Season of Skulls

Laundry Files #12

by Charles Stross

Season of Skulls continues Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross's Lovecraftian Laundry Files series.

Welcome to the sunlit uplands of the 21st century! Britain's avuncular Prime Minister is an ancient eldritch god of unimaginable power. Crime is plummeting as almost every offense is punishable by death. And everywhere you look, there are people with strange powers, some of which they can control, and some, not so much.

Hyperorganized and formidable, Eve Starkey defeated her boss, the louche magical adept and billionaire Rupert de Montfort Bigge, in a supernatural duel to the death. At least, she has reason to hope he's dead. But though she's now in charge of the Bigge Corporation, she's not free of him yet. Through the fecklessness of her brother Imp, combined with the intricate feudal law of a tiny Channel Island, it would appear that unbeknownst to her, she was married to Bigge--and that proving his death and releasing herself from his arcane bindings will take years and cost millions.

Then an emissary of the Prime Minister arrives with an offer that she absolutely can't...well, you know.

This is the final novel in the trilogy that began with Dead Lies Dreaming and continued with Quantum of Nightmares.

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Lovecraftian, Audiobook

384 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2023

About the author

Charles David George "Charlie" Stross is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His works range from science fiction and Lovecraftian horror to fantasy.

Stross is sometimes regarded as being part of a new generation of British science fiction writers who specialise in hard science fiction and space opera. His contemporaries include Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Liz Williams and Richard Morgan.

SF Encyclopedia: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_...

Tor: http://us.macmillan.com/author/charle...

Reviews

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

If it rains, it pours. Out of buckets. That refill themselves in perpetuity.

Eve really though she was rid of her "husband" after he was sent into the dreamways and locked up firmly in there. I mean, she had the head to prove it, right?! Well, the Prime Minsiter, aka Black Pharaoh, while accepting her tribute at a rather frightening ball/ dinner party / reception hinted at it being the head out of the wrong fucking timline! Can you believe it?! I guess we shouldn't be surprised that after all the coputational spells, all the magic pouring back into our reality, timey-wimey stuff is real too. Nevertheless, that hit like a suckerpunch!
Who would have thought that the PM wasn't actually the biggest problem?
But juuust in case Eve hadn't been ... erm ... motivated enough by his wishes, there was this teeny-tiny bit of ... erm ... extra motivation.
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Well, truth be told, it was kinda nice to see that the nice ending with the bow on top (last book) wasn't actually the ending for this inter-series trilogy. Seeing Eve confronting her demons was very nice. I like her spunk after all.

What I probably enjoyed the most was that we found out about the beginning of The Laundry (which started this whole universe after all) and the fact that we had not one, not two, but THREE characters from that original series show up here. *whoops*

Moreover, I was quite surprised that the author decided to introduce his twisty version of the gothic romance genre in this novel. It might never have been my favorite (nor will it be) but it kinda fit with the Peter Pan ish feel of the first volume in this spin-off so that was rather cool.

All in all, quite a nice way to end the New Management spin-off (at least for now) and to see an author capable of turning the most ridiulous and flabberghasting aspects of human idiocy (aka bureaucracy and other naties) into something creative and entertaining (though I still sorely miss the original Laundry Files).

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The next instalment in the Laundry Files The New Management blasts onto the pages, with typical swagger, humour and many cross-pathed story lines, that left me wondering as always how they would come together. I am continually amazed and impressed, and always entertained, by Charles Stross’ books. And he has once more produced a totally compelling read. Fantasy mayhem at its best. (No spoilers.) But!!!! Eve has somehow got herself in a merry little pickle between the New Management PM and Rupert de Montforte Bigge. Can she get herself out of the frying pan without jumping into a much bigger fire? Read, enjoy, and find out! Even better, read the previous equally entertaining instalments first. Thank you to Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

[Chris Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

great but I miss The Laundry Files

Stross hit it out of the park with Bob Howard, and while this was a great read it’s starting to become repetitive. The New Management is just not at the same level as the earlier books. And this book is the least engaging one of the series so far.

