History Main / ShadesofGrey

* ''Webcomic/ShadesOfGray'', [[http://www.kahmith.com/ a science fiction web comic]] with no connection to either the novel or the anime/manga blog.

* ''Webcomic/ShadesOfGray'', a science fiction web comic with no connection to either the novel or the anime/manga blog.

* ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGray'', as it is.

* ''Literature/50ShadesOfGray'', as it is.

* ''Literature/50ShadesOfGrey'', as it is.

* ''Literature/ShadesOfGrey'', a science fiction novel series by JasperFforde.

[[quoteright:316:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/n252320.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:316:JOE? Who's Joe?]]

->''Apart We Are Together.''

A {{science fiction}} literary series, created by Creator/JasperFforde.

Over seven hundred years into the future, following a vague [[AfterTheEnd Something That Happened,]] the country of Chromatacia lies where Britain does today. The human race has transformed into an [[AmbiguousGender androgynous-looking race]] of people with very small pupils that can see one ''and only one'' color, all others appearing as [[TitleDrop shades of grey.]] Your social standing depends entirely on the one color you can see; those who see purple belong in the aristocracy, whereas those who see red are the working class. Achromatics, or "Greys", cannot see any color at all, and thus they're little more than slaves. These humans share the world with many species of giant, mutant creatures, [[ManEatingPlant including killer trees.]] Most oddly, every living creature has a [[ScannableMan barcode pattern]] growing naturally somewhere on their bodies. The entire country is run in the manner of a British boarding school, to the point where a person's worth is measured on how many merits they have.

Our protagonist is Eddie Russett, a young man and member of the House of Red. As punishment for having humiliated a prefect's son, he is banished to the village of East Carmine for a month of menial labor, along with his father, who is sent to replace the village's recently-deceased medical practicioner. After making himself at home and meeting the quirky locals, he falls head-over-heels for a feisty Achromatic named Jane, whose violent temper is as rare in Chromatacia as is the shape of her nose. Smitten, Eddie begins to stalk her, and in doing so he accidentally stumbles on an incredible secret, one that will rock their world to its foundation. Together, for better or worse, Eddie and Jane become the seeds of a revolution...

Not to be confused with the WebComic or InteractiveFiction [[NamesTheSame of the same name]]. Also, [[SimilarlyNamedWorks avoid confusing it with]] the BDSM novel ''[[Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey 50 Shades of Grey]]''.
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!!This series contains examples of:

