★★★★★ Still not a Laundry Files novel

Dead Lies Dreaming

Charles Stross

I previously reviewed the Kindle edition, which I read in 2020. Over the last few weeks I listened to the audiobook. Like most of the Laundry Files audiobooks (which this is not), it is narrated by Gideon Emery, who as always does a superb job. However, the main difference between this second experience and my first experience of the novel derives not from the different format, but from my having gotten over the reality that this was not a Laundry Files novel. So I listened to it without constantly comparing it in my mind to the Laundry Files. It is better so.

It really is a very good story, and Emery does a great job of making the creepy parts creepy. Also, I have since read the other extant New Management novels, and this one is, in my judgement, the best of the three.

13-Nov-2020 review of Kindle edition:

Not a Laundry Files novel

Although there was a stamp on the cover of this book labeling it "A Laundry Files Novel", this is not actually accurate. On his blog, Charles Stross has said that Dead Lies Dreaming is not a continuation of The Laundry Files, but the first book in a new series, which might be called Tales of the New Management. On the other hand, the cover stamp is not totally inaccurate. The story takes place in the world of The Laundry Files. Specifically, it takes place in the England in which the Black Pharoah has become Prime Minister of England.

You can easily read Dead Lies Dreaming without having read The Laundry Files. The characters are entirely new. (In fact, to a fan of The Laundry Files, it is a little disappointing not to see any familiar faces.) Also, most of the careful world-building of The Laundry Files has been made unnecessary.

Every fantasy novel has a theory of magic. Magic can't do everything -- there is a price, and a source of power, and limitations. In some cases, such as the Harry Potter series, this theory is so incoherent and and lacking in logic as to be almost nonexistent. (Don't get me wrong -- I love the Potter books.) This theory is incomplete and vague. If it were not, then magic would not be magic -- it would be technology. The Laundry Files are the exception -- the Theory of magic in The Laundry Files is explicit and detailed. "Magic is a branch of Applied Mathematics". Mathematics is more than universal -- it spans universes. The universe we see is a shadow cast by the absolute mathematical truths of Platonic reality. Those capable of apprehending these truths can perceive and understand other universes. Computations, in brains or in computers, can speak and travel across universes. In The Laundry Files, magic is a technology.

Bob Howard, the hero of the first Laundry Files novels, is a man who could explain to you the difference between a Riemann and a Lebesque integral. His comfort with math is not irrelevant to his heroic competencies. (He is also funny, resourceful, bold, loyal, and indeed he checks most of the boxes of the Scout Law, with the conspicuous exception of "reverent".) And he is superb with information technology. Thus he becomes a powerful sorcerer. To a mathematician and programmer, the Laundry Files feel familiar and comfortable.

None of that really matters in Dead Lies Dreaming. As in most fantasy novels, Magic is done by intuitive magicians and superheroes who do magic without an explicit understanding of theory. Although the sentence "Magic was a branch of applied mathematics" does appear in the book, it is far less central to the story than in The Laundry Files. It is still important, but in a way that you need not be explicitly aware of.

Miss Elizabeth Bennet's favorite color was yellow. This fact appears nowhere in Pride and Prejudice. We know it because Jane Austen told her friends. Austen knew her characters deeply -- they were real to her and had deep stories that don't appear in P&P. However, we can feel her affection for them and their reality. In the same way, the existence of a theory of magic that underpins the world of The Laundry Files gives Dead Lies Dreaming a felt depth and authenticity.

All that said, it's a wonderful engaging story, with more than a touch of Lovecraftian horror. (I cannot personally attest to that, having never read HP Lovecraft myself.) Peter Pan and Wendy and Neverland and the Lost Boys appear, and even a terrifying Tinkerbell, along with James Bond.

Amazon review

Goodreads review of kindle edition

Goodreads review of audiobook

Comments

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