Book 10 – “Shades of GREY” – A fantasy novel

In 2010 Jasper Fforde published Shades of Grey, the first in a new series. I purchased the book new and read it at the time – my copy is a white hardback edition with splashes of colour and is in good condition as it has only been read once. The story ends on a cliffhanger and I, along with lots of other people, awaited a sequel. The second book was published in 2024 by which time I had forgotten most of the plot so I took the original book from my shelf and placed it on my to-be-read pile for me to reread it before I purchased the second volume. This book in my challenge, therefore, is a reread rather than a new read.

I am a great fan of this author’s quirky and unusual writing. See here, here and here for reviews of books I have read. His books are satirical but also slightly absurd, although they deal with very real issues which affect all of us. They are also, often, very funny. In Shades of Grey the author introduces us to Eddie Russett who lives in a world which has reconstructed itself after Something Happened. It has created a hierarchy and culture completely dependent on which colour you can see and how much of it. Eddie is a Red which is better than a Grey but not as important as a Purple. Colour determines everything from what job you do to whom you can marry.

The world, as Eddie knows it, is determined by rules which are strictly enforced and people earn merit points and also lose them. When you lose enough you are sent away to reboot and start again. Eddie and his father travel to the countryside and a small town where everything that Eddie thinks he knows about the world and how it works is challenged and it turns out that there are sinister forces at work.

It’s almost impossible to describe this book further because it is so very different from anything else we normally read – the nearest equivalent might be Douglas Adams. It takes some getting used to and I did find with this book that I was nearly halfway through before I could fully embrace the absurdity of it all and enjoy the story on its own terms. I did enjoy it, however, and am looking forward to seeing what happens next – of course that means that I have to buy the next book in the series which doesn’t assist in my attempt to diminish the book piles !