The Atrocity Archives

A Laundry Files Novel

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Gideon Emery

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)

Do you love the Dresden Files? You'll like this.

Overall this is an easy listen with a great reader/author combination. The second story drags at points (hence the star taken away from story and overall) but the first story carries it magnificently. Highly recommended if you liked the Dresden Files.

In Depth:

The author is a fan of the Dresden Files, and it shows in his writing. He translates the same quick wit, heavy action, and light mystery of the Dresden Files across the Atlantic to a tech geek in England. The magic has a comp sci/math twist that adds a whole new level of geekiness. Gideon Emery's amazing performance rivals James Marsters' performance of the Dresden Files. Get it and thank me later.

Let Down

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

For me it was not well spent. I found the book disjointed and dull. I was really looking forward to listening to this one but there were to many problems with this title.

great story + brilliant narration

Would you listen to The Atrocity Archives again? Why?

Most definitely. The story itself has a lot of small and fascinating details which are a pleasure to find when you re-read or re-listen. Stross is a great author if you like sf with overtones of very modern urban fantasy, sly humor, equally sly horror and characters acting and speaking like live real people (swearing included, warning).
Plus an extremely good narration by Gideon Emery which adds a totally new layer of enjoyment to the book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Charles Stross himself. It's one of those books when you keep hearing author's voice all the time and you quite like what you hear and would love to meet this person and just listen to them talk.

Which scene was your favorite?

The Newton craddle on Angleton's desk.

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

Mostly laugh -quite often.

Any additional comments?

Gideon Emery does a fantastic job with wonderful voice, perfect timing, great accents and nuances - but thankfully without going all theatrical or over the top. Most definitely added to my so far short list of brilliant narrators.

intelligent & fun

I found the writing a bit tech. heavy at times, but it was nonetheless an enjoyable listen. The performance was top notch. I will definitely continue the series.

Outstanding story and an outstanding performance

Did you ever have a book that a friend had been recommending for years that you should read? And when you finally did, how often were you disappointed? Not so with this book. I've had a good friend telling me for at least five or six years that I should read it, but somehow I just never did. Finally, I broke down and got a copy, in both ebook and audiobook form. Wow!

Okay, first let's talk about the story. This book was written by a hard-core geek for other hard-core geeks. If you don't know who Turing was, or what fractals are, or any of a dozen other geeky things, you probably won't enjoy this book. If you're not a fan of British humour, with which this book is filled, you won't enjoy it. For the rest of you, come on in, the water's fine.

This book is a great mixture of geekery, Lovecraftian horror, and bureaucracy. Our hero hast to save the world from nameless horrors, but is required to fill out forms justifying his overtime claims. He is a desk jockey at the ultimate secret service, who longs to get out in the field. Unfortunately for him, he gets his wish. Hilarity ensues.

Now as to the reader: He is absolutely top-notch. I didn't come in to this series with any expectation of what the characters sounded like, but now I know exactly what they sound like. Gideon Emery does an outstanding job of vocal characterisation, I know who is speaking, just based on what they sound like. That really improves the quality of a listen. In addition, Mr. Emery clearly has a touch of the geek about himself, as he gets the pronunciation spot on for all the technical terms. That is critical to me, as nothing yanks me out the flow of a good listen faster than a reader who mispronounces words. One or two in the course of a read is acceptable, but dozens ruins it for me. This reader never missed even one, as far as I could tell. So instead, I stayed in the flow the whole time, and the book just blazed past. I have already begun buying the rest of the series, so I can listen all the way to the end. Definitely recommended.

To sum up, if you are a geek, or if you have ever worked for a really large and bureaucratic organisation, you will definitely get the jokes. And the horror, while horrific, is handling with skill, such that I wasn't unable to sleep at night after reading (well, hearing) this book. Urban fantasy fans, don't hesitate to add this to your rota of books to read. I hope you will love it as much as I did. Charles Stross definitely goes on my list of writers I'll be watching, and knowing an audiobook was read by Gideon Emery will be recommendation enough for me.

