[Aptorian]

It just bothers me that we didn't get to learn what is happening to Bob. What is the new supernatural upgrade doing to him emotionally, psychologically and physically? What new bureaucratic non-sense and power tiers within the Laundry and Mahogany Row is he learning about?

Mainly, I just wanted to see Bob finally being able to walk into a room and kick serious ass. As Stross himself mentioned in the above interview, there is a lot of power creep here. But from the first books up until Rhesus Chart, I'd thought Bob was a bit of a weakling. I want to experience super powered government wizard Bob. Instead I got Mo.

Also, I think Mo was completely at fault in that break-up, and quite frankly how dare she cheat on Bob, that harlot.

[amphibian]

Mo is an Auditor, so seeing her for that long was a nice substitution for Eater of Souls screentime.

I agree that Mo was responsible for the break up, but PTSD affects people differently and she's definitely got that. Also, she hasn't seen Bob become the terrifyingly competent being he is now or worked with him, so she doesn't respect him professionally (which is a big deal in a marriage). Stross has been smart about this as opposed to keeping them in narrative bliss forever. I trust him.

[Abyss]

I have STACKS standing by, glad to read some positive buzz.

I haven't minded the not-Bob book shift, in the sense that I like the world Stross has constructed and his style of writing in it. I did think SCORE, the Super-Mo book, was the weakest in the series so far, but that had nothing to do with Mo as the focus and everything to do with the story Stross chose to tell. The subsonic orbital transport powered by the necromatically enslaved souls of murdered dolphins was cool tho'.

Mo was perhaps more responsible than Bob for the breakup, but it's hard to overlook that their respective power-ups were murderously repellant to each other to the point of one potentially killing the other and not finding out until after the fact, and while Mo eventually gave hers up it only took a near apocalypse to do so. Bob may not even have that option.

[Cedz]

I'm also getting a bit dissapointed with the lack of Bob which will be going two books long now. I didn't mind shifting to Mo for the book following Bobs transitioning into the Eater of Souls position and power but to then shift to _another_ minor character as your main is starting to get a bit weak. In my view it's hurting the pace of the overall story where we got so used to following Bob's journey and now we aren't along for what is arguably his most personal transformation in the series.

We had better get some awesome Bob/Eater of Souls ass kicking (as Apt so succinctly put it) in future books.

[Abyss]

Finished NIGHTMARE STACKS.

Loved it. My favorite Laundry book since FULLER.




More soon.

[Andorion]

 Abyss, on 25 August 2016 - 06:53 PM, said:

Finished NIGHTMARE STACKS.

Loved it. My favorite Laundry book since FULLER.




More soon.

Really? The no Bob thing made me put it off. Now I have to go get it.

Details please Abyss

[Abyss]

Right... I'll do this sans spoilers up front...

We met Alex Schwartz back in THE RHESUS CHART... Hapless former banker software nerd turned vampire, just a little more lucky and clever than most of his fellow PHANGS. He's the main pov character this time, and he works in a lot of the ways Bob worked in early Laundry books. Nerdy, geeky, insecure, frustrated, kind of resentful of being drafted into the Laundry, out of his depth, but Also way more competent than he thinks he is, trying hard to do the right thing, and, at root, a kickass super powered vampire. Alex works really nicely in the framework of this series. Also, he isn't a step back at all. The story moves forward from where the previous books left things, and while Alex is junior to where Bob n Mo were left, the situation he's in is full blown holy fuck the Laundry is screwed yet again level.

A lovely army of carnivorous elves is on its way to invade England. They have dragons. Mages. Antiaircraft weapons. CASE NIGHTMARE RED. It's bad.

Stross also does a nice job expanding the cast we get povs from, so we get inside the heads of Pinky n Brains, Vicar Pete and a few others. It's a nice perspective on how despite everything, the Laundry people really are trying to save the world. And one other pov I won't spoil that worked far better than I expected it to.

Also, the bureaucratic bullshit levels were way way down from where they were in the last book, and blissfully back to entertainingly stupid as opposed to distractingly omnipresent.

