“This book is dedicated to those readers who asked…and asked… and asked… and asked for this."

Maybe you asked for it. Christian Grey is set to return as an object of lust between the covers of a book in a little more than two weeks. There are chances of running into friends, family and loved ones poring over the book, letting the reading pleasure lure them into that red room crafted by EL James.

The announcement

On Monday the author announce on Instagram a new instalment to the mindblowingly popular erotica trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey. This time, India, too, will have a simultaneous release of Grey, on June 18. It is told from the point of view of the male protagonist of the original series – the brilliant, intimidating entrepreneur who is singularly obsessed with domination. Oh and Grey’s birthday is June 20, of course.



As everyone remembers though few will admit that they do, the three Fifty Shades books told the story of Anastasia Steele, a young woman who falls in love with Christian Grey, the young business magnate with an appetite for sex only if it comes with highly stylised corporal punishment.

After 125 million copies – and one hit film – sold worldwide of the trilogy, the fourth book has almost certainly been written for a market already out there. Hundreds of thriving online communities are packed with people sharing their fantasies about aspects of Grey's personality and charisma, a man who doesn’t hold back. Images of women reading Fifty Shades of Grey ran rife after the release of the book. ‘It makes me want to have sex all the time,’ a reader famously exclaimed, which explains the popularity of the franchise.

Naturally, the announcement of the new title has people getting worked up already. On Instagram the approval count is heading up to 50,000 and will soon go over. Each of those may well translate into a purchase of the book straightaway.

James says that readers have long been asking for the man’s perspective. “…(A)s anyone who has ever been in a relationship knows, there are two sides to every story. It’s been a great pleasure to return to my happy place – writing, being with Christian and Ana in their universe.”

Ecstatic response

On social media, adrenaline ran high as fans squealed, shouted and celebrated the announcement.

 

 

 

Of course, there were others who let in a couple of snide remarks about the trilogy.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, the trilogy has had its share of criticism from book reviewers. Some even went ahead and slammed the language for its “sixth grade reading level” and repeating words such as “oh my” 72 times and “blushes/flushes” a 125 times in the first volume alone.

But these hardly matter to either the author – who, as everyone knows, self-published originally – or her publishers around the world. The widespread popularity of the books, much of which is reportedly among women, was, according to BuzzFeed, perhaps because it is about a man doing all the right things without being asked.

Not surprisingly, people have already started curating lists of their expectations from the new books. The wishlist focuses, expectedly, on steamy scenes, including a re-do of the "important" ones but "it would be better served if things are spiced up with new stuff," wrote USA Today, while asking for a little bit of back story to Christian Grey's character as well.

If reactions on the social media or the 4.05 star rating out of 5 (including 70 reviews) already granted to it by users on Goodreads are anything to go by, the book is set to make many more people scream – in pleasure or pain or, as in shades of Grey, both.