Escape From Yokai Land: A Laundry Files Novella

The silver in your pocket, that is, as you're paying about a quarter a page to read this novelette if you pay the full asking price. And technically, it is a novelette, not a novella - has to do with word/page count; we'd need another twenty pages or so to qualify as a novella. Hey, I don't make these arcane rules, I'm just bound by them."Escape" is the fourth short Laundry Files piece, after "Concrete Jungle", "Pimpf", and "Equoid" (and maybe "A Colder War", kind of a practice run at the Laundry Files concept), and like the proceeding shorts is definitely a fun and entertaining read, but not vital to the series as a whole. Just a little side-quest.As we all know, here we sojourn with Bob in Tokyo and say Hello to the ultimate Kitty nightmare. It is good to be back deep in the snark and corp/government-speak and grinning at the Bob Hope style cowardice-courage (although I've always seen Simon Pegg as this Bob), with the Laundry still in full swing. Those salad days before CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN went live and England's dreaming become perpetual New Management night terrors.Focusing on "Escape" - it's prime Bob, it's a classic caper, and it is very cool to get a glimpse of Japan's occult agency, with interesting hints about it's pre- and post-war history. Also proves what I always suspected about otaku culture - every "squeee!" is a call to a dark god and the "feels" are souls sucked away... It's all a jolly good time, just brought up short by a rather abrupt ending (a few more pages for a decent denouement and we could'a hit that novella-threshold, Charlie, just sayin'...).Acquiring this very slim volume (it will slip in between "Nightmare" and "Delirium" and vanish on the shelf) will be automatic for invested LF fans. But think about the need/cost ratio and perhaps look into going for a cheaper used copy (it's what I did). Or... wait? I'm sure it won't be long until these shorter pieces (novelette, novella, what have you) are collected together and issued in a single book. But if you go ahead and drop the bucks, I do think you will enjoy the 90 minute/two hour read.

I'm a huge fan of the Laundry Files series

Escape from Yokai Land is a fun little novella in Charles Stross's Laundry Files series. Unlike the recently released Dead Lies Dreaming and Quantum of Nightmares, which are advertised on the covers as being Laundry Files books but aren't really -- (Stross has explained on his blog that they are the first novels in a spin-off series, Tales of the New Management), Escape from Yokai Land is a bona fide Laundry Files story. It is told in the first person by Bob Howard. Several other characters from The Laundry Files are mentioned or show up briefly at the beginning.However, most of the book is about Bob's work in Japan, most of it with a Japanese woman/thing named Dr Yoko Suzuki, who is a member of Japan's occult secret services. Bob has been called in to clean up a mess left behind by his predecessor James Angleton in Japan. Bob, as the new Eater of Souls, is the best the Laundry has to offer. And Angleton, it appears, left a stink behind him, managing to piss off his Japanese hosts royally, so Bob is kind of in a trap, but also kind of in a position to come out smelling like a rose, if only he can avoid being as bad as Angleton was.Yokailand is a stand-in for Puroland, the (real) Hello Kitty theme park near Tokyo, which because of trademark issues Stross had to avoid mentioning by name. But it is obviously recognizable. In fact, the whole story is an indiscrete giggle at the absurd cuteness (Stross tends to use the British "twee" and "squee" to describe it). I'd be interested to know how Japanese readers respond to it.So, a lot of fun, but not deep.

"Escape From Yokai Land" is a flashback to the early, fun days of the Laundry series. To get the issue of cost out of the way, yes it is high priced for a novella. But I was so glad to hear Bob's acid takes on his job and experiences again that I didn't much care.We now get to find out what Bob was up to during the events of "The Nightmare Stacks," and in fact the start of the novella contains a subtle bit of foreshadowing when Bob refers to "anomalous readings near Malham Cove." This is where the climax of "Nightmare Stacks" takes place. Briefly, Bob is posted to Japan to (a) check a list of warded sites that his predecessor Angleton previously dealt with and (b) help with an outbreak of newer anomalies which appear to be escalating.As always, Bob is stuck squarely behind the eight ball despite his new status as the Eater of Souls. Author Charles Stross accomplishes this in a few clever and inventive ways: Bob doesn't speak Japanese; his hosts have not-so-fond memories of Angleton, who apparently went old-school British on them; and Angleton's notes, an essential resource, are first missing and then, when found, prove to be unreadable. Once again Bob has to rely on his skills and smarts to save the day.I've never been a fan of Hello Kitty or the kawaii aesthetic, and Bob's reactions to same are utterly hilarious, starting with his hotel room. My only complaint is that the novella's brevity limits our time with our hero. I hope Mr. Stross will provide us with more prequel stories in the future. Recommended.

Bob Howard is back for a brief romp through yokai-infested Japan. We've missed Bob terribly since the Laundry Files has started to introduce some new characters over the last four books, so it was good to see him out and about, dealing with the fallout of Code Nightmare Green in a place outside of Great Britain. This was a well-wrought, quick read, and I do recommend it for anyone who is a fan of the Laundry Files. The only drawback is the price - for a novella, it seems rather high. I might recommend the Kindle version if you are dying for a Bob-fix. But if you like the physical books as I do, you still will want this one for your collection.

