Early Riser

Jasper Fforde Hodder & Stoughton €22

Fforde’s surreal dystopia is set in a remote part of Wales. The world has turned colder and, with winters at 50 below zero, the population is forced to hibernate for five months of the year. During their slumbers they are protected by the elite Winter Consuls from the marauding Nightwalkers and Wintervolk, while in the background lurk the evil corporation, Hibertech, and RealSleep, a band of revolutionaries. Endlessly imaginative and distinctively quirky, this is entertaining fun, though quite what it adds up to is beyond me.