Early Riser

Charlie Worthing has applied to and been accepted for a job with the Winter Consuls, that hardy group of people who keep the rest of humanity safe during the annual 16-week long Winter Hibernation. Winter is a brutal season, with temperatures hovering around -50 Celsius for much of the time, so hibernating is essential. But when a dream goes viral among the Consuls and then people start dying, Charlie wonders if he has chosen the right profession after all, and that’s not even taking into account the Villains, the Nightwalkers and the possibly mythical WinterVolk who populate the Winter landscape…. I fell massively in love with Mr. Fforde’s writing back around the turn of this century when he published The Eyre Affair, still one show more of the most astounding books I’ve ever read, so I generally pick up his work when I run across it. For some reason, “Early Riser” which was published in 2018, passed me by until now, but I’ve finally gotten to it. Not as insane as the Thursday Next series, but still very satisfying. Mr. Fforde’s sense of the absurd is second to none, and his ability to careen off in new directions while still maintaining a coherent plot and vivid characters always make his work a joy to read. I don’t know if this is a stand-alone novel or the beginning of a new series, though I’m hopeful for the latter; more Charlie Worthing, please! Recommended. show less

In an alternate universe where human beings hibernate, those who work to keep the peace during the winter have a difficult and dangerous job. It’s Charlie Worthing’s first winter on the Winter Consulate, and things are about to get weird...

If you’re going to read Jasper Fforde, you need to be okay with not really understanding what’s going on for the first several chapters of a book. Reading this one was like getting thrown into a pool of water and trying to learn how to swim. I like Fforde; I find his books hugely imaginative, but this one was a bit much for me. However, if you’re intrigued by the concept and are willing to spend the time and effort puzzling through the confusing bits, or if you’re a diehard Fforde ffan, show more give this one a try. show less

This is set in an alternate reality in which apparently the last ice age never ended, but instead got worse and worse, so that now the winters are far too harsh to easily survive, and humans have evolved to hibernate through them. The story is told from the point of view of young Charlie Worthing, who takes a job, almost on impulse, as one of the few people designated to stay awake trough the winter to watch over the hibernating populace, only to get drawn into a complicated conspiracy plot involving dreams and hibernation drugs and kind-of-sort-of zombies.

None of which remotely captures just how weird this novel is, although if you've read some of Jasper Fforde's other stuff, you might have an idea. One thing I find particularly show more interesting about it is that there's clearly been a lot of thought put into the details of how this world works and how this alteration to human biology and society would affect all kinds of things -- the author really seems to be having a lot of fun with that -- and yet, the story also features mentions of or appearances by real-world historical figures and celebrities and various (slightly altered) works of culture. This is an approach that bugged me when Fforde used it in the fantasy world of The Last Dragonslayer, but it actually worked for me just fine here. Possibly because everything else in the novel is so weird that it's easy to just shrug and say, "Sure, why not." Plus, really, a lot of the story and worldbuilding elements in this thing feel like a very, very deadpan joke, which, somehow, all works much better than it seems like it really ought to.

And, hey, the plot is a lot of fun, too. show less

Fforde’s parallel-Earth romp mixes humor, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery in pretty well equal measure, with an undercurrent of menace that’s late to emerge but which gets steadily darker.

This Earth, locked in a perpetual Ice Age, is populated by humans who have adapted to the harsh climate by simply hibernating through the worst of it. Since 1236, most of the population have retired to “dormitoria” in late October, emerging in late February, thinner and older, but alive. The only people active during Winter are those few charged with servicing the sleepers, maintaining order, responding to emergencies, and generally keeping civilization toddling along in low gear during the annual hiatus. Charlie Worthing is about to show more embark on a career as one of those people, joining the Winter Consul, a “committed but mildly unhinged group of misfits who are responsible for ensuring the hibernatory safe passage of the sleeping masses.”

Things move along pleasantly enough, as Fforde has some fun with the notion of a culture where fat is good and a declining population is enhanced by children birthed specifically for adoption and reared in communal pools by the Sisters of Perpetual Gestation (Sister Zygotia, Sister Conceptia, Sister Placentia, et al), all under the stern eye of Mother Fallopia.

Charlie’s own good-heartedness gets him into hot water almost from the get-go, and he’s quickly up to his ears in trying to track down a shared dream which is creating chaos, madness, and death, and which has something to do with the pharmaceutical giant, HiberTech. The company formulated and markets a substance guaranteed to produce a safe and restful hibernation, except in those few poor souls who emerge from their winter nap minus most brain function.

This is where things start to get dark, and much of the rest of the book is devoted to Charlie and his friends (or are they?) gallivanting around through various blizzards trying to get to the bottom of a mystery which becomes increasingly malevolent.

There are also scores of subplots, from romance to self-sacrifice to social commentary to the search for possibly mythical monsters in the snow, so this winter night may be long and dark, but it’s never boring. show less

Jasper Fforde has a reputation for wacky stories and even wackier characters. Whether it is bringing storybook characters to life or filling his novels with puns, his stories are entertaining, unique, and bordering on crazy. While Early Riser certainly has an eclectic cast of characters, the story is a subdued one for him. Very little about Early Riser is as over-the-top as some of his other stories. There are downright somber sections of the novel. This is not the light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek Jasper Fforde we know. The Jasper Fforde of Early Riser is still trying to have fun, but you can tell he is struggling to do so.

