Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Shades of Grey is set in a future world where the colour that you can see, and how well you can see it, determines your standing in society. Eddie Russett is moving out of the city with his dad, who has been relocated to the Outer Fringes. Life there is much different from what he is used to and it takes him a while to get used to it. Eddie meets a Grey named Jane and finds himself falling in love with her. The problem is that he is a Red and so above her in the social order so a union between the two of them would be frowned on. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, the Prefects of the town have taken a dislike to him so he must be always on the lookout. As Eddie settles into town life he notices strange things happening. Can he work out what’s going on before he gets killed?

I thought that the world Jasper Fforde has created is pretty cool. At first it was very confusing as there doesn’t seem to be any particular order for the social hierarchy other than Greys are the lowest and Purples are the highest. It’s set hundreds of years in the future, after the Something that Happened but there are still traces from out world. A few names have trickled through and stories have been passed down and distorted. In the eye department humans have devolved as they can no longer see in the dark or see colour properly. There is a lot of lightning and massive swans to attack them so they don’t travel much. At its core it’s your average dystopian world but the extras that have been added make it different enough that it keeps it fresh.

Eddie was also a fairly standard character who finds himself in a place where he doesn’t know all the rules. He is naive and easily manipulated into doing what his new friend Tommo wants him to do. I liked Eddie but he wasn’t original enough for me, although he did get more intelligent as the book went on. I did like the characters of Tommo and Courtland who are the baddies of the piece. They are both self-centred and get Eddie into trouble often. They’re not nice people but they live in a tough world and this is how they cope. My favourite character was definitely Jane as she is badass. She questions everything and doesn’t let people treat her differently just because she is a Grey.

There is humour in the book too, this is a Jasper Fforde book after all. It’s not laugh out loud funny but it is feel good, puts a smile on your face humour. The book is full of references to our world, some I got and many others probably went over my head. It did make me smile every time I spotted a reference to something like Star Wars and Sherlock Holmes. The writing kept me engaged and, once I’d got over my confusion at the start, really enjoyed how it was written.

This book is brilliant and I would absolutely recommend it. I didn’t really have any expectations going in to the book and I was pleasantly surprised. For me, the world and its structure could have done with more explanation but he may be writing a prequel which will hopefully answer some questions. I think dystopia is a difficult genre to write as they don’t differ much but this stood out for me. It probably helped that I haven’t read any dystopia for a while so I wasn’t bored of it. This is my first book by Jasper Fforde and won’t be my last. It’s a fun read and I will certainly be checking out more of his books.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Rivers of London is a crime / fantasy novel that is also quite amusing. There has been a brutal murder in Covent Garden, London. A man has had his head knocked clean off by a man with a big stick. Peter Grant has been with the police for two years and has seen a lot of things. He and his friend Lesley are guarding the crime scene for the night. Lesley leaves to get some coffee and Peter is called over by someone lingering in the shadows. That someone is a ghost and has information about the murder. From this encounter, Peter discovers all sorts of beings are real that he thought just stories. He meets Inspector Nightingale, the Mets very own wizard. Peter becomes his apprentice and together, with the help of Nightingale’s housekeeper Molly, and tributaries of the River Thames, they must find out what’s going on. What’s causing people to get suddenly angry and murder someone, then for their face to fall off?

The book is a bit gruesome but in a good way. The writing is humorous and you don’t really get scared by what happens although it is terrifying. It keeps things quite simple so as a reader you don’t get too bogged down in police procedure; you can just get on with the story. London is a nice setting for the book as it has a lot of history and hidden parts to be explored. The history plays a big role in this book as well as the geography. I don’t know London but that was fine, although it did mean that when there was a description of a route that is taken I didn’t have any idea whether this was accurate or not.

Peter Grant is not the most reliable narrator as he is easily distracted. He often needs clues from people to get the right answer. He is a nice guy and always means well. The characters around him are all pretty cool too. Nightingale is an enigma and in this book we don’t really learn the extent of his knowledge or powers. We also don’t know how he came to be living with Molly as a housekeeper and what exactly she is. Peter fancies both of the major female characters. He has spent his whole police career with Lesley but nothing’s happened between them; not for want of him trying. He also likes Beverly, one of Mother Thames’ daughters. Beverly is the human manifestation of a brook running under London. It’s not clear whether Peter will end up with either in the future but the women would definitely be the ones to make that choice.

I really like the way fantasy was blended with reality. It makes sense in a big city like London that there may well be a magical community that no one is aware of because people do their thing and ignore what others are doing. In this book supernatural beings occasionally attract the attention of mortal folk but humans would explain away any unusual behaviour. As Peter learns more about the other side of the city he realises that he may have been easily distracted because he can sense magic like a scent left behind when some has been performed. It should be fun to see how Peter grows as a wizard and how he’ll cope with that.