[Brok3n · Rating 4 out of 5]

Together again: The New Management rejoins the Laundry Files

Season of Skulls is the third book in Charles Stross' New Management series. The New Management series is a spin-off from Stross's longer Laundry Files series, which consists of nine full-length novels (not counting those of the New Management series), as well as a bunch of stories and novellas. On his blog, Stross has made it clear that he considers the New Management to be a separate series from the Laundry Files, even though it shares the same universe. I mention all this because Season of Skulls is, in my opinion, both a New Management and a Laundry Files novel.

The central character is Eve Starkey, a New Management character we know well from the first two books. At the end of Quantum of Nightmares she had just realized that she was in deep trouble -- her boss Rupert Bigge had bamboozled her into a trap that was worse than death. But Season of Skulls begins when Eve, trying to figure out how to wiggle out, is visited by "an emissary of the Prime Minister", as the publisher's blurb says. Fans of the Laundry Files will be delighted (as I was) to see an old friend -- Persephone Hazard, whom we know as Laundry asset BASHFUL INCENDIARY, accompanied by her equally familiar bodyguard Johnny McTavish.

In attempting to free herself from Rupert's trap, Eve ends up in a time and place that reminded me forcefully of R.F. Kuang's Babel: An Arcane History. It would be too much of a spoiler to explain how the two novels are similar. However, I think it is not giving too much away to say that, in his Acknowledgements, Stross says, "in Season of Skulls I was attempting to write outside my genre comfort zone." In particular, he's taking aim at the Regency gothic romance.

But what surprised me was how it connected up to the Laundry Files. Besides Seph and Johnny, at least one other important Laundry Files character shows up. Also, we learn more about the background of the Laundry. And the world and magic feel more like the Laundry Files. For instance, Eve has thoughts like this

“The only question,” Eve mused aloud, “is whether time travel via the dream roads is call by value or call by reference.”

That is a very Laundry Files-type thought.

Well, it was tons of fun. I don't think you need to have read the Laundry Files to enjoy Season of Skulls, but if you have, you will get an extra little fillip of joy from it.

Blog review.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, 13 books into a series, how do you keep it fresh?

Charlie Stross decided to write a Regency version of the Laundry Files, including a romantic subplot (because, well, Regency). He justified it by having two main characters, Eve Starkey and her evil husband, Rupert, walk the dream roads back to an alternate 1816 in England. This allowed Stross to combine Regency manners and morals with incredibly threatening Cthulu-like magic.

Others have done the 'magic in Regency England' thing before, but it's fun to see Stross's sly, witty take on it as a part of his ongoing Laundry Files series.

This isn't going to make sense to anyone who starts with this book, so you'd have to be a Laundry Files fan already. But for those of us who are, it's still worth sticking with the series.

Minor error: Charlie has a misheard lyric. He quotes the Talking Heads song, 'Once in a Lifetime' with the lyric 'this is not my beautiful life'. The lyric, of course, is 'wife', not life. The correct lyric would actually play better with the plot, because Eve is trying hard to get out of her forced marriage to her evil husband Rupert - while she casts an interested eye on a hunky guy in Regency England.

[Ann Schwader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even by the elevated standards of the Laundry Files as a whole, Season of Skulls is remarkably weird. Stross exploits the time-travel & time-branching aspects of his dream roads for all they're worth, allowing the improbable combination of The Village(yes, that Village, be seeing you) & The New Management to wind itself up to an epic conclusion.

This one is Eve Starkey's novel (finally!), which gives the reader a good look into the complex magical system of the Laundry universe. Eve is a highly talented sorceress on a desperate mission, & she won't allow trivialities like a whole Hunt of Tindalos to get in her way. Meanwhile, back at home, brother Imp & his superpowered housemates are doing their utmost to help -- which of course results in additional chaos.

