A new entry to the Fforde oeuvre, this title is not part of either previous series (Thursday Next or Nursery Rhyme Crimes) and so must be read with a fresh eye and no expectations. As always, Fforde pushes our buttons, and stretches our comfort zone to the max, leaving us a bit bewildered and wondering what we just read!

The basic premise of the book is this: "our" world (but not as we know it!) is ruled by a group called the colortocracy. Governed by the premise that your rank in the world is based on your color perception (what color(s) you can see) and whom you marry, the protagonist, a better-than-average red perceiver Eddie Russett, wants to advance in the world color-is-power madness. Unfortunately, Eddie’s path is anything but smooth. Waylaid by a Grey named Jane, who seems to feel that death is a good option for him, he falls in love, despite his almost-engagement to another Red. His father’s position as Swatchman (kind of a color doctor) and an unplanned move to the backwater community of East Carmine totally railroad Eddie’s strategy for his life.

Since the whole book is written in an English that defies understanding, even by those who grew up speaking the language, all perceptions and vocabulary expectations must be left outside the reading of the book. Start anew, with the concept that you are learning a new language, in a new country, with a completely new set of rules and regulations. Questions are considered rude, and social order is required of all who live here. Now perched tenuously in East Carmine, Eddie must walk the fine line between conformity and curiosity. Therefore, we must as well, to understand the satirical approach in which Fforde specializes.

Wrapped up in Fforde’s dark humor, and dispensed with care—drop by drop—it will take you at least 100 pages of reading to get the gist of the terminology, and a feel for the strangeness of this color-ruled society. The social commentary is oblique and murky, and very strange, so absorb what you can, and let the story take you away.

Fforde’s bizarre fantasy is one that sweeps you up in the tale, despite the new use of old words, and the concepts of color and power being related one to the other. For example, there is the odd tale of the spoons. In this book, spoons are not made any more, and each person carries with them their own spoon, which are treasures. As in any layered society, (think castes of Hinduism for example) finding your way through the morass of dictated behaviors and color-determined jobs (Greys are the lackeys of the social order, and yellows are the cream of the crop) is something we are learning right alongside Eddie. As the first book in a trilogy, I can only hope that now the basic explanations are over, the next two books will move the plot along more quickly. If you have not read Jasper Fforde before I strongly suggest you start with the Thursday Next Novels, for this book is "advanced Fforde" at his best, and quirkiest. If you are a hardcore Jasper Fforde aficionado, you will find Shades of Grey both astonishing and delightful. As a sample, consider this sentence: "6.1.02.11.235: Artifiacture from before the Something That Happened may be collected, so long as it does not appear on the Leapback list or possess color above 23 percent saturation." So, dive in, laugh a lot, and ponder the mysterious mind of Jasper Fforde in all its splendor!

Enjoy!