Early Riser

Worthy.

A cumbersome beginning, with a few stumbles along the way; and the interactions between characters is curiously affectless; and you're going to need a heaping dose of Extra-Strength Disbelief-Suspensio™ because the rules of this new world aren't even internally consistent. But I found myself not caring: the story was good, the characters interesting in themselves. A tad heavyhanded near the end (in ways that were predictable from the first few chapters), but oh god much less so than that stupid rabbit book we won't mention. Fun plot twists, some predictable but most not: overall, it just kept getting weirder as it progressed, weirder in quirky and engaging ways. It must be interesting to have an imagination like Fforde's, and obviously not all of it works for everyone (cough rabbit book *cough), but this one worked for me. Fforde writes with compassion and grace, and I promise you that this will take you to interesting and thoughtful places.