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The Apocalypse Codex is the fourth novel in the projected nine-book The Laundry series by Charles Stross. This doesn't include the novels and short-stories which he has been prone to writing and I have enjoyed tremendously. I wasn't too big of a fan of The Jennifer Morgue but I was glad I gave the series a pass on this. So what is the premise of The Apocalypse Codex? Bob Howard is recovering from the events of The Fuller Memorandum, having taken a serious hit to his sanity score in the Call of
I picked this one up at random from the library because I have only read one of this author's book previously and was interested in trying more. I'm glad I did, because it was a really good book. Everyman Bob Howard works for the Laundry, the part of the British Secret Service that deals with occult threats to the nation. Sent on a mission to investigate an American church that is taking far too much interest in certain British ministers, he soon finds himself in way over his head. Aided and abe...
0.5Well, at least I enjoyed the first three books. I won't bother writing too much about it. I did not enjoy this book. From the jumps from one character to another to constant repetitions of past events and some other things (which I'll mark in my private notes so as not to forget the whys), it came close to cause a huge book slump. I'll remove the rest of the series from my to-read list for now.
3.5 StarsAwesome science fiction thriller / horror / mystery. I loved the start of this series it is tailor made to my likes. This is my first Stross novel even though he has been on my to read list for a very long time.Great characters.Great world.Great science fiction.Lovecraft!Gadgets.And more.I really liked it.The first third of this book was a drag and nothing happened. This was the weakest of the series but the ending somewhat made up for it.
Bob Howard goes forth.This series has turned a corner and become more serious, with this volume. Or the author has decided to take it more seriously. I don't mean it's stopped being funny; it's still Bob's irate-nerd edge-of-over-clever voice narrating, and that still turns the pages nicely. Nor do I refer to the escalation of the story arc, which is indeed escalating (The Stars Are Right, more or less now, as of this volume).No, I mean that the early volumes were *gonzo* horror, starting with N...
"Bob Howard may be humanity's last hope. Start praying..."Still recovering from the hair-raising events of The Fuller Memorandum, Bob now finds himself on the Fast Stream track for promotion, and his superiors have decided that he needs to attend some Professional Development training with regular civil servants who don't work for the Laundry. Bob of course, doesn't want to go -- he'd rather audit some courses at the Dunwich facility that would improve his prospects for survival for "when the te...
Wow, this has easily been the best of Stross' books about the Laundy so far.Bob is slowly recovering from the events of the previous book when Angleton (our favourite intimidating boss) calls him so send him to some executive training at a business school. *shudders* Talk about unspeakable horrors!He goes, not very enthusiastically of course, and is soon lent to a very secretive part of The Laundry that needs to investigate an American televangelist who has gotten his hooks in the British Prime
Charlie Stross was one of my favorite science fiction authors a while back - Iron Sunrise, the first few books in the Laundry Files universe, and more.I'm not sure if his style is changing or if my preferences are, but recently I've been less and less able to tolerate his writing. It strikes me as smug, self-righteous, and very VERY pleased with itself. The less clever he's actually being, the more self-regard his fiction seems to exude.I'd pre-ordered this book months ago, and it arrived yester...
***2018 Summer of Spies***Anyone who’s been sent on a management training opportunity and gone to it against their better judgement will be able to related to Bob Howard’s predicament in this installment of The Laundry Files. Especially since he’s sent on a mission to America to accompany two “external assets” who don’t really want his “management.” It turns out that’s not really why Bob was sent along—his previous experience and partial transformation into an Eater of Souls turns out to be just...
Oh, sure, I make a lot of noise about not liking series, and then as soon as I see the next book in Charlie Stross' Laundry Files, here I am doing the happy dance as I pick it off the shelf. But... Stross is a very different writer, and this is a very different sort of series.Bob Howard works for the Laundry—the very secret British secret service dedicated to protecting the realm against threats that are more alien than mere foreign agents, using techniques more arcane than playing baccarat or d...
Another of Stross's maths = magic and Cthulhu is just waiting to eat your soul for a light snack before dinner novels in which an out-of-his-depth secret agent tries to save us all from the horrors on the other side of reality. Except that this is book four an playing the whole plucky reluctant hero who normally hides in the office card once again wouldn't really work. So instead Stross and our protagonist admit to reasonable competence as a bunch of cultists attempt to summon Christ to Earth bu...
Yes, um, hi, it’s been three years since I last read and reviewed a Laundry Files novel. It has been a long time since I bought a Charles Stross book. Don’t worry; I bought this book and the next one, so while I won’t be reading it right away, three years will not go by. I have a lot of catching up to do!In The Apocalypse Codex, Bob Howard is back … and has to go to training courses because he is being groomed for middle management. Fortunately for our reader’s brains, we don’t have to sit throu...
Praise the Lord for he has awaken!World: The world building is fantastic. This is one of the best thing in Stross' books his nonchalance in world building. It's a conversation and a remark and not info dumping which I like. The tone of the world is set beautifully by Howard and his point of view, it's great. The pieces of the world we see this time around is fun, it's very contained but a trip to the USA is always fun. That being said there is not enough Americana in it to really set it apart fr...
Yet another book of laundry series series where Bob finds himself in the middle of some major disaster without having all the info. And actually that' what i like about this series. It's good to see that even when all goes to hell Bob keeps an open mind and mostly positive attitude. He is indeed very lucky to get through everything that goes in the book with a, lets say, few scratches. Somehow this books feels like and and of the Laundry series, but for me it'll be a great disappointment if it i...
Re-Read with buddies! 4/27/18A more sober read of this novel has made me realize something: I love this shit. Like, hands-down LOVE it. :)Mahogany Row, the track for upper management, Bob's predilection for honesty and loyalty, even the enormous tongue-in-cheek bashing of American Religious Behavior. It's all fun, funny, and gloriously genre-mashed. I could read this stuff forever.And the way things are going, I might keep re-reading these books for just that reason. I may never get tired of the...
Stross continues to churn out nerd flavored popcorn, but its beginning to taste a bit stale. When a work becomes this long, it either has to grow or become stagnant. So far the work isn’t maturing.On the good side, Stross does for the most part manage to actually give this story an exciting and not anticlimactic ending. And Stross’s RPG sensibilities, and the intersection of information technology, secret services, with Cthulhu Mythos continues to charm on a basic level. I just wish the stories
Good paranormal horror thriller in which Bob, our computational demonologist, heads to America to check out an evangelist who's taken an interest in the British Prime Minister.
Another good Laundry novel, better in some ways than its predecessor, in others a bit flatter. The core drawback is, to write good satire or good horror, you have to write from inside the system. Stross was spot-on with bureaucratic IT departments and the Lovecraft and Bond mythos. Here he takes on American evangelism, and it falls a bit flat: Stross' knowledge isn't nearly as immediate, and at core, he clearly lacks the visceral reaction that makes for first rate comedy or horror: the British-a...
Review and links are permanently at: https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2015/...I’m thinking 2013 was a weak year for the Locus Awards. Don’t get me wrong: I enjoyed he Apocalypse Codex, and there was a lot there that made me smile and snicker. But it didn’t contain the ideas that challenge, or writing that mesmerizes, or even characters that intrigue. It mostly just seems a high-level spoof, full of witticisms and social commentary, oft applied with heavy instrument.I mean, yes, a phrase like: “Fu...
Notes:The POV changes made the story weaker. Bob isn't an active part until the last 1/3 of the story. Story would have been stronger if this had focused on the side characters. Good setup for next sequence of events.