Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron

From Strand Bookstore

Welcome to Chromatacia, a land governed by the Colortocracy and plagued by upheaval and disorder. The society is dominated by color though everyone has limited color perception. It is Eddie Russett's wish to move up in the social hierarchy. After all, his ability to sense the color red is better than average, but soon he finds himself immersed in a world of sneaky Yellows. Eddie is roped into a forced marriage with the hideous Violet deMauve, but it is an intriguing Grey named Jane who captivates him. Jane unveils the mechanics of their society as the cruel regime it really is and forever changes his life. Jasper Fforde's 'Shades of Grey' is a wildly imaginative and fantastical novel.

From the Publisher

Color Control Agency employee and House of Red member Eddie Russet experiences discontent with his limited vision when he meets Gray Nightseer Jane, who suggests that their color-blind world was brought about by a disaster that nobody is allowed to acknowledge. By the author of Thursday Next.

Review

Publishers Weekly
"[I]nventive fantasy...."

Review

Ron Charles - Washington Post
"Every page of this high-concept novel...glistens with ingenious details."

Review

Donna Bowman - Onion A.V. Club
"Fforde is an author of immense imagination. Not satisfied with just a few layers of Dickensian jokes and revisions of the physical universe, he creates an archeological treasure trove for readers. There's enough mystery to fill another five-book series....Fforde winningly mingles enforced orderliness with a Brazil-esque bureaucracy that spawns the highly regarded art of 'loopholery' in order to get anything done. The coming-of-age story and manic-pixie-dream-girl romance don't need to be much more than icing on the cake to make SHADES OF GREY a fancifully satisfying concoction."

Review

John Williford - Miami Herald
"Fforde...writes some of the most wickedly playful, snort-your-tea-halfway-across-the-table funny novels in print."

Review

Kirkus
"The world of the near future is anything but an ashen wasteland in the impish British author's refreshingly daft first volume of a new fantasy series." (starred review)

More about the book

As a member of the elite red-seers, Eddie Russett has never perceived anything wrong with his world. To him, the Colortocracy--in which class divisions fall along lines literally based on what one can see--has seemed fair and reasonable and about as good as any other system. His field of vision, however, expands when he meets and falls hard for a Grey Nightseer named Jane. As her perspective begins to inform his, Eddie suddenly sees beyond his rosy world, and there's no looking back: Jane and Eddie decide things must change, even if that demands extreme measures. This is a stunningly thought-provoking allegorical SF-parody from the fabulous Jasper Fforde.