The Rhesus Chart (Laundry Files Book 5)

The book series is great. After reading this one I went back to book 1 and started again because it reminded me why I like them. Haven't read anything else by the author, but his humor is pretty good and I find him very adept at building suspense.

I enjoy the Laundry Files. It is a different take on magic and interdimentional interactions. While I find the government oversight and bureaucratic red tape interesting and sort of amusing, the jargon (most of which I think is made up) gets old after a while. The London and British references are sometimes mystifying to a midwestern American. This applies especially to "The Rhesus Chart", as it throws in high finance and the banking system of England. This book skewers the vampire craze and does it well. I could have done without the ex-girlfriend-from-hell. The books follow a chronological order and references are made to short stories not in the books.
If you want you sci-fi/fantasy out of the ordinary, I recommend this series.

Charles Stross has spoiled me with his previous novels in this series. This book is enjoyable and by all means worth reading, but as compared to the previous ones I find this one a bit flat, it doesn't spellbind me as the previous have done. Still, I am looking forward to the next one with anticipation.

I really enjoy Charles Stross - everything by him. Often I am a little disappointed by the endings feeling they are a touch rushed and if you are already familiar with the series you have all the little catch-up paragraphs in the beginning. This book was was a joy all the way through with character advancement and some surprise at the end. It's just too bad about Bob.

Charles Stross doesn't disappoint. It's a mystery how he can keep up this marvellous combination of mystery, humour, and horror. The characters are well crafted, as is the world they inhibit, and most of the time it's hard to predict where the story will take you next.

Charles Stross doesn't disappoint. It's a mystery how he can keep up this marvellous combination of mystery, humour, and horror. The characters are well crafted, as is the world they inhibit, and most of the time it's hard to predict where the story will take you next.

Stross is back! Equal parts scathing critique of financial institutions & "plausible" vampires, with CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN looming steadily closer on the horizon, this pageturner will leave you waiting for the next book in the Laundry-Verse!

Long awaited and greedily devoured, the new book in the series is a lively and fun evolution of the life of Bob Howard. The considerable intellect and wit of Charles Stross is also evolving and shows in the writing and structure. Fangs and fun, tooth and claw; get into it.

This would be a great Charles Stross Laundry Files novel, except, there’s no such thing as vampires. The storyline follows the progression of Bob Howard’s clandestine career in the British necromantic service. But, as you should know, vampires are not real. This particular story is not for the squeamish or fainthearted, like most of Bob’s adventures. It winds up being rather exciting and sad at the same time, which is too bad, considering that vampires can’t be real. You be the judge.

The Halting State and Laundry are Stross' best work, and this latest surpasses them all. "There's no such thing as vampires," everyone knows that. Well, there's a reason they do.

You'll need to be current with literary and cinematic references to get the most from this. A shocking ending, requiring a grim sequel. I can't wait.

Oh, and there's a cat.

The Rhesus Chart is the fifth in Charles Stross' Laundry Files (The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue, The Fuller Memorandum, The Apocalypse Codex) that follows the trials of British civil servant Bob Howard, a former computer scientist corralled into working for a super-secret division of MI-6 tasked with defending the Universe. The series is a cross between the classic Cold War spy thriller and Lovecraftian cosmic horror. (Indeed, the recent Laundry Files novella Equoid involves Lovecraft himself.)

This time out.... Frankly, this time out is disappointing. The previous novels involved adventure, danger, action and excitement, even if Bob didn't want any part of it. This novel never leaves London, much less Earth; it never really gets beyond second gear. Though the story is told in first person, a good half of the action takes place when Bob is not present, and is told by reconstruction or after-action report.

This applies even to the climactic scenes of the novel, which turns a Pyrrhic victory into merely a damp squib. It's still a decent read, but given how well the series started out, this latest outing is so much less than it might have been. I would not really recommend it either to a new or an established reader of the series; instead, pick up Equoid and the other short works.

Far from Stross' best in the Atrocity Archives series. Felt like a forced attempt to jump on the nosferatu bandwagon and incorporate them into his lovecraftian mythology. But the ending promises greater things to come so will I buy the next in the series? Demonic violins couldn't keep me away.