The apocalypse codex

Bob Howard, supernatural IT guy slash reluctant field agent, is a fun character to follow. Even still, I’ve been slow to read this series, which is now nine books long. In fact, I read book three in 2011 and originally started the series way back in 2007.

I think it helps to understand that the Laundry Files began as a parody of British spy novels, and then Stross either felt restricted by that premise or grew bored with it, so slowly but surely rejiggered it into something else, eventually turning it into a reliable yearly release.

This book felt a bit transitional, possibly because of that shift. From what I remember of the earlier books, Bob was generally at the forefront of the story, driving events and saving the day. In this volume, Stross introduces a few new viewpoint characters and Bob is in a more reactive role. He’s still the one narrating events or recording them for posterity, but he’s in over his head and oftentimes sidelined during action scenes.

From reading the summaries of the later books, it sounds like Bob isn’t always the primary viewpoint character, which makes sense if Stross wanted to open up the premise a bit. I’m still enjoying the series, but I’ll probably have to read another book or two to get an idea of where he’s taking it.

By now you should know what to expect from a Laundry novel. Bob gets called in to investigate a strange situation, it all goes horribly awry, & he finds himself outnumbered and outgunned. And the fate of the world is on the line.

This time around, Bob goes to America to look into an “Evangelical” minister. One of those guys with a megachurch & whathaveyou. He’s there in a supervisory context, on loan to the Externals department (yeah, Bob hadn’t heard of those guys either). As you can probably guess, the minister is in fact trying to summon Lovecraftian horrors. And Bob & his “externals” have to stop the threat.

If you haven’t read any earlier Laundry novels, this is NOT the place to start. Stross doesn’t slow down to explain the workings of the Laundry universe or the Laundry itself. You will be confused & lost. It’s better to read the series from the beginning.

I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t spend much time with some of the usual supporting characters, but very much enjoyed the introduction of new characters. Hopefully they’ll be back, perhaps even with some spinoff stories of their own.

Given that the villain of the piece is nominally an Evangelical, I’m not surprised to see that there’s been a bit of a backlash to the discussion of religion in the book. Whatever Stross’ personal beliefs, he seemed to deal with religion in a way that is consistent with the rules of the Laundry universe. It is a dark, godless universe where the “One True Religion” exists to summon back Eldrich horrors. If you have personal problems with this Lovecraftian take on existence, then this probably isn’t the book for you.