I really enjoyed this book. It had a feel of sort of being a cross between Terry Pratchett and Christopher Brookmyre. It doesn’t take itself too seriously but it’s well written enough to engage you in the story and make you want to know what happens next. This book certainly won’t be for everyone, there will be plenty who don’t get the humour. But for those that do it’s worth a read. The world is well thought out and the author obviously cares about it. I will definitely be reading the rest in the series so far.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

R is a zombie. He lives in an airport with lots of other zombies, including his best friend M. When the urge takes them they go hunting for the Living. The Living have barricaded themselves inside a stadium so the zombies can’t get them. However, the often need to leave the stadium to scavenge for supplies. It’s on these trips that they are vulnerable to attack by zombies. R and his gang attack a group of teenagers getting medical supplies. R eats the brain of a boy named Perry. Eating a brain gives you the memories of that person for a while; makes you feel alive. Perry’s brain contains memories of his girlfriend Julie, who is also on the scavenging trip. R becomes intrigued by Julie and decides to take her back home with him. At first Julie is scared but the more time she spends with R the more comfortable she is around him. He also seems to be gradually changing. It’s almost as if he’s becoming more human.

I really like the idea of this book; zombie meets girl, zombie falls in love with girl, girl starts to fall in love with zombie. The book is nicely written as well. The start is a monologue from R on what it’s like to be a zombie. He’s retained enough of his humanness to see the humour in what has happened and to just get on with it. The book gets more serious as it goes on but the beginning is quite funny.  R is philosophical about how his life turned out and I think it helps him to cope that zombies don’t feel emotions the same way that the Living do. R does like to make the distinction that while yes technically he is dead, he hasn’t ceased to exist. He also hasn’t decomposed to just bones like the Boneys. He’s a corpse but he can still walk and grunt.

R is an excellent narrator. He is intelligent for a zombie and hasn’t gone feral like some. Although impulse is what drives him to take Julie and change his life, he is usually quite calm and just takes things in his stride. Just because he is a zombie doesn’t mean he can’t have friends. M is the kind of friend you want in a crisis. He will stand up for you against the Boneys and isn’t afraid to attack them so that you can get away. R would not be the hero that he is without M. Julie is a strong female character. She doesn’t go screaming and fainting all over the place. She does what she needs to in order to survive. She helps R a lot and shows him what he can be.

The book is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet with humans and zombies. There is even a balcony scene. I enjoyed this part of the book and thought it was cleverly done. Apart from the characters, the book didn’t really have anything new to offer. It had all of the clichés that you would expect to find in a romantic book or film. Basically the book was just asking to be made into a film. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good book and worth a read but ultimately it’s not as unique as it first appears. Zombies having the ability to become human again if given a bit of love and compassion is a good idea and the author has written it well. Would recommend this book to older teenagers and young adults as it is a fun read.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

The Silver Linings Play Book by Matthew Quick

Pat Peoples has just left a mental institution and now has to adjust to life outside the ‘bad place’. He moves back in with his parents and tries to work out what he’s going to do. The thing he wants most is to be reunited with his wife Nikki but no one around him will talk about her. Pat slowly discovers that he has been in the ‘bad place’ for years rather than months and that Nikki has moved on. His friend Ronnie sets him up with his sister-in-law, Tiffany, and together they form an unlikely friendship. Tiffany’s husband died and she had a break down. They are both damaged and end up helping each other, going running together and visiting a local diner. Pat struggles to come to terms with what happened before his mental collapse and how different life is now. He is constantly looking for his silver lining but won’t necessarily get what he wants.

I didn’t massively like Pat as a character but he is very damaged. At the beginning of the book he is very childlike and relies on his mother to help him. He focuses on getting fit in order to win Nikki back. That is his sole train of thought throughout. He believes that she is his silver lining and he can make himself worthy of her. With the help of his mother, brother Jake, friend Ronnie and therapist Cliff, Pat resumes a somewhat normal life. His mother takes him shopping; his brother takes him to football games and Ronnie takes him out to places like the beach. Tiffany is an interesting character as she seems manipulative but she is also vulnerable. I would have liked to spend some time in her mind just to see what was going on in there.

There is a lot of American Football running through the whole book which confused me greatly. I have no idea about any teams or how to play the game and what the players do. I have no interest in knowing either. I understand that it was an important piece of bonding for the males in the book but I struggled with it. The atmosphere and camaraderie of the game was emphasised but I just couldn’t imagine how it could take over a whole town like that. That part of the novel would definitely help if you were an American reader.

