Foster tends to write what might be called "middle-of-the-road" science fiction -- neither space opera (though Icerigger came close) nor high-tech tales, and Life Form slots nicely into his wheelhouse.

An group of human explorers has just landed on a planet that an early, unmanned flyby probe marked "promising", and has found an absolute cornucopia of strange and exotic life. But the planet holds both secrets and surprises, and not all of them are benign.

Foster has put a lot of thought into how such an expedition might actually work. (For one thing, his explorers don't Captain Kirk boldly into an unknown environment with nothing but brightly colored uniforms and futuristic blasters.) The life forms they discover are brilliantly original, and the story that develops has just enough twists to hold the reader's interest.

If there's a weak spot in the book, it's characterization. There are eleven members of the exploration team, and it's probably inevitable that not each of them is going to become a fully-developed character. Even a couple of the main cplayers (in the sense of their importance to the plot) don't get much more than a skin-deep analysis.

Still, it's an enjoyable read, and even manages to slip some existential questions in sideways. ( )