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nigellicus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
5.0
A fake nanny kidnaps the superpowered children of a pair of superpowered cops, which turns out to be a spectacularly bad idea. This ties in with the fallout from the previous book, where the dead guy turns out to have laid a series of cunning traps for his murderer/succesor, while also pushing through the purchase of a high street Tesco-like mob in order to inflict gruesome fates on hapless low-level employees for the purposes of making sacrifices to his evil god. It's funny and fast moving, though some of the jokes get a flagged a bit too repeatedly in case anyone missed them, with lots of endearing characters and clever twists and nasty satirical ideas.
themanfromdelmonte's review against another edition
4.0
It’s a bit hard to get into. The Laundry series reached its apotheosis with The Nightmare Stacks. But that was five books ago and the author is coasting now, seemingly reluctant to let it go.
There was one moment where I thought the author was going to pull the most outrageous plot twist but the moment passed.
One for the completists
There was one moment where I thought the author was going to pull the most outrageous plot twist but the moment passed.
One for the completists
yates9's review against another edition
4.0
Fun story mixing fantasy with contemporary technology that veils a social critique. The target reader is probably teenager as many of the dialogues are a rich with cute twists of language that can get a bit tedious. Full of interesting ideas, strong characters, good dramatic drive...
What is not as good is the narrative structure that is the parallel story of four situations that converge to a shared explanatory end. But the different scenes are so far apart and a bit lacking in intrinsic story arc that as a reader I felt I was waiting to understand how things related before deciding to really invest into the story.
What is not as good is the narrative structure that is the parallel story of four situations that converge to a shared explanatory end. But the different scenes are so far apart and a bit lacking in intrinsic story arc that as a reader I felt I was waiting to understand how things related before deciding to really invest into the story.
feoh's review against another edition
It pains me to give a Stross book a 3 star review, but sadly there are elements of this book that just don't hang together very well, and it's glaring enough that no amount of warm fuzzies I have for Stross will fix it.
While I am tremendously fond of Eve, her brother Imp, and his merry band of scallywags, I felt like their part in the story wasn't nearly as large as I'd have liked it to be, and while I enjoyed them when they came to the fore, they couldn't save the story from the god awful plot which felt stitched together from the results of some kind of Lovecraftian Horror Theme Generator.
To add insult to injury, this book leans into the SERIOUSLY gross/disgusting horror side of things as hard as it possibly can, to the point where a few others I discussed it with found seriously disturbing, disquieting, and off-putting generally.
Sure, The laundry Files books (of which this series of an offshoot) have always had borderline horror elements, but this is over the top in a way I find distinctly unpleasant.
So, I'm still a huge fan of Mr. Stross and his work, and I will probably read the next one in the series anyway, but this book makes me sad.
While I am tremendously fond of Eve, her brother Imp, and his merry band of scallywags, I felt like their part in the story wasn't nearly as large as I'd have liked it to be, and while I enjoyed them when they came to the fore, they couldn't save the story from the god awful plot which felt stitched together from the results of some kind of Lovecraftian Horror Theme Generator.
To add insult to injury, this book leans into the SERIOUSLY gross/disgusting horror side of things as hard as it possibly can, to the point where a few others I discussed it with found seriously disturbing, disquieting, and off-putting generally.
Sure, The laundry Files books (of which this series of an offshoot) have always had borderline horror elements, but this is over the top in a way I find distinctly unpleasant.
So, I'm still a huge fan of Mr. Stross and his work, and I will probably read the next one in the series anyway, but this book makes me sad.
brennaw's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
banjax451's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
titusfortner's review against another edition
3.0
Thoroughly enjoyable, but I'm still not sure how I feel about this post-Laundry world.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
Well huh. I wasn't expecting that much from this. This is book two of a spinoff series with a new set of characters. Normally these books get about 2/3 in and then go madcap off the rails. This one had no lead in. It started madcap off the rails. And really never slowed down. Horrible. Ridiculous. Over the top. And basically Mary Poppins. And meat puppets. It made a leaked supreme court ruling look sensical, like just another item in a crazy world. Except one of these worlds is fictional horror.
mantissabolt's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25