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Laundry Files #2
The Jennifer Morgue
Bob Howard, from The Laundry, secret UK agency against evil forces, narrates boarding yacht of Ellis Billington for Gravedust device that talks with dead. Ellis plans to raise Jennifer Morgue, monster from deep sea, rule world. U.S. Black Chamber sends lethal Ramona Random, in conflict with her bosses. Includes: Pimpf tale - Bob in virtual game; Afterword; Glossary.
292 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2006
About the author
Charles Stross
158 books5,713 followersCharles David George "Charlie" Stross is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His works range from science fiction and Lovecraftian horror to fantasy.
Stross is sometimes regarded as being part of a new generation of British science fiction writers who specialise in hard science fiction and space opera. His contemporaries include Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Liz Williams and Richard Morgan.
SF Encyclopedia: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_...
Tor: http://us.macmillan.com/author/charle...
Stross is sometimes regarded as being part of a new generation of British science fiction writers who specialise in hard science fiction and space opera. His contemporaries include Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Liz Williams and Richard Morgan.
SF Encyclopedia: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_...
Tor: http://us.macmillan.com/author/charle...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 841 reviews
June 15, 2022
“The Laundry field operations manual is notably short on advice for how to comport one’s self when being held prisoner aboard a mad billionaire necromancer’s yacht, other than the usual stern admonition to keep receipts.”
Combining a tribute to Ian Fleming (and his hero, James Bond) with Lovecraftian overtones, Charles Stross delivers an entertaining tale of bureaucracy versus the evil forces of the universe. It was only a short part in The Jennifer Morgue (Laundry Files #2), but I did enjoy the reveal about the diabolical forces behind PowerPoint. There's a reason (rooted in the occult) why you go to sleep when someone whips out a PowerPoint presentation. It definitely fit the mood of the book. For me, this is the strongest of the the three Laundry Files books I've read. Everything just worked!
Combining a tribute to Ian Fleming (and his hero, James Bond) with Lovecraftian overtones, Charles Stross delivers an entertaining tale of bureaucracy versus the evil forces of the universe. It was only a short part in The Jennifer Morgue (Laundry Files #2), but I did enjoy the reveal about the diabolical forces behind PowerPoint. There's a reason (rooted in the occult) why you go to sleep when someone whips out a PowerPoint presentation. It definitely fit the mood of the book. For me, this is the strongest of the the three Laundry Files books I've read. Everything just worked!
February 25, 2018
This is the second book in the Laundry Files series and proudly presented to you by Cthulhu-like oceanic overlords as well as Ian Flemming and a certain agent he created.
Once again, Bob is more stumbling than purposefully walking and it frustrates him and the reader alike. It's not frustrating as in the book isn't good, but frustrating as in "can't these people see what a glorious geek he is?"! Because Bob is. He's a nice guy, a good guy, a smart guy (unless it comes to how to talk to women), and he's really good at his job if only you give him the intel he needs and then let him do it.
Alas, that would never do here because of what the bad guy set up as a shield to protect himself until he can accomplish what he set out to do (raising a terror from the deep) just at the right moment. Sounds vague? That's because I don't want to give away too much. But I can tell you this: no 007 movie was ever this good. I mean it.
Thus, Bob is sent to a tropical setting together with a beautiful creature from the American counterpart of The Laundry, we get Bond-worthy gizmos mixed with posessions and other demonology stuff that included creatures akin to mermaids (which was especially funny when comparing these ones to the ones I read about in my last book), and a cat!
We also get some new (or should I say old?) information about Bob's boss as well as Mo, and in only two books I can honestly say that I really love all the characters Charles Stross has created.
On top of the sheer fun this adventurous romp brings us, there is also the author's trademark humour. Right at the beginning, when Bob has to go to Germany, get's a small-ish rental car, and has to drive on the Autobahn I almost needed an oxygen mask because I couldn't breathe from laughing too hard. Clearly, the author has been in Germany and got scared by our non-existant (or, in places where they exist, higher) speed limits. BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
But apart from the laugh-out-loud humoristic moments, we also got treated to a number of very funny scenes simply because Bob is a bit socially inapt.
The story is a puzzle you have to slowly piece together like an investigator and I like that as much as the blend of relatively realistic problems such as having to sit through a corporate power point presentation and the supernatural aspects like getting brainwashed into being a zombie that will then be used in the battle for world domination. Quirky, in the best sense.
P.S.: Finished this last night but was too tired to write a review that would have made sense.
P.P.S.: I think the audio is the right way to enjoy these because the narrator knows exactly how to bring out the humour.
Once again, Bob is more stumbling than purposefully walking and it frustrates him and the reader alike. It's not frustrating as in the book isn't good, but frustrating as in "can't these people see what a glorious geek he is?"! Because Bob is. He's a nice guy, a good guy, a smart guy (unless it comes to how to talk to women), and he's really good at his job if only you give him the intel he needs and then let him do it.
Alas, that would never do here because of what the bad guy set up as a shield to protect himself until he can accomplish what he set out to do (raising a terror from the deep) just at the right moment. Sounds vague? That's because I don't want to give away too much. But I can tell you this: no 007 movie was ever this good. I mean it.
Thus, Bob is sent to a tropical setting together with a beautiful creature from the American counterpart of The Laundry, we get Bond-worthy gizmos mixed with posessions and other demonology stuff that included creatures akin to mermaids (which was especially funny when comparing these ones to the ones I read about in my last book), and a cat!
We also get some new (or should I say old?) information about Bob's boss as well as Mo, and in only two books I can honestly say that I really love all the characters Charles Stross has created.
On top of the sheer fun this adventurous romp brings us, there is also the author's trademark humour. Right at the beginning, when Bob has to go to Germany, get's a small-ish rental car, and has to drive on the Autobahn I almost needed an oxygen mask because I couldn't breathe from laughing too hard. Clearly, the author has been in Germany and got scared by our non-existant (or, in places where they exist, higher) speed limits. BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
But apart from the laugh-out-loud humoristic moments, we also got treated to a number of very funny scenes simply because Bob is a bit socially inapt.
The story is a puzzle you have to slowly piece together like an investigator and I like that as much as the blend of relatively realistic problems such as having to sit through a corporate power point presentation and the supernatural aspects like getting brainwashed into being a zombie that will then be used in the battle for world domination. Quirky, in the best sense.
P.S.: Finished this last night but was too tired to write a review that would have made sense.
P.P.S.: I think the audio is the right way to enjoy these because the narrator knows exactly how to bring out the humour.
February 23, 2018
Third read! 2/23/18:
I'll give a more loving review this time. :)
After much much reflection, I have to say that this is probably the funniest of all the Laundry Files books. The Ian Flemming style works perfectly not only for the plot, the geshes, and the snark... but for the fast pacing and the dry, dry humor. :)
Smart cars on the Autobahn? Destiny entanglements? Hero traps? Supervillains controlling the world through their military spec word processors? Delicious. Utterly delicious. :)
And of course, there are a few absolutely gorgeous musical scenes with Mo. But I won't get into that here because that's some of the best parts of the whole story. But Bob absolutely shines. :)
I'm still giggling at all the great scenes and the snark. And please don't mistake me when I refer to snark. The snark is built into every level of the novel, from dialogue right down the scenes, the characters, the themes, and the plot. All of it: SNARK.
Yummy. :) :) :) One of my favorite UF series ever, and it has everything a growing boy could ever want. Tentacular horrors, hacking, Bond action, and utter geekiness. :)
Original review:
This book is my personal favorite of the series so far. Maybe I happen to enjoy Ian Flemming's style, and maybe I just happen to love the freaky humor that turns the whole novel into a very prolonged visual joke. The best reason for loving the novel is the same as the previous stories: the beautiful mixture of ideas.
Merged review:
Having a virtual game mixed with gibbering horrors creeping in from real alternate dimensions is a cool concept and all, but this story is pretty much okay.
It's not extremely funny, but a decent aside giving me a few chuckles.
Very short, cute.
Exit conversation. :)
I'll give a more loving review this time. :)
After much much reflection, I have to say that this is probably the funniest of all the Laundry Files books. The Ian Flemming style works perfectly not only for the plot, the geshes, and the snark... but for the fast pacing and the dry, dry humor. :)
Smart cars on the Autobahn? Destiny entanglements? Hero traps? Supervillains controlling the world through their military spec word processors? Delicious. Utterly delicious. :)
And of course, there are a few absolutely gorgeous musical scenes with Mo. But I won't get into that here because that's some of the best parts of the whole story. But Bob absolutely shines. :)
I'm still giggling at all the great scenes and the snark. And please don't mistake me when I refer to snark. The snark is built into every level of the novel, from dialogue right down the scenes, the characters, the themes, and the plot. All of it: SNARK.
