Shades of Grey

Here is a book review for those of you who want something to read in the new year, or something to spend your Christmas money on. I have recently (last year (haha)) finished a book called Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, and I absolutely loved it, so be warned.

This is a book set in the future (hundreds of years), when social hierarchy is decided by people's perception of colour and The Rulebook decides how they live their lives. The main character, Eddie Russett, is a likeable Red who is sent to the Outer Fringes and discovers that the world he lives in is very different from what he thought. Of course, he meets a girl - who repeatedly threatens to kill him, and of course he falls head over heels for her (I promise, this is not a spoiler - it's from the summary on the back of the book).

This book is a gem - mostly because of the language and the puns. I was chuckling as I was reading and I loved how "old-fashioned" words (that is, longer words from our time that has gone obsolete) were noticed when they were used, and there were plenty of colour-related puns. The characters were also really colourful (excuse the pun) and interesting.

This book was slow paced, but I felt that enough things happened to keep me captivated. I read this book at the end of my examination period, when I was revising for my exams. I just wanted to go back to Shades of Grey all the time, because it was so interesting and funny. And above all, this book was extremely entertaining. I am already waiting impatiently for the sequel, which does not come out until 2013. As someone said on Goodreads: "...this dystopian kicks ass."

I hope you had a merry Christmas and I wish you a happy New Year!

PS: What should I count here this year? 50 books is on again, but should I count something else?