Review: Grey (Fifty Shades, #4) by E.L. James

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Review

4 ‘One for the fans’ Stars

I’m always sceptical of a retelling of a story from a different perspective, but I have mad love for this series, so there was no way I could resist. And I think EL James has done a great job. I really enjoyed it, and feel like I have a more complete picture of a story that still remains very special to me, years after I first discovered it.

I won’t rehash the storyline because if you’re a fan of Fifty Shades, you’ll know it, if you’re not, you won’t be interested in this review anyway.

The book is pretty much an exact retelling of the events of Fifty Shades of Grey, but this is a series that I have reread and listened to over and over again, so doing to it again was definitely not a problem for me. The conversations, emails and texts are all there, all word for word, but this time with Christian’s perspective, and Christian is such a complex, enigmatic character, I revelled in the opportunity to see what he was thinking and how he was feeling as Ana comes into his life.

Yes, his feelings for Ana border on creepily obsessive, but I loved watching him deal with it all. For the first time in his life he has to actually chase a woman, and he is determined to have her. I thought his struggle to understand what she wants and try to accommodate that, balanced against his own desires was really well done. And his happiness at exploring ‘more’ with her is really sweet as we see his joy in experiencing all that he does with her, but also heartbreaking because he is in disbelief at how entranced he is with Ana, with no understanding of what he is feeling. His perspective also shows us that he puts on a lot of his stern-ness in order to keep his distance from her, while his inner monologue is a lot more free and easy. It’s all balanced really well.

There aren’t a lot of new additions to the story, but we do get to see some of Christian’s memories from his past (both before and after his adoption by the Greys, all utterly tragic), as well as getting a glimpse of his work and the dynamics at play there, his relationship with his staff (Taylor and Mrs Jones), and his relationship with his family. I loved seeing little glimpses of the brotherly playfulness between him and Elliot. It seems so wrong for somebody to text Christian Grey with the opener “Hey, dipshit”, but it adds a nice sense of normality to his life, and I really enjoyed that.

The big climax and ending is devastating. I’ve always been angry with Ana for her actions at the end of the first book, and seeing it from Christian’s POV damn near broke me!

Spoiler
He constantly told her that she was in charge, asking her to talk to him about what she was feeling. And that final scene in the playroom where she gets all angry with him is totally out of line! I get that she was freaked out and hurting, but he never forced her into it, she could have stopped it at any point. And seeing how Christian played it – he purposefully waits between each hit for her to tell him to stop, or to safe word, and she doesn’t and he spends the whole time marvelling at her willingness to push herself for him. Then she blows up at him, and he’s so confused, but is ultimately left shattered.
SO FREAKING SAD!

The doors close and she’s gone.
I sink slowly to the floor and put my head in my hands. The void is now cavernous and aching, overwhelming me.
Grey, what the hell have you done?

But this book does take us beyond that hideous ending, through the days that follow until Christian decides to make his move to claim his girl back. It leaves off at a hopeful point and has me diving straight into yet another Fifty Shades Darker reread so that I can continue on with the story.

It seems that, just like the original series, people either love or hate this book. I listened to this one as an audiobook, which generally makes me more tolerant of things that would annoy me while reading, so that may have helped. But credit must be given to the amazing Zachary Webber does an INCREDIBLE job at bringing Christian to life. The man is seriously talented, and gives just the right blend of control-freak, scary Dom, playful lover and reluctant romantic hero that are entirely Christian, so I highly recommend giving this one a listen if you can.

Rumour has it that Ms James will also be writing Fifty Shades Darker from Christian’s perspective. That’s my favourite in the series, so I’ll be all over that when it comes out.

This is definitely one for the fans.

I loved it – 4 stars.

 

The Fifty Shades series

Fifty Shades of Grey  Fifty Shades Darker  Fifty Shades Freed  Grey 

Fifty Shades of Grey (#1)
Review
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Fifty Shades Darker (#2)
Review
Buy: Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

Fifty Shades Freed (#3)
Review
Buy: Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

Grey (#4) (alternate POV book)
Review
Buy: Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

Darker (#5) (alternate POV book):
Buy:  Kindle Ebook Paperback

 

 

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