Author: Jasper Fforde
Summary: This is the story of Eddie Russett, who lives in a world where social hierarchy is determined by what colors one can see and how much of that color they can see. Eddie is traveling with his father to the town of West Carmine, where he gets entangled in plots, loopholes, lies, spoons, and a Grey named Jane. The book opens with Eddie's imminent demise within the maw of a carnivorous plant.
Review: I'm not usually a fan of first-person narrative, but this book really drew me in. Eddie as a narrator is refreshing and humorous in his storytelling. For instance, this line from the opening paragraph: "So instead of enjoying aspirations of Chromatic achievement, I was wholly immersed within the digestive soup of a yateveo tree. It was all frightfully inconvenient". Eddie's narrative remains drily hilarious throughout the entire book and I really enjoyed reading from his point of view.
The world that this story takes place in is deliciously eccentric. It's a world where spoon production is outlawed (and so spoons are immensely valuable) and everyone follows the Rules. Everyone's favorite pastime is also finding loopholes, which is amusing to read about. Much of this book is setting up the world and the book is basically comprised of small details (and enormous details) that reveal themselves slowly to help the reader piece together an understanding of the society that Eddie lives in. Honestly, I think that this book is world-building at it's finest. Fforde holds no hands as he tosses us into unfamiliar territory, but he does leave clues that lead to questions that lead to answers that lead to more questions.
This book is the first of a planned trilogy and it is fairly heavy on world-building and light on plot, though it does have it's moments and it is definitely setting up for the upcoming sequels. There is plenty of character development from Eddie- from someone who wants nothing more than to move up the hierarchy to someone who questions the arrangement of society and is able to make difficult moral decisions. Jane, the main female character is mysterious and volatile (she punched our hero in the face upon her introduction)- a badass female, no doubt. She also displays a nice side and is very ruthless and intelligent. I can't wait to read more about these two.
In conclusion: I loved this book, far more than I expected to. I originally picked it up out of idle curiosity but found the story-telling and world-building fascinating. I'll admit that some of the love is due to my history in fine arts (a dystopian fantasy about color theory?! How could I not be on board?) I am impatiently looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out in two (two!!) years. We will see if Fforde manages to make Painting by Numbers as fantastic as Shades of Grey as he moves slowly from world-building into actual plot. Until then, I will gladly reread Shades of Grey endlessly.
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