The Annihilation Score
A Laundry Files Novel
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4.3 • 103 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross presents the next case in The Laundry Files, “a weirdly alluring blend of super-spy thriller, deadpan comic fantasy, and Lovecraftian horror” (Kirkus Reviews).
Dominique O’Brien—her friends call her Mo—lives a curious double life with her husband, Bob Howard. To the average civilian, they’re boring middle-aged civil servants. But within the labyrinthian secret circles of Her Majesty’s government, they’re operatives working for the nation’s occult security service known as the Laundry, charged with defending Britain against dark supernatural forces threatening humanity.
Mo’s latest assignment is assisting the police in containing an unusual outbreak: ordinary citizens suddenly imbued with extraordinary abilities of the super-powered kind. Unfortunately these people prefer playing super-pranks instead of super-heroics. The Mayor of London being levitated by a dumpy man in Trafalgar Square would normally be a source of shared amusement for Mo and Bob, but they’re currently separated because something’s come between them—something evil.
An antique violin, an Erich Zann original, made of human white bone, was designed to produce music capable of slaughtering demons. Mo is the custodian of this unholy instrument. It invades her dreams and yearns for the blood of her colleagues—and her husband. And despite Mo’s proficiency as a world class violinist, it cannot be controlled…
Customer Reviews
Mo Takes the Lead in the 6th Laundry Files Novel
“The Annihilation Score” is the sixth full novel in the Laundry Files Series. In these books, Charles Stross takes us into the world of the UK’s secret government agency which protects its citizens from supernatural horrors from the darker parts of the multiverse.
The protagonist of this novel is Mo, that’s short for Dominique O’Brien. She’s the wife of Bob Howard, who has been the protagonist of the previous novels in the Laundry Files Series. Mo is a musician, PhD, and also a Laundry Agent. Her marriage with Bob has become strained recently because of several issues. One of these is her occult violin made of human bone which is an entity that she is having more and more difficulty controlling. While he is away dealing with issues related to his recent and unexpected promotion, Mo is chosen to lead a special outside work-group dealing with increasing instances of trans-humanism.
The story of the Laundry and its staff are rife with dry dark humor that is characteristic of this series. It’s interesting to see a novel written from a different viewpoint than Bob. We get to see Mo grow as a character, but there is generally a terrible price to be paid as people in the Laundry become more powerful and proficient! In spite of all the Lovecraftian darkness, we get to see Mo and her team do the best they can to keep the monsters and villains at bay, while simultaneously dealing with rules, regulations, and red-tape found in any bureaucratic organization.
Superheroes? Yawn..
What a disappointment. It would be easy to blame Mo but, if I'm honest, the plot is just flat out boring. I struggled to finish the book which is, easily, the worst of the series so far.
Outstanding
Charlie Stross does it again, and finally from Mo's point of view! The laundry files are the best series going in modern science/fantasy fiction, and each book makes coders try just a little harder to set up those summoning grids...