* AbhorrentAdmirer - Violet [=deMauve=], first for Doug, then for Eddie.
* AfterTheEnd
* AmbiguousGender - The citizens of Chromatacia are implied to be this, including Eddie. At least when compared to The Previous (us).
* AuthorAppeal The barcodes. No [[http://www.jasperfforde.com/grey/barcode.html really.]]
* AndManGrewProud - The book's setting is in a post-'Something That Happened' England where the culture is based around a book of English boarding school rules.
* ArrangedMarriage - Eddie to Constance Oxblood, [[spoiler: then to Violet deMauve.]]
* BerserkButton - Don't talk about Jane's nose. Call it ''retrousse'' and you die.
* BittersweetEnding - [[spoiler: Sure, Eddie is going to be Red prefect and has a chance of getting into National Color, but he and Jane can't get married because she's Green, so he has to marry Violet and poor Dorian and Imogen got sent to High Saffron, where they will probably die horrible deaths.]]
* BrownNote - Redlax and Lincoln.
** A whole lot of other hues too. The main job of a swatchmen (read: doctor) is to show people certain swatches of colour to get an appropriate physical reaction.
* ChekhovsGun - As noted elsewhere, each chapter begins with a quote from what are presumably the rules of Munsell. Most of them don't appear to have any greater significance, but one of the earlier chapters foreshadows part of the ending, namely [[spoiler:Jane and Eddie being incompatible because they are complementary colours.]]
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience - Chromaticia's entire social structure.
* ColorCodedPatrician - What color people can see defines their social standing; Purples command the most respect. Wealthy people may choose to artificially dye their clothes so all can see it - a practice which the main character calls "a proudfully expensive and tastelessly ostentatious display."
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale - [[spoiler:Violet on Eddie.]] The fact that ''[[spoiler: Eddie's own dad set it up]]'' just adds insult to injury.
* DownerEnding - Bloody hell. [[spoiler: Eddie can't marry Jane because it turns out she's Green; People sent for reboot end up dead from the Mildew in High Saffron; Mildew isn't a natural disease, it's a colour used to take care of certain undesirable sectors of society by Head Office.]]
* EncyclopediaExposita - Each chapter opens with a quote from the rules.
* {{Fingore}} - A blue girl accidentally chops some of her fingers off early in the book. It's not a big deal, and Holden sews them back on easily - one of the first signs of just how odd the inhabits of Chromatacia are.
* GRatedDrug - Specific colors have this effect on the citizenry, including Lincoln.
* HowWeGotHere - The book starts with Eddie inside a [[ManEatingPlant Yateveo]]. The first 9/10ths of the book are explaining how he ended up in such a pickle.
* IWishItWereReal - Perpetulite, a material used to build roads. Technically alive, it shifts to push obstacles out of the way and survives by absorbing nutrients from any organic debris that may fall on it, including dead leaves, weeds, roadkill, [[spoiler: and people]] essentially eliminating the need for any road maintenance. It was developed by the Previous long before the start of the novel, and the technology used to create it has been lost to time.
* LoopholeAbuse - How a surprising amount of things are accomplished in Chromatacia, really. Stuck between the inviolable rules and the need for certain things to get done (things usually required by ''other'' rules), loopholery has become a proud tradition.
* LovableRogue - Tommo Cinnabar. A snitch, drug addict, and all-around ne'er-do-well with a {{money fetish}}, but a charming and likeable one nonetheless.
* LukeIAmYourFather - [[spoiler: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident
* ManEatingPlant - The Yateveo.
* MeaningfulName - Family names suggest the colors they can see: the Russetts, a Red family; the deMauves, a Purple family; Gamboge, the Yellow prefect; etc.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed - Legends of the Previous, such as [[{{Madonna}} M'Donna]] and [[ChuckNorris Chuck Naurice.]]
* OurFounder - Both East Carmine and High Saffron have a twice-life size statue of Our Munsell in the town square.
* [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Really Four Hundred And Fifty One Years Old]] - [[spoiler:The Apocryphal man]].
* ReleasedToElsewhere - [[spoiler:Rebooted]].
* ScannableMan: Barcodes. They're ''everywhere''.
* ScavengerWorld
* SequelHook
* ShoutOut - One of Eddie Russett's friends is named [[PinkFloyd Floyd Pinken.]]
** Prefect Yewberry warns Eddie and his father about Pookas in Rusty Hill, saying they've appeared [[{{Harvey}} here and there, now and then, to this one and that one.]]
** When Eddie is Zane's house in Rusty Hill, there's a television playing 'Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.
** The Oz Memorial and all the works of art.
*** Word of God holds it that the Oz Memorial is not actually to The Wizard of Oz, but instead to Frank Oz, the voice actor.
** Most characters have last names relating to their colors, however grays are only referred to as G-(insert number here). So we end up having a character Zane the Grey. Jane is arguably an allusion to the same.
** Subtler than the others, but throughout Eddie refers to the Ishihara, the test all citizens take in order to have their colour perception levels certified. In real life, the Ishihara test is used for a similar purpose - to test colour-blindness, rather than colour-perception. (This troper is red-green colourblind. He's had more than a few Ishiharas)
* StarCrossedLovers - Eddie and [[spoiler: Jane]]. At first [[spoiler: due to different social standing, and the fact she keeps threatening to kill him]], later [[spoiler: due to him being a very strong Red and her being a very weak Green, and complementary colors must never mate]].
* StealthPun - One of the minor characters is a photographer who can only see grey and is called Dorian. [[Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray Hmmm...]]
** In fact, all of the Greys are [[StealthPun stealth puns.]] Unlike other characters, they aren't given last names that are actual color shades, instead being G-17 or G-24 etc. So in addition to Dorian Gray we have [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Jane_Grey Jane Grey]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zane_Grey Zane Grey]]...
*** But no [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Jean?]]
**** It's only the first one, so I'm sure she'll show up eventually.
** Not to mention the love story between [[Literature/JaneEyre Edward and Jane]].
* TakeANumber - Eddie sets one up in his father's office.
* {{Tsundere}} - Jane. Very much so.
* {{Unperson}} - Apocryphals would be... [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial if they existed, which they don't]].
* UnusualEuphemism - You know (sex) and thingying ([[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbation]])
* WhenTreesAttack - The Yateveo.

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<<|{{Literature}}|>>
<<|SpeculativeFictionSeries|>>

*** But no [[XMen Jean?]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/n252320.jpg
[[caption-width:316:JOE? Who's Joe?]]

A {{science fiction}} literary series, created by JasperFforde.

* StealthPun - One of the minor characters is a photographer who can only see grey and is called Dorian. [[ThePictureOfDorianGray Hmmm...]]

** Not to mention the love story between [[JaneEyre Edward and Jane]].

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial - "There's no such thing as [[OurGhostsAreDifferent pookas]]. It says so in the rules."

* DownerEnding - Bloody hell. [[spoiler: Eddie can't marry Jane because it turns out she's Green; People sent for reboot end up dead from the Mildew in High Saffron; Mildew isn't a natural disease, it's a colour used to take care of certain undesirable sectors of society by Head Office. See also CompleteMonster.]]

* ChekhovsGun - As noted elsewhere, each chapter begins with a quote from what are presumably the rules of Munsell. Most of them don't appear to have any greater significant, but one of the earlier chapters foreshadows part of the ending, namely [[spoiler:Jane and Eddie being incompatible because they are complementary colours.]]

* BittersweetEnding - Sure, Eddie [[spoiler: is going to be Red prefect and has a chance of getting into National Color]], but [[spoiler: he and Jane can't get married because she's Green, so he has to marry Violet]] and poor [[spoiler: Dorian and Imogen got sent to High Saffron, where they will probably die horrible deaths.]]