The plot is not massively complex... the twists and reversals are pretty clearly telegraphed and won't stun anyone in revelation, but in execution... Damn. DAMN. There is some great action in this. Also some fun tech, neat world building, Cthulhu refs, basilisk guns, and magic vs tech combat.

If you liked the series, you will like this book. A lot.If the last book put you off, buy this anyways.

SPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERS

MASSIVE
FLYING

BARREL SHAPED SPOILERS
FROM
BEHIND THE DARK MOON
-SPOILERS

SPOILERS

Cassie... I thought I was going to get annoyed with First Spy Cassie quickly, but she won me over, notwithstanding the horrible horrible shit that happened to the original Cassie. Damn, that was dark.

Her relationship to Alec made no sense at all until we see that she's seeing him thru her own culture where he would be a lethal weapon too dangerous to be allowed the level of free will he has. To her Alex was basically a tame tiger. Vampire tiger. Combat mage vampire tiger.

The beauty of it is to save her (and, the world), that's what Alex becomes. Albeit still geeky.

I like the Aelfun culture Stross created here, with its massive geas-based everything, it's magic based modern weapons (those basilisk antiaircraft guns were sick) and I utterly loved the entire idea of telepathic elves controlling heavy mobile biological weapons by sticking brain bugs in them.

And the dragon vs jet fighter combat was a blast.

Vicar Pete was fun as an entirely normal guy utterly outclassed but forced to step up. Lockwood and the other Laundry sr people were fun, if ineffective. That SCORPION STARE fuckup... Ouch.

If I'm going to be critical, the book was predictable. Every supposed twist, from Alex's lesbian sister to what happened to the cosplayers to how Alex and Cassie beat the Elf Highest and resolved the invasion was obvious. But damn, getting there was a lot of fun even so.
...and that finale... Pete Pinky Alex and Cassie fleeing a massive charging legion of armoured elf knights on a salvaged ww2 tracked bike with a minigun... That was pure cinematic fantasy fan candy right there and I had to read it again the moment i read it.

So yeah. I liked this book, it did good things for the series and brought me back when ANNIHILATION SCORE had left me a little out.

[Andorion]

Agree entirely with Abyss on all points.

Alex is a fun protagonist who reminds the reader of early Bob but is more entertaining. Cassie was.... different.

The original Cassie's fate was dark. Very bleak. New Cassie though was extremely fun.

What I felt while reading this book was the Stross was really stepping up the speed of the narrative. With the elucidation of the CASE NIGHTMARE scenarios in this book and the manifestation of one scenario in the book any following Laundry books will probably be in total crisis mode.

Another thing I am curious about is the situation at the end of the book where a lot of hitherto secret stuff was dragged out into the open. How the PR is going to be handled and what will the position of the Laundry be remains to be seen.

[Abyss]

 Andorion, on 14 September 2016 - 08:52 AM, said:

Agree entirely with Abyss on all points.

I WIN ...sorry, force of habit.


So seriously, how sick was that last scene with the bike and the minigun and the charging elf legion???

Quote

What I felt while reading this book was the Stross was really stepping up the speed of the narrative. With the elucidation of the CASE NIGHTMARE scenarios in this book and the manifestation of one scenario in the book any following Laundry books will probably be in total crisis mode.

Another thing I am curious about is the situation at the end of the book where a lot of hitherto secret stuff was dragged out into the open. How the PR is going to be handled and what will the position of the Laundry be remains to be seen.

Considering last book had the public revelation that superheroes are real, and the utter heads-up-their-assitude of the UK gov in that one scene, i suspect Stross can handwave the PR side of things a little longer.
...then again, he did just wipe out most of the city of Leeds.

[Andorion]

 Abyss, on 14 September 2016 - 02:34 PM, said:

 Andorion, on 14 September 2016 - 08:52 AM, said:

Agree entirely with Abyss on all points.

I WIN ...sorry, force of habit.


So seriously, how sick was that last scene with the bike and the minigun and the charging elf legion???

