Another completely surreal novel by Charles Stross, it somehow takes real world technical knowledge of mundane things like TCP/IP (that’s the protocol the internet uses to send and receives information), compares it to using carrier pigeon instead of copper wire and then uses it set up a network via demon worlds to save our realm/domain/planet/reality (or however the here and now can be referred to).
The story is a continuation of “The Atrocity Archives” but prior reading of that is not necessary. Our hero becomes a secret agent of the James Bond ilk, at least, he thinks he does, but the real James Bond hero is ****** (well, I can’t tell you that would spoil the story) which he discovers much later.
My favourite bit was the short story at the end of the story. It begins with Charles Stross writing what I would imagine would make a good PHD thesis on the James Bond series. Clearly Charles is a man who knows his James Bond fiction. However the factual presentation degenerates rapidly into a hilarious interview with one of Bond’s enemies giving and his side of the story. I’ll never look at the Ariane Launch site in quite the same way again.
Rating this book: Demon’s aren’t normally my thing but the creative plot more than makes up for it – Rootie Rating 5 out of 5