But the Shades of Grey series actually has a sheen of realism to it. Mind you, just a sheen. This is a world where people use the color green as a narcotic and where spoons are highly prized objects. The premise of Shades of Grey , which takes place in Britain an unknown number of centuries from now, is that there was The Something That Happened, and all the people whom the characters call The Previous died off, leaving new humans upon the Earth who can now only see one color with their tiny little pupils which also prevent them from seeing anything at night.
Society is segregated by these colors, and certain colors have more prestige than others. Additionally, the more of a color you can see which is measured upon adulthood with an official test , the higher up within your color you are. Color, or lack thereof, permeates every aspect of their lives. Citizens earn merits that they often use to purchase synthetic colors, and a great deal of time and effort is spent salvaging true color from the wild and turning it in concentrated form into synthetic color which is fast running out.
In addition, the society is rigidly controlled from the top. Citizens are told where they will work, and marriages are arranged for optimal color production in children. Technology is also frequently leapt back, seemingly at random in the book, telephones have only recently been taken away. The real story starts when our main character, Eddie Russett, is sent with his father the Swatchman a person who heals with color combinations to a fringe village in order to earn some Humility for a prank he played on another boy.
The fringes are very different, and he soon finds himself drawn into questioning for the first time why his world is the way it is. Most dystopian novels are endlessly bleak, but sometimes that level of bleakness gets old and actually works against the message the author is trying to impart. And certainly, Fforde sticks some disturbing stuff in here amidst all the humorous oddities. The society these people live in is structured in such a ridiculous manner, but has just enough similarities to our own, that the absurdity of some of our own behavior is easily reflected in it.
My only real complaint is that the plot takes a while to get going, because Fforde has to set up the world, which he does set up pretty organically. It contains a delightfully bizarre and humorous look at a post-apocalyptic world hundreds if not thousands The people of this world are largely colorblind or have limited monochromatic vision or at best dichromatic vision.
The better you can see your specific color, the higher your social standing; the shorter the wavelength of your spectrum, the higher your social standing following the rainbow prism of ROYGBIV, red is the low end and violet is the high end. The system itself is one of thousands upon thousands of often nonsensical rules which all must follow for the good of the collective. Into this world steps a young man named Edward, a Red who likes to ask questions.
Sent to an outskirt town, he meets a violent, yet pretty Grey named Jane, stumbles into multiple conspiracies to beat the system and just tries to understand why no one is allowed to make more spoons. As one would expect from Fforde, the books is extremely humorous and off-the-wall. Some examples: one of the greatest fears of the people in the world is being attacked by swans, spoons serve as valuable underground currency, and sex is referred to as youknow.
Language itself is generally quite comical in the book, another example being that the apocalypse is simply referred to as "Something that Happened" what actually happened, no one knows.
Although funny, the humor doesn't all completely work. There were times where I mentally recognized a scene as funny but didn't find myself emotionally laughing about it. On the other hand, one paragraph had me in such stitches my wife had to come in from another room to find out what was going on. As with many works of humor, it can be a bit hit or miss. The story, plot, and background seem better developed that what is found in the Thursday Next series, which has a much stronger "making up as he goes along" feel to it.
Shades of Grey is the first book in what is planned to be at least a trilogy, so hopefully many of the unexplained aspects of the world will eventually be made clear by the end.
Good concept but not as well executed as I wanted it to be. Far from it. The world building in itself is a sort of achievement. But considering the fact that the whole book is just that - world building - right upto the last 50 pages or so, I am not sure whether I like it or not. Well, I don't want to properly review this book for you because I am annoyed as this promised to be a 5 star book for me at the start Good concept but not as well executed as I wanted it to be.
Well, I don't want to properly review this book for you because I am annoyed as this promised to be a 5 star book for me at the start.
And as this is a 3 star book for me, let me link you to a couple of reviews from my GR friends Aerin and Mark , who gave this book a 2 starred and 4 starred reviews respectively. Everything they have written, I agree completely with both of their reviews. Yep, this was that kind of a book for me. But one thing I felt by the end of this book was that it could have been so much better if this was published as a full length page novel instead of a trilogy.
