Being sucked into a show/movie/book/video game/board game is a trope. As such, it's difficult to do well and to really add anything new to the idea. Jasper Fforde manages to do so, though.
Fforde's description of the world within Jane Eyre stands alone. As Fforde has it what happens in the scene into which Thursday Next is drawn is limited to what's on the page, but the things happening on the border of that are up for alteration. This is a point nicely illustrated by her not being seen or not having anyone pay her any attention except for the dog Pilot, a character mentioned only in passing.
Throughout the scene in which Thursday describes her first dive into literature, such limits and rules are given. They aren't firmed up just yet, but Fforde gives his readers a sense of those rules and limits - enough to leave them with an idea of what to expect later in the book and enough to leave them wondering how far those limits and rules can be pushed.
Of course, equipped with such a teased out set of rules, the explanation for the book's premise needs to be that much better. From what I've read so far, it looks like Fforde may be up for the task, but might not make the explanation as clear as some would like it to be.
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