A Conventional Boy

I've enjoyed the Laundry Files less and less with each new book. Somewhere along the line these stories have changed from original inventive pulp romps to a tired cynical sneer at...well, pretty much everything. God knows there is a place for that in this society, but it's just so wearying to read several hundred pages relentlessly discoursing on why everything is shit. This seemed to reach a peak with the New Management books, which were so biliously misanthropic I almost tapped out. Fortunately this one sees Stross trying to engage with the light-hearted side of the series some more. It's not perfect (parts of it smack far too much of nerd wish fulfilment for one thing), but it's given me hope that the series can turn a corner and that maybe there is some actual fun on the horizon.