He doesn't stray too far into the horror/torture/gross genre, but keeps it grounded with comedy, current references and the human drivers of love, loss and learning.This book is in two distinct parts - I believe they were originally published separately, but the repetition of setting back story isn't too cumbersome, and it all hangs together well.I'm definitely looking for more of his work.īrilliant take on a lovecraftian universe Charles Stross channels Ben Aaronovitch and Terry Pratchett in his younger period, and achieves somnething that is uniquely his own voice.
Only quibble is Stross's failure to fully characterise the female characters - a not uncommon problem with male authors, and Stross's women tend to fall into stereotypes sex object(albeit with brains), bimbo or ball-breaker. It is very gripping - a dynamic writing style, with real characterisation that grounds the very strange events into our recognisable real world. It has a Fifties, Cold War feel, layered with the twenty-first century's real-world worries. It is a well crafted, intelligent appraisal of how the British Secret Service would deal with the supernatural. The revelation of the relationship between the protagonist's two male room mates. Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you? Which character – as performed by Jack Hawkins – was your favourite? His journey is that of the classic fairy-story hero, and he is likeable! If you could sum up The Atrocity Archives in three words, what would they be? The series massively improves after the second book and I very likely finish it. I am a plot/mystery reader and this was interesting enough to keep me going. I actually actively wished for the main character to not have a chance at a relationship with a woman because he wasn't good enough for her, and I was in *his* POV at the time.
Characters are intensely meh to outright annoying. However the plot is kind of meh, and the author has no skill or understanding in signposting the plot or giving enough information at critical moments, which can make one feel lost and having to rewind once or thrice to the description of the little round yellow things with the bumpy surface, whatever they were?! Because of the lack of plot signposting, the book also feels disjointed and episodic. however my point is that the way the author uses the math to give a hard sci-fi basis to Lovecraftian abominations does indeed make the target audience feel mind boggled, and I loved it. Which isn't a bad reason to pause the book for, but could've been integrated in the writing as an explanation to someone. The worldbuilding is phenomenal but I say this as someone familiar with words like Hamiltonian, NP completeness, and lattice, and even I had to jog my memory on the Church Turing hypothesis.
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