Yummy. :) :) :) One of my favorite UF series ever, and it has everything a growing boy could ever want. Tentacular horrors, hacking, Bond action, and utter geekiness. :)
Original review:
This book is my personal favorite of the series so far. Maybe I happen to enjoy Ian Flemming's style, and maybe I just happen to love the freaky humor that turns the whole novel into a very prolonged visual joke. The best reason for loving the novel is the same as the previous stories: the beautiful mixture of ideas.
Merged review:
Having a virtual game mixed with gibbering horrors creeping in from real alternate dimensions is a cool concept and all, but this story is pretty much okay.
It's not extremely funny, but a decent aside giving me a few chuckles.
Very short, cute.
Exit conversation. :)
August 23, 2013
Maths is magic and the Elder Gods are real. Bob Howard works for the Laundry, the UK's secret intelligence agency that protects you from these facts and their consequences, which include such delights as insanity, possession and having one's soul eaten.
I'm reading this series in random order, having gone 3-1-2-4. This is book 2, in which our reluctant hero has to stop the megalomaniac business man turned would-be Ruler of the World by circumventing a fiendish geas that will only allow a highly unrealistic type of super-agent to get close to the villain. Yes, some-one has to become James Bond in order to save the world! Cue stereo-type and cliche subverting jokes such as a glamourous hottie that's really a succubus and minions that are literally zombies.
Great fun.
I'm reading this series in random order, having gone 3-1-2-4. This is book 2, in which our reluctant hero has to stop the megalomaniac business man turned would-be Ruler of the World by circumventing a fiendish geas that will only allow a highly unrealistic type of super-agent to get close to the villain. Yes, some-one has to become James Bond in order to save the world! Cue stereo-type and cliche subverting jokes such as a glamourous hottie that's really a succubus and minions that are literally zombies.
Great fun.
August 12, 2020
Menuda brutalidad de libro. Tengo los sesos que me echan humo. Nunca pensé que leería un infodump sobre la historia de los sistemas de eyección de la cabina en helicópteros, pero eh, este libro lo tiene, junto a muchos otros infodumps que molan mucho. Lo recomiendo a frikis de a) la informática, b) los horrores lovecraftianos y (sobre todo) c) las historias de James Bond. Además, tiene detalles como las notas al pie y la narratología/tropos que me recuerdan un montón a Pratchett. Como cualquier otro libro de Stross, no es nada fácil, pero vale mucho la pena.
Además de la historia principal tiene un relato corto sobre los videojuegos de rol masivos en línea (bastante chorra, pero con buenas reflexiones) y un esclarecedor ensayo sobre James Bond, el espionaje anterior y posterior a la 2.ª GM y los villanos muchimillonarios.
Además de la historia principal tiene un relato corto sobre los videojuegos de rol masivos en línea (bastante chorra, pero con buenas reflexiones) y un esclarecedor ensayo sobre James Bond, el espionaje anterior y posterior a la 2.ª GM y los villanos muchimillonarios.
October 7, 2015
3.5
To be honest, it is much better than the first (which I also liked). I would have loved this if not for one of the tropes I hate the most in fiction. It was so unnecessary, especially in a story like this.
Oh, well, it doesn't matter. The rest of it has been as crazy entertaining as you could imagine in a story where you get a mashup of lovecraftian and James Bond themes, maths and physics, the occult and lots of humour. And a bunch of other stuff.
Bob gets saddled with a special partner and he gets to save the world. Again. Only this time he is playing an unlikely role.
A couple of things were a bit dated but nothing too distracting from the story.
To finish on the positive note, Mo was awesome.
To be honest, it is much better than the first (which I also liked). I would have loved this if not for one of the tropes I hate the most in fiction. It was so unnecessary, especially in a story like this.
Oh, well, it doesn't matter. The rest of it has been as crazy entertaining as you could imagine in a story where you get a mashup of lovecraftian and James Bond themes, maths and physics, the occult and lots of humour. And a bunch of other stuff.
Bob gets saddled with a special partner and he gets to save the world. Again. Only this time he is playing an unlikely role.
A couple of things were a bit dated but nothing too distracting from the story.
To finish on the positive note, Mo was awesome.
June 3, 2012
So...how do I explain this. This book was written for me. I don't mean, personally for me, Charles Stross wouldn't know me from Adam; I mean that I'm a former UNIX administrator with a love of nerd humor, geek culture, Bond movies, Cthulhu mythos, and the trappings of eldrich horror. This book was written FOR ME. I am its people. If you were to take down the refined details of the target audience, I'd hit every check-box.
I assume there are less than a hundred people ON EARTH who would fit the same criteria. This book proves that I am completely and utterly wrong on that point.
First of all, let me be up front that I'm a former government employee. I'm familiar with the bureaucratic on levels that most people can't fathom.
Second, let me admit that I get every nerd reference in this book. And they are legion. The level of entry here (even with the hyperlinked glossary in the Kindle edition) is pretty high. Script-Kiddies and Windoze-only admins will probably not get all the jokes, but they'll get the gist and that's what matters. It's a nerd book, make no mistake, but you don't need to be a nerd to read it.
I will say that I'm not sure you'd enjoy it in the same way if you weren't one. Several of the jokes couldn't be explained to my wife and she's certainly no technology slouch. She'd enjoy the book, but she wouldn't giggle on nearly every page like I did.
Which is the crux of this review: I think it's a great book. I think many people can find the premise approachable and enjoyable, like the TV show Chuck meets Call of Cthulhu meets Casino Royal. But for the nerds among us, this book is a treat and I challenge you to read it without laughing out loud at least once about something you simply can't explain to someone who doesn't know their AIX from their Unbuntu.
I assume there are less than a hundred people ON EARTH who would fit the same criteria. This book proves that I am completely and utterly wrong on that point.
First of all, let me be up front that I'm a former government employee. I'm familiar with the bureaucratic on levels that most people can't fathom.
Second, let me admit that I get every nerd reference in this book. And they are legion. The level of entry here (even with the hyperlinked glossary in the Kindle edition) is pretty high. Script-Kiddies and Windoze-only admins will probably not get all the jokes, but they'll get the gist and that's what matters. It's a nerd book, make no mistake, but you don't need to be a nerd to read it.
I will say that I'm not sure you'd enjoy it in the same way if you weren't one. Several of the jokes couldn't be explained to my wife and she's certainly no technology slouch. She'd enjoy the book, but she wouldn't giggle on nearly every page like I did.
Which is the crux of this review: I think it's a great book. I think many people can find the premise approachable and enjoyable, like the TV show Chuck meets Call of Cthulhu meets Casino Royal. But for the nerds among us, this book is a treat and I challenge you to read it without laughing out loud at least once about something you simply can't explain to someone who doesn't know their AIX from their Unbuntu.
March 23, 2020
Dos semanas para leer una novela que, en una situación normal, no debería llevarme más de tres días.
Me ha divertido y sorprendido a partes iguales el juego que hace con el cliché de Bond (admito que soy un fan incansable de la saga, disfruto incluso con sus peores bodrios).
Me ha divertido y sorprendido a partes iguales el juego que hace con el cliché de Bond (admito que soy un fan incansable de la saga, disfruto incluso con sus peores bodrios).
June 25, 2010
3.5 stars. The second book in "The Laundry" series after the excellent The Atrocity Archives. This story can best be described as Ian Fleming meets H.P. Lovecraft (or James Bond meets the "Old Ones"). A spy thriller set in a world where the metaverse can be breached using complex mathematics and mankind co-exists with entities right out of the best Lovecraftian horror tales. As usual, Stross' writing is excellent and the plot is pretty well thought out (though certainly far-fetched). Overall a very enjoyable read.
Also included is a good short story called "Pimpf" that should appeal to MMO gamers and an essay by Stross on James Bond that was interesting.
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.
Also included is a good short story called "Pimpf" that should appeal to MMO gamers and an essay by Stross on James Bond that was interesting.
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.
February 2, 2017
3.5 stars. Good paranormal thriller as Bob teams up with a partner from another secret agency and is caught up in a very specific hero archetype geas... This edition also contained the short story PIMPF, which I'd subtitle Bob Gets an Intern and Almost Lets Said Intern Die...Whoops.
