The Atrocity Archives cover art

The Atrocity Archives

Book 1 in The Laundry Files

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The Atrocity Archives

By: Charles Stross
Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
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About this listen

Never volunteer for active duty...

Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob's under a desk restoring lost data. His world was dull and safe; but then he went and got Noticed. Now, Bob is up to his neck in spycraft, alternative universes, dimension-hopping terrorists, monstrous elder gods and the end of the world. Only one thing is certain: it will take more than ‘control+alt+delete’ to sort this mess out...

This is the first novel in The Laundry Files. This audiobook includes the short story The Concrete Jungle.

©2004 Charles Stross. Introduction copyright 2004 by Ken Mcleod (P)2013 Hachette Children's Books Espionage Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Scary Funny Suspense

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Critic reviews

"Tremendously good, geeky fun" ( Telegraph)
'A WEIRDLY ALLURING BLEND OF SUPERSPY THRILLER, DEADPAN COMIC FANTASY AND LOVECRAFTIAN HORROR.' ( Kirkus Reviews)
All stars
Most relevant  

Would you consider the audio edition of The Atrocity Archives to be better than the print version?

Narrator is great. I put him on 1.25x because I like it so but even on standard 1x he's good. Impression of different character voices is done well, no problem with recognising who's speaking at the given moment.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Well, obviously Bob. Mostly because it's easy for me to see myself as him. Pinky and Brain aren't far from that "favorite character" trophy either, especially the Brain. But in Bob I can imagine me, if Cthulhu-like monsters were real.

Which character – as performed by Jack Hawkins – was your favourite?

Moe. I don't know why but it's the best impression of woman voice from a man I ever heard. Easy to recognise properly but without trying too much which often results in stupid sound. Narrator nails it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I'd love to.

Any additional comments?

Are you a nerd? Do you love programming? Played Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG or enjoyed reading Lovecraft's stories? Fun of science? Do you laugh at references to hacker culture and enjoy reading essays such as The Jargon File?

You'll definitely love it.

Must read for nerds.

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Fantastic! Great performance, amazing story. Len Deighton meets HP Lovecraft and a sense of humour.

I always knew maths was slightly evil

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Nearly stopped listening during first act because character Bob did nothing but whine about his poor me life, had a typical tedious relationship problem, moved into turgid touchy feely white knighty romance with boring character and grr, sigh. Then the paranormal squadron of the SAS came into it and things got more fun. I'll read the next one and hopefully the trend will continue.

Started weak, but improved as things got hectic

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If the British civil service ever have to lock horns with Lovecraftian horrors, this is how I imagine it will play out. With interdepartmental back biting and oversight commitees.

The premise of these stories is outrageous. The bureaucracy all too believable.

If you enjoy cold war spy thrillers and/or Cthulu like horror. This is the book for you.

Brilliant!

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Great story and performance. One quibble is the opening bit about Charlie Stross and how great he is, I already bought the book, I did not need it sold to me again.

Great

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I've found the first book in the Laundry series a bit of a struggle to get through, as there is a lot of world-building and some clunkiness of execution. That said, the concept itself is fantastic and beautiful built upon in the subsequent novels. The Atrocity Archives gives a fun, slightly arch introduction to Bob Howard and his various adventures in saving the world from Lovecraftian horrors (in between ISO audits and filling in his Civil Service-approved timesheet). The narration is a little dry at times (and the women's voices are all a little same-y), but Bob himself is beautifully realised. It's helped by the novels being (almost exclusively) in Bob's voice, which does give the impression of this being an after-action report. It's not perfect, but it is a good start to the series and recommended as such.

Great intro to the Laundry series

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I was recommended this series by a friend and it’s not my usual read, but it was funny and exciting to follow Bob in his strange world!
Will definitely be continuing this series!

Can’t wait to read more!!!

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the narration was fine, except for when the reader was trying to do other accents, at which point it was cringe worthy. the story was OK, but tech heavy, particularly in the first half. I enjoyed the second half much more, so I'm hoping that was more of a setting the scene issue, and will try the next one

ok story, some terrible accents

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Having read the Peter Grant series I was looking for something similar and this wasn’t bad. A good story that wasn’t obvious. I enjoyed the sympathetic characters and sarcasm.

However, reader beware. The whole series is not, I repeat, not, available as audiobooks.

Don’t start if you like a complete series

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This was recommended by a friend and the synopsis was intriguing so I took a chance. Very glad I did! I will say that it won’t appeal to everyone but if you like a bit of occult geeky spy stuff then dive in. It has the grimy feel of a Len Deighton with the geeky edge of the IT crowd and a nice knife of horror slipped in there. Sure I felt a twinge if Andy McNab at times too (I like his stuff so not a criticism!).

Recommended!

Most enjoyable

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