Escape from Yokai Land
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Regular readers of Charles Stross's Laundry Files might have noticed Bob Howard's absence from the events of The Nightmare Stacks, and his subsequent return from Tokyo at the start of The Delirium Brief. Escape from Yokai Land explains what he was doing there. Bob's been assigned to work with the Miyamoto Group, checking the wards that lock down Japan's warded sites—a task previously handled by his predecessor Dr. Angleton, the Eater of Souls. This mostly involves policing yokai: traditional magical beings, increasingly grown more annoying and energetic. But then Bob's simple trip turns into a deadly confrontation with the ultimate yokai. It's massively powerful. It's pink. And it says "Hello." At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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11 primary books17 released books#7.5 in Laundry Files
Laundry Files is a 17-book series with 12 released primary works first released in 2002 with contributions by Charles Stross.
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Escape from Yokai Land (Laundry 7.5) by Charles Stross
Bob is back, and he's sent to Japan to fight Yokai and Gaiju.
This is an enjoyable quick read - slightly longer than a short story - that introduces Laundryphiles to the paranormal world of Japan. The Japanese are worried that an epidemic of Yokai (Japanese monsters) will metastasize into a single big Gaiju disaster. Bob - who is settling into his Eater of Souls role - is sent to handle the problem.
Stross is brilliant in setting his story in the cute/adorable world of Japanese culture, where the Gaiju threat comes from “Hello Kitty” and the color scheme of the Lovecraftian apocalypse is pink and white and powered by the giggles of pre-teen girls.
My complaint is that this seems to be a section of a longer book - Laundry 8, perhaps. It satisfies our Laundry addiction, but leaves us hankering for the next fix.
