4 stars – Andy H
It’s not often you get to the end of a book wanting more but in this case, you will. Set in a future where ‘bods’ perform menial tasks on a country estate that has been turned into a tourist attraction, we find Paftoo – one of many but not like any.
Paftoo interacts with the other ‘bods’ in a way that is more accommodating than friendly – except for Tickets. Tickets holds the key to Paftoo’s past and regularly, Paftoo makes his way to the front gate to “interrogate” Tickets – just one more time! Paftoo knows there is something more to “life” than high scores, interests and dancing for Intrepid Guests. He knows it because he’s dreamt it; but he needs Tickets to fill in the gaps.
Morris imbues Paftoo with a spirit of adventure and appetite for discovery that is reminiscent of a quality we all once possessed as children and you cannot help being swept, headlong, into his “Who am I?” journey. Following Paftoo’s night time escapades is a treasure hunt in disjointed memories and you are drawn in, unwittingly, trying to guess where the next clue to a past existence will come from.
Lifeform Three is a thoroughly entertaining story that is reminiscent of the best robot writing from years gone by; it had me intrigued from first to last.
Lifeform Three 