Like all the Laundry novels, this one is self-referential -- do not attempt until you're up to date on at least the New Management arc, preferably the whole series. Stross has also introduced characters both real & literary from the Regency period, though he includes some helpful comments in his Acknowledgments. All in all, I found this one a bit complicated at points, but in no way disappointing. And it does indeed complete the trilogy which began with Dead Lies Dreaming.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eve Starkey has a problem (well.problems).
The Prime Minister..who is actually a powerful Egyptian deity transplanted to C21st England...wants Eve's dead(?) husbands head ..her husband being a tyrannical cult leader.

To find her husband...she has to go back in time....and she does...and finds herself in a C18th replica of a cult 1960s tv show...

Plus a six year old Napoleon Bonaparte clone.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another post-apocalyptic Laundry Files book - third in the New Management series. I actually felt like this series has really grown on me, particularly the heroine Eve who's is mainly featured in this book. It doesn't hurt that this book dips both into the word of "The Prisoner" and a fun Regency-ish pastiche. I enjoyed this one.

[Shrike58 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whatever else you want to call the arc represented by the first three books in Stross' "New Management" series, you might describe it as occult divorce for survival and advancement. While Eve Starkey might have thought she had put her so-called "husband," the sorcerer Rupert de Montfort Bigge, down for the count, when the eldritch master of Great Britain wants Bigge's literal head, it's do or die time. Further, Stross continues to extend the purview of his ever-metastasizing "Laundry" universe, as if you're going to go back in time to post-1814 Britain, why not make it a regency romance? To put it simply, I had as much fun with this particular arc as anything I've read by Stross in awhile, and I'm giving this book top marks for sticking the landing.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, Charles is nothing if not consistent with the third novel that concludes the New Management trilogy - more pastiche. Without spoiling it, I'd say I was a little disappointed with his use of the fictional material he's reworked here. It should have been more fun!

On the positive side, the attention to historical detail and focus on feminism in a very un-feminist world is rewarding stuff. And I admire his attempt to write historical romance and adventure within his world.

I think it's time to finish the Laundry Files with Bob and move onto something else though. Maybe not for the writer but probably for me.

[The Man from DelMonte · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Charles Stross is on form, he is one of the best writers in the field; wildly inventive and frequently funny. The novellas 'Palimpsest' and 'The Concrete Jungle' both won the Hugo Award and are some of the finest examples of the genre. But he has a habit in common with Garth Nix in that he tends to paint himself into a corner. The Laundry Files reached their apotheosis with 'The Nightmare Stacks' and has been treading water ever since. The author hits the reset button when this happens, as he did during the Merchant Princes series with 'Empire Games', and in the case of the Laundry Files, with 'Dead Lies Dreaming'. In both cases the resulting trilogy of novels comes to a largely unsatisfactory climax. (I reviewed 'Invisible Sun' in March 2022.)
In this still very readable novel, the spark is missing, the playfulness a little laboured. It improves in the second half as the author gets into his stride and you start to get the feeling that he's enjoying himself. However, the plot gets less and less convincing and the record scratch steadily more and more irritating. It implies behind the scenes plot narrative(s) inaccessible to the reader but what actually comes across are annoying disconnects that feel suspiciously like authorial shortcuts to spare the writer.

[Jordi Balcells · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,75/5 Vaya, volvemos a la baja calidad de Dead Lies Dreaming. Este es una fantasía romántica en plena Regencia (sí, hay viaje en el tiempo, más o menos). Esa es la parte buena, que conste: no tengo problemas con el romantasy y, de hecho, aquí le sale bastante gracioso. El problema es a) ofuscar demasiado qué está pasando o b) quizá soy yo, que no me entero.
Si en aquel decía que “el clímax final está aceleradísimo”, pues aquí dos tazas. No ya el clímax final, que también, sino que el epílogo simplemente no se entiende y un detalle te lo tiene que recordar en los agradecimientos. Creo entender qué ha pasado, pero no lo tengo claro. Por otra parte, tanto non sequitur marea y confunde: entiendo por qué lo hace, tiene su justificación y te lo deja claro en el clímax, pero suena a recurso barato para saltar de A a C sin pasar por B.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this may be it for me and the New Management. I didn't enjoy the previous book at all, and while this one starts much more promisingly with atmospheric scene setting and character introductions, once the plot kicks in it devolves into incoherent nonsense. Perhaps it's all a clever metatextual game, where Stross is showing us what it would be like to live under a sorcerous reign of terror run by beings far beyond our comprehension via a novel full of non sequiturs, important stuff that seems to happen between sentences, random poorly illustrated motivations and a great big whimper of a climax. Or maybe it's just not a very good book.

