Dead Lies Dreaming

Dead Lies Dreaming, © 2020 by Charles Stross, ISBN 978-1-250-26702-1, A Tordotcom Book. Published by Tom Doherty Associates.

This book claims to be in The Laundry Files universe. In the past, that’s meant a humorous mix of spy story, sci fi, philosophy of mathematics, and what if HP Lovecraft was telling the truth? This book is almost entirely a fantasy, with only a wink and a nod to previous “Laundry” books. I think I’ve managed to miss a few of the latest “Laundry” books, The Labyrinth Index in particular, so there’s a few mystifying references, but apparently nothing absolutely important to the story.

Stross is a good writer, with lots of ideas, so Dead Lies Dreaming is hard to fault as a fantasy story. Good characters, consistent magic, eldritch horrors hinted at more than described, it’s all there. This is a good book, I just enjoyed the previous “Laundry” books more. I miss Bob and Mo, British office humor, and shoutouts to non-euclidean horrors.

I had to skip past about 20 pages of Dead Lies Dreaming towards the end of the book to be able to finish it. I just couldn’t handle the denouement in “Neverland”. Apparently, Dead Lies Dreaming is the first book in a “Tales of the New Management” series. I think I won’t read any other tales.