. Francis Harewood's ordeal will begin at midnight and end at dawn, but it isn't long before everything goes horribly wrong.
-
-
Another romp through time, causing.....
- By Jacky on 31-12-20
-
The Unhappy Medium
- A Supernatural Comedy
- By: T.J. Brown
- Narrated by: Marston York
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet the ultra-rational Dr Newton Barlow. Cool, cynical, scientific, he’s the last man you’d want to be a bridge between the living and the dead. But with his academic reputation in tatters, and nothing to lose but his few remaining marbles, the great skeptic is about to discover that the past that haunts him will be nothing compared to his ghost-ridden future.
-
-
Great fun
- By Anonymous User on 05-07-20
-
Joy to the World
- Frogmorton Farm Series
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's Christmas time again, and all is not well at Frogmorton Farm. Jenny and Russell's daughter, Joy, is growing up. Not quickly enough as far as she's concerned but far too quickly according to Russell. Father and daughter are at odds, and suddenly the outlook is very dark indeed. That is until Thomas comes to the rescue. A Frogmorton Farm short.
-
-
Charming
- By Pip on 28-11-20
-
Tales from the Folly
- By: Ben Aaronovitch
- Narrated by: Alex Kingston, Ben Aaronovitch, Ben Elliot, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Return to the world of Rivers of London in this first short-story collection from number one Sunday Times best-selling author Ben Aaronovitch. Tales from the Folly is a carefully curated collection that gathers together previously published stories and brand new tales in the same place for the first time.
-
-
Good Stories, Variable Narration
- By Jonathan Musgrove on 31-08-20
-
The Secret Chapter
- By: Genevieve Cogman
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Irene tries to manage a fraught Fae-dragon truce and her overbearing parents, she’s given a hot new mission. The world where she grew up is in danger and only one book can save it. This is held by Mr Nemo, secretive Fae villain and antique dealer, so Irene and Kai travel to his Caribbean retreat to strike a deal. But in return for the book, they must steal a painting from 21st century Vienna. They’ll join a team of dragons, Fae gamblers and thieves, so their greatest challenge may be one another.
-
-
Another enthralling tale that draws you in!
- By serentious7 on 14-11-19
-
Clovenhoof
- By: Heide Goody, Iain Grant
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charged with gross incompetence, Satan is fired from his job as prince of Hell and exiled to that most terrible of places: English suburbia. Forced to live as a human under the name of Jeremy Clovenhoof, the dark lord not only has to contend with the fact that no one recognizes him or gives him the credit he deserves but also has to put up with the bookish war-gamer next door and the voracious man-eater upstairs.
-
-
Laugh out loud funny
- By KH on 20-10-19
-
The Night Raven
- Crow Investigations, Book 1
- By: Sarah Painter
- Narrated by: Kate Rawson
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lydia has always known she has no power, especially next to her infamous and more-than-slightly dodgy family. Which is why she carved her own life as a private investigator far away from London. When a professional snafu forces her home, the head of the family calls in a favour, and Lydia finds herself investigating the disappearance of her cousin, Maddie.
-
-
Interesting story
- By Riven on 15-09-19
-
Schrödinger’s Cottage
- By: David Luddington
- Narrated by: Nigel Planer
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tinker's Cottage nestles in a forgotten corner of deepest Somerset. It also happens to sit on a weak point in the space time continuum...which is somewhat unfortunate for Ian Faulkener, a graphic novelist from London, who was hoping for some peace and quiet in which to recuperate following a very messy breakdown. It was the cats that first alerted Ian to the fact that something was not quite right with Tinker's Cottage...the cats and, of course, the Pope, disappearing literary agents, mislaid handymen and the insanity of Cherie Blair World.
-
-
Finished this all too soon!
- By Stephen Thresh on 15-05-19
-
Carpet Diem
- Or...How to Save the World by Accident
- By: Justin Lee Anderson
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifteen years after losing most of his family to a devastating, pudding-related tragedy, Simon Debovar has settled into a life of self-imposed exile from the stinking, selfish morass of humanity. Content that his daily highlights will include hazelnut coffee, a long bath, and the occasional jar of olives, his life is completely upturned by the discovery that his ornate living room carpet is the deciding factor in a bet between God and Satan.
-
-
A Good Yarn
- By Misspelt on 27-03-17
-
Oddjobs
- By: Heide Goody, Iain Grant
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Morag Murray works for the secret government organization responsible for making sure the apocalypse goes as smoothly and as quietly as possible. In her first week on the job, Morag has to hunt down a man-eating starfish, solve a supernatural murder, and, if she's got time, prevent her own inevitable death.
-
-
My kind of quirky dark humour!
- By Quartz Anne on 23-02-19
Summary
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.
More from the same
What listeners say about First Among Sequels
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 21-01-16
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
Any additional comments?
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.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- mrs c
- 27-01-18
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.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- d t
- 31-05-17
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
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- G. Kilshaw
- 25-12-20
Enthralling
The best narrator is back! I loved the unexpected twists this book takes yet continues to follow the characterisations of the previous ones. The author clearly has a wide ranging knowledge of the classics and characters which are brought to life. Well worth the time spent listening to it.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lucy
- 01-05-16
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?!