Red Side Story

March 1, 2024

In the sequel to the best-selling Shades of Grey, Fforde revisits the world of Chromatacia, where the societal hierarchy is strictly regulated by one's limited color perception. Eddie and Jane are trying to clear themselves from a murder charge, and as they search for a loophole, they begin to uncover the truth of their world. Prepub Alert.

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April 1, 2024
A young couple in the near future dares to lift the curtain on their hierarchical society, which segregates its population based on the colors they can--and can't--see. Though it's been 15 years since Fforde published Shades of Grey (2009), this long-awaited sequel picks up right where things left off. Eddie Russett, a high-seeing Red, is still new to the fringe town of East Carmine, and his infatuation with daredevil Jane Grey, recently dubbed Jane Brunswick for her ability to see a small percentage of Green, is expanding his horizons in more ways than one. While society sees their fraternization as illegal--"It was one of the crueller Rules....If you were on the opposite side of the colour wheel, you'd be compelled to be on nodding terms for the rest of your lives"--Jane has encouraged Eddie not to care. And while it's ingrained in Eddie to believe that if you question the Colourtocracy, you could die for it, he hasn't caught the Mildew--the "disease" that suspiciously takes people when they are no longer useful to society--just yet. If he and Jane can bend one rule and survive, what else is not as black-and-white as it seems? If all this has you thinking of West Side Story and its inspiration, Romeo and Juliet, you're bang on. Puns and references to the world as we know it are numerous, direct, and often absurdly funny, � la Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Fforde expertly interlaces the most serious existential discussions with humor, favoring fun over drama--a most notable, laugh-out-loud example being the consultation of the Parker Brothers' RISK Map to explore the possibility of there being a Somewhere Else. While this is generally a refreshing spin on the life-after-apocalypse genre, it hasn't escaped a mild case of middle-book syndrome. The hyperfixation on dismantling the corrupt Colourtocracy makes the plot feel more formulaic as it builds toward the big revelation, undoubtedly setting up the final act. Likely the most silly-fun you can have with star-crossed lovers fighting the absurdity of an unjust world.

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April 1, 2024
When last seen at the end of Fforde's Shades of Grey (2009), Eddie Russett had learned a horrible truth about his society's color- and rules-obsessed bureaucracy, been officially declared a high-level Red breeder, had earned the eternal enmity of the Yellows, had fallen hopelessly in love with Jane (a low-level Green/former Grey), and would unfortunately still be marrying the odious Violet deMauve on the morrow. Eddie's boundless curiosity, empathetic compassion, and fraternization with a contrasting-color citizen have alienated the self-entitled color elite but endeared him to the unentitled Greys. The color-crossed lovers have a long-term plan for overthrowing the Colortocracy, but the village's administrators have their own plans for Eddie and Jane. Having been accused of murdering an administrator's son and awaiting trial, which will probably end with them condemned to death, both are nevertheless sent on a doomed-to-failure spoon-scavenging expedition to a nearby devastated village. But an unexpected encounter between Eddie, Jane, and an unusual individual opens up a new set of questions about their society's power structure and could result in life-altering consequences for everyone they know. The infectiously hilarious verbal byplay, whimsical scientific plausibilities, and some unanswered questions at the finale will have fans hoping for more.

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