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Red Side Story

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Red Side Story

By: Jasper Fforde
Narrated by: Chris Harper, Jasper Fforde
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About this listen

The long-awaited sequel to Jasper Fforde's cult bestseller Shades of Grey, set in world where social hierarchy revolves entirely around visual colour.

Imagine a world where your position in society depended on what bit of the colour spectrum you could see. This is the world inhabited by Eddie Russett (red, middle-level) and Jane Grey (monochromatic, lowest in society). Eddie and Jane must negotiate the delicate Chromatic politics of society to find out what the 'Something that Happened' actually was, how society got to be this way, and crucially, is there Somewhere Else beyond their borders - and if there is, could there be Someone Else, too, someone whose unseen hand has been guiding the fortunes and misfortunes of the nation for the past 500 years?

It's a tale of a young couple's thirst for justice and answers in an implacably rigid society, where the prisoners are also the guards, and cages of convention bind the citizens to only one way of thinking - or suffer the consequences....

©2022 Jasper Fforde (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Absurdist Fantasy Genre Fiction Humorous Literature & Fiction Satire
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Really enjoyed this book. Like with the first one, it took me awhile to adjust to the dry and quirky writing style, but once I did it was very engaging. The end had my eyes pricking with happy tears. Can't wait to see what happens next. Oh Brave New World.

Very enjoyable. Can't wait for the next book.

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the voice inflections of each character painted a vivid image. The relationships drew me in. Fforde is a master craftsman!

the humour

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I recommend re reading shades of grey before reading the sequel. Loved this book just as much as the first one. Great reading too and nice to hear the author’s voice.

Definitely worth the wait

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An excellent sequel to the first book that was well narrated. Highly recommend to all

Great story and excellent narration

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Such a lovely sequel and even though it took more than 10 years to happen, it was well worth the wait. I'm looking forward to the conclusion of the story in book 3!

Bring on book 3

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Narrator - I much prefer the previous guy. This narrator mispronounces basic words (like proven!) and pronounces the colour names differently than book 1, which is often jarring. The characterisation of the characters is also very different, both in sound, accent and mood, which i disliked a lot, particularly Tommo, Jane and others.
Book - you can tell there is a big gap between writing as there are many details missing in this book that were mentioned in book one, which in book time was only a week ago. The main characters seem very out of character and make different choices, and speak with a different tone of voice than in book 1 also, especially Eddie, Jane and Eddie’s dad. In saying that, I did like the ending, though looking back the narrative is very windy - many different directions that don’t always make sense, and don’t make a lot of sense in hindsight either.
I am still glad to finally have a sequel, but wish there was more connection to book 1.

Not quite the same vibe

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Shades of Grey was one of my favourite books with it's quirky, inventive story. It's been great to revisit the chromatocracy with this astounding new chapter. A lot happens in this story and the resolution is quite satisfactory.

A long wait but worth it

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Considering the story we got - I feel that the wait was worth it. If anything, this story was perhaps even better than the first as the plot, twists, and turns were able to thrive with the reduced need to world build. The characters all had interesting arcs and some had surprising depths and complexity given to them which I really liked.

I think this was a very satisfying conclusion (guessing) to this tale and am so glad I got to complete it.

Narration was just as good as the first book as well!

Not often a sequel is just as good!

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I very much enjoyed the first book in this series, and this was a great conclusion. The narration is different in style to the first, but very good still and I got used to it quickly.

Fantastic and fantastical

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Waited years for this sequel and it did not disappoint! Thank you Mr Fforde for the wonders you create.

Brilliant story and beautifully read

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