Good story well done

Already said well done the dele very service is very well done I mean I purchased book and I had it in probably less than five minutes well D one boy and girls keep up the good work. Guess that's. About twenty words thanks Jamie Las Vegas

Loved the story

I love the idea of the story. However, the technical explanations run a bit long. It’s still a darn good read though.

What did I just "read", and why did I love it??

I picked this up on recommendation from a friend, who did not properly prepare me for the madness I was about experience. This book is funny-- I laughed a lot-- but this is not a humor book. This is contemporary fantasy and the primary reason it's funny is because the protagonist is a snarky bastard, and there's just enough silliness to keep things fun for the reader despite the fact that the characters are in a horror novel.

Imagine an IT guy who finds himself in the James Bond role-- except his agency is on a tight budget, and he has to deal with terrors that Bond never had to face. Monsters. Demons. Occult Nazi Plots Gone Horribly Wrong. And worst of all? Office Politics. Tropes are inverted, subverted, violated, terminated, reanimated, and then put to work filing form 6-ZZ-A-9/GL.

The author does an excellent job of building the world very quickly without getting bogged down in the origin story that often slows down the first entry in a series. That origin story is there, don't get me wrong, but it's handled so expertly that by halfway through the book I sort of felt like I was reading the second book in a franchise where I already knew the universe and was thoroughly invested in the characters. I'm also impressed with the way that the author can simultaneously paint in broad strokes and fine detail, sometimes at the same time.

Between the excellent reader and the well-crafted story, this turned out to be surprisingly immersive.

One thing-- this book is actually a novel AND a novella, so "The Atrocity Archives" wraps up much earlier than expected if you're watching the time on the book. All of the above commentary applies to both.

Interesting ideas with some annoyances

This book is the first in the Hugo-nominated series about a cross between entrenched bureaucracy and transdimensional horrors menacing our universe. I am an an unusual situation because my background made the stretches of technical jargon not too difficult to comprehend, dealing with computer science and cosmological ideas I had some familiarity with. It seemed as though the author had done a good deal of research on these and on how they might be applied to the occult in a way that was at least somewhat plausible. It's easy to understand the negative reaction some readers might have to the dry recitation of made-up scientific facts, though. It felt a little like he wrote these sections in love with some of the exercise in worldbuilding. Still, the description of the big gun employed at the climax at the first story was truly ingenious, its principle also forming the basis of the second part "The Concrete Jungle" included with the main audiobook. I would expect that because this was the first book in the series, it might have had a heavier burden sustaining all this exposition than the other installments, which I have not read.

The book also establishes the first-person narrator and his situation as a rather unwilling participant in the business of monster hunting and fighting. He was the sort of self-absorbed technocrat with a chip on his shoulder when it comes to the strict functionaries he has to report to, all in a rather unpleasant, misogynistic fashion. I can't say that the run-ins he has at work in the Laundry are exactly enjoyable compared to his exploits in the field which feature all the action you would expect to find in a book with this premise. There is a nagging sense that the the antagonists are just set up as comic foils instead of real characters, most noticeable with the few women depicted. Everyone else is a British male and it felt like a better job of balancing the representation could have helped.

I would probably consider picking up another book in the series at some point if I had reason to believe that it was going to try to make some advances beyond this first installment. There were a couple of grand ideas that I liked which mainly served as ornamentation here which I would like to see treated in a fuller way.

More than I was expecting!

If you could sum up The Atrocity Archives in three words, what would they be?

Nerdy Lovecraftian Action

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Atrocity Archives?

To avoid spoiling: There is a point where things get very grim for the first time, it's a great moment and unexpected in the sudden intensity.

Have you listened to any of Gideon Emery’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was the first I have heard but he did a very good job.

Any additional comments?

I have been told for years that I have to read these books. I have never quite found the time for one reason or other so the audio book was perfect. A well read and well told story, I will be listening to the rest and likely will add the books to my bookshelf as well.