Quote

What I felt while reading this book was the Stross was really stepping up the speed of the narrative. With the elucidation of the CASE NIGHTMARE scenarios in this book and the manifestation of one scenario in the book any following Laundry books will probably be in total crisis mode.

Another thing I am curious about is the situation at the end of the book where a lot of hitherto secret stuff was dragged out into the open. How the PR is going to be handled and what will the position of the Laundry be remains to be seen.

Considering last book had the public revelation that superheroes are real, and the utter heads-up-their-assitude of the UK gov in that one scene, i suspect Stross can handwave the PR side of things a little longer.
...then again, he did just wipe out most of the city of Leeds.

I think the bike minigun scene is probably one of the more epic scenes in the series.

Regarding PR,three things -

Leeds as you said is kind of in a mess. Tough to handwave that. Plus the trail of destruction along the country

The PM actually knows about the Laundry now. Knows as in asking questions.

The 1000+ murderous elf vampire refugees are going to give someone apoplexy.

[Abyss]

 Andorion, on 14 September 2016 - 02:47 PM, said:

I think the bike minigun scene is probably one of the more epic scenes in the series.

Yep, right up there with Mo riding on top of a commando firetruck into a zombie infested cemetary while playing Ride of the Valkyries on the possessed violin, and 'the car ejects'.

Quote

Regarding PR,three things -

Leeds as you said is kind of in a mess. Tough to handwave that. Plus the trail of destruction along the country

Also, the Laundry itself kind of inadvertently wiped out a few hundred cosplayers. Easy enough to cover up considering there was a legion of charging elf knights there too, but even so.

Quote

The 1000+ murderous elf vampire refugees are going to give someone apoplexy.

Consider the way earlier elements like the Deep Ones and the PHANGs keep re-appearing - and in fun ways - i'd be surprised if we don't see them again, at least briefly.

Also, wondering whether the Laundry won't adopt some of the elftech... the dragons were a hassle and didn't really match against jets, but those anti-aircraft basilisks were just insane.

And that culture-wide geas magic is utterly ripe for abuse.

[Andorion]

 Abyss, on 14 September 2016 - 03:39 PM, said:

 Andorion, on 14 September 2016 - 02:47 PM, said:

I think the bike minigun scene is probably one of the more epic scenes in the series.

Yep, right up there with Mo riding on top of a commando firetruck into a zombie infested cemetary while playing Ride of the Valkyries on the possessed violin, and 'the car ejects'.

Quote

Regarding PR,three things -

Leeds as you said is kind of in a mess. Tough to handwave that. Plus the trail of destruction along the country

Also, the Laundry itself kind of inadvertently wiped out a few hundred cosplayers. Easy enough to cover up considering there was a legion of charging elf knights there too, but even so.

Quote

The 1000+ murderous elf vampire refugees are going to give someone apoplexy.

Consider the way earlier elements like the Deep Ones and the PHANGs keep re-appearing - and in fun ways - i'd be surprised if we don't see them again, at least briefly.

Also, wondering whether the Laundry won't adopt some of the elftech... the dragons were a hassle and didn't really match against jets, but those anti-aircraft basilisks were just insane.

And that culture-wide geas magic is utterly ripe for abuse.

Considering the Laundry already use Geas and are uneasy about the weak effect those geas have on PHANGS I think quite a few people will be very interested.

And the Laundry has always had an unhealthy obsession with Basilisky stuff.

I wouldn't be surpised if a few operatives travelled back to the elfworld for recon. What happened there is basically CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN

[Abyss]

 Andorion, on 14 September 2016 - 03:54 PM, said:

...
I wouldn't be surpised if a few operatives travelled back to the elfworld for recon. What happened there is basically CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN

Good point.
And the reverse may also hold for the beasties that ate that world too.

[Andorion]

ATTENTION ABYSS!

Next Laundry book announced! Bob is back!

[Abyss]

Just preordered the earbook.

Psyched for the return of Bob.

[Aptorian]

Ohh, July 11th? Just in time for a summer trip.

EDIT: Regarding the description, this sounds like utter bullshit.