Pat sees his life as being a movie. He has hit a low point and the only way is up. That’s the way it works in movies; it seems as if the couple will never get back together and then, after several near misses, they finally are reunited in their happy ending. Pat believes this is going to happen with Nikki and himself. He is told she has a restraining order against him but that’s a mistake; if he can just talk to her, just see her even, everything will be fine. It added a bittersweetness to the book; Pat knowing exactly what’s going to happen but it never does.

At the beginning of the book I wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about; I didn’t like Pat and I couldn’t see myself liking him at any point. He grew on me though. You can’t help but feel for him. He really wants his silver lining; wants it so much he’s blind to the fact that he won’t get it. I thought the issue of mental illness was handled well here and portrayed realistically. There’s no quick fix for this; it takes years to work through it and find a new normal. By the end of the book Pat ends up being and better and stronger person than ever. It’s not easy or simple but with a little bit of help it gradually gets better. It’s a good book with a nice message and I enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to. I would recommend people give this book a read, it may surprise you.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower follows fifteen year old Charlie through a year of his life. He hasn’t really been making friends at school and has gone through some tough times recently with the death of his aunt Helen and his brother moving away to college. He makes friends with Sam and Patrick who are the same age as his older sister. Sam and Patrick introduce Charlie to their friends and with them Charlie experiences new things such as alcohol, drugs and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Throughout the novel Charlie reads twelve books given to him by his English teacher and these have an influence on him, as well as the new things he goes through. It’s a coming of age book in the same vein as a novel like The Catcher in the Rye.

I thought I would like Charlie as he is a nice guy, a bit shy and very intelligent. He also escapes into books which I can relate to. However, there was something not quite right about the way he is written. There are various things that have happened to Charlie that could account for this but for me it affects how realistic the book feels. Charlie is immature for his age and cries a lot. It’s difficult to imagine him having friends his own age, let alone friends older than him. I just can’t see him being accepted into the group as one of them. He does get more mature as the book goes on though. The characters of Sam and Patrick felt more real to me and it may have been a better book if it focused on them more. Sam has trouble with finding the right guy and Patrick is gay but the boy he loves isn’t as open as him which frustrates Patrick.

The book is written in the form of letters. It’s not clear who it is that Charlie is writing to, or if you would be able to work it out from reading the book a few times. To begin with the letters aren’t very complex but as Charlie’s English teacher helps him improve his writing through setting him essays, Charlie’s letters get better written. This is a nice touch and I think that would happen in reality if someone saw potential in you and encouraged you. My problem with the way the book is written is that I’m not sure Charlie is the most reliable narrator and it might have been nice to get things from a different person’s point of view. I think Charlie’s unreliability may be intended to add a certain charm to the book. In some ways it does and some ways it doesn’t.

The book deals with a lot of issues all at once and, being less than 250 pages, this is a big ask. It has sex, drugs, alcohol, mental health and abuse in it. It sort of felt like an episode of Skins, where it is a twisted, overly romanticised vision of what it is to be a teenager. To be fair, a lot of teenagers feel able to relate to Charlie but I don’t know how many of them would go out and get drunk and take drugs a lot. I get that Charlie is an outsider and everyone feels like that at some point in their lives until they find a group of friends that is like them and they don’t feel so alone. Really, this is enough of a story; it doesn’t need all the embellishments to make it more dramatic. It’s just over the top.

I didn’t like this book as much as I wanted to; I think I’m probably too old. This book and Looking for Alaska by John Green felt quite similar to me. I’m not sure why we can’t have a contemporary teenage novel that doesn’t have drugs and alcohol in it. Obviously yes a lot of teenagers do experiment with that kind of thing but that’s not true of everyone. I suppose it makes the book more exciting but it also glamorises it and it just feels like an easy plot device that lacks imagination. The book would have been a lot better if Chbosky had just stuck with the theme of abuse and gone with that, rather than feeling like he had to throw everything into the book.

Overall rating 3 out of 5.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

The Sisters Brothers are essentially hired killers in America in 1851. Eli and Charlie Sisters are employed to find a man named Hermann Kermit Warm and kill him. Their friend Henry Morris has been sent on ahead to scout out where Warm is and what his habits are. It turns out Warm has headed to California for the gold rush so the Sisters brothers must follow him there. Along the way they meet a colourful cast of characters and must try and survive long enough to get to their destination. Eli, the narrator, begins to question what they do for a living and whether they should be hanging up their pistols. Charlie has no such thoughts and Eli, being the younger, sort of goes along with Charlie all the while trying to assess his life and what it means.