Jan 27, Sumit Singla rated it really liked it Shelves: , 4-stars , authors-with-promise , humour. I'm not fully sure of how to classify this book. Is it social satire? Is it absurdist literature? It is just a light-hearted comedic attempt by someone with a phenomenal sense of humour? Well, probably a bit of all three. Our story is set in an oddly dystopian society - where citizens are colour-coded into a caste system. There is a total lack of individualism, and people are trained to be conformists.
But, it's not bleak; it's a laugh riot with tons of actual LOL moments. After all, punishments f I'm not fully sure of how to classify this book. After all, punishments for stepping out of line could include conducting chair censuses or measuring the consistency of stools Yech! Our young hero has to deal with all this and more. In addition, the wrath of his 'lady love', a lowly Grey is not be scoffed at either.
Jasper Fforde writes brilliantly, and keeps you hanging on to every word - it's a bit of Brave New World on laughing gas. If you're not reading this, you're missing out on something brilliant. View all 5 comments. Nov 15, Emily rated it really liked it. I really liked this one - it was funny not in an annoying slapstick way and had a very interesting, well thought out world.
However, this book just ends. There's no real resolution to anything. Clearly there was meant to be a follow on book that never happened. For that reason, my recommendation is to skip this book simply because the ending is so frustrating. Apr 14, Paul rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: People who: are looking for something creative, enjoy quirky humor. Shelves: beloved-favorites , fiction , series , dystopian.
I knew that you were going to do this, Fforde. You couldn't have just let things end on a happy note, could you? You had to get my hopes up, and then punch them right in the face in the last few pages and ruin everything.
Then you laugh as you gleefully tell me that the sequel won't be out for another year or more. Another book involving shades of grey. I apologize for the length of that above summary, b I knew that you were going to do this, Fforde.
Shades of Grey is really, truly, unabashedly odd. I just had no idea how to classify this one. I suspect that drugs may be involved here, but you can never be sure with these artist types. The peculiarity of this society in which we find ourselves is one of the central themes explored, and how needless many of its ways are. As a result, much of what is left unexplained probably never will be, and sorting these particulars from those mysteries that have answers forthcoming is a weighty task.
This is the only real problem that I have with Shades of Grey. The bulk of the book deals with the complex network of relationships, double-crossing, alliances, and feuds that populate the small town of East Carmine, with hints of a dystopian tragedy hinted at occasionally and not coming to the forefront until the end.
Of course, Fforde cannot permit his characters or his readers to be happy, so he makes sure to end things on not one, but several big cliffhangers. Tragic cliffhangers. Thanks, Fforde. It has everything that a certain other book with a rather similar name does not have.
Until then, you can find me in the corner willing Fforde to write faster, and possibly crying. I hope that you do. RTC when my brain stops melting. Oct 10, Colleen rated it really liked it Shelves: fiction. So happy to be slow to the party with this one, which is odd because I loooove Jasper Fforde and all his books. Are these books a Ffordian joke or actually planned? But looking online which is goddamn difficult thanks to a certain terrible book bringing up false hits , because once you are done with this, you'll be like "WHAT?!
Where is the sequel?! The prequel, 7 Things to do before you die in Talgarth, is supposedly due out in , but I see that's been delayed a bunch too, and the supposed sequel was planned for but weak sales of this one has somewhat scotched that I like this book, but it has had disappointingly low sales - although things are picking up now. I'm planning on writing a sequel as the book after the book after the book I'm working on now, so maybe To a degree yes, if there's anything Fforde can do well and he does so many things fantastically--I'd rank him equal to Terry Pratchett even it's world building.
And a future where the caste system is color, both vision and spectrum, with a world revolving around color. Greys do all the terrible jobs, working up to 3 jobs, 16 hours per day--yellows, greens, reds, and blues and the rest spend their day being waited on, getting back performance review credits for virtually everything, and avoiding too much scrutiny.
I would say it could have stood on its own merits except for the last 20 pages which hint at much more. Anyways, with the giant warning of you'll fall in love with this book only to be crushed at the end, I still recommend reading this. Shelves: own , fiction , science-fiction-fantasy , favorite-books , politics-or-philosophy. I had zero idea what to think when I picked up Shades of Grey from the bookstore.