The book centres on the idea of privatizing the Laundry? Really. The last book showed us how stereotypically inept the current government is, but come on. We're talking about a magical agency that has the "mathemagical" capability to fucking end the world and you'd privatize? Might as well propose to privatize Britain's Nuclear Arsenal or their military forces.

Oh well, I'm looking forward to seeing Bob again. Hope we get a more scary Bob but I suspect he will be neutered in some way.

This post has been edited by Seduce Goose: 05 June 2017 - 02:39 PM

[Abyss]

DELIRIUM BRIEF released today!!!!!!!!






CASE NIGHTMARE MAUVE AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Abyss]

Just finished THE DELIRIUM BRIEF.

CASE NIGHTMARE HOLYFUCK.

This book changes everything. EVERYTHING. About the Laundry FIles world. Shit goes sideways, gets worse, then worser, then WAY worse.
Ends with major resets on many things going forward.


If you've read and enjoyed this series, this book is candy.
If you dislike some of Stross' foibles with this series... the espionage elements, bureaucratic nonsense, occassional plot device power levels, resolutions that aren't... then you won't love this book any more than any previous book.

SPOILERS


SPOILERS


CROTCH EATING ALIEN HORROR SPOILERS FROM THE DARK BETWEEN


SPOILERS


MINDFUCKING SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE LAUNDRY SERIES


Wow.
This book had it all.

A whole host of characters from past books.... Iris, Schiller, Persephone and Johnny, The Mandate, Alex n Cassie... everyone came to the party and had their moments. It was pretty great.

As usual, a certain degree of 'let's not overthink this' was necessary with the main plot... even coming off the Leeds disaster/Carnivorous Elf Invasion from the last book, the ease with which Schiller's people took out the Laundry as an agency was sort of silly. There was a bare nod to the Board of Directors making a cursory effort to convince the PM not to do it, which amounted to a fairly pathetic meeting as opposed to 'here are a bunch of pictures and files from all the times we've saved this fucking world and your ass and by the way the guy you want to give our job to run a cult dedicated to an ancient eldritch horror snoozing in a parallel dimension, you moron'.

That aside...

BOB was in great form this book. Struggling with management responsibility, his Eater of Souls role, his failing relationship with Mo, his new role as the public face of the Laundry... bumbling along with his usual mix of understated competence and occasional luck, yet making it all work. He's very much the Bob we've come to know since the beginning of the series and a great character. A minor complaint with the earbook, the narrator, who is otherwise pretty great, occassionally made Bob 'sound' too old for his thirysomething age. Still, Bob is all good, taking out assassins, running a great rescue mission and resulting tanks vs Mercedes chase scene, and taking down a major bug eyed other dimensional thingy... just fun all around.

MO. Ahh, Mo. She's come a long way since her early damsel in distress days and her more recent VIOLIN OF DEVASTATION host role. I wasn't sorry when her superhero coordination thing ended, and it was interesting to see her acting as an auditor with all the power that entails, but also jumping in as support for Bob a few times. Their relationship is so fucked up that it was nice to see them have a few semi normal moments in between all the espionage and crotch-eating alien bugs. I particularly enjoyed Mo taking an active role in the last mission, without her violin, and still showing competence. That said, i got really tired of Stross writing her inner monolog whining about her knees and feet hurting. Also, middle-aged-woman-invisibility is still a silly superpower, but at least she puts it to good use a few times. The implications of The Mandate's threats to her and her not-death at the end are HUGE and messy.

CASSIE. the breakaway character in this book. A radical shift since her spymaster role in the last book, but logical as she tries to adapt to life on Earth and her relationship with Alex (yes, the Phang and the Queen of Air and Darkness are boyfriend and girlfriend). And she steals, utterly steals, almost every scene she's in. great dialogue, offsetting HUGE power. Just great fun to read and i loved how there were perfectly logical reasons for the Laundry crew to use her as an agent even with the massive risk of 3000 carnivorous alien elves going berserk if she died.

ALEX was sort of pathetic this book, very in contrast to the competence he showed last book.

