Review: The Labyrinth Index (Laundry Files, #9)

The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's a great exploration of the world after the shocking events from the previous book. Nyarlathotep is in charge - now what? The plot seems fun, and a good way to up the ante. And although the previous book was a good sort-of-conclusion to the story of the main characters, this book is the one to actually have the Laundry face its greatest enemy, alluded to from the very first book, the sleeper ((view spoiler)[Cthulhu (hide spoiler)]). It's a good plot, going back to the first two books, and a more technical sort of spy book, with the protagonists going into a secret-agent type of mission, but dealing with a lot of the bureaucracy, setup, and technicalities. You can tell there was a lot of research going into it. I really like that, since that's what made me like this series to begin with. It had a lot of non-linear story-telling, with flashbacks and pauses for technical explanations. It also had lots of high political intrigue, which is quite new to the series. Finally, there is a lot of action, of the more conventional type with guns and shootouts (it takes place in the US!), also in contrast to the previous books. In particular, the ending was very action-filled, with lots of cool stuff happening. It was very satisfying!

One thing I didn't like was the choice of characters. I would have preferred a book following the main protagonists, Bob and Mo, but they are not really present here. It's too bad, since it looks like this will be the last book following the main storyline for a while (the author switched to writing about secondary stories, "side quests", happening in the new world). So instead of Bob and Mo, or even Alex the vampire, we got pretty much all the other side characters thrown together in a single mission, for no apparent reason other than they are the ones we are familiar with and are still alive. It was weird selection, with all new interpretations of the characters. Some of them are good, some of them seem forced and completely out of place, so it's a mixed bag of characters and characterization.


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Review: The Delirium Brief (Laundry Files, #8)

The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent continuation and an almost-conclusion of the Laundry Files overall story!
It picks up directly from the previous book, so don't think about reading this if you hadn't read what came before. However, it does have a very brief summary of the story so far at the beginning, so if it has been a while since you have read it, this helps.

I like how the story starts with our protagonists having progressed to be at the top of the organization. It was good following them along all these years, and seeing them now in high positions, being recognized. It also brings back a lot of characters and plotlines from the older books - it's a great "it's all coming together" book, but it does require you to have a good memory for a lot of it.

The action is great in this one. In previous books, they always felt like they spent 90% building up to something, then you got the action on the last 10%. In this one, the action is much more evenly spread, there is stuff happening from the beginning. This plot moves briskly, and there is a "twist" about a third of the way in (the "enemy attack"), and it is a pretty shocking one, and drives the rest of the plot. By the halfway point, the plan is already clear. This book is not holding back, there is a lot going on, and it's pretty fun. Bob is a great character in this book. He is incredibly powerful, but also grounded, very human and very non-American: he doesn't simply go around beating the bad guys sensibly, and when he does hurt someone, he feels very guilty. It makes for a much more compelling character than if he was more of a super-hero.

It strikes me how non-American all of the action is. Guns are rare; people are reluctant to use guns and kill people; there is way more bureaucracy than violence.

The ending is great, and it could be a good stopping point, except that I really want to know "now what???".

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Review: The Nightmare Stacks (Laundry Files, #7)

The Nightmare Stacks by Charles Stross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Comparing to the previous entry in the series, this is a much better and more fun book. And as I am reading the audiobook, the narration is also much better, more lively.

It feels more like the earlier books of the series, specially the very first book and the early short stories; and the narrator/protagonist himself, Alex, sounds a lot like Bob Howard, the main hero of the series. He is different, yet similar. So it's a back to the roots type of book. The story in this book, (view spoiler)[the Elf invasion (hide spoiler)], is a detour from the overarching story of the series ("Case Nightmare Green"), but it still ties with everything else, and moves the overall story forward.

The one complaint about the book is that most of it feels like prelude, like it's building up to something, which then happens only at the very end of the book, and very quickly. The end is very interesting, but then it just kinda happens and then the book is over - there is no further explanation, no exploration of the consequences. It's too bad, because it sounded pretty good. I guess that's meant to leave us wanting for the next book!


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