I couldn't really get into the "New Management" series so was excited to see a return to the main Laundry files seriesThis book reminded me a lot of the early books in the series (in good way) but as others have said it's very short.I won't complain about that though, as I bought it for the content rather than the quantity - and that I was pleased with.Hey, unlike other books in the series this one will fit through your letterbox!

Yes it's a novella, yes it's pricey for its size.Now that's out of the way, I'm pleased to say that Bob Howard makes a welcome return to fill in some gaps of his whereabouts quite a few books ago.I love Laundry Files however Bob's offerings are by far my favourite. Hence I loved this whatever the size or price. Thank you Mr Stross!

Firstly, Bob Howard is a great character. Following his journey from his initial introduction to The Laundry through to now, and all the changes he has weathered, both inside and outside himself, has been a very enjoyable ride. Charlie's research mastery is, as ever, evident in every paragraph of this work, so readers won't be disappointed by shallow descriptions, or ignorance of topics related to this outing. However, this 'novel' left me feeling as if I had somehow misplaced 100 pages of the book. I missed the intertwine of characters, environments etc that are usually present in Laundry-verse books.This work follows only Bob's viewpoint (similar I guess to his very early outings) but whereas his early outings had many things to view by the road-side as one travelled with him, this felt as if the only view present was the one directly in front. It's not a badly written story - I'd find it difficult to say that about anything I've read of Charlie's - but it lacks substance in some way, due to the lack of interweaving plot-lines/viewpoints I've grown to expect in this 'Verse, and the short and almost sudden end... like, "Oh, is that it? I was expecting something else." like the ending was merely a prequel to a larger 'fuller' ending. Like a the penultimate boss in a game turning out to be the ultimate boss, but surprisingly easy to conquer.I still recommend reading it, it's enjoyable enough, and expands Bob Howard's mythos a little, but do not expect the level of complexity one has come to expect from the 'main' sequence to be present in this, because it isn't there. It is, as other reviewers have stated, a 'novella', not a novel, and you would be wise to bear that in mind on commencement of reading it. But please do read it... it's worthy of your time.I updated my rating to 4, as 3 doesn't do it justice, but the reality is, in my mind, that a 3 and a half probably would

I love the laundry files but after reading for half an hour and realizing I was 90% through the book I’m tempted to return it. I’m really disappointed, there’s nothing wrong with short stories but there is something very wrong about charging your fan base this much for one.

Not impressed. REALLY not impressed. For Stross, this is well under par. I'm giving it a bonus third star because I've enjoyed so many of the stories and every writer has ups and downs, but it honestly doesn't deserve it.First of all, this isn't a book. It's a novella, bordering on a short story. To be selling it for the price of a novel is outrageous. I thought my Kindle was glitching when the % complete was jumping up in 5% increments, but no, it really is that short.Even as a short story, it's kinda lame. It feels like Pratchett in his mid-career slump, rinsing and repeating the same motifs over and over without much imagination. It's movies that think, it's guns that think, it's music that thinks...Well, _Yokai_ is Laundry Files with a Japanese soundtrack. There's no real attempt to convey the unique Japanese environment or culture that others do better. Stross is good at his cybergeek horror, but he's no Murakami.Lastly, and most importantly, the payoff is REALLY disappointing. This isn't much of a a spoiler because, unless this is your first Bob Howard experience, you already know the words, but you can stop reading now if you want.Stross *desperately* needs to find a new gimmick for Bob, because every plotline now builds up to "...and then I ate its soul and it was yuck and then we went home."That's a really lazy cop-out, and when that's the climax of a short story I'm paying book-money for, quadruply so. Not only is the Eater of Souls schtick boringly repetitive now, it's getting worse because of how poorly he's exploring it.He always highlights just how gross it is to be eating a malignant soul, but at no point does the nausea overwhelm the protagonist in any way. He's always _on the verge_ of throwing up, but never actually puking his guts out, much less and getting his ass handed to him as a result, which would make it a LOT more interesting. I mean, come ON, eating cultist soul makes him feel poorly, and eating GIANT FREAKING JAPANESE MONSTER soul makes him feel...wait for it...full.Full.Bob never seems to actually experience a downside that a) make the tired MacGuffin a bit more interesting or b) would make him _not_ resort to the trite deux-ex-machine resolution which would ALSO make the story more interesting. He suffers no physical or metaphysical side effects, no social stigma from those around him, no psychic burden. It's just a perfect weapon that solves every problem without consequences. There's so much Stross could do with this as a theme, but no. He feels full.Look, if you're a Stross fan, and I am, you're going to buy this and read it regardless. But this isn't even one of his best short stories, and it makes me sad to be sitting here disliking the prospect of seeing Bob again. He deserves so much better, and so do we.