PERSEPHONE HAZARD and JOHNNY PRINCE... i enjoyed these two way way more as key Mahogany Row freelancers without all the Modesty Blaise dedication crap Stross was doing that last time they were around. Spltiting them up between missions was also a good idea as it let them shine as individual characters and not Big Bad Witch and her faithful Sidekick.

IRIS. Oh damn, she was undercover the whole time she was running the cult. Including when she sacrificed the baby. That is so fucked up. And The Mandate is actually her god. Damn.

THE MANDATE. Was the Black Pharoh the whole time. Wow that is even more fucked up. And now he is about to rule England. And the Laundry basically helped him do it. Holy fuck, that is a major shift and i seriously can't wait to see how that plays out in future books. An eldritch horror's manifestation now owns the Laundry, under geas no less, and is about a week away from ruling England. FuuuUUUuuuuuck. It took me a few minutes to remember him from THE ANNIHILATION SCORE as one of the early menaces that Mo and co took down. Nice touch having a relatively minor baddie from a previous book turn out to be a major threat. And ally. And lesser evil.

SCHILLER & CO. Solid baddies, well set up. I liked how as Schiller infected more people, The Sleeper started manifesting its will through more of them, diluting Schiller's power and making them all more of a threat than 'just' a demonically possessed church leader. The crotch parasites as upgrades from the tongue-parasites were a nice, sick, twisted, gross baddie, well handled. Also, gross, but firmly 'bad' which set a nice contrast for the Senior Auditor's
decision to ally with The Mandate.

MHARIE. ...'prey'.... heehee. Schiller totally had that coming.

The last conflict, where The Mandate and the Sleeper's Handmaid threw down, was exactly as insane and destructive as that sort of conflict should be. Which also makes Mo's survival all the more troubling. if not quite as cinematically huge as the conclusion of the last book, it still worked nicely.

The most fucked up, and twisted, and subltly awesome development, was the infection of the American Black Chamber, by Schiller, but also how that triggered a series of countermoves by other Big Bad factions in America, bad enough to send Schiller running to the UK to escape the conflict.

I also enjoyed all the hints of bad things happening elsewhere... ISIS doing something horrible in Syria, kaiju and giant robots in Japan, something going on in Russia... CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN is in full swing and the world is in trouble.


So, another great book in the series

[amphibian]

Mo and the violin aren't done with each other yet. It pulled her into another dimension briefly, which means the Yellow King is very much into play.

So that's the Yellow King, the Black Pharaoh, the Sleeper Under The Pyramid, and the Eater of Souls all into play, plus whatever is happening somewhere else.

The way Stross built this novel is brilliant. It frees up everyone, places tension in just about every relationship, and the possibilities going forward are very open ended.

[Abyss]

 amphibian, on 03 August 2017 - 02:51 PM, said:

Mo and the violin aren't done with each other yet. It pulled her into another dimension briefly, which means the Yellow King is very much into play.

So that's the Yellow King, the Black Pharaoh, the Sleeper Under The Pyramid, and the Eater of Souls all into play, plus whatever is happening somewhere else.

The way Stross built this novel is brilliant. It frees up everyone, places tension in just about every relationship, and the possibilities going forward are very open ended.

Yep.

Tho it seems very likely the Eater isn't in the same league as the other three... the confrontation at the end was of course full of talking smack, but the Mandate was the 'living embodiment' of the Pharaoh, while Anika and Schiller were 'mere' agents invested with the Sleeper's power... hell, the Violin was just an enchanted object and it almost wiped out large chunks of London, so the Yellow King must be up there with the Big Bads.

Iirc, Bob refers to himself/the Eater as a level four and the Mandate and Schiller as level sixes at least.

Bob does stretch his powers throughout the book, especially during the tank chase (which was awesome) and resisting the hive mother at the end when everyone else Johnny included were flattened.

You raise an interesting point with Mo being pulled into another dimension during SCORE... whatever happened during the confrontation between The Mandate and ANika may have just been a byproduct of that, rather than a change by itself.

So yeah, massively open ended, VERY much shifted from where we were going into the book, and all around just great developments in the bigger series story.