Early Riser cover art

Early Riser

The standalone novel from the Number One bestselling author

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Early Riser

By: Jasper Fforde
Narrated by: Thomas Hunt
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About this listen

Jasper Fforde's first stand-alone novel - full of the imagination, wit and intelligence that has made Fforde a number one best seller.

Every Winter, the human population hibernates.

During those bitterly cold four months, the nation is a snow-draped landscape of desolate loneliness and devoid of human activity.

Well, not quite.

Your name is Charlie Worthing, and it's your first season with the Winter Consuls, the committed but mildly unhinged group of misfits who are responsible for ensuring the hibernatory safe passage of the sleeping masses.

You are investigating an outbreak of viral dreams which you dismiss as nonsense - nothing more than a quirky artefact born of the sleeping mind.

When the dreams start to kill people, it's unsettling.

When you get the dreams too, it's weird.

When they start to come true, you begin to doubt your sanity.

But teasing truth from Winter is never easy: You have to avoid the Villains and their penchant for murder, kidnapping and stamp collecting, ensure you aren't eaten by Nightwalkers, whose thirst for human flesh can be satisfied only by comfort food, and sidestep the increasingly less-than-mythical WinterVolk.

But so long as you remember to wrap up warmly, you'll be fine.

©2018 Jasper Fforde (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Fantasy Fiction Dream Winter
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A great story that seemed a bit slow at first but then, before I realised, the hooks were in and I couldn't stop listening. Thouroughly enjoyable.

Really enjoyed this one

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Jasper Fforde never disappoints. This standalone is just as weird and wonderful as the worlds of Thursday Next and Shades of Grey.

Great

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Not as good as the chromatic series or the rabbits. But still quite good. Worth a credit, if you like that sort of thing. Cheers!

Not to the usual calibre but still great

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Great story please finish the orhers. Great narration by the reader. Will listen again soon.

Great Story.

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I admit I took a while to get immersed into this tale, unlike Jasper's other books, but I am glad I stuck with it. Lots of twists and turns and red herrings.
An entertaining read that should hold me until later this year when book 2 of Shades of Grey is due for publication.

watch out for the Gronk!

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Interesting dystopian world. Honestly I was left confused by what events were happening in the book. There were definity funny moments within it all.

I'm Confused

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Took a chapter or two to get into the groove, but was gripping for the rest of the book.
I loved the excellent Welsh accents - definitely added to the experience.
The story is brilliant and full of Fforde's classic twists and turns, many things happened that I didn't expect and all ends were tied neatly at the end.

Loved it! The best accents ever!

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As weird and wonderful, story-wise, as always with Jasper Fforde. The main speaker is a joy to listen to but the cutaway at the beginning of each chapter just, ... I couldn't even listen towards the end. I'm not sure if it was just me but it was a nails-on-a-chalkboard situation.

Early Riser

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A mix of comedy and dystopia. It didn’t work for me, but I might for you 

Weird tone 

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I have read several Jasper Fforde novels & was particularly taken by “Shades of Grey”. I have been looking for another story with a similarly well constructed alternate (if dystopian) society & world view since. Jasper has delivered. I loved the premise of this story. I also found his main character charmingly likeable with a believable amount of grit below the surface! In fact, all the characters inhabiting this novel were wonderful in their own ways. The story was by turns entertaining and gripping & the ending was ultimately satisfying.
In my view, the narrator served this story well & was just the right choice to voice this narrative.
Didn’t want this to end.
More like this please Jasper Fforde!

An absorbing dystopian adventure

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