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A review by johnayliff
Equoid by Charles Stross
3.0
This was the first 'Laundry' work I'd read, and it holds up well without any prior knowledge of the series. It does seem to require a good knowledge of the genre, though - especially H. P. Lovecraft, but also monster fiction in general. A story for geeks, based on geeky in-jokes, not that there's anything wrong with that. Overall I found it solidly fun but not brilliant or memorable.
There were long sections of what were supposedly extracts from H. P. Lovecraft's letters, written in an imitation of his style. The narrator points out the flaws of Lovecraft's overwritten prose, and in particular how long it can take to get to the point, but that doesn't excuse the letters themselves exhibiting the same flaws and taking just as long to get to the point. I think the Lovecraft connection could perhaps have been dropped, and the monster presented as Lovecraftian without Lovecraft himself being involved.
There were long sections of what were supposedly extracts from H. P. Lovecraft's letters, written in an imitation of his style. The narrator points out the flaws of Lovecraft's overwritten prose, and in particular how long it can take to get to the point, but that doesn't excuse the letters themselves exhibiting the same flaws and taking just as long to get to the point. I think the Lovecraft connection could perhaps have been dropped, and the monster presented as Lovecraftian without Lovecraft himself being involved.