February 13, 2020
With most series, the first book is usually the one that has the most impact. After that things usually taper off somewhat. This is the second book in the Laundry Files series and I didn't find this the case here. I think I enjoyed this book more than the first one.
Bob is off on another mission and this one is very much a mash up of James Bond and Cthulhu. Prior knowledge of the Bond books and movies is a big plus here as there are numerous references to plot points. A megalomaniac billionaire has a plan to rule the world, he even has a white Persian cat! If you know the back ground material well then you will get a lot of enjoyment out of this one.
Highly recommended as light reading.
Additional Note: The audio book also contains the short story 'Pimpf', where Bob gets sucked into a Neverwinter Nights server, and the essay 'The Golden Age of Spying'.
Bob is off on another mission and this one is very much a mash up of James Bond and Cthulhu. Prior knowledge of the Bond books and movies is a big plus here as there are numerous references to plot points. A megalomaniac billionaire has a plan to rule the world, he even has a white Persian cat! If you know the back ground material well then you will get a lot of enjoyment out of this one.
Highly recommended as light reading.
Additional Note: The audio book also contains the short story 'Pimpf', where Bob gets sucked into a Neverwinter Nights server, and the essay 'The Golden Age of Spying'.
May 17, 2023
‘The Jennifer Morgue’, #2 in the Laundry Files series by Charles Stross, is another mostly-Lovecraftian-monster-fantasy-masquerading-as-a-hard-science-fiction/spy novel! Interested readers should start with book #1, The Atrocity Archives.
Bob Howard is more nerd than spy, but he has a set of mathematical/computer-science skills, and luck, the England’s top secret Capital Laundry Services (sort of like MI5, only they fight monster threats that have invaded Earth from another universe) finds invaluable. It turns out solving certain mathematical algorithms and theorems open portals between universes. Critters that people think of as demons and tentacled monsters, and other kinds of physics that work like magic, will leak into our world from these portals, usually by accident, when our Earth mathematicians are innocently messing around with maths. When Howard accidentally was messing around with maths, he almost wiped out a city. Instead of being arrested, he was offered a job he couldn’t refuse to work with Capital Laundry Services. He is a trained computational demonologist, an occult practitioner who can summon spirits.
I have copied the book blurb:
”Bob Howard, from The Laundry, secret UK agency against evil forces, narrates boarding yacht of Ellis Billington for Gravedust device that talks with dead. Ellis plans to raise Jennifer Morgue, monster from deep sea, rule world. U.S. Black Chamber sends lethal Ramona Random, in conflict with her bosses. Includes: Pimpf tale - Bob in virtual game; Afterword; Glossary.”
The above is all true, but it is stunningly brief. Ramona Random isn’t human, but a sea-creature entity with a demon inside of her. For resolving the assignment of stopping Ellis Billington in his nefarious schemes that Howard is on in this novel, he must be entangled with Ramona. He REALLY doesn’t want to be entangled (mentally joined). She kills people after having sex with them because her demon needs to eat dead people.
The Black Chamber is an American cryptanalysis agency, a super black agency dealing with occult intelligence. They are forcing Ramona to work with Howard. She REALLY doesn’t want to be entangled with Howard.
Ellis Billington is a bad guy who wants to take over the world, or something like that, using the Jennifer Morgue, which is a, a, a, well, something between a seacraft or ship and a living beast-creature with unimaginable powers. It’s stuck in the bottom of the ocean. The Laundry and the Black Chamber are desperately trying to stop Billington from grabbing it, but he is rich and is somewhere on a super-yacht in the ocean. He also knows about and has quite a collection of dark magical technology.
Complicating things, Howard has a girlfriend, a brainy scientist, Dr. Dominique (Mo) O’Brien, whom he met in ‘The Atrocity Archives.’ Since Ramona is genuinely beautiful, Howard finds himself attracted to her. He doesn’t want to mess up his relationship with Mo, but, for old-gods sake, he is aware of Ramona’s, *ahem*, states of arousal, and unfortunately, he is entangled, which means he feels what she feels! Plus, Mo has been so busy, gone on seminars a lot….
After some death-defying adventures, Howard is noticing a lot of the things happening to him are exactly like what happens to the character of James Bond in movies. Coincidence? No, not, gentle reader.
From YouTube:
https://youtu.be/3TrSMaOZm3Y
At the back, a short story called ‘Pimpf’ is included. It involves an intern that Howard is assigned to take care of, and to show how things work in The Laundry. Unfortunately, Howard leaves the intern, Pete Young, alone for only a few minutes with a mechanistically-enchanted computer video game…..
There is also a glossary of terms.
Bob Howard is more nerd than spy, but he has a set of mathematical/computer-science skills, and luck, the England’s top secret Capital Laundry Services (sort of like MI5, only they fight monster threats that have invaded Earth from another universe) finds invaluable. It turns out solving certain mathematical algorithms and theorems open portals between universes. Critters that people think of as demons and tentacled monsters, and other kinds of physics that work like magic, will leak into our world from these portals, usually by accident, when our Earth mathematicians are innocently messing around with maths. When Howard accidentally was messing around with maths, he almost wiped out a city. Instead of being arrested, he was offered a job he couldn’t refuse to work with Capital Laundry Services. He is a trained computational demonologist, an occult practitioner who can summon spirits.
I have copied the book blurb:
”Bob Howard, from The Laundry, secret UK agency against evil forces, narrates boarding yacht of Ellis Billington for Gravedust device that talks with dead. Ellis plans to raise Jennifer Morgue, monster from deep sea, rule world. U.S. Black Chamber sends lethal Ramona Random, in conflict with her bosses. Includes: Pimpf tale - Bob in virtual game; Afterword; Glossary.”
The above is all true, but it is stunningly brief. Ramona Random isn’t human, but a sea-creature entity with a demon inside of her. For resolving the assignment of stopping Ellis Billington in his nefarious schemes that Howard is on in this novel, he must be entangled with Ramona. He REALLY doesn’t want to be entangled (mentally joined). She kills people after having sex with them because her demon needs to eat dead people.
The Black Chamber is an American cryptanalysis agency, a super black agency dealing with occult intelligence. They are forcing Ramona to work with Howard. She REALLY doesn’t want to be entangled with Howard.
Ellis Billington is a bad guy who wants to take over the world, or something like that, using the Jennifer Morgue, which is a, a, a, well, something between a seacraft or ship and a living beast-creature with unimaginable powers. It’s stuck in the bottom of the ocean. The Laundry and the Black Chamber are desperately trying to stop Billington from grabbing it, but he is rich and is somewhere on a super-yacht in the ocean. He also knows about and has quite a collection of dark magical technology.
Complicating things, Howard has a girlfriend, a brainy scientist, Dr. Dominique (Mo) O’Brien, whom he met in ‘The Atrocity Archives.’ Since Ramona is genuinely beautiful, Howard finds himself attracted to her. He doesn’t want to mess up his relationship with Mo, but, for old-gods sake, he is aware of Ramona’s, *ahem*, states of arousal, and unfortunately, he is entangled, which means he feels what she feels! Plus, Mo has been so busy, gone on seminars a lot….
After some death-defying adventures, Howard is noticing a lot of the things happening to him are exactly like what happens to the character of James Bond in movies. Coincidence? No, not, gentle reader.
From YouTube:
https://youtu.be/3TrSMaOZm3Y
At the back, a short story called ‘Pimpf’ is included. It involves an intern that Howard is assigned to take care of, and to show how things work in The Laundry. Unfortunately, Howard leaves the intern, Pete Young, alone for only a few minutes with a mechanistically-enchanted computer video game…..
There is also a glossary of terms.
February 20, 2013
Lazy Review: It's like an urban fantasy version of James Bond mixed with H.P. Lovecraft.
Very Lazy Review: OMFG TOTES RIPD OFF Ben Aaronovitch & Chris F. Holm!!!!
Blurb: Second book in series, follows Bob a computer hacker who accidentally discovered that magic and demons and stuff are real and is now a desk jockey who occasionally has to run field ops for the Laundry, the MI6 of magic and demons and stuff. This time he gets sent to a beautiful Caribbean island to stop an evil billionaire from destroying the world with magic.