When I say "no idea," I really mean not a fucking clue in the entire world ; I didn't even read the blurb on the back. It had been recommended to me, that was all. I have never been so glad that I bought a random book, ever. Edward Russett lives in a Dystopian future version of what was possibly our world.
People do not see in full color anymore, and the social hierarchy has been established based on what color Wow. People do not see in full color anymore, and the social hierarchy has been established based on what colors you can see.
Greys are the the bottom of this hierarchy and can see only shades of grey and are basically the servant class. This is followed by Reds who can only see shades of reds, Oranges who can only see shades of Orange, Yellows who can only see shades of yellow, followed by Greens, Blues, and finally topping at Purples. Usually people only socialize within their own color, unless one is trying to marry up color.
The one exception to this rule is that people cannot marry people of a complimentary color. For example, Purples cannot marry Yellows. Eddie is sent, along with his father, a swatchman a doctor who uses colors to heal , is sent to East Carmine because Eddie needs to learn humility by performing a chair census. Eddie gets a lot more than he bargained for when he starts asking questions and befriends a volatile Grey.
I'm officially in love. A dystopian satire with a color-hierarchy and a strong female character. I want more. More now, please? Oh I have to wait until the next book comes out sometime next year? I don't wannnnnnna wait. I'm still mulling this over in my mind, but holy fucking Gods, what an amazing book. It was serious, and hilarious, and just brilliant. There is a spoon view spoiler [shortage hide spoiler ] , don'tcha know? Plus, it really brings "judging people by their color," to a whole new level.
This universe was so amazingly complete while still not answering every burning question. Is this our world or a parallel one? What was the Something That Happened all those years ago? Where did all the Previous go?
Why did people's eyesight change? What's with the Defacting? How about Leapbacks, what are those? Why does more and more tech become illegal with every Leapback? What's going to happen in three years with the Leapback? Why do they still have "Leapback" technology; wouldn't that have come from the Previous. I want more, dammit! If you're a Jasper Fforde fan, don't let my low rating deter you.
This book is pure Fforde: a maelstrom of crazy ideas that somehow coalesces into a coherent, if weird, world. The world that Fforde has created here was the biggest draw, for me; I loved delving into this strange society, where the colors that a person can see determines their social standing. My main disappointment with the book was that it really wanted to be several books at once. Somewhere in Shades of Grey, there's a fantastic If you're a Jasper Fforde fan, don't let my low rating deter you.
Somewhere in Shades of Grey, there's a fantastic Victorian-style comedy of manners struggling to get free. Unfortunately, it's competing for space with the Miss Marple-style murder mystery, the high-concept science fiction novel, and the conspiracy thriller.
Any of these stories would have been wonderful to read on their own, but none of them are given the opportunity to flourish. Instead of ending up with a unique synthesis of genres, we end up with a tangled mess. The book does have many good moments, and the ending satisfactorily ties up many of the story's mysteries.
But not all: this book is the first of a series, it would seem. And as I've said, the world-building at play here is a delight. Even when the muddled genres left me wondering what the plot was, Fforde's ideas kept me reading until the end.
Readers also enjoyed. Videos About This Book. More videos Science Fiction. Science Fiction Fantasy. Adult Fiction. About Jasper Fforde. Jasper Fforde. Fforde began his career in the film industry, and for nineteen years held a variety of posts on such movies as Goldeneye, The Mask of Zorro and Entrapment. Secretly harbouring a desire to tell his own stories rather than help other people tell their's, Jasper started writing in , and spent eleven years secretly writing novel after novel as he strove to find a style of his own that was a no-man Fforde began his career in the film industry, and for nineteen years held a variety of posts on such movies as Goldeneye, The Mask of Zorro and Entrapment.
Secretly harbouring a desire to tell his own stories rather than help other people tell their's, Jasper started writing in , and spent eleven years secretly writing novel after novel as he strove to find a style of his own that was a no-mans-land somewhere between the warring factions of Literary and Absurd.
