In 2009 Jasper Fforde published the novel Shades of Grey. Another novel around the same time, with a number in the title, led to some confusion. Fforde’s Shades of Grey, as stated in the Wikipedia entry, “takes place in Chromatacia, an alternative version of the United Kingdom wherein social class is determined by one’s ability to perceive colour.” (Note the British spelling.) Thus, it’s a vastly different type of novel from that fan-fiction novel with a number in the title. This led to some confusion when I mentioned to friends that I’d read a book with “shades of grey” in the title.
Red Side Story is the 2024 sequel to Shades of Grey. That’s quite a long time between sequels, but between those two books Fforde wrote a series of four novels in the young adult genre, as well as two adult novels set in a different world, Early Riser (2014) and The Constant Rabbit (2020). Fforde is perhaps best known for the Thursday Next series of books. He falls into the genre of “comic fiction,” perhaps, as his books are somewhat on the edge of reality and veering into an amusing side world.
I’ve been a steady fan of Fforde’s work, starting with the first Thursday Next novel, The Eyre Affair, way back in 2001. I liked Shades of Grey, couldn’t get into Early Riser, and, as far as The Constant Rabbit, well, I missed the latter entirely. The YA books are hard to find in the US, at least in my local book stores, so I only have the first one in that series, and it remains unread. Then, by chance a month or so ago I saw the title of Red Side Story online, and that it was released in 2024. There’s a local bookstore just over a mile from my house. I checked their website, saw it was in stock, and drove over there (it’s over 100 F during the day here in the Central Texas summer, so I didn’t think about walking over there and back). I found a small stack of the books, picked one and paid for it,
Two days later I’d finished reading the novel. It’s that good. In this novel we learn more about Chromatacia, a future England that’s become a sort of preserve, or basis for an experiment on a different species of humanity. They are controlled, observed, experimented on, and subjected to horrible acts, from targeted murder to wide-spread culling. The protagonist from Shades of Grey is back. He’s accused of murder, and his fate’s already been decided even before the trial. Yet he’s able to walk around freely and take on tasks for his community, at least before the trial. He, along with his love interest, discover dangerous things about their society. They survive their trial, and head to an event akin to a local Olympics, where they hope to learn more details about their recent discovery. Instead, they learn that they’ve uncovered something so dangerous that people are willing to destroy an entire village just to suppress their knowledge.
Fforde might be best known for his comic fiction, and there are some funny moments here. But, it’s mostly an even sort of novel, even a political one. There were quite a few surprises along the way, and a Truman Show type of control on the Chromatica population. Overall, a strong novel, and it makes me think I need to give Early Riser another chance, and see if I can find The Constant Rabbit, even though I already have a favorite book about rabbits.
