JUST FINISHED.
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS ALL BOOKS IN THE SERIES
I liked this book, i didn't love it. There were parts i did love, and it was a solid entry in the Laundry series.
Mo worked nicely as a narrator, and i have to give Stross props for managing to write a female lead's perspective with a believably feminine 'voice' and personality, not simply a man with breasts.
I found the whole 'people have superpowers now!' thing went down way too easily. I didn't buy the public or gov reaction and it was a bit offputting.
I also found that the bureaucratic garbage of Mo setting up the team took up way too much of the book. I accept that this is a well established part of the series, but it lacked the humour and eye-rolling that Bob has generated in the past, and seemed instead written to annoy/exasperate the reader. I caught myself skimming these bits frequently.
I did love the idea of Ramona and Mharie being Mo's Number One and Two. It was a nice build within the series, and gave both of those characters some great development.
Also loved the insight into the Auditors, and specifically Mo's interaction with the SA, which was a highpoint of the book.
The action scenes were for the most part meh, except for the finale. I really disliked that the whole thing was (yet another) internal plot to seize/subvert/control power by a shadowy internal gov conspiracy. We've seen that befo9re, didn't need more of it. The actual concept of the Police Association's plot made sense, but failed to wow me because, well, we've seen it before, in this series. The sole exception was Mo waking up to Bob feedering-out, which was suitably creepy and added a whole other fucked aspect to their relationship.
Also, subsonic orbital transport powered by the necromatically enslaved souls of murdered dolphins was one of the most gloriously fucked up ideads i've read in ages.
I liked Lecter, as the culmination of Mo's interaction with the White Violin for the past few books. That element of the story was solid and solidly written... it was just a wee bit too conveeeeeeenienet that the gov plot led directly to Lecter getting his shot to summon the King in Yellow. The nod to True Detective was cute... i wonder whether Stross always planned that, or added it.
The finale also had, if i'm not mistaken, the biggest body count of anything we've seen in the series thus far (two thousand concertgoers), and that seemed glossed over in the epilogue.
I wish more time had been spent on the actual super-team. They were barely in the book, and while i recognize the reasons for it, it seemed like something more interesting than org charts and committee meetings was always going on just off stage.
The finale... Mo reviewing her life, getting her shit together, confronting Lecter and not quite saving the day... was good fun, but pales in comparison to her standing on top of a firetruck blasting zombies with Wagner two books again.
I'm satisfied, all told. Didn't rock my world, but worth the money.
Quote
...There are certain problems with the book. The evolution of the superhero team takes time and there are repeated sections about how things are moving slowly. This can seem boring but in the context of the series, this may actually be Stross returning to the roots of the first book.Initially the charm of the Laundry was the absurdity of the bureaucracy while fighting cosmic horror. This was sacrificed in the more action oriented last two books. Stross may be rolling things back here.
The climax of the book was a bit unsatisfying. The Big Bad being essentially nothing more than a bureaucratic coup was anticlimactic but the consequences were totally disproportionate to th enature of the threat and this served once again to show the ease of destruction cosmic horrors can cause.
There are certain threads left to trail. The superhero epidemic is by no means ended, and will in fact continue as part of CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN. The K-Syndrome issue remains unaddressed. Mo may become an Auditor. Also has she actually gained a superpower? and obviously Bob and the fate of there mariage.
amphibian, on 11 July 2015 - 07:09 PM, said:
Stross did something bold with this book and it's not simply the perspective switch. He made Mo a genuinely not-good person who does good things. That ups the technical degree of difficulty and makes the story more complex (and therefore more enjoyable to me). I liked The Annihilation Score quite a bit and it is because Stross took those risks.
The couple teeth-grit moments in this book came about as a result of Stross's bureaucracy stuff and how he had Mo interact with it. I don't quite buy how well Mo took to being a manager/boss after 8 years of field work, music, and mathematics. She hasn't been brought along like Bob has in terms of knowing the org charts, how to get around, and more.
I also came out of this book wondering at Bob's non-improving choices in partners (Mhari, Ramona, Mo).
I also wonder at how many Big Bads there are in this universe since this particular one encountered in the book looks really big and bad.
Funny how none of us particularly loved the bureaucracy element, even if its a fixture of these series.
As for the Big Bad, the point has been made more than one in the series that there are LOTS... the Sleeper, the Cthonic race, the Frost Giant... the King in Yellow is just another in a long line of Olde Evile From Beyonde that make the point about how fucked humanity truly is very very clear.
Andorion, on 12 July 2015 - 02:41 AM, said:
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What I am worried about is the K syndrome situation. If Mo has a superpower she may be affected. I want Bobs take on all of this, especially now that he is the Eater of Souls.
Mo makes the point that as an experienced practitioner and senior agent she's warded, trained and screened against it.
I rather liked how K-syndrome was built in as a complete answer to the superpowers problem. Left to themselves, they all die eventually.
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