So, the fourth Croshaw novel...

For those who do not know the author, Yahtzee Croshaw, he has been a games journalist and reviewer for over ten years as time of writing. So, it is only natural for him to include his experiences from the games he played (and liked) in his non-review-content. About the novel then. (Warning: Very minor spoilers for his other works for those that are especially sensitive about the issue of spoilers) Yahtzees books have always mirrored some rather obvious gaming trend that was popular or well-liked (by him of course) at the time: 'Mogworld' is the most blatant example with its story set inside a video game, 'Jam' followed the craze around zombie and apocalypse survival games and 'Will save the galaxy for food' felt like the kind of scenario Mr. Croshaw might come up with (or find interesting within) space simulation games, notably Elite: Dangerous. This stated, it is rather surprising to see this novel coming out, with no main theme being so obviously games related. The novel itself rather gives social commentary then any kind of gaming related statement, and that is rather splendid to see/read, especially with the host site of his regular 'Zero Punctuation', 'the escapist' being quite dead for some time now. It seems to a long time follower of Yahtzees works that this novel is his attempt to free himself at least partially from his routine work in games journalism/reviewing. After all this rambling, let us get to the juicy bits real quick: The Story "It's a contemporary paranormal fantasy about the difficulties of adapting to modern life when you are a formless lovecraftian horror from beyond the veil of time and space." ~ Yahtzee about this book, Zero Punctuation about Metal Gear Survive The quote about sums it up. I don't really want to spoil anything about the plot or the characters, but in a general sense the story is well set up, with some on-the-nose exposition at a few points in the book. The characters are very well written and feel very coherent throughout the novel. Do not expect the high saturation of humor found in his other novels, even though there are plenty of genuine funny moments found here. Development and pacing of the plot feel natural, with no event or character being rushed. To explain why I have not rated the story, and thus the novel as a whole as perfect is that it was rather generic at times, with Yahtzees more dramatic approach to a story. I prefer his style of characters and story as seen in 'Jam', with a very colorful cast of characters and truly unique setting, to the more generic tone of this novel in comparison. Narrator and style "Yahtzee, you slick internet paparazzi..." ~ Yahtzee again, Zero Punctuation about Wolfenstein (2009) I feel comfortable combining narration and the style of writing in one aspect, as the narrator is the author and this saves some space. I feel like Yahtzees style might not be for everyone, but I don't really have any ground to base that on, knowing no one that doesn't like his writing, but also knowing only a handful of people that are familiar with him at all. His metaphors sometimes are on the ludicrous side of things, but his writing is very intelligent, if that makes any sense. You really feel like he has put some thought into nearly every literary device and figure of speech, and thus crafted this beautiful style I like about his writing. As for Mr. Croshaw as narrator, I think he has definitively improved upon his earlier novels, with some more variety between characters and their particular manners of speech. This has been his best performance yet. Conclusion To give a final conclusion of what has been written up there, 'Differently Morphous' is a successful attempt at breaking out of old habits and themes for Mr. Croshaw without losing his peculiar style and his way of telling a story. With only some minor shortcomings with the characters and exposition, this novel is a great addition to Yahtzees library of novels and worth every cent you pay.

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if you know yahtzee...

The Yahtzee Crowshaw multiverse gets yet another layer. full of nods to other works but being stand alone and funny enough to entertain.

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Fun to read

Think of this book as a blend of Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" and David Wong's "John Dies at the End" series, which I both enjoyed a lot. Fully recommended.

As always, Yahtzee Croshaw does a great job reading it.

Größtenteils brilliant und unterhaltsam

Das schlechte zuerst: bei ungefähr zwei Dritteln der Geschichte schleicht sich meines Erachtens ein bisschen Idiotie bei der Protagonistin ein, verflüchtigt sich aber glücklicherweise zum Ende hin wieder. Außerdem mag der Autor ein paar Worte ein bisschen zu sehr, die sich deshalb ein wenig zu oft wiederholen meiner Meinung nach ('glare' drängt sich auf).
Auch ein kleiner Nebenplot wird erst im Epilog etwas hemdsärmelig aufgelöst und das Ende schreit nach einer Fortsetzung, was mich etwas irritiert angesichts dessen, dass alle bisherigen Titel des Autors alleinstehende Geschichten waren.
ABER... nichtsdestotrotz hatte ich sehr viel Spaß mit dem Buch. Es ist sehr witzig, die Charaktere und der Plot angemessen absurd und die Erzählung durch den Autor ist großartig. Es werden genug falsche Fährten gelegt um die Geschichte spannend zu halten und alles ist voller lustig-bizarrer Analogien, wie man vom Autor erwarten sollte. Referenzen zu Örtlichkeiten, Charakteren und Gags aus anderen Büchern sowie aus den Videos und Spielen des Autors kommen auf, sind aber nie zentral oder aufdringlich - wer das referierte Material nicht kennt versteht trotzdem alles, und zumeist ist es auch für sich genommen lustig, würde ich meinen. Insgesamt für mich eine sehr gute Investition; würde ich jederzeit weiterempfehlen, wenn man den Mix aus Horror, Comedy und Fantasy mag.

Amazing book

It's an amazing book with twists and turns everywhere. You're constantly on edge and the style is unique and whilst being funny in just the right moments

bullseye, again

a great story. if you enjoyed any other story by Yahtzee you will like this one too.

Incredibly absurd yet realistic.

This book promised pairing Lovecraftian sprinkles of horror with a glazing of modern extreme PC-Culture. It did.

Somehow didn't click

I own all of the author's books, and this is the first one where I found myself constantly drifting away, losing the plot, forcing me to restart various chapters to get back into it.

I cannot explain exactly why, I just did not connect with the protagonists or the story - maybe there were too many characters to follow, maybe it was something else, but apart from a few occasions of the typical and hillarious Yahtzee humor, I felt there was something missing to this one. I quit after about 60% through the story and have already forgotten most of the character's names.

I still love the previous books, especially Mogworld and Will save the Galaxy.

Expanding the Yathzeeverse

I've been reading and listening to Yathzee's writing since his old adventure game designing days - so this might be a bit of a biased review, but I do think he's getting constantly better in creating loveable and distinct characters in funny but still intriguing situations.

This book is no different: it has a Terry Pratchettesque wordbuilding that is both silly but still takes itself seriously. The cast of characters is more diverse than in any of his previous books and the central mistery is clever and intriguing. Not so sure about the ending though - I'm curious what he'll publish next.

Compelling narrative about horrors of the mundane

Funny, witty and with an eye for the absurd Yatzee Croshaw delivers yet again a great novel, this time set in a present day where lovecraftian horrors lurk around every corner. But instead of an epic tale, Croshaw let's his characters experience the horrors of mundanity, dealing with PR disasters and office drudgery instead.

Worth a listen for anyone who likes fantasy with dry British humour.