I believe the problem is that the ever-present presence of death by cold or starvation puts a pall over the story show more from which it never recovers. Mr. Fforde tries to have fun with things, through mandatory eating requirements and how the fact that overweight is the new healthy and throws in the promise of mammoths into the mix, but no matter what silly character or scenario he adds, the story still retains its serious tone. The dangers Charlie faces as a Winter Consul in his first winter awake are numerous and frequently reiterated by every new character Charlie meets or with every unexpected action Charlie must take. A chase scene hampered by an invisible mythical beast can be amusing but is decidedly less so when the chase scene occurs in temperatures as low as negative sixty degrees and dropping. While it does up the suspense, it does not necessarily increase the fun.

While Early Riser may not be entirely up to the same madcap levels as Mr. Fforde’s earlier novels, I liked it a lot. I enjoyed Mr. Fforde’s take on climate change and think his vision of mandatory hibernation through the worst of the winter is refreshingly different. I like that hibernation in Mr. Fforde’s world is not as simple as falling asleep, that it involves preparation and danger. I also like the fact that society still functions in spite of the adverse weather. Charlie’s world is not a post-apocalyptic; it is a fully-functioning society that happens to exist either in an alternative universe or in unknown future years from today.

The differences are what make the story fun for me, as does the fact that Mr. Fforde fleshes out his worlds so completely. There appears to be no aspect of this world not covered or considered. This attention to detail is what makes Mr. Fforde’s stories come to life, no more so than in Early Riser, where what should be improbable becomes possible thanks to Mr. Fforde’s thoroughness.

Early Riser might be Mr. Fforde’s more realistic novels, but it still contains his signature style. Fans will rejoice at his zany characters and their goofy antics. Plus, there are as many puns as one can stomach. In other words, Early Riser is most definitely a Jasper Fforde novel. show less

I don’t even know where to start with this. Jasper Fforde is a maniac, and I love him. It’s been a while since I’ve read one of his books, and I’d forgotten how much his zany imagination just fills me with joy. What made this even better was Thomas Hunt, who is a phenomenal audiobook reader. He had to portray so many different characters, and he was excellent with them all. I think my favorite voice he did was the stuffy academic, reading excerpts from The Handbook of Winterology and other texts at the beginning of each chapter. It made me giggle every time.

The premise is that winters are so rough that most people get through them by hibernating. The societal structure and vocabulary Fforde built around this concept was show more thorough and often hilarious. I smiled and laughed so much as I listened to this on my work commute.

It has a rather twisty mystery too—it was hard to tell who was on Charlie‘s side and who wasn’t, who was telling him the truth about the “viral dream” and who was tricking him. It turned me on my head a couple of times, which I enjoyed.

The book is bonkers, and it’s very funny. I highly recommend it, especially on audio. show less

I've been a fan of Jasper Fforde ever since my now defunct book club selected The Eyre Affair way back in 2002. He generally pumps out his humorous, clever, metafictional, and totally original novels about once a year, but this time Fforde Ffans had to wait FIVE WHOLE YEARS for his new book. Early Riser is unrelated to any of Fforde's previous series of novels, although it shares some elements of the classic Fforde style. Every Fforde novel, while comical, is set in a dystopia and Fforde's dystopia of choice is the Bureacratic Hell. In this novel, the alternate universe Earth is beset by long, brutal winters, so humanity survives through hibernation. The Winter Consuls, a police force of sorts, stay awake to protect the rest. Charlie show more Worthing, a Novice Winter Consul, narrates his first winter in this dangerous job.One challenge is that Morphenox, the drug that helps people hibernate, has the side effect of putting people in a state of narcosis. Sometimes they can still perform menial tasks, but if they get hungry, they may also try to eat people. (And if long winters and zombie-like creatures make you think of A Song of Ice and Fire, there are some tangential similarities). Charlie also has to contend with a woman who, dolphin-like, sleeps with only half of her brain at time, and has completely different and conflicting personalities. Then there are dreams that are going viral among the sleepers and even becoming dangerous. And there's a mythical creature called The Gronk, who loves Rogers & Hammerstein musicals and folding laundry, but will also eat peoples' fingers (I doubt Fforde is aware of the New England Patriots football player, but its funny all the same). Fforde novels tend to be high-concept, and Early Riser was the most difficult one for me to comprehend in the early going what exactly are the parameters of this world and getting past the jargon that's sprinkled liberally in the text. I eventually cottoned on. The book is funny, but it feels more grimdark than other Fforde novels. There's an obvious parody of climate change in the novel, but there's also the darkness of peoples' souls in their willingness to exploit others for a little gain. Early Riser is a challenging read, but ultimately a worthwhile one, and a worthy addition to the Fforde ouevre. show less