[Christopher Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will admit that my objectivity around this book is *utterly* shot :)

First, it's clear to me that I'm the target demographic of the book - a cis-gendered man. This isn't to say that ONLY cis-gendered men could/will enjoy this, just that there are aspects which I think some women might not enjoy or even perhaps find offensive. I dunno, I'm a very poor judge :)

That disclaimer out of the way, I *really* enjoyed it!


I am a HUGE fan of the 60s TV series _The Prisoner_ and so the fan service in this novel was just a delight. Stross clearly is someone who also loves The Village, and it shows!


I'm also a fan of badass female characters in scifi/fantasy, and this book ticks that box as well. In a lot of ways, I feel like the New Management series has given Stross his Second Wind with regard to the Laundry universe, as I've felt like the main story line has for me at least in certain respects verged far further into the horror domain than I can personally enjoy.

So if you want to enjoy a delightful romp where we rejoin Eve, Imp and friends, don't miss this book as it's sure to entertain and delight if you're anything like me :)

[Rachel Ashera Rosen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeply fun mashup of Recency romance, 60s cult TV, and Lovecraftian horror, as Eva flees across the dream roads in pursuit of her former boss and accidental husband so that the eldritch abomination that's the Prime Minister of the UK can add his skull to his collection. All of the the Laundry Files/New Management books feel like they were written to my particular tastes and set of interests and this one is no exception.

[Boulder Boulderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't say I particularly enjoyed this one - it has its moments, but doesn't really work for me which is a shame, as the Laundry Files is in general one of my favourite series. The whole thing felt rather aimless and lost.

[Natalie S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of the new management/post-Bob crew so far. Eve makes a great lead!

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

disjointed

I have read all the laundry books.
The first books are really good. The new management books are not quite as good, the last one was enjoyable.

This book on the other hand feels disjointed and half hearted.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.5

Definitely enjoyed this more than the previous novel, for me it had a more concentrated storyline that flowed better.
Reason it isn’t a 4 star rating is that I still don’t really care about any of the characters tbh.
This trilogy of new management books, if indeed it is a trilogy as I have a memory that it was described as such when the first novel came out, have improved from first to last - but unlike the laundry files series the characters haven’t grown on me at all.
The storyline is a mashup of regency romance tropes along with the prisoner tv show + general spy stories and other fantasy/horror magic ideas - it’s okay and I did find this a quick read
Overall though it was just okay for me, if and when the next CS book comes out I will probably buy it.
Definitely for those who have read the previous two novels in this trilogy/series and not the pace to start

[Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read (quality and fun factor are 5 stars) in a setting that isn’t my favorite.

[David C Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Long running series acquires a Romance glamor as Eve travels back to 1816 to get out from under the megalomaniacal Rupert and rearrange the future - or at least one version of the future. The set up and conclusion are better than the middle which slows as Eve slowly (horses and ships you know) navigates through and comes to grips with early 19th c England. Dr Frankenstein makes an appearance and there’s an ingenious explanation for why South America has had so many military dictators (a good boys from Brazil joke too).

