Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy is packed with original metaphor and simile.  In Titus Groan, the first book, I noted two similes for ‘expressionless’, both appropriate, though I think I prefer the second. 

See also his description of a blank stare.

‘Her eyes were as expressionless as mushrooms.’ 

 

‘… their faces remained as expressionless as powdered slabs.’  

See also our bestellar review of this book, with its lavishly illustrated quote-mosaic, packed with fine phrasing and fresh metaphors.  

Source: Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan, introduction by Anthony Burgess (London: Vintage Books, 1998), p. 321 and p. 282

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