The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross – a review
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross is the first book in the Laundry Files and is well worth a read. I have read quite a few of Stross’s books and he always has great ideas. Singularity Sky has one of the best openings ever. Halting State was similarly unique in both concept and the way it is told (you can read my review here).
I have had The Atrocity Archives on my kindle for ages and for some reason have only just gotten round to it. My reading tends to be based on my mood when I finish a book and for some reason, I have been reading a lot of urban fantasy type novels recently. This book reminded me most of Oddjobs by Heide Goody & Iain Grant (my review) with a dash of the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch.
Spoiler free synopsis
The story follows Bob Howard as he becomes a field agent for the Laundry – a secretive government department that deals with the occult. Think Lovecraftian or Hellboy type of interdimensional tentacled mind-controlling occult beasties, with an elite team capable of shooting them in the face.
The Atrocity Archives is actually two stories which caught me out a bit. The first longer one built to scenes of immense excitement yet I found I was only two-thirds in. It seemed ludicrously exciting for 60% in and then it ended. Which was fine but I find big finales more exciting and satisfying when I know that is what I am reading. No one’s fault but I thought you might want to know.
The first story is still a satisfying book-length and it deals with inter-dimensional shenanigans, evil entities and psychotic Nazis. It’s a lot of fun and you get to know the protagonist well. Bob Howard is new to field-work but seems ridiculously smart and knows an absolute ton about the occult. In some ways it does feel a tad accelerated as to how much he knows but it still kind of works as he is already an employee of the Laundry. I won’t give two much away but it involves terrorists and a parallel universe that is very well thought out and really cool. I wish I could do spoilers.
The second story is set a few months later and deals with a kind of gorgon scenario. Again I can’t really go into too much deal but it’s fun. It isn’t as good as the first story but the first story actually features the Atrocity Archives, so that is clearly the main focus.
You can read a bit more about the series and ideas at the Wikipedia page.
Review
I really enjoyed this and immediately bought Jennifer Morgue, book two of the Laundry Files. So that should tell you all you need to know about whether I enjoyed the Atrocity Archives or not. If you haven’t guessed, I really enjoyed it.
There are a couple of negative points which I will deal with first.
There is a lot of jargon and info-dumping. This was actually fine with me because I love tech and cultural references but if you aren’t something of a nerd, you might occasionally find things a bit hard going or difficult to follow. It is rare though and generally speaking, the nerd-speak doesn’t affect much or spoil story enjoyment.
This is the first book in a very popular series that at time of writing consists of 11 books. There is a slight sense of Stross trying to find the right tone and balance between horror, action and humour. Generally speaking, I think he does it well but I felt a slight difference between the first and second stories.
That’s all the negatives, now for the positives.
The Atrocity Archives is fun as fuck. I really enjoyed it. The main character, Bob Howard, is very relatable and believable. The occult stuff is mixed with science and maths to make it more believable – which is obviously very subjective. The action is great and the parallel universe section is awesome.
The book doesn’t take itself too seriously but it deals with some large concepts. It seems like an idea that Stross was trying out and, given the length of the series, it clearly worked. Like a lot of pilot episodes, there is the impression that this is something great that will only get better.
As I said, I bought the next book in the series immediately after finishing The Atrocity Archives. Jennifer Morgue is weirdly the book that I had heard of first and it was only once I had gone to buy it that I saw it was the second book in the series.
Conclusion
The humour is good, characters great, stories superb. The jargon can occasionally get a bit dense but it isn’t really an issue. I don’t know if it is a coincidence but if not, calling the main character Bob Howard is a nice touch. In case you don’t know what I am talking about, Robert E Howard wrote the Conan books (among others). Not only did Conan frequently battle beasties from other dimensions but Howard was also mates with HP Lovecraft.
That aside, I loved the Atrocity Archives and look forward to reading Jennifer Morgue.