Review: The Annihilation Score (Laundry Files, #6)

The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is 5th novel in The Laundry Files series. It needs a lot of knowledge from the previous books in order to make sense and be enjoyable. I thought that it was weird how much it calls back to previous books - the result must be that it filters out people unfamiliar with the series, or people who read a long time ago and don't remember the details, you can't just pick this up on its own and enjoy it. The effect must be a diminishing fanbase (and diminishing returns) as the series progresses.

The story is good, but a little dragged out. Most of it feels like prologue, like it's building up to something, and the plot only becomes clear in the last 10% of the book. There are interesting parts sprinkled all throughout the book, but a lot of it feels like filler.

Still, I really like its approach to the Cthulhu mythos, to the genre of spy thriller, and how it mashes them up. This entry in the series is also particularly good as it shifts attention to one of the supporting characters, "Mo" O'Brien, giving the series a more diverse point-of-view. It was also striking that it used this change in protagonist to inject some elements of romance novel into the story - it was a bit cringey, but on the whole fun.

Finally, I liked how in this book, the series shows that the characters are developing and growing as people. Both Bob and Mo started out as "normal people", then have low-ranking positions in the Laundry, then become field agents, then super-spies, and finally get very high in the organization. It's a satisfying ending.

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