Reception
Although The Eyre Affair was Fforde's first novel, and he had amassed 76 rejection slips from publishers for several earlier novels, the book was generally acclaimed, with critics calling it "playfully irreverent," "delightfully daft," "whoppingly imaginative," and "a work of ... startling originality".
The "genre-busting" novel spans numerous types of literature, with critics identifying aspects of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, satire, romance, and thriller. This led one critic to jokingly suggest that Fforde "must have jotted a bundle of unrelated ideas on slips of paper", and, "instead of tossing them in a hat and choosing a few topics as the focus of his story, grabbed the whole hat." Fforde's quirky writing style has led to comparisons with other notable writers, most frequently Douglas Adams, for similar "surrealism and satire", and Lewis Carroll, for similar "nonsense and wordplay". Reviewers have also made comparisons with other authors, including Woody Allen, Sara Paretsky, and Connie Willis. One critic wondered if Fforde was more "Monty Python crossed with Terry Pratchett, or J.K. Rowling mixed with Douglas Adams."
The novel was praised for its fast-paced action, wordplay, and "off-centre humour." However, some reviewers did criticise it for "convoluted" plots and "dangling details", as well as inconsistent dialogue that "can veer from wittily wicked to non-sequitur" and minor characters that "drift in and out of scenes".
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