I love Jasper Fforde, but I did enjoy his Thursday Next series more than this book. A friend of mine calls his writing too "twee" for her, and that's kind of what I felt like with this one.

Update: just saw this article which is very interesting in the context of Shades of Grey: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/11/10/361219912/if-the-same-shade-looks-both-yellow-and-gray-whats-color?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2035