Thoughts: Pretty good stuff, Stross does this amazingly well, his ability to build worlds and tell a story within them is top class, this urban fantasy series has many similarities with others that came afterwards (see very lazy review) but none of them come close in terms of quality of writing and for me at least entertainment. Bob is an enjoyable character, and his conversation/relationships within the story/world are what makes these books for me. There's a lot of narration of action sequences but they largely felt unnecessary or dull compared to just witnessing Bob interact with the sex demon he had become entangled with for example.
Two for two on the enjoyment stakes but I'm not going to rush out and get more from this series.
Very Lazy Review: OMFG TOTES RIPD OFF Ben Aaronovitch & Chris F. Holm!!!!
Blurb: Second book in series, follows Bob a computer hacker who accidentally discovered that magic and demons and stuff are real and is now a desk jockey who occasionally has to run field ops for the Laundry, the MI6 of magic and demons and stuff. This time he gets sent to a beautiful Caribbean island to stop an evil billionaire from destroying the world with magic.
Thoughts: Pretty good stuff, Stross does this amazingly well, his ability to build worlds and tell a story within them is top class, this urban fantasy series has many similarities with others that came afterwards (see very lazy review) but none of them come close in terms of quality of writing and for me at least entertainment. Bob is an enjoyable character, and his conversation/relationships within the story/world are what makes these books for me. There's a lot of narration of action sequences but they largely felt unnecessary or dull compared to just witnessing Bob interact with the sex demon he had become entangled with for example.
Two for two on the enjoyment stakes but I'm not going to rush out and get more from this series.
August 6, 2021
James Bond contra el Cthulhu del mar. Muy divertida, como la anterior entrega.
September 3, 2016
I really hated this book.
This is the case of fandom getting in the way of a good story because I loved The Atrocity Archives and I love Weird Espionage. In this case, the book is one long satire of James Bond and you'd think I'd love that, except for the small problem that the book is about mocking James Bond while I'm a huge James Bond fan.
I laughed precisely twice during the entirety of the book. The first time was a joke about having a James Bond-esque souped up...Smart Car. That, my friends, is funny. It's not funny when the main villain wears a neru jacket and has a cat for reasons that are explained but don't really mean anything other than, "it's like Bond, ha-ha, isn't that silly!"
Except, we're supposed to take the plot of a Lovecraftian monster buried in the middle of the ocean seriously. I find it difficult to go with the idea H.P. Lovecraft is "serious business" while James Bond is worthy of derision. H.P. Lovecraft was a guy scared of seafood and man's pointlessness in the universe.
I love the guy's writing but it's Pulpish and fun. So is Bond. It's not a mental leap I'm willing to make to say one is good and the other is bad which, unfortunately, is the heart of the book. Stross isn't even making good-natured goofy parody of Bond like Austin Powers, he's beating the readers over the head with how stupid he thinks Bond is. At least, that's the way it comes off to me.
The Jennifer Morgue's premise is the aforementioned Lovecraftian monster has been found by the U.S. Navy who can't get to it because the Deep Ones don't want them to. Our hero, Bob Howard, is sent to deal with a person who may be involved in an attempt to recover them. Assisting him is Ramona Random, a sexy skilled American agent who is everything Bob is not. This should be a winning formula but it...isn't.
I confess a large part of my distaste for this book may well be the the fact I'm fond of Ian Fleming's ideas (racism and misogyny aside) and every time Bob highlights how unlike Bond he is, it slows the pacing down to a crawl. It was implicit in the first book he was a different sort of secret agent from James Bond but this book needs to spell it out repeatedly.
I've heard mixed reviews about this book but, basically, either you'll find the tone of the book humorous and light in the first ten pages or you won't. If you don't, the entire book will become one long boring exercise in tedium.
I will say, however, I may be shooting myself in the foot because I actually found the exact same joke I made in one of my book manuscripts in this volume. I won't say which joke it is, but it's very embarrassing, especially as I'm going to give the book an extremely low score. I still laughed but this just made me more annoyed with the work as a whole.
I'm searching for something to recommend the book but, frankly, I am not fond of the way the plot developed. As a fan of H.P Lovecraft, spies, and off-beat humor I should love this but nothing is worse than a fan who feels slighted. I grew up with the James Bond series and, yes, they're ridiculous but no more than Fish-People trying to take over the world.
Charles Stross can write really well, it's just this time it felt like he was phoning it in and the subject matter was one that was way too close to home for me to enjoy. I can't imagine I'm going to be particularly pleased with The Fuller Memorandum since it tackles religion and I'm a devout Christian while Charles Stross is a militant atheist. So, well, I'll give this book series one more try before I drop it.
Maybe it was just an off-volume.
1/10
This is the case of fandom getting in the way of a good story because I loved The Atrocity Archives and I love Weird Espionage. In this case, the book is one long satire of James Bond and you'd think I'd love that, except for the small problem that the book is about mocking James Bond while I'm a huge James Bond fan.
I laughed precisely twice during the entirety of the book. The first time was a joke about having a James Bond-esque souped up...Smart Car. That, my friends, is funny. It's not funny when the main villain wears a neru jacket and has a cat for reasons that are explained but don't really mean anything other than, "it's like Bond, ha-ha, isn't that silly!"
Except, we're supposed to take the plot of a Lovecraftian monster buried in the middle of the ocean seriously. I find it difficult to go with the idea H.P. Lovecraft is "serious business" while James Bond is worthy of derision. H.P. Lovecraft was a guy scared of seafood and man's pointlessness in the universe.
I love the guy's writing but it's Pulpish and fun. So is Bond. It's not a mental leap I'm willing to make to say one is good and the other is bad which, unfortunately, is the heart of the book. Stross isn't even making good-natured goofy parody of Bond like Austin Powers, he's beating the readers over the head with how stupid he thinks Bond is. At least, that's the way it comes off to me.
The Jennifer Morgue's premise is the aforementioned Lovecraftian monster has been found by the U.S. Navy who can't get to it because the Deep Ones don't want them to. Our hero, Bob Howard, is sent to deal with a person who may be involved in an attempt to recover them. Assisting him is Ramona Random, a sexy skilled American agent who is everything Bob is not. This should be a winning formula but it...isn't.
I confess a large part of my distaste for this book may well be the the fact I'm fond of Ian Fleming's ideas (racism and misogyny aside) and every time Bob highlights how unlike Bond he is, it slows the pacing down to a crawl. It was implicit in the first book he was a different sort of secret agent from James Bond but this book needs to spell it out repeatedly.
I've heard mixed reviews about this book but, basically, either you'll find the tone of the book humorous and light in the first ten pages or you won't. If you don't, the entire book will become one long boring exercise in tedium.
I will say, however, I may be shooting myself in the foot because I actually found the exact same joke I made in one of my book manuscripts in this volume. I won't say which joke it is, but it's very embarrassing, especially as I'm going to give the book an extremely low score. I still laughed but this just made me more annoyed with the work as a whole.
I'm searching for something to recommend the book but, frankly, I am not fond of the way the plot developed. As a fan of H.P Lovecraft, spies, and off-beat humor I should love this but nothing is worse than a fan who feels slighted. I grew up with the James Bond series and, yes, they're ridiculous but no more than Fish-People trying to take over the world.
Charles Stross can write really well, it's just this time it felt like he was phoning it in and the subject matter was one that was way too close to home for me to enjoy. I can't imagine I'm going to be particularly pleased with The Fuller Memorandum since it tackles religion and I'm a devout Christian while Charles Stross is a militant atheist. So, well, I'll give this book series one more try before I drop it.
Maybe it was just an off-volume.
1/10
February 17, 2010
I like this book well enough, but can't really recommend it. It has numerous flaws that I found myself overlooking simply because it was pushing so many geek buttons. To begin with, the novel fails utterly to set the right tone for a horror story, and after page 50 or so its more like a slapstick comedy with an occasional gruesome murder. Also, the book has more techno-babble than an entire season of Star Trek: TNG. It's the worst case I've ever encountered in all of my years reading science fiction. Also, there are numerous references that can only be appreciated by someone with an intimate knowledge of Lovecraft's works, but all too often these references seem to be little more than random name dropping. In some cases, the reference didn't even fit. So, on one hand, if you haven't read the collected works of H.P. Lovecraft, then the amount of what will appear to be random techno-babble you have to wade through doubles. And on the other hand, if you have, then you'll be wondering why the cultist invokes the name of his god's most hated enemy when making a metaphor about contacting his god. Also, the more you think about the plot (and, not to give too much away but the meta-plot as well), the less the story makes sense. Ultimately, the twist comes from such far left field and is so poorly executed that it simply seems to be a bad trick by the author on the reader who has been in good faith reading the story. In the best plotted novels, when the twist comes, it makes scenes in the story make more sense and you get the sense you missed things. In this case, it made the story make less sense and muddled more prior scenes than it clarified.
