Review: Early Riser

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read a couple other books by Jasper Fforde and I picked this one up almost entirely on the fact that I enjoyed his other work. Within the first couple chapters I was thinking to myself "did I make a mistake picking this up?" The pacing is pretty slow to start out with. Add on top that this is set in an alternate history where some things don't quite work the way we are familiar with and it can be a bit jarring. Once it gets going though, the story is fantastic.

This is a world where winters are blisteringly cold. It is so inhospitable that humans for the most part have developed the ability to hibernate. We get to follow Charlie Worthing on his first year as a member of what is essentially a police force for the winter months. Part of what I liked about this book so much is that it reminds me of hard boiled detective stories. Charlie is a bit of an outsider and acts as a decent guide into this world. One of the things that helped keep the story moving for me is the humor. If that doesn't click for you, I think this book would be much harder to get through. As it is, I found it silly and fun to dig into.

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