This was my favorite story of the Laundry Files, with my least favorite execution. While the Laundry Files are presumably a larger memoir, the narrative structure felt really goony, and seemed to detract from the adventure. Which was awesome. An evangelist preacher is using a modified version of the bible to bring back Jesus Christ, by forcing followers to swallow mouth centipedes that control their minds and enable them to awaken the Sleeper Under The Pyramid.
Lies and The Lying Liars Who Lie Them
Goodkind opens his book with a quote from prophecy which essentially whines, “Haters gonna hate hate hate.” You’re goddamn tooting I’m gonna hate, you hack from Hackistan. With a shitty poorly assembled downer ending setting up that penultimate (maybe?) book, I was more outraged by that fact that Goodkind essentially ret-conned his entire goddamn narrative to suit his mad needs. He’s like fucking George Lucas cutting out the real Darth Vader and digitally inserting Hayden Christiansen. BOOOOOOOOO.
Sex and Violins
Stross sets up a nice, almost Third Man-style spy story for us with his Elder Gods battling Laundry Files series. This one delves deeper into the relationship between Bob and his now wife Mo as they cope with being two spies in love. What’s nice about this series is, even when it goes totally off the rails — mystic death violins and a huge zombie horde — it’s ground in Stross’s quality writing.
Because really, some people just deserve to be eaten by zombies
This delightful little book from Slave Labor Graphics, under the aegis of the mysterious Data Analysis Keep, features 17-year-old Agnes Quill, a detective for the supernatural world. When she was 7, both of her parents succumbed to an outbreak of influenza. At their funeral, the spirit of her grandfather appeared to her and told her of her legacy: she has the ability to see and communicate with spirits. Oh, and that she inherited a castle in the heart of the Victorian city known as Legerdemain. […]