This was my first Ali Smith book and her writing has amazed me: I will be reading all her books now. I would like to say thank you to the booksellers who have recommended her books to me, and to anyone who has not read Ali Smith: now is the time!

'The void is simultaneously the place where, for me, words first ceased to mean and where, for words, I first ceased to mean too.... That's as much of that story as I care to tell. One line about it is more than enough.' Oh brave new world that has Ali Smith in it. The first of a duology of books, with 'Glyph' to come next year, this is Ali Smith at her sublime best. A pair of siblings, whose mother has disappeared, are left to fend for themselves. Briar/Bri/Blair and Rose encounter a strange mix of people in a world where odd things happen. Red lines appear round their home and campervan. There is a horse. And then 5 years later Bri is working with the authorities. Where is Rose? In a novel about our dystopian future, we see our dystopian present. Meanings shift, words disintegrate on paper, genders are fluid, certainty is absent. What the heck is going on? We are told (reassured?) that all will make sense with the publication of 'Glyph'. I'm OK with the now, with the uncertainty and the gaps. This is a novel for our time, as the Seasonal Quartet and Companion Piece was. This is a remarkable and thought-provoking piece of fiction, which demands to be read. 'Unbelievable believable hope, I say. Impossible, possible.' Amen to that. (With thanks to the publisher for an advance copy.)

An incredible author who I feel I could not do justice to either when reading in my own unintellectual way or when attempting to review afterwards. With a similar feel to their Seasonal Quarter, Smith has produced a masterpiece in dystopian social commentary which exemplifies today’s political and socioeconomic backdrop. Superb. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

Ali Smith, one of the UK's greatest novelists, turning her hand to dystopian fiction in her own unique style... count me in! Following the brilliance of the seasonal quartet and its companion piece was always going to be a tough act, especially if like me you felt there were masterpieces. Gliff, I am happy to report, doesn't disappoint. There are her usual word plays, narrative techniques and style. Though there is a plot, it is not a novel to be read for plot. It is a novel to revel in, to savour and to be thankful that novelists like Smith continue to publish. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Ali Smith continues her project of writing supremely up-to-date stories, this time with a glimpse into a quietly dystopian near future. Two siblings, children written with Smith's trademark sense of precocious intelligence and humour, are waiting for their mother to return from covering their aunt's job while she is ill. As the two kids move through a strangely familiar world they meet friends and adversaries, challenging rules and trying to understand how the world works. Part of what makes this dystopia interesting is spotting its differences and similarities to our world - people are punished for protesting, or naming certain world events as genocide, the climate is changing, there is lots of surveillance, the state is controlling, and now mysterious red lines are being painted around things, people are being labelled unverified. As always Smith’s writing is packed with interesting ideas, witty experimentation, and a playful attention to language, all handled with a lightness of touch and understated smartness that welcomes the reader into Smith’s brilliant discussion. She is one of our greatest living novelists and this book is not to be missed!