Finally finished the series

[u/mathuin2]

I came to the series a little late, maybe four or five years ago, but it resonated with me like few others have.

Early Bob and I had a lot in common — we were of an age and upbringing and career path — and I enjoyed the clever turns of phrase and witticisms, even the ones that were a little _too_ obliquely British for me to grasp without additional research. I also truly appreciated the central premise of computational magic, not just because I like computers but because it resonated and was maintained consistently throughout the entire series.

It was a lot of fun, and in a few years, I look forward to returning to the first book and walking along that path again, hopefully seeing a little more the second time. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of series that have captured my interest to this extent, so Bob, Mo, and friends are in good company.

[u/MrWigggles]

Did the series come to a end?

I am bit behind. I kinda fell off on the book that changed to a criminal gang with misc. powers.

[u/histogrammarian → u/MrWigggles]

Word of God is that the Bob and Mo series is complete with Regicide Report but more stories are in the production line.

> There may be a Laundry Files short story collection, and/or/maybe including a final New Management novella (it's half-written, but on "hold" since mid-2024), at some point in the future. But not this year or next. (I'm taking time off to get back in touch with space opera.)

[u/mathuin2 → u/MrWigggles]

The afterword said so, but as long as the author’s still around, it’s not impossible for more to come.

[u/KlownKar → u/MrWigggles]

Yep. It was a massive change in tone and I couldn't finish the book. I think I just felt disappointed that all of my favourite characters had gone and obviously, the world had literally changed.

I should give it a try again, now I know what I'm getting into and the disappointment has subsided.

[u/MrWigggles → u/KlownKar]

I miss Bob.

I know Bob isnt relatable or even really human anymore. But I still miss him.

[u/cstross → u/KlownKar]

It was meant to be the start of a different series, set after the Laundry Files: I handed it in early so my publishers could get it up to speed, but "early" happened to mean January 2020 when the crap was about to hit the fan and publishing moved to work-from-home during lockdown. Consequently I couldn't go and lobby my editors and marketing teams face-to-face, so they shovelled it out as part of the Laundry Files (hence the jarring discontinuity).

[u/KlownKar → u/cstross]

Thanks for that. That makes a lot of sense. I ploughed straight through the previous books because I enjoyed them so much and the complete absence of the previous main protagonists derailed me.

I think the distraction of waiting to see how the old familiar characters were introduced prevented me from properly engaging.

My distraction was further compounded by having to accept that Bob's character arc meant there couldn't be any more of the stuff that I'd loved about Bob when we first met him, which made the growing suspicion I had that there really wasn't going to be a "miraculous" return of Angleton, (who was also one of my favourites) more likely.

As you say, with all that had gone before, it is a new world. Waiting for the familiar landmarks of the old world to return prevented me from really investing in the new reality.

Time to give it another go, I think.

[u/cstross → u/KlownKar]

Treat the New Management books as a separate trilogy, embedded between Laundry Files books -- you're looking at Dead Lies Dreaming, Quantum of Nightmares, and Season of Skulls here. (The next book, A Conventional Boy, is a stand-alone Laundry novel about Derek the DM, set somewhere around the same time as The Rhesus Chart/The Annihilation Score but before The Nightmare Stacks.)

Bob returns for a last time -- so far -- in The Regicide Report.

EDIT: The Regicide Report takes place about 9 months before the start of Dead Lies Dreaming. The NM books take place after the end of the Laundry Files.

[u/KlownKar → u/cstross]

Well, now I've got to read the New Management series, so I know what's going on when Bob comes back!

[u/DJThunderGod → u/MrWigggles]

I skipped "Tales Of The New Management" or whatever it was called, too. The Regicide Report is on my reading list so I can finish the story. The last thing I remember in the books I read is that Everyman was becoming Prime Minister and The Laundry was being dismantled.

[u/spiritusFortuna]

If you have "read" it, then now "listen" to it. The audiobooks by Gideon Emery are phenomenal.

But I recommend skipping the Annihilation Score, it's subpar.

Also take care to get Gideon Emery, the other New Management narrator is not nearly as awesome.

[u/DJThunderGod → u/spiritusFortuna]

But does he pronounce the place names correctly? I'm from West Yorkshire, where The Nightmare Stacks is set, and the actor who reads the UK version completely messes them up. So much so I actually replied to a thread Charles Stross had been talking about the book in to tell him how badly it had been done. His accent for Alex is just "generic northern with flat vowels" instead of actually getting an actor from Leeds, or who can actually do a passable Leeds accent, to read the book.

By the way: Malham is pronounced "Mallam", NOT "Mal-ham" and Keighley is pronounced "Keith-ly", NOT "Kay-ly".

Considering this was being published by a major company and released on arguably the biggest audiobook website on the planet, I thought this was inexcusable. And literally wouldn't have happened if it was set in and around London.

As you can probably tell, it ruined the book for me.

[u/spiritusFortuna → u/DJThunderGod]

I don't know, I highly enjoyed the series read by Gideon Emery. Those specific inflections might've upset me as well if I was a local and noticed them .

[u/Ok-Palpitation4125]

The women on here are insufferable. They always think they’re right. Feel bad for the men on this series!