Seize Early Riser Presented By Jasper Fforde EBook

Fforde is one of my favourite authors and I have been waiting it seems for ages for him to write something new! Here it is at last and it is worth every minute of the wait.


This new book is written in Fforde's typical quirky and inventive style, The setting is an alternate Wales where the population hibernates through Ice Age like winters and only a few people stay awake to take care of the sleepers.
Our hero, Charlie, becomes a Winter Consul and this story tells of his first winter spent awake with mostly rogues and thieves for company.


I love this author's writing style, It is smart and witty and there are lots of little topical references which are always slightly askew like ".
. . knowing all the old Nesbits was like knowing every actor who ever played Jane Bond, especially the solitary male one, something which was quite controversial at the time.
" Food also is very important in a world of snow and ice and I enjoyed all the references to things like Nesquik and Jaffa Cakes, things from my English childhood!

This is a fun book which I enjoyed very much BUT now that Mr Fforde has his writing mojo back I do hope he has another Thursday Next book up his sleeve and of course we are all wishing for the sequel to sitelinkShades of Grey.
Just saying: Jasper Fforde hasn't released a new book since, and that is a long time for him.
I have been waiting and waiting so patiently for the third Nursery Crime book, but it just doesn't seem to be happening.
Neither does the second Shades of Grey book, But now there is this book, which is not actually out in the US until, so I bought it from Book Depository.
I'm glad I did this anyway because the UK cover is so much better than the American one.
It has a cutout cover and when you lift it up those people are on the beach, and I just love it.


But, okay, the actual book, What Early Riser reminds me of the most in tone and style, if you've read his other books, is actually Shades of Grey which was subtitled The Road to High Saffron after they decided it would, eventually, have sequels but my copy just says Shades of Grey on it.
It has a completely original world that can be a bit dense to get in to, and the satire functions in almost exactly the same way.
Fforde builds a world that is so ridiculous and implausible that his characters' actions reflect the absurdity of our own society and behavior.


Early Riser is set in a world where winters are so severe that humanity has chosen to hibernate every year.
Everything is built on this premise: their social structures, their reproduction, their body image, etc, And almost everything is completely upside down from our world, Because if you don't have enough body fat, there's a high chance you won't make it through the winter, attractive people are those who are fatter, and skinny people are seen as undesirable.
Larger bodies are seen as signs of wealth and stability much as it was in the middle ages.
There is a constant threat of population decline, and a high chance of not lasting the winter, either because you never wake up, you wake up wrong, or mysterious monster figures get you.
As in other Jasper Fforde satires, there are also nefarious corporations, conspiracies, and absurdities abounding, But this book is actually the darkest thing I've read from him, Its humor is definitely humorous, but it's a darker, bleaker humor,

Our main character is Charlie Worthing, a somewhat hapless young man who blunders his way through a lot of things.
He's decided to become a Winter Consul, one of the select few humans who stay awake all winter, caring for the sleeping others.
It's a very dangerous job, most newbies not making through their first winter, and he basically only takes it out of spite.
He has no idea what he's doing, As a result, his POV isn't the most helpful in decoding Fforde's world, because any clues dropped we as readers have to put together.
Charlie ain't going to do it,

As other reviewers have noted, the barrier to entry on this one is pretty high, even higher than most of his books, as there is such a lot of worldbuilding and terminology to understand.
You do eventually get it all took me about/of the book, but it takes longer than it should.
I don't think I've ever read a Fforde book I haven't enjoyed, but this one, though the premise is incredibly intriguing, isn't my favorite of his.
The complications take away a bit of the enjoyment, Still, on reread, I bet I would like it a lot better, It would also make for a fantastically creepy and funny movie, Nobody has yet been able to successfully translate Fforde into film yet, so I guess I'll be waiting a while on that.


