October Themed Read: Science Fantasy: Shades of Grey

[mark, personal space invader]

This thread is for discussion of Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. The author is a British writer of mystery and fantasy series; this novel is the first in a new series based on a futuristic alternate London.

i have yet to read this one, but i'll start it shortly. it looks interesting!

[Aloha]

I finished it. It's really good. I plan on writing a review. Wish me luck that I'll get it done before the month is over.

[mark, personal space invader]

i'm fed exing some good luck to you right now, post-haste!

[Aloha]

Hey, this is SciFi. You're supposed to beam it to me.

[mark, personal space invader]

good point. i will be teleporting it to you directly.

[Aloha]

Thank you. Live long and prosper.

[Miss]

I am about half way through. I am in love with this book. It's a little bit of a struggle, understanding the hieracy of society based on colors you can see, but I can't remember such a unique and intriguing concept and world building since I first picked up a CJ Cherryh book. Excellent story so far.

[Aloha]

I agree, Varuna. It is an excellent read. It's a smart, yet fun book.

[Chris]

I'm about 1/4 way through this so far, and it is very good. Such a rich world, the slight hints of the society built upon the remains of the previous world. The really odd preservation of artifacts, or just the fact that no more spoons could ever be made, so they carry them on themselves. The strange rules and politeness based of feedback really creates a world that is interesting and compelling. The colour based cast system is fascinating (I've taken some tests actually, and am really colour sensitive). Even the stuff on chromotherapy is great, and is loosely based on experiments that have taken place in reality.
Great book, very happy that I am reading this.

[Maggie, space cruisin' for a bruisin']

I read this a few months ago, and really enjoyed it as well. I liked the humour that permeates all of it!

[Paul]

I just finished reading Shades of Grey and really enjoyed it. The story started off a bit slow for me but really took off in the second part of the book. I loved the world Fforde has created and the tale he weaves has left me wanting more. The characters are strong and writing style created a smooth and flowing read. I'm looking forward to the next in the series, although I hear it won't be available until 2013.

[mark, personal space invader]

i'm about a quarter of the way through. i love it so far. the tone is quite wry and gentle, it reminds me of an english village style murder mystery. the light, small town-ish, sorta provincial feeling i'm getting really reminds me of phillip k dick's Dr. Bloodmoney. and maybe a little of edgar pangborn and ray bradbury too. although much more fanciful than any of those authors.

i've read about confusion around whether Shades of Grey should be considered science fiction. i think i'm a little confused about the confusion! possibly things will change as i read, but what i'm seeing here is quite clearly (and explicitly) a post-apocalyptic or post-Terrible War type society that is engaged in unusual techniques and control on its citizens. although the tone and style of writing is unusual for the genre, the subject matter seems fairly common. i'm not even sure i would call this "science fantasy", despite what the back cover says.

[Maggie, space cruisin' for a bruisin']

<> ;)

[Aloha]

I wouldn't call this science fantasy, either, although it talked about color.

[Maggie, space cruisin' for a bruisin']

I also liked how the mystery wasn't real obvious.

[J.P.]

I read this book some time ago. To me, it was so off the wall that I wondered what I was getting into with the first couple of chapters but I wound up loving it. To this day it's one of my fave books.

[Tad]

I'm about 1/4 of the way through. I'm finding it a little bit of a slow read, probably because the whole structure of this society is so unique I have to read closely to make sure I know what's going on. Very entertaining and highly inventive so far.

[Aloha]

When you think about it, historically, the caste systems within various societies were based on the most erroneous ideas designed to keep a small percentage of the population in the upper tier of society and another small percentage as outcasts, why not perception of colors? It makes just as much sense as anything else we've known about human history.

[Chris]

There has been a few times that only royalty were allowed to wear the colour purple.
It took a little while in the book to understand that the reason that they were making synthetic colours so they could be seen by everyone beyond their normal colour perception. So, the main character can see natural reds only, but can see the synthetic spectrum fully, that would be why the colour gardens were popular, it was where he could go to see yellows, blues, and greens as well, as well as their ability to see the colour badges.
As far as the technical categorization of what genre this is in, I would say maybe it is speculative science fiction. This is a strange beast to categorize.

[Chris]

Freaking loved this book, one of my favorites from this year. A pretty straight forward murder mystery set in an unbelievably crisp and fresh world setting.

[Aloha]

I love it, too, Chris. I'm trying to find the time to write a review. But now, I am absolutely loving Atwood's latest, In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, in which she discusses the SciFi genre. Really, really good. This is one book in a while that I want to clear everything, lay in bed, and read. I was about to do that, when I had to do some downloading. And then I got involved in conversations at Goodreads....*sigh*

[Tad]

Just finished it and really enjoyed it. An incredible job of world building with a complex system of rules. All that along with a brilliant sense of humor and a very interesting plot. I really hope he returns to this world and completes the series.

[mark, personal space invader]

i finished this a little bit ago. LOVED IT! a very refreshing scifi novel, so different from many other recent popular favorites. the Colortocracy was fascinating. i'm still not sure i have a complete grasp on these post-human humans who populate this novel's world. that eye thing that Jane Grey did at the end was very interesting. so many revelations in the final pages and yet so few answers.

i found the light tone of the novel to be incredibly charming. it also made the fact that these characters are living in a truly horrific dictatorship - without knowing it - somehow easier to swallow.

[mark, personal space invader]

and i will give me Official Mea Culpa to my fellow moderator Maggie: no matter what the backcover says, this is pure Science Fiction - and certainly not Science Fantasy. you were right, Maggie, you were right.

[Maggie, space cruisin' for a bruisin']

Wow-I dont get to hear that every day!
It was nothing against the book, which was great, it was just that sci-fi fantasy was such an exciting theme to me! Oh well...

We really had two great reads this month with this and Rama. That's what really matters!

[Aloha]

Mark, you sent me a hex instead of good luck! I took a week off the internet to get a few things done, including writing some reviews. Instead, I upgraded my system, which caused it to crash, making me having to spend most of the week pulling 1TB's worth of data out, reinstalling everything, and I have tons of applications, and putting all the files in. I have tons of videos, photos, audios, etc, etc.

So, the month is almost over, and still no review for Grey from me. LOL

[mark, personal space invader]

sorry to hear! but don't worry, the review i'll be writing tonight or tomorrow will help you out... simply post a link to my review instead of writing your own. problem solved!

[Aloha]

Good idea! I also know you like to read lots of words and your reviews have lots of words. What you can do is snip off the 2nd half of your review and send it to me. Actually, send me only a third. You know I don't like a lot of words.

[Aloha]

You know, we should play a game where we all write a review of a monthly read together. In fact, you can start a "review of the monthly read thread" and people keep adding to the review.

[mark, personal space invader]

i don't know if you're joking or not, but that is actually not a bad idea! perhaps we could even do it for Neuromancer.

[Aloha]

I think that would be great. Neuromancer can stimulate a whole bunch of varying reviews. It's like that game where you start drawing a part of the human body, then pass it over to the other person to draw another part.

[mark, personal space invader]

"exquisite corpse"

we're gonna do it then! yeah!

[Aloha]

Thank you, Mr. Mark!