The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files Book 1)

It is difficult for me to describe what causes something to be really scary to me. Not sickening, disgusting, or even shocking; but really scary. Parts of this book were really scary to me, in a way I do not remember for any other book. Scary in a way I might associate with so-called “Jungian archetypes”; which I suppose are images in everyone’s unconscious. The evil room with an even eviler room in back with a room even more malevolent in back of that.
Those were the portions of the book which stick in my memory. The other parts formed an interesting and entertaining Science Fiction story.
There is one possible objection I wonder if anyone has had. To create something evil, Stross builds on an actual event, the most evil thing to happen in human history. In the epilogue, Stross writes that people read horror stories for entertainment. There is no claim that the purpose of the book is to bring about any historical or sociological enlightenment. Does anyone feel that the victims of the most evil thing to happen in human history are being exploited to create a work of entertainment? I did not feel this way, but I wonder if anyone else has.

These two stories are a brilliant exploration of the life of an up and coming agent of the Laundry. The Laundry deals with those things that go bump in night. The main character, Bob, in between dealing with the various tech support issues and bureaucratic snafus that consists of his current job at the Laundry, gets his wish and starts working in the field.

The series definitely gets stronger after a few more installments--I think it takes Stross a little bit with these characters to balance the comedy and the horror--but these are highly recommended if you're looking for one of the cleverest genre mashups out there. IT/office-bureaucracy meets spy thriller meets occult Lovecraftian what-have-you.

Chicago Nerds discussion notes: [...]

like most Stross' novels it's intriguing, funny, entertaining and thrilling,

he's very good at mixing mystery, hardcore sci-fi and irony and come out with
the literary equivalent of an energy drink.

To be fair, this (horror and bureaucracy with some yucks) is out of my favored subgenres but chosen as the book of the month by the local book & beer lunch club. It violated my small scale preference in another "earth is threatened" scenario. It did however make reference to Lovecraft's "Mountains to Madness" almost in a homage way and even though it had no real effect on the plot was still nice. There were cultural references such as "precious bodily fluids" (and who doesn't appreciate a nod to that brilliance) scattered throughout. While the mocking of bureaucracy, procedures and all that psuedo-science quality control poo so prevalent in the workplace was appreciated there were overwhelming paragraphs of exposition on the scientific & paranormal foundation of this imagined world that I almost wanted to skip. There were Nazis, Entropy (sort of), nameless horrors from across dimensions and (worst of all) mandatory training. I probably unfairly give it 3 stars.

In a world where Lovecraftian horrors exist, there are secret government agencies to control their interactions with humanity, and people's actions with the horrors. Agencies full of bureaucracy, where the scariest thing around most days aren't rogue necromancers or Cthulhian horrors, they're the auditors. Bob Howard does tech support for them.

Charming, interesting blend of horror and spy thriller. Not perfect -- the author does tend to explain his jokes. But fun and enjoyable. Keep in mind, this is basically two novellas rather than a single story. But certainly very enjoyable.

Had hard time putting this down. Engaging characters. Only a couple leaps of knowledge that felt more like explanation than showing me the riddle through story. I never really got into this type of fantasy magic story but hits the spot with concrete sounding modern day science phenomena. Good work, can't wait to read the next!

I made the mistake of reading The Jennifer Morgue first, a story I like better, so that may have biased me as there are details given here to introduce concepts to the reader that I had already figured out from the next book. Still, a very good read though.

Cannot go wrong with Charles Stross' Laundry series. Len Deighton, H. P. Lovecraft, and some occasional snark make these books a fun read (have not read The Annihilation Score yet). There is also a little research to be done tracking down all the references in this novel.

Witty and full of amusing cultural references - the story is told as a classic sort of spy thriller but the enemies are not your average bad guys of old. It is engaging and at times insightful, without ever getting too serious.

It started out great. Action right away. Internal dialog reminded me of Douglas Adams. I love hard science fiction so the technical language didn't put me off. The squabbles with Bob and Harriett seemed generic.