.stars, rounded up Winter is coming and the population needs to get fed for a four month long hibernation.
Set in a present day alternate reality in Wales, Charlie Wonk Worthing is assisting with the Fat Thursday celebrations which are aimed at getting people up to a weight sufficient to sustain them throughout the Winter.
His job is pretty lacklustre but gives him access Morphenox, a drug which prevents dreaming which uses valuable energy resources and only has a one in two thousand chance of turning you into a nightwalker vacant, but alive.
Its also only available to the wealthy and those in certain types of employment,

On a whim he applies for the job as Winter Consul which, if he gets it, will guarantee his continued access to Morphenox but he wont be hibernating because the Consuls stay awake to ensure that things keep running while everyone else sleeps.
Charlie himself doesnt see the logic in his decision but thats what happens when one is irritated with a current employer.
Staying awake presents so much more than Charlie bargained for, Cannibalistic Nightwalkers, Villians, mythical WinterVolk, viral dreams and competing agencies are just some of the things that come his way.


Ive read nearly all of Ffordes novels and I was ridiculously excited to get my hands on this one.
While it was wellwritten, humorous, quirky and with a really clever plot, I found it to be slow going forbecause it felt like all I was doing was separating the puzzle into edge pieces and colours and a lot of them were white.
After that the story kicks into gear and becomes the story I had hoped for all along.


Fforde has a phenomenal skill for worldbuilding filled with bizarre and unusual characters and even though this might not be my favourite book of his, its still a good read.


Book received from Netgalley and Hodder amp Stoughton for an honest review, I am a big fan of Jasper Fforde and look forward to all of his books, but this one fell far short of my admittedly high expectations.
It started out murky: the reader is expected to just understand the worlds rules without much explanation.
I found that I had to reread the first few chapters because I was so confused, and that has never happened to me with Fforde.
I have read all of his books and expect some twisty weirdness, but afterpages it still felt like all weirdness, no plot.
By the time anything started to happen I was too exhausted to really care about the ending.


Disappointing. Eine Welt, in der die Eiszeit nie geendet hat, In der die Menschen sich angepasst haben und Winterschlaf halten, In dieser Welt spielt Jasper Ffordes Roman "Eiswelt" ein Roman, den man am besten im Herbst oder Winter liest, unter der Bettdecke, während man sich wünscht, den Wecker ausstellen und selbst in den Winterschlaf fallen zu können.


Ich habe die Geschichte für meine Verhältnisse in Rekordzeit gelesen, Tatsächlich ist sie wunderbar flüssig geschrieben, mäandert wie ein quicklebendiges Flüsschen von einem Schauplatz zum anderen.
Der Hauptcharakter "Matschbirne" Charlie lässt sich großenteils einfach auf dem Fluss der Handlung treiben dem Anspruch an einen Protagonisten, ein Handelnder zu sein, will er gar nicht gerecht werden.


In dieser Hinsicht erinnert mich Charlie an Rincewind, den Zauberer aus Terry Pratchetts Scheibenwelt, dessen Hauptaufgabe oft auch eher im Weglaufen besteht.
Und ja, der Roman begegnet den Härten des Winters mit typisch englischem Humor obwohl er streng aus walisischer Perspektive geschrieben ist.
Insgesamt würde ich "Eiswelt" aber nicht mit den Werken Terry Pratchetts oder Douglas Adams vergleichen wollen.


Seine Stärken spielt das Setting immer dort aus, wo es unseren Erwartungen diametral entgegengesetzt ist: Den Bewohnern der Eiswelt geht es nicht darum, die schlanke Linie zu halten, sondern sich genügend Winterfett anzufuttern.
Klimawandel spielt eine Rolle, aber nur insofern, als möglichst viel COfreigesetzt werden soll, um eine globale Erwärmung in Gang zu bringen.


Neben den humorigen Seiten ist der Winter in Eiswelt aber auch brutal Todesfälle und Nachtwandler genannte QuasiZombies gehören zum Alltag, und auch die Lebenden zeigen oft erstaunliche Physiognomien.
An den sarkastischen Umgang mit den allgegenwärtigen Grausamkeiten des Winters muss man sich als Leser gewöhnen.


