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Equoid
Author: Charles Stross
ISBN-13: 9781466855472
Publisher: Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC
Publication date: 10/16/2013
Pages: 128
File size: 450 KB

Equiod is a novella set in the Laundry Files series by prolific science fiction ninja Charles Stross. It follows the series’ protagonist Bob Howard as he navigates his life working as a combined spy/network engineer in the British government’s ultra secret occult intelligence network, known to its employees as The Laundry.

Stross has never shied away from exploring horror in his stories, but Equoid takes it that one step further. I’m a longtime fan of horror fiction, and I like to think that it takes a lot to disturb me, but about two thirds of the way through I put down the phone I was reading it on and just stared at the wall for a minute. I really enjoyed Equoid, but this is not a story to enjoy on a full stomach.

At its heart, Equoid is a story about unicorns. Unicorns via H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Stross has clearly spent a lot of time researching the nastier aspect of parasitology, and he applies these aspects to the life cycle of a unicorn in the modern world. It gives the magical aspects of the story a grounding that’s been present in all of the Laundry Files stories, but it’s a slightly different take on the normally math and computer science heavy Bob Howard books.

Set just before the events of The Fuller Memorandum, Bob is still the snarky, mostly sane voice of reason in a world that is quite literally going mad. When he’s sent on an assignment out in the countryside to check out some weird snails and reports of a unicorn gamboling about the country estates he jumps at the chance. Of course all is not what it seems and Bob regrets his enthusiasm within moments of leaving his office.

As with all The Laundry books, they wouldn’t be even half as good without Bob. The character brings both humor and insight to the things going on around him. In many ways Equoid is the darkest story Stross has told in his already dark universe. Not that some truly awful things haven’t happened in the other books, but in Equoid they are directly shown in
absolutely graphic detail. Along with the gore there are also some horrific implications that haven’t been touched upon before in The Laundry Files. The universe Bob inhabits is far worse than he thought and given he thinks the world is doomed, that’s a big leap for the series to make.

Equoid has some direct Lovecraft references, and even uses some Lovecraft style story devices in the form of deathbed letters. There are also some truly fantastic Cold Comfort Farm references, one of which pays off almost at the very end of the book and made me laugh so hard that Airport Security gave me a nasty look.

You can find Equoid for free on Tor’s website or pay a small some to have it on the e-reader of your choice. If you have a strong stomach and can appreciate some black humor then I highly recommend it, especially if you’re an already a fan of The Laundry Files. For fans of the series there’s an absolute bombshell dropped right at the end that has huge implications for everything that’s gone before and certainly everything that’s coming next.

Reviewed by Andrew Jack

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Andrew Jack

Andrew Jack

Andrew Jack lives with his wife in Christchurch New Zealand and has been misusing the written word for most of his life. He even got his first rejection letter from Random House at the age of four, who kindly suggested he learn to read and write before resubmitting. A life long martial arts enthusiast, Andrew spends his time getting beaten up by his friends, writing like he’ll starve if he doesn’t and trying to stop his cats from destroying his house.