However, he went home after reading 3 emails and went on to describe his flatmates. The 3 guys are such hard working techno, cyber geeks that they must relax by binge watching bad tv, getting drunk and taking drugs. Their genius brains need time. After all he did read three emails. Techno geniuses who need extreme diversion to relax their complex minds is such an over done cliche, that I couldn't get past it. I gave up on the book. Maybe I'll try again later.

I'm about halfway through the book and totally disagree with Mayhew's review. He panned the book because it's not a sequel to another story he read.
Since I never particularly got into Lovecraft, or horror, I'm enjoying the book even more than I expected to. I find it a wonderful twist on the whole cyberpunk genre. The protagonist is a geek that talks and acts like a real geek. He even gets the slang right.
As I said in my title, the book is a fun read.

I was hoping for a humorous detective story based on the occult: a cross between Colin Bateman and Tim Powers.
There is some decent humor in there from the first-person POV of an anti-establishment IT support with lots to say about help desk requests and living within a bureaucracy, not to mention nerdy flatmates. But the central plot is ho-hum, characterization is barely attempted, the humor only intermittent and the occult menace only OK. Still a decent read but never managed the humor of Bateman's Mystery Man nor the occult menace of Tim Powers. I'd suggest starting with those two authors instead.

If not for the Lovecraftian elements, it would rank as a mismash of YA fiction (young hero without training saves day), silly science and technology references (Kaluza-Klein? seriously?), and a spy thriller (secret government branches protecting the unknowing populace against unspeakable horrors. Read Halting State instead!

Not too much character development but it's essentially a supernatural espionage novel. The premise is that advance mathematics and computer science can be used for what we might call "magic" including summoning things from beyond. The tone is dark and sarcastically humorous. Do expect a lot of pseudo-technical language. You'll probably appreciate this more if you are in a technical field. Good mood and visualization of setting. I liked it enough to get the second, which seems to have more character development.

This was the selection for my book club. I haven't read a science fiction book for many years, but I used to read it a lot. I tried - I really tried to get interested in this book, but just couldn't. I quit about halfway through. The premise of the book - that magic is really advanced mathematics, that can be used to access parallel universes - is intriguing. But not being a mathematician, I got lost in all the terminology. And the graphic descriptions of atrocities committed by Nazis who escaped to a parallel universe and now want to invade again - left me feeling like I'd stepped into a cesspool.

There were some pretty entertaining descriptions of the "joys" of dealing with bureaucracy, but over all this just wasn't a book that "captured" me. I think it might be entertaining to someone who is more of a science geek than I am.

This book was a solid, entertaining read. The action was well done and the mythology made the stakes feel high.

However, it was neither so engrossing that I felt the need to sit and read until I reached the end nor did I find any of the characters particularly compelling. The author has an annoying habit of indulging in needless technical arcane jargon that does not add to the world building, because it is so opaque as to be mostly meaningless, but rather takes you out of the story or encourages skimming.

The author adds a very lengthy explanation of what this book is about as an after word. He compares himself to other authors and other genres in what seems to be a justification for this book. It doesn't work for me. I found the book, which is really a blotted novella attached to a short story, disjointed and confusing. The basic idea is not especially new, although the author would have you believe it is, in that certain aspects of magic are really just extensions of quantum mechanics and multiverse theory. I think you can find this theme in SciFi from the 1950s and it is basically what Phillip Pullman does in 'His Dark Materials' trilogy; only Pullman does a good job of it. This is probably worth your money if you are really into very light Scifi, but if you are looking for something more serious I'd advise avoiding it.

Clever writing highlights this novel. Recommended for those who enjoy well-crafted plots, likable main characters, with references to the grand masters of science fiction, supernatural fiction & spy fiction.

Bob Howard's adventures in Her Majesty's Secret Occult Service are not just the usual spy thriller stuff. He's got to deal with paper clip audits as well as ill-intentioned creatures from other universes and dead Nazis.