tabithar's review against another edition
4.0
If you like fantasy or sci-fi that gets exceptionally weird, this may be your jam. Think of "Fringe" or "The Rook" and you will approach a magic system entwined with science. Add some extra quirky bureaucratic mess and British humor (i.e. a twist on Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series) and you'll have found this book.
This book started slowly and read a little jumpy. It required multiple checkouts to finish but I found it enjoyable.
This book started slowly and read a little jumpy. It required multiple checkouts to finish but I found it enjoyable.
jdcorley's review
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Stross' horror comedy spy outing is a delight whether or not you've read Deighton or any of the other "English spy bureaucracy" thrillers, where the cynicism and make-work is inextricably tangled with the violence and high stakes. Imaginative use of techno-magic, often thrown into other stories very unthinkingly, adds to the top notch world building. Yet unlike Deighton and the other spy bureaucrats the characters lack the melancholy and depression of seeing the world as it is. Nobody in The Laundry is sad, a major misstep in adaptation. Nevertheless you'll have a real good time, and Stross' end note essays are an interesting look into how he considered it all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Minor: Infidelity
lyrrael's review against another edition
4.0
I've actually attempted to read(listen to) this book a couple of different times, and this time it stuck. Finally. I've heard such great things about this series, and Gideon Emery does a fantastic job of narrating.
This started off really dry -- which it's kind of intended to, given the bureaucratic subject matter at hand. It made the fence to get into it kind of a high jump, but I got there.
I went on to read the next couple in the series, and eventually quit in the middle of book 3 or 4. Good series either way -- and I've passed it on to my husband. :)
This started off really dry -- which it's kind of intended to, given the bureaucratic subject matter at hand. It made the fence to get into it kind of a high jump, but I got there.
I went on to read the next couple in the series, and eventually quit in the middle of book 3 or 4. Good series either way -- and I've passed it on to my husband. :)
brokenrecord's review against another edition
3.0
This was not really my kind of thing, but it was enjoyable enough. I had some difficulty following the plot, but idk if it was just me rushing/not paying enough attention or an actual problem with the book. But it was fairly entertaining, and every so often there'd be a line or paragraph that I just loved. I don't think I would've checked this out on my own, but I got it (and the next two after) as a gift, and I liked it enough to at the very least read those. I'll see how I feel about continuing beyond that once I've finished those. It is funny how very dated it felt in some ways, just for having come out in, like, 2004.
roostercrows3's review against another edition
4.0
A government employee buried under paperwork and dictatorial middle management becomes a Cold War thriller-esque spy fighting off the threat of inter-dimensional Lovecraftian creatures using his advanced knowledge of math and computer systems- maybe the weirdest concept I’ve read in a while but I’ve been on a British urban fantasy kick from Rivers of London and this was similarly fun. I loved the mashup of hard fantasy, government bureaucracy, and spy novel all in one.
tacanderson's review against another edition
4.0
Can't believed I haven't discovered this book before now. If you like [b: The Rook (The Checquy Files #1)|10836728|The Rook (The Checquy Files, #1)|Daniel O'Malley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327619585s/10836728.jpg|15750881] or the Peter Grant series by [a: Ben Aaronovitch|363130|Ben Aaronovitch|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1308855588p2/363130.jpg], you'll like these as well.
peter_xxx's review against another edition
3.0
this book could be described as a mixture between cold war spy thrillers, the X files, the cthulhu mythos and the british tv series the office. In this book there are two stories about Bob Howard, an employee of the british goverment organisation the laundry. The laundry is the organization that tries to keep the world save from extradimensional horrors.
The stories are essentially spy stories about conspiracies etc with the exception that most of the conspiracies involve nameless horrors and supernatural events. And to top it all off, there is a lot of emphasis on the bureaucracy of goverment organizations. And all that is drowned in the typical dry british humour.
The only real downside of this book is that Charles stross is using lots of abbreviations, acronyms and IT slang and that will hinder the reading experience sometimes. But all in all this is an interesting book and I'm curious about the next books in this series
The stories are essentially spy stories about conspiracies etc with the exception that most of the conspiracies involve nameless horrors and supernatural events. And to top it all off, there is a lot of emphasis on the bureaucracy of goverment organizations. And all that is drowned in the typical dry british humour.
The only real downside of this book is that Charles stross is using lots of abbreviations, acronyms and IT slang and that will hinder the reading experience sometimes. But all in all this is an interesting book and I'm curious about the next books in this series
krilon's review against another edition
5.0
Espionage, Nazis, and World Eating horrors from beyond space time. What else can you ask for?
jkomg's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book, though I feel like it ended a bit suddenly and with some confusion, almost like the book ended but there was another chapter or two - which may have been the case, as I hear there was a short story attached?
cheshire_the_cat's review against another edition
4.0
Fun and with just the right amount of technobabble to go alongside real stuff to tick my nerd senses