Charles Stross

The latest of "The Merchant Princes" series, book five in fact, is a wonderful deepening of a chain of alternate worlds that resemble the mundane one you and I live in more, or less, depending on which strand of his story Stross is highlighting at any given moment.

The basic premise of all alternate history is to take off from the world the reader knows at a point he or she can get revved up about. In the US, that most often means alternate outcomes of the American Civil War, 1861-1865; I'd show more hesitate to speculate about other countries, but I've seen a LOT of Bonaparte-wins stuff in French. In a way, this area of fiction allows readers to fulfill fantasies of what the world Could and Should be like.

What I most like about this series of books is that Stross takes off from multiple departure points, and some so subtly that most all readers will slide right past the references that let you know you're down the rabbit hole until sucker-punched with the difference. Stross does that in this book, and he does it well, if a sucker-punch can be done well. A nagging not-quite-rightness from previous books gets brought up full force, and it's a game-changer for the series. Well done, Sir Charles.

Now, there is a downside to every artistic choice...since there are multiple alternate worlds, each with its own issues and problems to work out on these pages, the focus tends to be a bit blurry. The constraints of having the series POV character physically move among the alternate realities limits Stross's forward momentum in her story, and can feel as though the alternates are getting short shrift. I'd have to say, though, that the sensation of wanting more of all the threads is a good sign that Stross is a capable storyteller operating at full throttle.

This entry in the series will repay your time spent reading it. Don't start here, though...start with book one, The Family Trade. It's high-quality thinking, and reading.

Oh, and George Bush gets blown up by a nuke. show less

The short story The Concrete Jungle was included in my copy of The Atrocity Archives. I enjoyed this story more than first book.

An extra cow is discovered at local concrete art exhibit and the Laundry sends Bob over to investigate.

While there were info dumps, I found they blended into the story much better as they took the form of case files on the phenomenon that Bob reads through on his way to the investigation. This fit the story nicely as prep work any investigator would do before they show more entered a situation. And quite a situation it is! Once Bob lands at the site, the story turns into a fast paced thriller. Bob ends up working with local law enforcement who handles the high weirdness very well. Laundry should recruit her. I liked idea of weaponizing the Medusa's gaze (gorgonism) with technology a lot! Talk about potential. I'm really glad nothing exists like that in the real world... right? show less

Whatever else you want to call the arc represented by the first three books in Stross' "New Management" series, you might describe it as occult divorce for survival and advancement. While Eve Starkey, might have thought she had put her so-called "husband," the sorcerer Rupert de Montfort Bigge, down for the count, when the eldritch master of Great Britain wants Bigge's literal head, it's do or die time. Further, Stross continues to extend the purview of his ever-metastasizing "Laundry" show more universe, as if you're going to go back in time to post-1814 Britain, why not make it a regency romance? To put it simply, I had as much fun with this particular arc as anything I've read by Stross in awhile, and I'm giving this book top marks for sticking the landing. show less

[Hey! What happened to my original review?!?]

This is my favorite Charles Stross book, and that is saying something. I just re-read it after a 4-year gap, and I found it even better the second time around. The plot is so twisty, the high-tech details so thick and the narrative style so rich (or, to some peoples' thinking, confusing) that even knowing the basic plot, it was still a rollercoaster ride.

One note: some friends who listened to this on audiobook complained that it was difficult to show more follow. Even though the narrator was apparently quite good, the fact that the story is told from 3 different viewpoints and one uses Scottish idiom and accent contributed to their puzzlement. show less