Die Charaktere werden nicht gerade subtil gezeichnet aber meist steckt zumindest mehr hinter ihrer Fassade, als der Roman zuerst preisgibt und harte Winter sind auch keine Umgebung, in der subtile Eigenschaften gut gedeihen würden.
Trotzdem war ich irritiert, wie kommentarlos der IchErzähler über Faustschläge aufs Auge und Zombiebisse hinweggeht der körperliche Schmerz wird kaum beschrieben.
Auch an anderen Stellen, etwa beim Tod einer alten Bekannten, kam mir die Gefühlsebene zu kurz.


Wer mag, kann sich an SteampunkElementen wie Gaslaternen, Phonographenwalzen und Druckluftwaffen erfreuen, Allerdings werden auch LEDLichter erwähnt, Cary Grant und die gesamte Palette moderner Kalorienbomben wie Snickers, Nutella und Cadbury's TraubenNussSchokolade.
Insgesamt hinterlässt der Weltenbau mit Ausnahme der genau beschriebenen Waffen leider einen etwas verworrenen Eindruck,

Die Handlung ist im Großen und Ganzen logisch, auch wenn es durchaus fragliche Elemente gibt.
Wie sich beispielsweise das außergewöhnliche Verhältnis von Toccata zu Aurora in der Praxis genau gestalten soll, darüber denkt man besser nicht zu genau nach.


Trotz der kritischen Anmerkungen hat mich das Buch absolut gefesselt, Nicht zuletzt, weil es zu allem, was es andeutet, dann auch liefert, Jedes Gewehr, das vorkommt, wird auch abgefeuert, Meine Empfehlung: Einfach lesen, solange es kalt ist,
Clever and original, as Fforde always is, this just isnt holding my attention enough to make me stay with it until the end.
It might have worked better as a short story

or as a novella, As Miss Jean Brodie would have said, For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.
Its just not for me,

With thanks to NetGalley and Hodder amp Stoughton for a free review copy, WOW weird . . weird weird. That was one weird read but oh so much fun, Think Terry Pratchett but with a bit more depth and many more characters,

We are in an alternative world but pretty much just in Wales, England and Ireland.
People survive the Winter after the last Fat Thursday where they eat as much as they possibly can and load up on calories.
These calories allow for winterlong hibernation, only dreams will slowly decrease the calorie load but those who wake early will inevitably die as they leave their dorms to seek food in the outside world.
A winter world so cold that death arrives in under an hour,

The world is broken up into sectors and it is sectorthat is lead by the meanest woman, Toccata, which contains a business called Hibertech, which manufacture serums to enhance the dreams of the hibernating.
It is sectorwhere Charlie Worthing lands, through deception, to begin his first year as a Winter Consul.
Consuls remain awake during the winter in a role called Overwintering, where they maintain the safety and order of the sector.


Almost immediately on arrival Worthing is met by Aurora, the woman at the head of Hibertech.
Soon after he is introduced to Toccata, the two women share a hatred of each other that stems from a deep secret, and both have their eyes on Charlie Worthing.
Poor Charlie has to decide which path to follow as well as work his way through his first Winter, something thatof firsttimers cannot do.


Living in Dormitoriums, threatened by the neverseen Gronks that roam the snow lands, carrying weapons that range from the lowly Bambi up to the heavy Cowpuncher, with Golgotha bombs, a secret and illegal society called Realsleep who strive for sleep for all without the use of medications, and their leader, Kiki, characters with names like Foulnap and Nightwalkers who are the undead, usually those who could not last a full Winter's sleep.
I did say this book is weird,

A truly bizarre and fun read, you will need to concentrate to not let the story get away from you but with plenty of references to modern pop culture, only twisted to suit this newer world, I'm sure you'll get a laugh.
.