Still, for all that, I found I couldn't help but enjoy a story about a guy whose job is to hack into the mainframes of necromancers with his shoelaces and cast spells of contagious data corruption on thier operating systems.
Still, for all that, I found I couldn't help but enjoy a story about a guy whose job is to hack into the mainframes of necromancers with his shoelaces and cast spells of contagious data corruption on thier operating systems.
Read
April 3, 2015What a wild ride! Charles Stross takes Bob of the Laundry, which is a mix of occult, spies, and bureaucratic nightmare, and mixes it up with James Bond style spy craft. The entire book spoofs, riffs, and engages with the Bondverse, adding in lots of humor, action, twists and turns, and of course Lovecraftian grue. Don't miss the fascinating essay at the end about Bond, Fleming, and spies.
I will probably space these out: while I enjoy Bob, the computer tech and math that mixes with magic, and the way Stross riffs on popular genres, there is a sense that the supernatural aspects are not going to change. Kind of like watching the Winchester boys and their eponymous supernatural otherworld that seems to only get bigger and badder monsters. At one point early on in this book a character accuses Bob of being religious, and Bob retorts no way, he's an atheist! To which the bad guy fires back, "You believe in Hell."
And that kind of sums up the weird in these books, like watching Supernatural the show--there is no awe, no frisson of the numinous, it's all horror all the time with bigger and badder monsters. So I read for the fast-action plots and the humor.
I will probably space these out: while I enjoy Bob, the computer tech and math that mixes with magic, and the way Stross riffs on popular genres, there is a sense that the supernatural aspects are not going to change. Kind of like watching the Winchester boys and their eponymous supernatural otherworld that seems to only get bigger and badder monsters. At one point early on in this book a character accuses Bob of being religious, and Bob retorts no way, he's an atheist! To which the bad guy fires back, "You believe in Hell."
And that kind of sums up the weird in these books, like watching Supernatural the show--there is no awe, no frisson of the numinous, it's all horror all the time with bigger and badder monsters. So I read for the fast-action plots and the humor.
December 11, 2015
I think Stross' Laundry Files books fit a particular niche crowd. They definitely aren't for everyone, and perhaps that is why this doesn't receive a four star rating (even though I'm likely to read more of his work).
The humor in the books is subtle, and much is really aimed at those who might have a better than average understanding of tech (having done some sys ad work I'm sort of qualified there). For the averegae reader the tech references and humor could be a big miss, one that would detract from their reading of the tale.
The Laundry is the division of of the British government that eals with the fact taht so-called magic is really higher mathematics. These civil servants work at keeping Lovecraft's old ones from coming, and other multi-dimensional "supernatural" events from harming the general populace.
So why is Bob Howard now acting like James Bond while on assignment with a demon infested CIA trained assassin? That's where Stross mixes sorcery with science. Stross does a better job at giving Bob some character this time around, as Bob becomes much more relateable for the average reader.
The humor in the books is subtle, and much is really aimed at those who might have a better than average understanding of tech (having done some sys ad work I'm sort of qualified there). For the averegae reader the tech references and humor could be a big miss, one that would detract from their reading of the tale.
The Laundry is the division of of the British government that eals with the fact taht so-called magic is really higher mathematics. These civil servants work at keeping Lovecraft's old ones from coming, and other multi-dimensional "supernatural" events from harming the general populace.
So why is Bob Howard now acting like James Bond while on assignment with a demon infested CIA trained assassin? That's where Stross mixes sorcery with science. Stross does a better job at giving Bob some character this time around, as Bob becomes much more relateable for the average reader.
November 19, 2017
I'm at the intersection of knowing Bob Howard's cultural references, understanding the Lovecraft flavor injections, and being in the vicinity of the mathematics and technology. And while it is is grade-A technobabble and cultural snark and surface mathematics, it eventually makes my eyes glaze over. This is unfortunate because the plot relies on various MacGuffins and deep borrowing from James Bond--spoilers!--and without Bob spouting this stuff, the story falls apart.
There are series of parts that are interesting, but I didn't connect to the whole.
What's scarier: Lovecraft's view that there are vast, unsympathetic intelligences and humanity is utterly helpless and unknowing...or Stross's view that there are vast, unsympathetic intelligences and humanity is barely on top of the situation, and control is in the hands of those mouth-breathers from IS who can't get IGMP snooping to function reliably on the 10Gb Ethernet switch attached to my test rig?
There are series of parts that are interesting, but I didn't connect to the whole.
What's scarier: Lovecraft's view that there are vast, unsympathetic intelligences and humanity is utterly helpless and unknowing...or Stross's view that there are vast, unsympathetic intelligences and humanity is barely on top of the situation, and control is in the hands of those mouth-breathers from IS who can't get IGMP snooping to function reliably on the 10Gb Ethernet switch attached to my test rig?
August 18, 2012
I really enjoyed this installment in The Laundry series. It was a lot of fun. I especially liked all the references to James Bond.
I am going to add some high praise for the narrator of the audiobook, Gideon Emery. I'm assuming here that he's an English narrator because that's the main voice in the novel. There are quite a few Americans in this installment and Emery does a great job with the American accent. The one example that really stood out to me was the word "process". The first vowel in that word sounds completely different in the two accents. Emery doesn't miss a beat when an American character says it vs. when an English character says it. I can't even pronounce it like a Brit and I'm sure most English people can't say it the way I do. I definitely will not hesitate to listen to audiobooks narrated by Gideon Emery again.
I am going to add some high praise for the narrator of the audiobook, Gideon Emery. I'm assuming here that he's an English narrator because that's the main voice in the novel. There are quite a few Americans in this installment and Emery does a great job with the American accent. The one example that really stood out to me was the word "process". The first vowel in that word sounds completely different in the two accents. Emery doesn't miss a beat when an American character says it vs. when an English character says it. I can't even pronounce it like a Brit and I'm sure most English people can't say it the way I do. I definitely will not hesitate to listen to audiobooks narrated by Gideon Emery again.
February 15, 2023
Rating: 3.5 stars
The second installment of the Laundry Files doesn't have quite as much technobabble as the first novel. This novel also appealed more to me - maybe because I have a soft spot for ancient aquatic monsters. This is something of a subversion of a James Bond novel/movie. The dynamics between the protagonist and the side-kick were fairly entertaining. This is a fun, fast, light read with interesting concepts and decent plot.
The second installment of the Laundry Files doesn't have quite as much technobabble as the first novel. This novel also appealed more to me - maybe because I have a soft spot for ancient aquatic monsters. This is something of a subversion of a James Bond novel/movie. The dynamics between the protagonist and the side-kick were fairly entertaining. This is a fun, fast, light read with interesting concepts and decent plot.
March 31, 2016
Bob does Bond! Great fun!
June 25, 2015
Did you finish The Atrocity Archives and think, “Gee, I liked this magical computational spoof on James Bond quite a lot, but I wish it had been Bondier and spoofier?” Well, if you did, then The Jennifer Morgue is the Laundry Files novel for you.
I didn’t—so keep that in mind when I say things like, “All I wanted to do with my life was read this book.”
I am not a Bond fan. I’ve never had a Bond film marathon. In fact, aside from seeing Skyfall in theatres with friends and (maybe) Casino Royale, I don’t know if I’ve actually watched a Bond film in its entirety from start to finish. I certainly haven’t read any of the books. While the idea of a suave kickass superspy is as appealing to me as it is to the next person, the whole Bond scenario just doesn’t do much for me. I need slightly more self-deprecating and vulnerable protagonists.
Enter Bob Howard. Totally not James Bond. But maybe James Bond?
Although The Atrocity Archive did not hide its allusions to Bond and sundry, The Jennifer Morgue is where Charles Stross truly engages in spoof. However, it’s self-aware, somewhat parodic spoof. The bad guy, Ellis Billington, is trying to raise a sunken wreck from an ancient civilization that might predate—or at least disturbs—the BLUE HADES Old Ones we don’t want to talk about. To keep the governments of the world off his case, Billington activates a “hero geas,” which draws on the power of millions of Bond fans throughout the world to set him up as the evil mastermind. Only a lone British spy sent in to infiltrate the operation and stop him stands a chance—and Billington plans to stop the geas just after the climax where the villain has the upperhand, lest it run to its inevitable and unfortunate (for him) conclusion.
