Book Review: Early Riser

By Ryland Johnson

After The Eyre Affair, Jasper Ffordes first book, which inaugurated the excellent Thursday Next series, he went on a creative hiatus. Early Riser marks Ffordes triumphant return to full-force, adult science fiction, and it is a stand-alone novel, not a work in a series, which is an exciting development. Like a crafted snow globe, Fforde gives us an entrancing, self-contained world. In the time of sprawling epics like Game of Thrones, its good to read sci-fi that feels complete in itself and tied off at the right time.

Early Riser takes place on an alternative Earth: modern, but with Ice-Age winters. In order to survive the annual deep-freeze, the human population hibernates en masse through winter, like bears in giant, nuclear-powered dormitories. The protagonist, Charlie Worthing, is a new recruit to the Winter Consul Service, the intrepid but short-lived few who are tasked with ensuring humanitys survival through hibernation. Winter is dangerous: There are monsters, villains, and even cannibal undead among the snowy, desolate wastes. Some go to sleep and never wake up. Dreams are dangerous. Someone must stay awake to protect human life.

Metaphors of sleeping, waking, and dreaming abound in Early Riser, which helps the novel feel both perennial and timely. Ffordes signature skill at world building is as effective as ever. Early Riser feels thoughtful and grown-up, more erudite, less slave to fashion. Its economy of concept insulates it from feeling played-out or dilute, and Ffordes fresh, hyperrealist wit keeps the story warm, engaging, and funny, even as he gives us a dead-serious parable of climate change and permanent wealth inequality

Early Riser is vastly enjoyable. Adult readers and fans of science fiction will devour it.