A review by flyingfox02
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

funny mysterious
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This is the most fun I've had reading a book in a while! The humour, the wordplay, the worldbuilding in this novel are top notch. I love and admire Jasper Fforde's wit and imagination. The plot itself is pretty tame, but I was driven by curiosity, wanting to know more about this world where you can see only a specific colour. Eddie is a perfect main character and narrator, revealing bits of info without dumping it all on you. To me this is SFF at its finest.

Mid-book I peeked at the penultimate page where it says "Brunswick and deMauve return in Shades of Grey 2... etc etc". At that point I had no idea what it meant, except there would obviously be sequels. But reading it again upon finishing made me laugh out because it was so clever!

Anyway, this was a fantastic read. Fforde's humour reminds me of Douglas Adams' and, from the little that I've seen of his work, Terry Pratchett's. I can't wait to continue the series and read more from him.