It’s an intriguing way to spoof the Bond franchise while also hanging a lampshade on it. I would expect nothing less from Stross. Despite the fact I’ve seldom awarded his books five stars, he remains one of my favourite writers. Even if his books themselves don’t always work as a whole to impress me, his writing is invariably entertaining and intelligent. Stross has a talent for making the outrageous and fantastic sound realistic. It’s what makes his Merchant Traders series compelling: applying economic theory to alternative-universe interactions. Here, Stross uses his knowledge of economics, history, geopolitics, and of course, computer science to weave the perfect chthonic endgame plot for our Bond-like villain.
Pay attention when you’re reading, because Stross foreshadows with the best of them. Little offhand remarks, say that Billington makes about his cat, turn out to make much more sense in hindsight. I love it when an author throws me off by including something that seems strange or nonsensical, only for the resolution to put that event in a new light. It shows a great deal of control, planning, and execution that you want, especially in a novel as tightly packed as this one.
Unfortunately, most of the characters tend to conform to the Bond character archetypes and are not as well-drawn as I’d like them to be. Ramona, Bob, Mo, McMurray, etc. … despite good attempts at creating tension through devices like Ramona and Bob’s destiny entanglement, I doubt you’re going to meet anyone who said they liked this book for its characterization. This is a plot-driven, adrenaline- and allusion-fuelled joyride. Like it on those grounds, or leave it.
And the truth is, I didn’t like this as much as The Atrocity Archives. Despite being full of action, there are scenes just full of exposition and the most boring manner of infodumps possible—I wanted to reach through the page and strangle the people having these conversations. Yet whenever I had to put the book down—because real life sucks and tends to interrupt me when I want to read—I couldn’t wait to return to Bob’s adventure. That is a pretty high compliment to pay to a book, I think, right up there with “I want to read it over and over” and “I would like to have this cover tattooed on sensitive areas of my body” (neither of those applies to The Jennifer Morgue).
This novel continues the trend Stross began in the first one of a healthy blend of urban fantasy, modern technology, and computer science. The Atrocity Archives got me because, as a mathematician and a programmers, I love the idea that doing higher-level mathematics could let demons possess you. (It would explain a lot.) It appeals to my belief that math allows us to understand and even affect the universe in a very profound way. The Jennifer Morgue explores this a bit more. We have magical distributed surveillance, thanks to creative marketing, and Bob enjoys pwnz0ring the yacht’s computer network through a PC media centre. So there’s that.
This edition came with a bonus short story, “Pimpf,” at the end. I did not like it that much. But, hey, bonus short story! I want more novels to do that…. I could have done without the semi–self-aware afterword though.
Basically, if you liked the first book, you are going to like this book a little more or a little less, depending on how much Bond you want in your Brit. If you didn’t like the first book but were on the fence about it, then try The Jennifer Morgue anyway, because the plot or tone is different and might appeal to you more. In general, I think I like the series more for the ideas Stross invokes than the actual stories—but they are good enough stories that I can enjoy them as the diversions they are while Stross hacks my brain.
I’m going to go reboot now. Praise shoggoth!
My reviews of the Laundry Files:
← The Atrocity Archives | The Fuller Memorandum →
I didn’t—so keep that in mind when I say things like, “All I wanted to do with my life was read this book.”
I am not a Bond fan. I’ve never had a Bond film marathon. In fact, aside from seeing Skyfall in theatres with friends and (maybe) Casino Royale, I don’t know if I’ve actually watched a Bond film in its entirety from start to finish. I certainly haven’t read any of the books. While the idea of a suave kickass superspy is as appealing to me as it is to the next person, the whole Bond scenario just doesn’t do much for me. I need slightly more self-deprecating and vulnerable protagonists.
Enter Bob Howard. Totally not James Bond. But maybe James Bond?
Although The Atrocity Archive did not hide its allusions to Bond and sundry, The Jennifer Morgue is where Charles Stross truly engages in spoof. However, it’s self-aware, somewhat parodic spoof. The bad guy, Ellis Billington, is trying to raise a sunken wreck from an ancient civilization that might predate—or at least disturbs—the BLUE HADES Old Ones we don’t want to talk about. To keep the governments of the world off his case, Billington activates a “hero geas,” which draws on the power of millions of Bond fans throughout the world to set him up as the evil mastermind. Only a lone British spy sent in to infiltrate the operation and stop him stands a chance—and Billington plans to stop the geas just after the climax where the villain has the upperhand, lest it run to its inevitable and unfortunate (for him) conclusion.
It’s an intriguing way to spoof the Bond franchise while also hanging a lampshade on it. I would expect nothing less from Stross. Despite the fact I’ve seldom awarded his books five stars, he remains one of my favourite writers. Even if his books themselves don’t always work as a whole to impress me, his writing is invariably entertaining and intelligent. Stross has a talent for making the outrageous and fantastic sound realistic. It’s what makes his Merchant Traders series compelling: applying economic theory to alternative-universe interactions. Here, Stross uses his knowledge of economics, history, geopolitics, and of course, computer science to weave the perfect chthonic endgame plot for our Bond-like villain.
Pay attention when you’re reading, because Stross foreshadows with the best of them. Little offhand remarks, say that Billington makes about his cat, turn out to make much more sense in hindsight. I love it when an author throws me off by including something that seems strange or nonsensical, only for the resolution to put that event in a new light. It shows a great deal of control, planning, and execution that you want, especially in a novel as tightly packed as this one.
Unfortunately, most of the characters tend to conform to the Bond character archetypes and are not as well-drawn as I’d like them to be. Ramona, Bob, Mo, McMurray, etc. … despite good attempts at creating tension through devices like Ramona and Bob’s destiny entanglement, I doubt you’re going to meet anyone who said they liked this book for its characterization. This is a plot-driven, adrenaline- and allusion-fuelled joyride. Like it on those grounds, or leave it.
And the truth is, I didn’t like this as much as The Atrocity Archives. Despite being full of action, there are scenes just full of exposition and the most boring manner of infodumps possible—I wanted to reach through the page and strangle the people having these conversations. Yet whenever I had to put the book down—because real life sucks and tends to interrupt me when I want to read—I couldn’t wait to return to Bob’s adventure. That is a pretty high compliment to pay to a book, I think, right up there with “I want to read it over and over” and “I would like to have this cover tattooed on sensitive areas of my body” (neither of those applies to The Jennifer Morgue).
This novel continues the trend Stross began in the first one of a healthy blend of urban fantasy, modern technology, and computer science. The Atrocity Archives got me because, as a mathematician and a programmers, I love the idea that doing higher-level mathematics could let demons possess you. (It would explain a lot.) It appeals to my belief that math allows us to understand and even affect the universe in a very profound way. The Jennifer Morgue explores this a bit more. We have magical distributed surveillance, thanks to creative marketing, and Bob enjoys pwnz0ring the yacht’s computer network through a PC media centre. So there’s that.
This edition came with a bonus short story, “Pimpf,” at the end. I did not like it that much. But, hey, bonus short story! I want more novels to do that…. I could have done without the semi–self-aware afterword though.
Basically, if you liked the first book, you are going to like this book a little more or a little less, depending on how much Bond you want in your Brit. If you didn’t like the first book but were on the fence about it, then try The Jennifer Morgue anyway, because the plot or tone is different and might appeal to you more. In general, I think I like the series more for the ideas Stross invokes than the actual stories—but they are good enough stories that I can enjoy them as the diversions they are while Stross hacks my brain.
I’m going to go reboot now. Praise shoggoth!
My reviews of the Laundry Files:
← The Atrocity Archives | The Fuller Memorandum →
June 26, 2023
Antroji ciklo knyga. Toks savotiškas H. P. Lovecrafto ir Iano Flemingo miksas.
