5 stars – JAW
Ms Morris’s work has a distinctive style all her own, such that I think I could readily pick it out in any `blind tasting’ comparison with other contemporary writers. If pressed to characterise her literary voice I’d say it was redolent of `fable’ – though not the Tolkien, round-the-tribal-campfire sort, but of a distinctly modern form. There’s also a subtle dream-like quality to this and her first book too, in that the `real world’ is plainly still there and going about its business, but the story at hand is the all-consuming thing to the exclusion of matters mundane. So: a hybrid of strong storytelling, fable and dream – a `fabream’ perhaps, or a `dreable’…
But all that’s mere labelling. The story is the thing and this story engages from the start, never falters and carries the reader to their destination with startling strength and speed. Which (far from coincidentally I suspect) is also a parallel with the powers of the marvellously realised `Lifeform Three’ creature described within these pages.
If Ms Morris can continue in such assured and idiosyncratic style with her next book then she’ll have firmly established a literary voice all her own. Whatever subject she then chooses (and her two extant books vary greatly in subject) will come with the guarantee of that unique authorial voice. And will therefore merit buying even if she decides to write about accountants – which is high praise indeed.
Lifeform Three 