The Labyrinth Index

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Bianca Amato

The ninth case in Stross' Hugo-winning Laundry Files, described by Kirkus as "[A] weirdly alluring blend of super-spy thriller, deadpan comic fantasy, and Lovecraftian horror".

The Lovecraftian Singularity has descended on the world, beginning an exciting new story arc in the Laundry Files series!

The arrival of vast, alien, inhuman intelligences reshaped the landscape for human affairs across the world, and the United Kingdom is no exception. Things have changed in Britain since the dread elder god Nyarlathotep ascended to the rank of prime minister. Mhari Murphy, recently elevated to the House of Lords and head of the Lords Select Committee on Sanguinary Affairs (think vampires), finds herself in direct consultation with the Creeping Chaos, who directs her to lead a team of disgraced Laundry personnel into the dark heart of America. It seems the Creeping Chaos is concerned about foreign relations.

A thousand-mile-wide storm system has blanketed the Midwest, and the president is nowhere to be found. In fact, for reasons unknown, the people of America are forgetting the executive branch ever existed. The government has been infiltrated by the shadowy Black Chamber, and the Pentagon and NASA have been refocused on the problem of summoning Cthulhu. Somewhere, the Secret Service battles to stay awake, to remind the president who he is, and to stay one step ahead of the vampiric dragnet searching for him.

©2018 Charles Stross (P)2018 Recorded Books

Still a better love story than Twilight

This series is a freight train on a downhill slope with no brakes. Mary Murphy is back with her new boy toy, and this time she's taking Manhattan. What about Bob? Alex? Mo? Just have to read to get updates on them.

Godzilla vs. Mothra

As a huge fan of the Laundry books, I found the novel welcome and entertaining. The audio book didn't quite work for me, however, and I've been trying to work out why.

One reason is perhaps that the non-Bob books in the series don't seem to be quite as much fun. He's the perfect viewpoint character for the Laundry universe, wry, technically competent, bemused, and often completely out of his depth. He'll explain things to you because he can, and because, being Bob, he can't keep his mouth shut. Sometimes you admire him, and sometimes you cringe at his choices. He's askew in just the right way for this environment. It's the role Arthur Darvill was born to play, though Martin Freeman wouldn't be a terrible choice..

Cassie and Alex worked, too, in The Nightmare Stacks. Somehow, though, Mhari and Mo seem a little too straight for this. That isn't to say that they're not perfectly good characters, or that all of the books need to have the same tone, but you don't get the kind of counterpoint that you got with Bob, or the same sense of absurdity and sardonic humor. It doesn't spark the same way. Since both Mhari and Mo are both pretty PTSD, it wouldn't.

And I miss Gideon Emery, who is just very solid. He's got more of a golden voice than Bob would, but that's hardly a bad thing. He sounds fine when he gets to the technical bits, and his style is so transparent the words seem to pour directly into your head, with nothing between you and the story. He's actually good at reading female characters. And most of all, he seems to be enjoying himself reading the book. As George C. Scott said, you can spot the really good actors because they're having fun.

Bianca Amato does a fine job with this. It isn't the way I'd pictured Mhari's voice prior to this book, but it is Mhari as Stross describes her here. Mhari's language is the kind of mixture you'd expect from someone with a relatively privileged background who found herself working in a technical field. At times she sounds Bob-like, and has a habit of saying "And don't get me started on ..." when she gets on a technical subject. And she's amazingly good at reading lines like "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

It isn't a perfect performance. She mispronounces a number of words. Sometimes it's okay; misplacing the accent on "Medici" is perfectly justifiable as something Mhari might do. Mispronouncing "von Neumann" isn't, though. I've never encountered anyone who used his name who didn't get it basically right -- it's one of those pieces of information that has somehow gotten passed down among scientists, while physicists, in contrast, seem to be confused about how to say "de Broglie." Possibly it's because his name occurs in so many terms -- von Neumann machines, von Neumann entropy, and so on.

There is a part that sounds odd, where a PowerPoint presentation speaks of sacrificing 109 people, which is said to be beyond genocide. The actual figure is 10 to the 9th power, that is, a billion. This is probably not Amato's fault, since early galleys of the book contained a formatting error..

Amato's American accents are a mixed bag. You can tell that she's actually listened to how Americans speak, which is not true of all British voice actors, though her range is a bit limited. She's sort of okay with female Americans and kind of awful with male Americans, though she's not bad with British males. But that's better odds than many voice actors give you.

Overall, the book doesn't seem to work quite as well as an audio book. I'd often listen to passages several times over and finally give up and look up the text later on, since there were details that I knew I wasn't catching. Actually, the book seemed oddly hard to hear; listening to it in a car, I kept on turning it up, until it finally got to the point where the treble was hurting my ears. Possibly a technical issue.

In any case, the Laundry books are full of sharp ideas and clever world building, and this book is no exception. (So Cthulhu wants to transition the false vacuum to a lower state? Yeah, he would, wouldn't he?) If you like the Laundry series, the book is highly recommended.

Great story but I miss Bob

Charles Stross weaves an entertaining tale with unexpected twists based with formerly minor characters in the staring roles, and pulls it of well, but I still miss Bob :)

best laundry files book yet.

I've grown attached to and missed Gideon emery's performance somewhat, but Bianca Amato did a fantastic job. This is my favorite laundry files book so far.

Fun story, great narration

Excellent performance! Made the book that much more enjoyable. Thank you for the story and the excellent reading.

Changed my mind

This book really put Mauri into perspective. I was kinda iffy on her before this book. Felt the same after the first few chapters but I have more respect and admiration for her now.

Good narration

I found it quite enjoyable. The first story from Mhari's perspective. The only minor annoyance was the narrator read the 10^9 sacrifices to wake Cthulhu as "one hundred and nine" and not the "one billion" it deserved.

Another Laundry Novel

the Labyrinth Index was an interesting tale of international occult intrigue and plans within plans. Excellent reader.

A new voice has entered the story and it is fresh

The new cast brings a new perspective to the story and it of fun, during and refreshing. In a way it starts an entirely new chapter in the world without negative the story that has come before. A fun read and a promise of much more to come.

Great entertainment — funny and thoughtful

I'm glad the reader has a British accent. My only criticism is her limited range of American accents — we've got slightly British southerner, slightly British midwesterner, and slightly British dork. But no matter. Stross keeps getting better with his Laundry series. I think he writes traumatized characters very well — he's sympathetic and humane. Plus, he's a former computer programmer. The best.