EARLY RISER

The Big Sleep

It’s a case of “see ya later, hibernator” in Jasper Fforde’s witty new novel about a world at sleep.

released 2 august 416 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook Author Jasper Fforde Publisher Hodder & stoughton

What if humans hibernated? That’s the intriguing central conceit of Jasper Fforde’s latest fantasy comedy. Because this is Fforde, don’t expect some spurious geophysical disaster to explain the new normal; as with his Thursday Next and Nursery Crimes series, he simply invents a whimsical alternate Earth where sleeping through impossibly harsh winters has always been the case.

So in Early Riser, 99% of the human race fatten themselves up in the autumn in readiness for five months of kip. The other 1% are the “winsomniacs” who either can’t sleep or choose not to for various reasons; various villains, bandits and dropouts; and the Winter Consuls, who police things while everyone else slumbers.

In the modern world, this hibernation is dreamless – for those above a certain pay grade. This is because scientists have discovered that dreams waste energy, and the sleepers need to conserve energy to make it through their extended slumber (historically, many died during hibernation). So those who can afford it take a drug called Morphenox, which blocks dreams. The only problem is that every year, a small number of users emerge from hibernation as incurable “nightwalkers” (sleep zombies, basically) – but when weighed against the number of lives saved, this seems a small price to pay.

When un-adoptable orphan Charlie Worthing decides to join the Winter Consuls, and becomes stranded in frozen South Wales, he soon discovers there’s a major conspiracy going on. It’s just not clear who are the good guys and who are the bad guys... (It’d be a spoiler to explain why Charlie’s not been adopted; thanks to some first-person legerdemain, it’s not revealed until long into the book.)

As ever with Fforde, this new “world” still feels like a cosy ’70s British suburban sitcom genetically spliced with a Terry Gilliam movie and a Dali painting. There’s plenty of his signature invention, wit, silliness and wordplay as he has fun revealing the conventions of the society he’s created; from the annual rituals to the traditional greetings and the idiosyncratic range of compressed air pulse weapons they use (though he carefully avoids going into why the sleepers don’t simply use drip feeds for nutrition while hibernating...). You also get Fforde’s usual random cultural references, from Jane Bond (and the controversy over when the superspy was once played by a man) to a zombie Rick Astley. They never really operate on the level of satire, though; they’re just bonkers. Fforde is more of the Vic and Bob of fantasy humour to Terry Pratchett’s Yes Minister.

Fforde also has a running gag in which everyone and everything is described with a trio of scents: “a tiny office that smelt of coal smoke, old socks and baking”; “he smelled of mouldy string, liquorice and ink”; “a delicate mix of oil paints, fresh laundry and musk”. This is an amusing affectation, but doesn’t seem to link into anything else in the novel, either in terms of theme or plot.

When it comes to that plot, we’re in familiar Fforde territory – the crime procedural in fantasy clothing – and even the supporting characters have a whiff of familiarity. Having said that, the sprawling cast is full of memorably entertaining oddballs, because eccentric characters with bizarre motivations are Fforde’s forte – and sex-nuns are certainly a departure for the author, if nothing else.

More of a fan pleaser than a book to create Fforde converts, Early Riser also feels satisfyingly complete. Fforde appears to explore his world so fully here that it’s difficult to imagine how it could be spun off into a series. Though the author, of course, may have other ideas. Dave Golder

Full of memorably entertaining oddballs

Josh Landry, winner of a “have a character named after you” charity auction, also helped pen dialogue for his character.