Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
Coming in at a whopping 400 pages, this book seemed like no easy feat despite it’s very inviting and friendly exterior. In an age of binge-watching, restraint is an ability that’s hard to come by in my book (cue laughter here). Thus, my control leads me to read it in quarters.
The story starts with a simple enough statement:
Mrs. Tiffen could play the bouzouki.
From there we’re thrown into an alter-universe Wales where the general population hibernates during the winter and the few guardians left are forced to abide by their own laws of government while submitting to the laws of nature.
Our avatar if you will, is a young, unassuming man by the name of Charlie Worthing. His personality may be forgettable, but a facial birth defect strands him in your mental gallery of “who was that guy that looked like…”. Charlie starts out as your average citizen worried about one thing only: surviving the winter. It’s Fat Thursday, the Last Supper of the Early Riser world and an unexpected celebrity shows up to the affair with a rare job offer. Desperate to get his hands on the elusive drug that sends people off into a dreamless sleep through the winter, Charlie runs to interview. Low and behold, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Charlie’s hired.
The job, however, is the toughest there is. An agent for the Winter Consul.
The Winter Consul acts as a security taskforce during Winter, and they’re the only form of justice in the bitter cold. A series of events drives Charlie to the formidable Sector Twelve where it’s every man for himself and the enemies abound: HiberTech, Villains and Wintervolk ready to devour you (figuratively…and literally, but we’ll get to that). The story then spins so wildly like the snowstorms that you end up confused, cold, hungry and disbelieving that you’d get yourself into a predicament quite like this.
Early Riser has a way of sticking with you like the freeze sticks to your bones long after you’ve retreated to someplace warm.
While the eccentric cast may flow in and out of the story, their presence is often missed, and you catch yourself wondering what they’re up to now or fabricating a scene where they would have said this or done that. A true testament of the bold and unforgettable ensemble in this book.
Rating: 4/5
The Genre: Sci-fi, Thriller
The Season: Winter
The Cast: Ensemble. Told by Charlie Worthing. Protected by Winter Consul agents: Jonesy, Fodder, Foulnap, Logan, and Toccata. Spun by HiberTech employees: Goodnight, Hooke, Knapp, and Aurora. Served and lived by citizens: Lloyd, Webster, Birgitta, Josh, and Laura. Hunted by The Gronk. Special appearance by the Nightwalkers.
The Mood: Cold, Hungry, Disbelieving
If it were a film: “The Grey” (2012) meets “Inception” (2010) accented by the humor of “Stranger Than Fiction” (2006).
Films to watch to put you in a similar headspace: see above but also include “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), “Ready Player One” (2018), and “Anna Karenina” (2012).
