Audible Review, “Differently Morphous”

Book Details

“Differently Morphous” is the latest story by writer and critic Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, who had previously written “Mogworld”, “Jam”, and “Will Save the Galaxy for Food”.  Each of his books put a humorous spin on the usual genre tropes associated with fantasy, disaster, science fiction, and in this latest case, cosmic horror (you know, like HP Lovecraft).

This is an Audible original, with the print release coming down the line.  It is read by the author, who is a good voice performer, honed from years of recording his stuff onto internet videos.

You can find it here.

Review in Short

I blazed thru “Differently Morphous”. It is perhaps the fastest I have gone thru a book of this length.  Really good if you like genre comedy.

The Plot?

The story has numerous twists, starting out as a "secret world" narrative, where you think the story will involve keeping the secret monsters/magic from the public while fighting it, “Men in Black” style.  He then throws that out the window.

The book will then start to focus on a particularly fun and funny character, showing them doing silly things but also showing how they have much more going on beneath the façade, so you think the story will be about dealing with his over the top methods after the paradigm shift.  Nope, he is a side character.

The real plot is a murder mystery, where the victims are blob monsters from another dimension that have taken asylum on Earth.  That is pretty nuts.

All of the turns keep things moving and I was surprised and entertained by the ultimate reveal of the villain.  The explanation for why things have been happening is a lot of fun and the final action scene confrontation is exciting.

The Jokes?

The comedy is not just silly either. It has silly elements, but it also has an edge to it with discussions of social justice and refugees.  Most of it pivots on colorful characters exchanging dialogue which is quick and often clever.  I especially liked the buddy cop vibe between the two field agents of Adam and Victor (I am not sure but that could be a reference to Victor Frankenstein and the monster, Adam… But that would not make any sense as they have nothing to do with that).

“Differently Morphous” also talks somewhat seriously about the ideas of monsters and what their place in the world would be if they suddenly showed up.  Monsters who interact peacefully with the public and do nothing but eat rubbish could just be seen as people, but there are still monsters that look a lot more human that are just monsters.  It is smart with its silly comedy, using jokes to have a discussion about things.

Complaints?

If I do have a criticism (and it is not really a criticism), it is the same one I had for his last book "Will Save the Galaxy for Food".  It is this: “Differently Morphous” feels like the start of something much bigger.

This feels like the novelization of a TV movie, that also serves as the pilot to a TV show. It explores and explains all the rules of the world, it introduces a cast of characters and focuses on their dynamic, it then shows how those rules and those characters can be stretched and bent.

It is a lot of set up, so I kind of felt let down that it didn't just keep going.  Not really a complaint, to want something to keep going, but if you are the type of person that is looking for a complete story... This doesn't have that.

The book ends (like "Will Save the Galaxy for Food”) with plenty unanswered and set up for a sequel… THOUGH EVEN MORE SO, because “Galaxy” was the type of story that could end on a wistful “where do we go from here” note.  “Morphous” ends on a dramatic revelation that provides new contextualization to the whole rest of the story.  That is a little annoying.

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