Bobas Howardas vėl gelbsti pasaulį. Ir daro tai, nė velnio nesuvokdamas, kas vyksta. Na, tokios va žaidimo sąlygos – misija gali pasisekti tik tuomet, jei Bobas viską regės savotiškame kreivame veidrodyje. Gavo nurodymą „Nueik ten, nežinia, kur, padaryk tą, nežinia, ką“ – ir vykdo. Užsimerkia ir galvoja apie Angliją. Skaitytojas irgi visą laiką klaidžioja migloje, nes regi viską iš Bobo perspektyvos. O ir žaidimo sąlygos nelygios – setingas toks, kad autorius bet kuriuo metu gali traukti reikiamą kortą iš rankoves, nors tu net neįtarei, kad tas rankoves jis turi. Ir nenubėgsi mamai pasiskųst. Tad bet kuris atsivertęs knygą – prarask viltį kažką suprasti anksčiau, nei tau bus paaiškinta. Atsipalaiduok ir galvok... nori apie Angliją, nori apie eklerus.
Antroji autoriaus knyga – ir kaip smarkiai tai jaučiasi. Gerai, kai autorius auga, kai atsikrato to, kas buvo ne visai vykę pirmojoje knygoje. Ir gaunam visai kitą rezultatą.
Labai tvirti keturi iš penkių.
Bobas Howardas vėl gelbsti pasaulį. Ir daro tai, nė velnio nesuvokdamas, kas vyksta. Na, tokios va žaidimo sąlygos – misija gali pasisekti tik tuomet, jei Bobas viską regės savotiškame kreivame veidrodyje. Gavo nurodymą „Nueik ten, nežinia, kur, padaryk tą, nežinia, ką“ – ir vykdo. Užsimerkia ir galvoja apie Angliją. Skaitytojas irgi visą laiką klaidžioja migloje, nes regi viską iš Bobo perspektyvos. O ir žaidimo sąlygos nelygios – setingas toks, kad autorius bet kuriuo metu gali traukti reikiamą kortą iš rankoves, nors tu net neįtarei, kad tas rankoves jis turi. Ir nenubėgsi mamai pasiskųst. Tad bet kuris atsivertęs knygą – prarask viltį kažką suprasti anksčiau, nei tau bus paaiškinta. Atsipalaiduok ir galvok... nori apie Angliją, nori apie eklerus.
Antroji autoriaus knyga – ir kaip smarkiai tai jaučiasi. Gerai, kai autorius auga, kai atsikrato to, kas buvo ne visai vykę pirmojoje knygoje. Ir gaunam visai kitą rezultatą.
Labai tvirti keturi iš penkių.
July 19, 2010
*Actually an audio Ebook...it's what I have access to, but then I like audio books.*
So far...not nearly as good as the first one...
And my opinion didn't change. This one wasn't (in my humble opinion) nearly as good as the first one. The first one was obviously intended to be a sort of collision between H.P.Lovecraft and Ian Fleming. This one was to be that also...but Lovecraft's influence has faded to a slight ghost and Fleming is not only here...his work has been slammed into the story, actually added to the plot...along with I'm sorry to say the influence of Danielle Steel or possibly Laurell K. Hamilton...I have a limited knowledge of both bodies of work. We get a female possessed by a succubus who eats the lives of men as she has sex with them having an orgasm at the same time. That way (I assume) you get your sex and violence in a single scene.
I think this book was something like 25% to 50% too long. The story was probably a pretty good idea, but just didn't have the legs for the length it ran here. Still, it wasn't horrible and I may (later) run the newest volume down...but I'm not running right out to find it. Too bad, I really kind of liked the first one.
So far...not nearly as good as the first one...
And my opinion didn't change. This one wasn't (in my humble opinion) nearly as good as the first one. The first one was obviously intended to be a sort of collision between H.P.Lovecraft and Ian Fleming. This one was to be that also...but Lovecraft's influence has faded to a slight ghost and Fleming is not only here...his work has been slammed into the story, actually added to the plot...along with I'm sorry to say the influence of Danielle Steel or possibly Laurell K. Hamilton...I have a limited knowledge of both bodies of work. We get a female possessed by a succubus who eats the lives of men as she has sex with them having an orgasm at the same time. That way (I assume) you get your sex and violence in a single scene.
I think this book was something like 25% to 50% too long. The story was probably a pretty good idea, but just didn't have the legs for the length it ran here. Still, it wasn't horrible and I may (later) run the newest volume down...but I'm not running right out to find it. Too bad, I really kind of liked the first one.
November 7, 2019
And so on the second of the Laundry Files - and I will admit I have mixed feelings about this book. yes there is still the great sense of dark humour and the malicious joy you can feel as the author really lets his imagination go.
However it does feel that there was an idea that as pretty much over played - true even the storyline is used to justify what is going on - but still at times it is played a little to thickly.
That said there are some really creative ideas and the whole storyline is ever so slightly skewed making the good not so good and the bad just a little bit less black and white.
The whole series still has some very creative ideas I just think at times too much time is spent on explanations to the point it almost felt like justification however with a little patience its not impossible to see past them.
This is only the second in a long line of books - the question when will I have the motivation to dip back in to this world - I hope not too long I get the feeling we will start to see the formation of a longer running story rather than villain of the week.
However it does feel that there was an idea that as pretty much over played - true even the storyline is used to justify what is going on - but still at times it is played a little to thickly.
That said there are some really creative ideas and the whole storyline is ever so slightly skewed making the good not so good and the bad just a little bit less black and white.
The whole series still has some very creative ideas I just think at times too much time is spent on explanations to the point it almost felt like justification however with a little patience its not impossible to see past them.
This is only the second in a long line of books - the question when will I have the motivation to dip back in to this world - I hope not too long I get the feeling we will start to see the formation of a longer running story rather than villain of the week.
March 18, 2008
This a very well rounded book. It does not get a higher score because it is so limited by the cliches it is spoofing that is impossible to see how it could be better within those constraints.
James Bond meets Lovecraftian horrors, in a darkly humorous way.
If you like a comedic approach to cosmic horrors, this is your book. If that leaves you cold, skip this book.
Anyone who knows what Delta Green means, will certainly like this.
James Bond meets Lovecraftian horrors, in a darkly humorous way.
If you like a comedic approach to cosmic horrors, this is your book. If that leaves you cold, skip this book.
Anyone who knows what Delta Green means, will certainly like this.
July 1, 2020
Exciting read through a bunch of 007 Easter eggs and tropes. Had a great time with this one, and the audible version included a short story that was also quite satisfying!
January 27, 2008
Charles Stross returns to the world of British occult espionage in The Jennifer Morgue, a sequel to his eccentric, high-density work in The Atrocity Archives (reviewed here). Staying true to form, Stross once again constructs an elaborate parody of genre fiction by simultaneously using and mocking the traditional narrative formula.
The Jennifer Morgue is, like its predecessor, actually a longer story (of the same title), a shorter story ("Pimpf"), and an essay lumped together into one book. The main narrative makes up the lion's share of the book and is very explicitly a send-up of the classic James Bond stereotypes. Pimpf is weak and forgettable, while the closing essay is quite excellent. For the purposes of this review, I'll assume the story-and-essay caboose cancel one another out and focus on the main storyline.
Stross has written a much more accessible story with The Jennifer Morgue than he did with The Atrocity Archives. Despite being a sequel, the story is able to stand alone. It spends less time dwelling on the "how" of things and focuses on the action. Plus, it's familiar action. While the spy fiction of Len Deighton (the spy fiction inspiration for The Atrocity Archives) may be a bit obscure to some readers, everyone knows Bond. And as Bond goes, The Jennifer Morgue is really quite as good. In many ways, Stross has woven a more plausible story than many Bond has stumbled through, which is saying a lot given that Stross is weaving Lovecraftian cosmic horror along side the traditional fast cars and seductive assassins.
The core problem with The Jennifer Morgue, then, is that it pegs itself too closely to Bond. At the risk of sounding like a snob, Ian Flemming was no Shakespeare, and the Bond formula is both tired and absurd. Without the big-screen action to carry the improbable plot twists, cheezy dialog, and Deus Ex Machinae, Bond falls flat. Credit goes to the author for having found a very clever way of justifying the absurdity of Bond within the framework of the story (a plot device that, for the sake of future readers, I won't spoil), but in the end it's still a Bond plot, and as a result the story seems at times to ride on predictable rails toward its conclusion.
To die-hard Bond fans who also enjoy the works of H.P. Lovecraft, it's hard not to recommend The Jennifer Morgue. But to seasoned readers who make effort to avoid the less intelligent pulp, I fear Stross may have chosen to lampoon the material sufficiently closely that the resulting book isn't quite as good as it could have been. It's still plenty enjoyable, but it isn't quite as brilliant as his earlier use of these characters.
