Shades of Grey: A Novel

I love the Thursday Next series and also the Nursery Crimes series and enjoyed this first book in his new series just as much. The book is filled with Fforde's usual puns, clever plays-on-words and general crazy ideas. I enjoyed the book as I was reading it, but after I finished it and could think about it as a whole I enjoyed it even more and plan to read it again. I am very glad this is the beginning of a series.

Interesting novel based on the premise "something happened" in society and people are classed by which hues and colors they can see. I loved the plot, but was really disappointed in the ending. It left a lot of unanswered questions. I haven't checked yet, but I'm hoping there is or will be a sequel.

Jasper Fforde is, as always, witty, funny, creative, original, and unexpected.

Either you will love all his works or you won't care for any of them. And I'm sorry, but if you don't love them, we just can't be friends.

Engaging take on a Brave New World like utopian society ruled by colour. Imagine walking into the paint section of the hardware store and gazing at all the colour cards and wondering how they might influence your mood, behavior, wellbeing and so on. A great concept, fantastic read, plenty of humour. Well worth it!

Amazingly charming and believable setting... Dystopian without being depressing, everyday and yet still mysterious, and most of all so colorful. A likeable and relatable protagonist, with all those minor flaws and noble redeeming qualities we recognize in ourselves. Just a really fun story. Unfortunately it ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, and the sequel is not published yet! Four stars because I felt it was missing a certain depth of emotion and meaning. However still a great read, highly recommended.

Very entertaining, well written and original. I would strongly suggest to persons who value good, true science fiction. Trouble is that if you buy at a book store might be in mystery section because that is what the author is known for.

This book is very inventive and humorous. The tone and style reminds me of the best of Douglas Adams' Hichhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The protagonist has a similar quirky take on the situations in which he finds himself.

Shades of grey is one of those British writings full of nonsensical humor. Set in a possible future, it has an Ozwald's "1984" or "Brazil" type structure but not quite the depressing overtones that pervaded those stories.

It takes a bit of reading to to understand how the world in this novel works. The analogy of color to real social conventions is complicated but works in the end. Even though the overall story is not completely original, the characters surprize you with their depth. If you want an easy fantasy that keeps you wondering how they are going to work things out, you will like this book.

The book provides a great reflexion on society and human trajectory, wheter or not we can change our own future. Besides Jasper Fford is able to create a great world (on the fiction side) and it also has great insides.

Read this mostly after hearing the title in a joking comparison of books with "shades" in the title. I was not expecting very much and was pleasantly surprised with a good old dystopian novel, while all of the ideas have been considered before, this combination was unique and the characters were a pleasure to spend time with. The humor was great as well, rules were reliable for a hearty chuckle at the beginning of each chapter and the matter of fact tone combined with the sheer absurdity of some situations was also enjoyable. I was disappointed only in the fact I would have to wait for a continuation.

Read this mostly after hearing the title in a joking comparison of books with "shades" in the title. I was not expecting very much and was pleasantly surprised with a good old dystopian novel, while all of the ideas have been considered before, this combination was unique and the characters were a pleasure to spend time with. The humor was great as well, rules were reliable for a hearty chuckle at the beginning of each chapter and the matter of fact tone combined with the sheer absurdity of some situations was also enjoyable. I was disappointed only in the fact I would have to wait for a continuation.

In the future people are valued for their color perception, not their abilities. Of course, now we judge people by the color of their skin, not their abilities. In our little World it does tend to simplify things - just like the military - You wear your rank on your sleeve. But you sometimes end up putting stupid in charge of smart.

Extremely slow start (and by "start" I mean the first 75% of the book); a rather anti-climatic, abrupt end; and a lot of typos (mostly words stuck together with no spaces between them); but I finished it, which is more than I can say for some novels.

Publisher's Weekly really said it all: "Sometimes, though, it's hard to see the story for the chromotechnics". In a good science fiction book there is a story in a weird, interesting new world. Here it is all about the weird world and no story. There is one woman who somehow, and God knows how and why, knows more than anybody else. Our hero has to get close to her to find out more. We learn more and more about this world and that's about it. The worst is really this tired device when the character moves to a new town and is shown around, just so he has a reason to explain it all to the reader. That is so lame. In a good book the weirdness is a given and you find out by reading on not by explaining it to the reader. And do I really need to know that much detail? My advice to Mr. Fforde: Read a few good books, like China Mieville before attempting such a book, and then try to do a little better with the sequel! And spare us the way too obvious social criticism.

I'm thinking of Charles Grant, who wrote in different styles depending on whether he used his own name or one of his many pseudonyms such as Lionel Fenn.

If you know the Thursday Next series of novels and the Nursery Crime series, then you know that enjoyment of one was a good indicator of whether you'd enjoy the other. Both were rooted in the familiar (Thursday Next, English lit; Nursery Crimes, nursery rhymes), with Fforde providing the twists that made the old new again.

Shades of Grey is something different. Other than some name play, Shades of Grey is a departure from Fforde's earlier work. All of the characters and situations are made from whole cloth and that's where the novel fails for me. I found it difficult to care about any the characters, except perhaps for Jane Grey. I found the protagonist, Eddie Russett, too weak to inspire any real sympathy, while all of the rest, except for Eddie's dad, who plays a relatively minor role, written specifically to be unappealing and NOT generate any sympathy for them or their situation. Had it not been for Fforde's name on the cover, I would not have read Shades of Grey and, having read it, I would not have missed it if I'd hadn't.

As others have noted, Shades of Grey is the first volume of a trilogy. While it's true that the first Thursday Next novel might have been weaker than subsequent books in the series, it DID have me coming back for more. I can't say the same for Shades of Grey.