In my last review, I mentioned that The Last Dragonslayer was a quick, easy read. Shades definitely wasn't. That is not to say I didn't find it a good book - quite the contrary in fact. I've already shortlisted it for my personal Best Read of the Year (just for reference, I award that title to the book that leaves me with the best overall feeling after newly discovering it. In 2010, it was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, in 2009, The Book Thief). Shades of Grey is much more radically different from Fforde's previous work than TLD was. It is definitely more serious in subject matter than any of his other books have yet been. And still, it is written with a light, quirky (I use that word a lot) tone and a matter-of-fact narrator that belies the subject matter. Narrator and main person is Eddie Russett, 21, who is pretty good at perceiving reds. In Eddie's world, a dystopian future about half a millenium away, social hierarchy works according to perception of natural colour. Those who can only see greys form the working masses; the higher your perception is, the better breeding material you become; it is taboo to have contact with someone of a complementary colour. Eddie's world is full of curious details - such as the limited number of spoons available or the constant fear of swan attacks - that almost make you forget how dire a world it must be. Unless you can afford expensive artificial colours, everything is grey, and a great deal of technology has been out-lawed by an unknown authority. Rules and regulations such as standardised clothing and fixed community meals make up everyone's life and the community is ruled by merit alone - the currency unit, that is. And yet, everyone seems content, nobody questions anything or is curious about anything. Not so Jane, whom Eddie meets in the beginning of the book. Jane has a retroussee nose and has the completely wrong attitude for a Grey - and, as we learn in the first chapter, it was she who pushed Eddie into the carnivorous plant from which he is telling the story of how he got there and what happened on the road to High Saffron. I could tell more, but you really have to read for yourself - only be warned. It is an (IMHO) immensely good read, very disturbing in how the dystopia is so far and yet so close to our world - but, BIG CAVEAT - it has a highly unnerving end, for it is the first volume in a three-volume series. It doesn't exactly end with a cliffhanger, but, it leaves everything more or less unsettled (apart from a couple of resolutions that you didn't want to see AT ALL) and I have no idea when the next volume comes out. Also, there seem to be quite a couple of theories out there about the origin of the dystopia and of course, speculation about how it continues - if anybody has read it, I'd love to discuss and speculate!!https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,64758#msg-64758Fri, 17 Apr 2026 04:31:06 +0100 Phorum 5.2.22 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,75218#msg-75218 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,75218#msg-75218
Okay. Now back to our scheduled comment:

The Fallen Man - I thought he might have been a Paramotorist. Planes would have been leapbacked so hard, I don't know how he could have been a pilot.

Otoh, I get the feeling that the Collective is fairly ... localised. I don't think the whole word is a Colourtocracy; rather that it is some kind of highly protected reserve - possibly the size of Wales, maybe even as big as the British Isles. In this case, the Fallen Man might very well be a pilot from the outside.

If we run with the "reservation" idea, then I wonder where one would find Big Brother. Inside or outside? It seems that National Colour is definitely playing the part of Secret Service on the inside. But where exactly is Head Office? And who runs it? Is there even a Head Office anymore or has it maybe disbanded (due to the Something that Happened?) and the Colourtocracy runs on the lie that H.O. is still there? ... Hey, this is crazy theories time, right?

Furthermore, and I'm still wildly theorising here, this selective colour seeing thing is a very weird mutation/development. Could it be a science project ("Gene Manipulation 101" or something like that) gone horribly wrong or, if the aim was to up the perception of colour, overly right? Dilation of pupil is still possible for some, so Nightseeing might be due to a recessive gene. Though the fact that said dilation happens apparently at will, points to some mutation of that as well.

Okay, last but not least, what I would like to see: Eddie marries Violet and becomes a purple in name. Violet dies. Eddie marries Jane. Thank you. That is all.

(I liked the book - in case you couldn't tell.)]]> Katharina JAFF LibraryMon, 10 Oct 2011 23:16:49 +0100 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,65168#msg-65168 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,65168#msg-65168 Mari A. JAFF LibraryFri, 28 Jan 2011 10:21:14 +0000 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,65153#msg-65153 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,65153#msg-65153I read on the author's website that the Badly Drawn Map is a real map, namely, the Mappa Mundi that is on display in - I think - Hereford.