[Tony Dure · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a load of crap

I have every volume of the laundry files , even the kindle one . In the acknowledgements Charles admits his jump into the realm of romance
Far enough, but this volume took a long volumes way around it, too long, in my humble view it does not get up to standard
I'm sorry

[Noémie J. Crowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was an interesting conclusion to an interesting trilogy. I really enjoyed the wrap up, it was both clever and entertaining, and the cliche bad guy coming back but is he really was actually pleasant. Also, how good it feels to have characters that are actually smart and not quirky uwu sarcastic jerks but actual genuinely fun and complex characters? Very good. All in all, I cannot wait to dive more into this universe.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven. Which really isn't all that unusual for a Laundry Book. But this was felt even more so. This one was mostly about Eve. Which made the book somewhat hard to take. And stuff that kept happening to her. And the section on the Village, an homage to The Prisoner TV series was seemingly interminable. Sure there's an explanation of what the author was trying to do. And there were some really good bits. But mostly this was disappointing.

[Nirkatze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I thought this book was going to get really skeevy, it took a hard right turn into a version of the past and turned the fun up a few notches. A lot of great moments, and some very well hidden, very cool connections to the rest of the series.

[Brian Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable read; I think Stross is inching back into my "grab on sight" category (this book isn't *great* but it's quite good). The New Management series basically feels like a complete reset of the Laundry Files universe and simply treating it as its own universe helps when trying to figure out how consistent it is with the Laundry Files (it may or may not be consistent, but simply assuming that it doesn't matter helps).

In this book, Eve Starkey, the billionaire's assistant from previous novels (who tricked the billionaire necromancer/haruspex into a curse; the billionaire begins the novel presumed dead), discovers that there is dead and there is dead. Oh, and that by the rules of a small island and a contract signed by her brother, she may or may not have been married under 14th century law to said billionaire -- but in this case, that's not a good thing.

Even as Eve tries to get that annulled, The New Management (the great Old One that now rules the United Kingdom) wishes for Eve to present her husband's skull as proof of her loyalty and that her husband is as dead as expected. When she discovers some evidence of her husband's skull from hundreds of years in the past, she may need to look into her familial magic and travel back to an otherwordly Britain that's almost, but not quite, based on the year 1816. Unfortunately, although she's a formidable foe in the 21st century, 1816 wasn't a great time for women's rights....

This mixed in elements of regency romance, of which I've read not a small number, the Prisoner allusions (a tv show I only know of through random parodies), and meta stories about narrative (a trope that seems quite fashionable nowadays; see, for example, Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series). The one thing that I think stuck out like a sore thumb was a revelation about Eve's sexuality. On the one hand, I think it was trying in part to break out of the romantic mold by having her openly embrace being a dominant BDSM enthusiast, but it felt labored -- like a novel in the 1970s where there was a big twist that somebody was homosexual. Not that it was common, but the writing felt like the author was taking a deep breath and then making everything awkward about it.. Maybe Stross just isn't suited for writing budoir scenes.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

What was that?

The plot: Being self-aware about writing a boring, tropey plot does not make it not a boring, tropey plot. It's been done plenty and, unless you have some clever idea to subvert it along the way instead of at the end, all it is is a long disappointment with a "surprise! it was supposed to be disappointing!" at the end. Repeatedly (and oh god was it repeated over and over, like many plot points, just in case you missed it the first three times it was said) pointing out that it's supposed to suck doesn't make it better.

The writing style: I remember this series as lighthearted flippancy at times and pretty serious (but sometimes still flippant) dark scenes. Season of Skulls was a mess of randomly-timed Doge memes (seriously? people don't actually say that irl to people they hardly know, like happened early on in SoS) and other random modern memes that simply didn't work. Rather than giving characters identity, as earlier in the series, they undercut the tone. Constant, constant metaphors and similes similarly dragged things down, rather than spicing it up.

The sex: I became suspicious partway through that the publisher somehow messed up and released Stross's private version of the book, written just for himself and some other guys. When certain things climaxed...I think I'm done with this series. It was forced, it told you (repeatedly) that it was forced, and anyone who is familiar with the term "tsundere" will see how it applies. In the author's defence, it is stated (repeatedly) that Eve was more of a "bitch" (in her own words) in the first two books because of the Gesh, but I disagree that changing a character's personality in the third book of a trilogy is a compelling move. Mo and her violin were much better done than this fantasy (did you know Eve is bi? It mentions it two or three times, lest you miss it the first), though that was my previous least-favorite book in the series, but this, no.

