Shades of Grey

Shades Of Grey by Jasper Fforde              390 pages

Eddie and his father have been sent to the Outer Fringes.  Eddie is going because he has bent some rules and his prefect has decided he needs some humility.  He is to conduct a chair census.  His father is going because a colleague has been called away and has asked him to cover the village while he is gone.  Eddie and his father are Russets, on the Red color spectrum, so not very high up in the social hierarchy, but certainly better off than the Greys.  Once they arrive in East Carmine, they find that not everything is as it seemed.  Mr. Russet’s colleague is dead, and Eddie has met Jane, a Grey, who is telling him unbelievable thing about the entire color hierarchy and system of government.  Jane doesn’t follow any of the rules, while Eddie has always tried to follow most of the rules but the more he sees and hears in East Carmine, the more he wonders how much Jane has right.  A really bizarre, interesting read from Fforde, very typical of his work.  Anyone who has enjoyed his other books will probably like this series also.  The books would best be described as fantasy, but only people who enjoy the bizarre side of fantasy will like Jasper Fforde.