Dang. that's annoying. I totally thought it was the board game Risk.]]> Kathy JAFF LibraryThu, 27 Jan 2011 18:26:45 +0000 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,64884#msg-64884 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,64884#msg-64884
I think the Fallen Man is someone who ejected himself out of an airplane - but we haven't heard mention of any airplanes yet, which means, if I'm right, there must be a world outside the Colourtocracy.

I read on the author's website that the Badly Drawn Map is a real map, namely, the Mappa Mundi that is on display in - I think - Hereford. It also said there that the Oz memorial is for a puppeteer.

I'm wondering what the deal is with swans. Are they really as dangerous (mutations) or are they a myth? Are there even swans in that world?

Also, I think I don't quite get the concept of the Mildew. It sounds like it is rotting away while still alive, which - yuck.]]> Mari A. JAFF LibraryWed, 19 Jan 2011 09:42:01 +0000 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,64766#msg-64766 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,64766#msg-64766
I do think SoG was a quick read -- I think I got through it in only a few hours. Not an easy read, but quick. I simply couldn't put it down. Fforde has an incredible way of leading you from one thought to the next without taking a breath. By the time you've gone halfway through the novel, you realize you haven't even changed out of your pajamas or taken a shower.

The universe is fascinating, and in a way reminded me of Flatland. I think the most fun I had in the book was trying to figure out all of the allusions. What was the Fallen Man? What was the Badly Drawn Map? Who was the Oz Memorial memorializing?

I've heard that the next in the series won't be out for a while yet -- which really makes me wish I hadn't read this book until the next two are out. The ending is a horrible cliffhanger.]]> Kathy JAFF LibraryMon, 17 Jan 2011 02:28:59 +0000 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,64758#msg-64758 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,64758,64758#msg-64758Shades definitely wasn't.

That is not to say I didn't find it a good book - quite the contrary in fact. I've already shortlisted it for my personal Best Read of the Year (just for reference, I award that title to the book that leaves me with the best overall feeling after newly discovering it. In 2010, it was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, in 2009, The Book Thief).

Shades of Grey is much more radically different from Fforde's previous work than TLD was. It is definitely more serious in subject matter than any of his other books have yet been. And still, it is written with a light, quirky (I use that word a lot) tone and a matter-of-fact narrator that belies the subject matter.

Narrator and main person is Eddie Russett, 21, who is pretty good at perceiving reds. In Eddie's world, a dystopian future about half a millenium away, social hierarchy works according to perception of natural colour. Those who can only see greys form the working masses; the higher your perception is, the better breeding material you become; it is taboo to have contact with someone of a complementary colour.

Eddie's world is full of curious details - such as the limited number of spoons available or the constant fear of swan attacks - that almost make you forget how dire a world it must be. Unless you can afford expensive artificial colours, everything is grey, and a great deal of technology has been out-lawed by an unknown authority. Rules and regulations such as standardised clothing and fixed community meals make up everyone's life and the community is ruled by merit alone - the currency unit, that is. And yet, everyone seems content, nobody questions anything or is curious about anything.

Not so Jane, whom Eddie meets in the beginning of the book. Jane has a retroussee nose and has the completely wrong attitude for a Grey - and, as we learn in the first chapter, it was she who pushed Eddie into the carnivorous plant from which he is telling the story of how he got there and what happened on the road to High Saffron.

I could tell more, but you really have to read for yourself - only be warned. It is an (IMHO) immensely good read, very disturbing in how the dystopia is so far and yet so close to our world - but, BIG CAVEAT - it has a highly unnerving end, for it is the first volume in a three-volume series. It doesn't exactly end with a cliffhanger, but, it leaves everything more or less unsettled (apart from a couple of resolutions that you didn't want to see AT ALL) and I have no idea when the next volume comes out.

Also, there seem to be quite a couple of theories out there about the origin of the dystopia and of course, speculation about how it continues - if anybody has read it, I'd love to discuss and speculate!!]]> Mari A. JAFF LibrarySun, 16 Jan 2011 22:40:37 +0000