Set in in a world that is similar to our own, but with a few crucial - and bizarre - differences Wales is a socialist republic, the Crimean War is still ongoing and the most popular pets are home-cloned dodos , The Eyre Affair introduces literary detective named 'Thursday Next'. Thursday's job includes spotting forgeries of Shakespeare's lost plays, mending holes in narrative plot lines, and rescuing characters who have been kidnapped from literary masterpieces.
Luckily for Jasper, the novel garnered dozens of effusive reviews, and received high praise from the press, from booksellers and readers throughout the UK. In January Fforde published 'Shades of Grey', in which a fragmented society struggle to survive in a colour-obsessed post-apocalyptic landscape.
All the books centre around Jennifer Strange, who manages a company of magicians named 'Kazam', and her attempts to keep the noble arts from the clutches of big business and property tycoons. Everything from the dialogue to the sequences of the sex scenes stays the same and unfortunately they aren't any more accurate about what real-world BDSM practices are like. The book is even told in first person present tense narration, giving it the same sense of immediacy as the original.
The only difference is that now we get to see the scenes from Christian's perspective — which is exactly what fans have been hoping for. Christian Grey has always been closed off and guarded, reluctant to share what's going on in his head. So, seeing the series from his perspective is a chance to get to know him better and understand his often murky motivations.
In some ways, however, Grey really is different than the previous Fifty Shades novels. Here are five ways that the new book differs from the original story:. Throughout the first three books, Ana's inner monologue was full of input from her reserved and sarcastic "subconscious" and her sexually eager "inner goddess," but Christian Grey seems to be free of any such anthropomorphic mental characters.
He also replaces Ana's mental catch phrase "holy crap" with shall we say much stronger profanity. Although Ana slowly learns more and more about Christian's tragic early life during the course of the trilogy, in Grey we start getting hints of it right from the first page.
The book opens with Christian dreaming about a scene from his childhood, and it only gets more prevalent as the book goes on. While in the original book Christian's abuse sometimes seemed like it might be a prop to make him more compelling and interesting, here we see that his past trauma very much informs his day-to-day thinking.
Braden Carmichael always gets what he wants. Once she finally gives in, however, he realizes that he wants much more than he originally desired. Authors Lauren Billings and Christina Hobbs join forces in this erotic novel where determination meets desire.
Bennett Ryan is powerful, pushy, and arrogant. But soon her focus moves from research to Brian Sinclair, the lead guitarist in a musical rut. When the pair finally get their hands on one another, it might be just what the doctor ordered.
When Eva Tramell and Gideon Cross come together in what begins as a typical office romance, secrets, desires and sexual exploration begin to swirl as the pair discover that they have much more in common — and at stake — than they anticipated.
Bianca prides herself on her poise and composure, serving up first-class service to the in-flight elite 35, feet in the air. But when one look at billionaire hotel owner James Cavendish renders her powerless, she succumbs to a challenge and finds herself sucked into his promise of pleasure — and pain. Be sure to check out our short erotic stories for Valentines Day.
These picks are editorially selected, but if you purchase, She Reads may get something in return. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Club Shadowlands by Cherise Sinclair Jessica enters the dark and seductive world of the shadowlands, only to find out that this world is much more than she bargained for.
A Million Dirty Secrets by C. Parker In this fanfiction favorite, readers meet Delaine Talbot, who willingly auctions herself off to wealthy mogul, Noah Crawford, in order to save her family. Kenner New York Times bestselling romance and erotica author J. My Favorite Mistake by Sarah J.
Brooks When Vegas gets the best of Alexis, she returns home hazy, hungover, and… married. Fans of Fifty will love this good girl, bad boy tale for its seduction and playfulness. Tragic past meets intense attraction in this quick read. Bared to You by Sylvia Day When Eva Tramell and Gideon Cross come together in what begins as a typical office romance, secrets, desires and sexual exploration begin to swirl as the pair discover that they have much more in common — and at stake — than they anticipated.
This unputdownable read will take you on an emotional roller coaster. In Flight by R. Lilley Bianca prides herself on her poise and composure, serving up first-class service to the in-flight elite 35, feet in the air. About the Author: Alison Luther. Alison Luther is a freelance editor and writer based in Fredericksburg, TX, where she lives with her husband and two children.
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