Early Riser: A Novel

I'm a fan of Fforde's earlier works so I came to this with a great sense of anticipation but I was disappointed.

Let's start with the cover. What may not be obvious from the image on this page is that this hardback book was a big rectangular hole chopped into it through which you can see the first page (the beach scene). This makes the book awkward to hold and read as you can't put your fingers in that area.

Be that as it may I got as far as page 262 of 400 before I finally gave up on it. It's full of Fforde's usual gimmicks, like having a quote from another (fictional) work as the heading for each chapter and the whole plot revolves around another of his alternative worlds, and in particular in this one an alternative Wales, which is subject to what is not really an ice age but rather very extreme winters during which most humans hibernate (summers, although we never get to be in one of those other than in dreams, seem to be normal, so it's not an ice age in the normal sense).

With Ffordes other books the warped reality seems to work but with this one it really doesn't. For example I won't give away the plot twist but the business with Aurora and Toccata just isn't plausible, even in this alternative reality and I got bored with waiting for the plot to be revealed.

Thankfully my best beloved reminded me that I didn't need to finish a book if I wasn't enjoying it. So I didn't.

This was a truly captivating and unique book that really has no comparison. It is a perfect mixture of whimsy and grisly bluntness that I found really charming most of the time. The world and the story is fascinating, and when it gets going, kept me engrossed. But the PACING! Never before have I considered that perhaps there's TOO much world building in a book. The sheer amount of jargon that is thrown at you, that's then subsequently explained (or worse, not explained at all, only to be gleaned from context 50 pages later) made this an extremely slow read. I was 3/4th the way into the book before I actually felt like the story moved beyond the introduction into the actual content. The final 80 pages or so are real page turners, after all of the excessive information has been saturated enough that you can understand what's going on. But the majority of the book is honestly quite the slog. I'd recommend this book if you have a lot of time on your hands and you like the Welsh.

Where to begin? Early Riser is part science fiction, part mystery, definitely parody and all fun! Jasper Fforde always creates different realities for his stories and this time, he's outdone himself.

This is a world in which people survive a dangerous winter by bulking up, then hibernating. Sleep, perchance to dream--no, no, that's no good: dreams supposedly waste too much energy, too many calories. To increase the chances of surviving the winter, people take an expensive drug called morphenox, designed by a greedy corporation called HiberTech. Those who can afford or gain access to it, that is. And it may cause side effects, such as becoming a nightwalker, or one who never really wakes up (Nightwalkers are scary when they're hungry).

The protagonist of this zany novel is Charles Worthing, who has decided to join the Winter Consul to gain access to morphinox. It's a dangerous job that involves staying up during the winter to protect the general population against crimes. Cannibalistic nightwalkers, villians (some of them scary philatelists), and Wintervolk, oh my!

Basically, that is the world which forms the backdrop for this story. No spoilers, then-- go with it! It's a fun ride with lots of little twists and turns and won't get dull.

Worthy.

A cumbersome beginning, with a few stumbles along the way; and the interactions between characters is curiously affectless; and you’re going to need a heaping dose of Extra-Strength Disbelief-Suspensio™ because the rules of this new world aren’t even internally consistent. But I found myself not caring: the story was good, the characters interesting in themselves. A tad heavyhanded near the end (in ways that were predictable from the first few chapters), but oh god much less so than that stupid rabbit book we won’t mention. Fun plot twists, some predictable but most not: overall, it just kept getting weirder as it progressed, weirder in quirky and engaging ways. It must be interesting to have an imagination like Fforde’s, and obviously not all of it works for everyone (cough rabbit book *cough), but this one worked for me. Fforde writes with compassion and grace, and I promise you that this will take you to interesting and thoughtful places.