Combine themes from Orwell's 1984 and Madeline L'Engel's A Wrinkle in Time with the rules of FaceBook or some elaborate social video game world and you might find yourself in the contrived future of Fforde's book. There, a person's worth is determined by their ability to perceive colors. The world is enhanced for everyone by manipulating pigments to dye foods and flowers. The pigments are harvested from found metallic fragments left behind by a mysterious ancient civilization best described by Risk and Monopoly maps. This is a story for people who enjoy an extended metaphor or a complex logic puzzle. The most intriguing novelty from my point of view is the road made of organoplasma - a substance that grows and injests people and other items not made from bronze. Of course, there is the requisite love story, villains, and twists that predictably keep a reader engaged. A fun read.
Fforde, Jasper, Shades of Grey. 2009
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