The Atrocity Archives

A Laundry Files Novel

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Gideon Emery

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Bob Howard is a computer-hacker desk jockey, who has more than enough trouble keeping up with the endless paperwork he has to do on a daily basis. He should never be called on to do anything remotely heroic. But for some reason, he is.

©2004 Charles Stross (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"In Atrocity, Bob, a low-level computer fix-it guy for the Laundry, a supersecret British agency that defends the world from occult happenings, finds himself promoted to fieldwork after he bravely saves the day during a routine demonstration gone awry. With his Palm, aka his Hand of Glory (a severed hand that, when ignited, renders the holder invisible), and his smarts, he saves the world from a powerful external force seeking to enter our universe to suck it dry....With often hilarious results, the author mixes the occult and the mundane, the truly weird and the petty." ( Publishers Weekly)

Harry Dresden + British humor = Okay

Not, bad, but spends a fair amount of time trying to sound clever, which just doesn't work when someone is forced to read pithy internal monologues out loud.

I didn't realize this volume was essentially two short stories, so don't expect great depth.

lots of fun

enjoyed it. if you like 'hitchikers guide to the galaxy' or similiar, you'll enjoy this.

Excellent

Amazing, funny, absurd sci-fi. Great for anyone who appreciates the humorous semi-horror of the Jason Pargin series.

Be warned…

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. BUT, unless you have dual doctorates in computer science and advanced physics, it’s extremely difficult to understand. There’s a TON of jargon, about a million acronyms, and advanced physics theory’s. I have studied both computer science and physics (only at a bachelors level), and I barely understood half of the book.

leaps of faith but overall entertaining

it was a pretty good story. my understanding of physics helped but hubby was "meh" with it overall.

Guess it's not my kind of humor

I really should like this book more than I do, but I don't find it as funny as I think it's trying to be.

The first 1/2 of it was so slow that I wanted to put it down - several times - but kept telling myself that it would get better; it HAD to get better because there are so many good reviews of this book. That, and I had already paid good money for it and, by golly, I'm going to finish reading it.

But, man, it was hard. I liked the concept behind it - using mathematics as the underpinning/justification for "magic" is very original. And the theory behind it was so nicely explained (albeit in terms I didn't understand) that it had the feel that it could really be possible to use math (a.k.a magic) to open portals to other dimensions. This is the component of the story that I liked.

What I didn't like was all the... silliness... regarding his "real" job as a public servant, living with Pinkie and the Brain, and etc. I guess, looking back, it was the "humorous" parts of the book that I didn't like. Not my kind of humor - too slap-stick and not nearly dark and witty enough for me. The parts I did like were the sci-fi parts - where they make an excursion to an alternate dimension, the explanation of fictional scientific theories, etc.

I will probably read more books in the laundry series, but they're not a priority. The narration was good.

Ok. If you are very tech savy

This book is a great concept. Basically, about an IT guy who becomes an agent within a paranormal government agency. The concept of how the world and magic works is very unique and cool. The problem is that it is so tech jargon heavy that it makes it hard to enjoy the book. If you are not really up on IT and physics your going to get to hear long strings on nonsense terminology and miss a lot of jokes. This was compared to Dresden in a few reviews, but I didn't see it.

The narration is fair, but nothing to write home about. He had a pleasant voice but most all the characters sound the same. It's a fair book but probably too focused on IT for the casual reader. It isn't bad, but there are a lot better books you should read first.

Disappointed

I was more than a little disappointed with this book as I was hoping to find another series as gripping, amusing and imaginative as The Dresden Files or even as funny and exciting as The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley (by far the most original and entertaining book I have listen to this year). Sadly, it read like a wet Sunday with just the same amount of tension and excitement. Gideon Emery, the narrator, was certainly competent, but was not able to inject any air of mystery or suspense into this less than thrilling piece of writing. I would have hoped, with a title like 'The Atrocity Archives' to have had a much darker and emotionally charged story - silly me! The only upside to this story, for me, was the mildly satirical dig on British bureaucracy, that aspect of my country of origin that reinforces my relief at not living there anymore. I guess I won't be buying the rest of the series.

A witty, exciting romp of a story

Where does The Atrocity Archives rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the fiction category its fairly up there. It's up there with the Dresden Files.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bob of course. He's the nerd heroe all of us nerds want to be.

What about Gideon Emery’s performance did you like?

Emery's preformance was exellence. He has a nice range of voices and accents that make listening a delight.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were quite a few moments that I was chuckling. It's chocked full of little bits of nerd humor.

If Stephen Hawking was a Ghostbuster...

Was The Atrocity Archives worth the listening time?

Contrary to many other reviews, I just found this novel largely uninspired (despite the potentially interesting cocktail of styles). It's part spy-novel, part occult/magic powers, part math techno-geek. the 2nd quality means that any time that part 1 gets you into a sticky situation, you can invent some (mathematically justified) magical way out. oh, and of course, there are Nazis. unless i get really desperate, I'm not even going to pursue the other books in the series (and that is saying something).