So, yeah, I regret spending an Audible credit on this (btw Gideon Emery was good, though could maybe have lent some more seriousness to the serious scenes), and I will now go wash my ears out with some Adrian Tchaikovsky.

[Martin K · Rating 2 out of 5]

A strong two, for a few reasons:

* There are like three words in German, and the grammar is butchered. Don’t have your characters speak a few words in their native language if you can’t be bothered to check it.

* Almost nothing happens. At the end, the world is the same, there is no progression in the overall story. Very little character development, except Eve perhaps.

* Characters feel a bit more cardboardy than usual, only Eve is somewhat fleshed out, and everybody else is just background noise.

* The biggest one, and I’m sure some will disagree, is what feels very much like performatory “feminism” permeating the book. We are constantly being told explicitly that the men are so old-fashioned and brutish and boorish and whatever. It is hammered in, on what feels like every single page. You can show instead of tell, but Stross doesn’t show, he screams it repeatedly through a megaphone with little to no variation, just like he repeatedly reminds us that the main character is bisexual, even when that has no bearing on the story, and it just feels like a cheap way to try to be hip. It’s not that I have an issue with the subject matter, far from it, and Goddess knows there’s a very male focus in this genre, but Season of Skulls feels more like there was some sort of “overt political correctness” measure that Stross or somebody else needed to turn up to eleven. Again, I stress, story-wise, I don’t find any of this a problem at all, but the way it is presented tears the reader out of the immersion, just like the wonky “Doge” joke and some other strange stylistic choices. In fact, it’s a little like reading Ayn Rand; it becomes impossible to focus on the story.

[Lars Panzerbjrn · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I really enjoyed the Laundry Files, and the previous New Management books but this one? Not so much.

There could be a number of reasons for this, which are not necessarily caused by the book:
- I have no interest in Regency Romance or the era
- I never watched The Prisoner and only a vague idea of what it was about
- Maybe the narrator didn't work for me.

It is honestly hard to say. For the previous book, I hated the narrator's style and quit about a chapter in. A year or so later I decided to try again, and hurrah, it was a different narrator and my audible copy was updated by itself. Marvellous. I then listened to the whole book.

But back to SoS; others have put better how I also feel but I will try.

Eve just doesn't feel like a compelling character. Now that she has the spotlight she's annoying and shallow. Compare and contrast to "Mary Poppins" from the previous book. Some of the slang and memes really don't work unless you're talking to someone you know, and nobody would actually use them with strangers. Unless, perhaps you are around nerds who would get a Doge reference.

There's messaging which is subtle like a brick through the window, and while obvious in previous books, this is just a bit too much.

It's dull. So dull. I think about a third or half way through the book I kinda stopped caring if I had missed something and just continued. This did not seem to make it better or worse.

Whatever comes next in the Laundry Files, I hope it will be a return to form.

I think I'll have to go and read A Colder War as a sort of palette cleanser.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

We've come a very long way since that first adventure with Bob and the original Laundry. The New Management has taken control and is very interested in Eve Starkey. In fact, lots of people are interested in Eve, not least among them her erstwhile husband, a man she thought long dead. But, in a world where magic happens whether you like it or not, what's a little death to keep someone down?

Stross is so good at taking multiple tropes and blending them into something new that it can be hard to keep track of what's new in-universe and what's new for us, the reader. In this particular instance, Stross is playing with time and alternate universes inside the one we're already familiar with, which is interesting to say the least.

In the author's note, Stross reminds us of where we've seen a few characters before. For the first time since I began reading these books, I found that I had to go back and look some things up. And it was very satisfying to do so. I mention this because I find that this adds a lot of "backward compatibility" to the series as a whole, something that had really been missing so much as something that just wasn't really needed. But there has been a feeling like the Laundry and the New Management are not really the same series for some time now and these little hints that show how deeply the latter builds on the former are very welcome and add a lot to the joy of novels. In fact, it may be time for a re-read...