The Jennifer Morgue is, like its predecessor, actually a longer story (of the same title), a shorter story ("Pimpf"), and an essay lumped together into one book. The main narrative makes up the lion's share of the book and is very explicitly a send-up of the classic James Bond stereotypes. Pimpf is weak and forgettable, while the closing essay is quite excellent. For the purposes of this review, I'll assume the story-and-essay caboose cancel one another out and focus on the main storyline.
Stross has written a much more accessible story with The Jennifer Morgue than he did with The Atrocity Archives. Despite being a sequel, the story is able to stand alone. It spends less time dwelling on the "how" of things and focuses on the action. Plus, it's familiar action. While the spy fiction of Len Deighton (the spy fiction inspiration for The Atrocity Archives) may be a bit obscure to some readers, everyone knows Bond. And as Bond goes, The Jennifer Morgue is really quite as good. In many ways, Stross has woven a more plausible story than many Bond has stumbled through, which is saying a lot given that Stross is weaving Lovecraftian cosmic horror along side the traditional fast cars and seductive assassins.
The core problem with The Jennifer Morgue, then, is that it pegs itself too closely to Bond. At the risk of sounding like a snob, Ian Flemming was no Shakespeare, and the Bond formula is both tired and absurd. Without the big-screen action to carry the improbable plot twists, cheezy dialog, and Deus Ex Machinae, Bond falls flat. Credit goes to the author for having found a very clever way of justifying the absurdity of Bond within the framework of the story (a plot device that, for the sake of future readers, I won't spoil), but in the end it's still a Bond plot, and as a result the story seems at times to ride on predictable rails toward its conclusion.
To die-hard Bond fans who also enjoy the works of H.P. Lovecraft, it's hard not to recommend The Jennifer Morgue. But to seasoned readers who make effort to avoid the less intelligent pulp, I fear Stross may have chosen to lampoon the material sufficiently closely that the resulting book isn't quite as good as it could have been. It's still plenty enjoyable, but it isn't quite as brilliant as his earlier use of these characters.
November 26, 2023
The Laundry makes a James Bond movie
Charles Stross's Laundry Files is my all-time favorite science fiction series, and The Jennifer Morgue is one of the best novels in the series, so it follows that I like it a lot. The four most important characters in The Jennifer Morgue are Bob Howard and Mo (Doctor Dominique O'Brien), whom we met in The Atrocity Archives, Bob's boss James Angleton, and a new character, Black Chamber agent Ramona Random. (The Black Chamber is the US occult secret agency.) As usual, Bob is the first-person narrator, so we end up spending most of our time with him and Ramona, who becomes his mission partner. However, Angleton and Mo are the main plot drivers -- the puppeteers pulling the plot strings.
The Atrocity Archives was more of an investment in the future of the series than it was a story. That is to say, it told a story, but that was not the most important thing it did. Rather, it explained the unique magic technology ("Magic is a branch of applied mathematics.") of the Laundry Files, introduced the secret government organization that Angleton, Bob, and eventually Mo work for, and of course introduced Bob, Mo, and Angleton.
The Jennifer Morgue is different. It is mostly about telling a story. And it's a good story, clever and intricate and exciting, with a clever plot twist. Of course, I'm not going to tell you what the twist is outside a spoiler tag, but I have read The Jennifer Morgue half a dozen times, and even though I know the twist is coming, I still enjoy it every time.
We begin with a prolog in which we see Angleton observing the Cold War (1975) machinations of US intelligence agencies attempting to retrieve a sunken Soviet missile submarine from the sea floor. We then leap forward to the 21st century and Bob, who becomes entangled with Ramona and is sent to the Caribbean on a mission to frustrate the designs of an evil American billionaire intent on retrieving an artifact from the sea floor and achieving world domination.
If that all sounds very James Bond: British secret agent accompanied by sexy babe Ramona thwarting a billionaire supervillain, well, it's no coincidence. Billington, the supervillain in question, has set up a geas (magical compulsion -- hard G, rhymes with "mesh") to compel all involved to conform to the James Bond mythos. No spoiler here: we learn all this in the first few chapters, and Stross mentions the "Bond Canon" in the acknowledgements with which he begins the novel.
The audiobook is narrated by English/South African actor Gideon Emery, who does an excellent job. Emery navigates English and American accents, with a smattering of German and Italian and whatever Mo is -- she's supposed to be Scottish (Aberdeen) but sounds Irish to me. Some English narrators feel that as long as all the Americans sound like assholes, they have achieved authenticity (looking at you, Kobna!), but Emery's US accents sound realistic to me.
Angleton, Ramona, and Mo continue to develop in future novels. Mo remains a major player throughout the series. Ramona is a minor character until novel 6, The Annihilation Score. At the end of The Jennifer Morgue it is still not clear what Angleton is -- we learn more about that in book 3, The Fuller Memorandum.
PIMPF
The novel The Jennifer Morgue is the first 90% of the book The Jennifer Morgue. It is followed by a short story PIMPF and an Afterword about Ian Fleming and James Bond, "The Golden Age of Spying". PIMPF is a tasty bit of Laundry Files candy, in which Bob has to rescue an intern after occult infiltration of an online game.
The Jennifer Morgue is a fun Bond-esque secret agent science fiction/fantasy story with lots of twists.
Blog review.
Charles Stross's Laundry Files is my all-time favorite science fiction series, and The Jennifer Morgue is one of the best novels in the series, so it follows that I like it a lot. The four most important characters in The Jennifer Morgue are Bob Howard and Mo (Doctor Dominique O'Brien), whom we met in The Atrocity Archives, Bob's boss James Angleton, and a new character, Black Chamber agent Ramona Random. (The Black Chamber is the US occult secret agency.) As usual, Bob is the first-person narrator, so we end up spending most of our time with him and Ramona, who becomes his mission partner. However, Angleton and Mo are the main plot drivers -- the puppeteers pulling the plot strings.
The Atrocity Archives was more of an investment in the future of the series than it was a story. That is to say, it told a story, but that was not the most important thing it did. Rather, it explained the unique magic technology ("Magic is a branch of applied mathematics.") of the Laundry Files, introduced the secret government organization that Angleton, Bob, and eventually Mo work for, and of course introduced Bob, Mo, and Angleton.
The Jennifer Morgue is different. It is mostly about telling a story. And it's a good story, clever and intricate and exciting, with a clever plot twist. Of course, I'm not going to tell you what the twist is outside a spoiler tag, but I have read The Jennifer Morgue half a dozen times, and even though I know the twist is coming, I still enjoy it every time.
We begin with a prolog in which we see Angleton observing the Cold War (1975) machinations of US intelligence agencies attempting to retrieve a sunken Soviet missile submarine from the sea floor. We then leap forward to the 21st century and Bob, who becomes entangled with Ramona and is sent to the Caribbean on a mission to frustrate the designs of an evil American billionaire intent on retrieving an artifact from the sea floor and achieving world domination.
If that all sounds very James Bond: British secret agent accompanied by sexy babe Ramona thwarting a billionaire supervillain, well, it's no coincidence. Billington, the supervillain in question, has set up a geas (magical compulsion -- hard G, rhymes with "mesh") to compel all involved to conform to the James Bond mythos. No spoiler here: we learn all this in the first few chapters, and Stross mentions the "Bond Canon" in the acknowledgements with which he begins the novel.
The audiobook is narrated by English/South African actor Gideon Emery, who does an excellent job. Emery navigates English and American accents, with a smattering of German and Italian and whatever Mo is -- she's supposed to be Scottish (Aberdeen) but sounds Irish to me. Some English narrators feel that as long as all the Americans sound like assholes, they have achieved authenticity (looking at you, Kobna!), but Emery's US accents sound realistic to me.
Angleton, Ramona, and Mo continue to develop in future novels. Mo remains a major player throughout the series. Ramona is a minor character until novel 6, The Annihilation Score. At the end of The Jennifer Morgue it is still not clear what Angleton is -- we learn more about that in book 3, The Fuller Memorandum.
PIMPF
The novel The Jennifer Morgue is the first 90% of the book The Jennifer Morgue. It is followed by a short story PIMPF and an Afterword about Ian Fleming and James Bond, "The Golden Age of Spying". PIMPF is a tasty bit of Laundry Files candy, in which Bob has to rescue an intern after occult infiltration of an online game.
The Jennifer Morgue is a fun Bond-esque secret agent science fiction/fantasy story with lots of twists.
Blog review.
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