I enjoyed spending time in Eli’s head and was interested in his inner conflict of wanting to give up his job but not wanting to leave his brother. Charlie would not have been a good narrator as he is drunk a lot of the time and isn’t fully aware of what’s going on around him. He is very alert when he needs to be and can’t be beaten in a gun fight. Eli doesn’t have a killing instinct to the same degree as Charlie but you still don’t want to mess with him. In another era, Eli would have been a really nice guy and may have been able to leave a double life, with a wife and kids but leaving on ‘business trips’ to go and kill people. Even in this era he’s a nice guy, just confused.

I wasn’t sure about reading this book to begin with. The first chapter is about the brothers’ horses and had the rest of the book been like that I probably wouldn’t have continued. I haven’t seen or read any westerns because I didn’t think I would find any interest in them. This one was a nice read. It wasn’t too focused on being a western and had a lot more to it. There was some psychology stuff and plenty of action. I was able to get into the world fairly easily but I couldn’t manage to really enjoy being in the world.

I think it helped that the book was nicely written and didn’t take very long to read. The book is split into three parts with a couple of intermissions. I didn’t really understand the point of the intermissions and whether they were real or some sort of dream sequence or something. As the book has an element of mystery in it, you have the build up, the journey and the conclusion. This worked well too as it is a familiar formula to most readers so it is something else that helps ease you in to the world of the western. I don’t imagine it can really be called a western in the true sense of the word but it certainly gives you a taste of it.

The book was better than I expected but I didn’t feel a big connection to it. I did find myself liking Eli and enjoying his struggle. I can understand why this book gained award attention when it first came out because it’s so different to most other books out there. Except, when you look at what it’s actually about, it’s not that different really; it just has an unusual setting. I’m not really sure what to rate this book as it was really good but I just can’t bring myself to give it four stars. I’d be interested to see what this author writes next as it should be interesting. I would recommend people give this book a chance and not dismiss it because of what it appears to be.

Overall rating 3.5 out of 5.

The Skin Map by Stephen R Lawhead

Kit meets his great-grandfather, Cosimo in an alley in London. He finds out that Cosimo uses ley lines to travel through time and dimensions. Kit also has this ability. His girlfriend, Mina, doesn’t believe him so he takes her through to another dimension. Except, as he doesn’t know what he’s doing, she ends up in Prague in 1606. There she meets Etzel and together they set up the first coffee shop in Prague. Kit, meanwhile, is with Cosimo and his friend Sir Henry. In order to try and work out where Mina is they must get the Skin Map. This was made by a man named Arthur Flinders-Petrie who also travelled like them. He made a map of where ley lines were and where they went in tattoos on his skin. After he died his skin was made into a map. However, there is also a man named Burleigh who is after the map, and so after Kit and Cosimo.

I really liked the sound of this book when I read the blurb on the back. I am a sucker for a good time travel novel. As with every time travel book, there are rules to the travel. In this case, you cannot travel to the future, only the past. This is fine because there is plenty of past to go to and plenty of parallel universes to visit. In this book you go to England, Prague and Egypt. You spend a lot of time in Prague with Mina but I think Egypt could have done with a bit more description. I couldn’t really picture where they were.

As usual, there were characters I liked and characters I didn’t. Unfortunately one of the characters I didn’t like was Kit and he is essentially the main character. He is supposed to be an adult but just acts like a child. To begin with I wasn’t sure about Mina but I really liked her towards the end and can’t wait to see how she develops in the next book. Cosimo was a fun character to read; he’s just a fun old guy who doesn’t take things too seriously, even when he is in serious danger. I’m interested to learn more about the baddy, Burleigh. It’s not clear what his agenda is and what exactly he wants from Cosimo. So far he is not nice at all so hopefully he will be a formidable opponent for Mina, Kit and their friends.

The writing style is okay; I felt it improved as the book went on and I was more engaged with the characters. Okay is pretty much how I felt about the whole book up until the last chapter. It ends with the reader asking a lot of questions, which I suppose you need to read the nest book to find out. There was also an epilogue with a teaser for some new characters in the sequel. Half way through I didn’t think I would be continuing the series. Now, provided we have less from Kit’s perspective and more girls kicking butt, I’m going to have to read the second. This is a planned five part series, so we’ll see how it goes as to whether I’ll be reading the whole series.

It was an alight read but nothing that special for me. It’s not very long so if you wanted a quick read I think you would enjoy it. It might also be a good read for teenagers wanting to get into adult books as it is part of a series and it’s easy to read. I have read better time travel books but it certainly could have been a lot worse.

Overall rating 3 out of 5.