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Quantum of Nightmares

Book 2 of the New Management, a series set in the world of the Laundry Files

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Quantum of Nightmares

By: Charles Stross
Narrated by: Imogen Church
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It's a brave new Britain under the New Management. The Prime Minister is an 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.

Hyperorganised and formidable, Eve Starkey defeated her boss, the louche magical adept and billionaire Rupert de Montfort Bigge, in a supernatural duel to the death. Now she's in charge of the Bigge Corporation, just in time to discover the lethal trap Rupert set for her long ago . . .

Wendy Deere is investigating unauthorized supernatural shenanigans. She swore to herself she wouldn't again get entangled with Eve Starkey's bohemian brother Imp and his crew of transhuman misfits. Yeah, right.

Mary Macandless has powers of her own. Right now she's pretending to be a nanny in order to kidnap the children of a pair of famous, Government-authorized adepts. These children have powers of their own, and Mary Macandless is in way over her head.

All of these stories will come together, with world-bending results...

'For all of Stross's genuine ability to spook and dismay, The Laundry Files are some of the most tremendously humane books I've ever read'
Tamsyn Muir, author of Gideon the Ninth ©2022 Charles Stross Adventure Fantasy Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Fiction Scary Paranormal Management Boss
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This direct sequel to Dead Lies Dreaming continues the story of Eve, her brother Imp and his housemates as they try to make sense of their family's secret fate, interwoven with two new plot strands that at first appear to be disparate but seen merge into each other as more secrets are revealed, like the sinister goings-on in a supermarket chain and the tales of a nanny trying to wrestle the kids of a superhero couple into submission without drawing attention to herself or them. The book starts off at a sprint and doesn't stop until the last paragraph of the epilogue.
I want to draw special attention to the narrator, Imogen Church. Her vocal range for the cast of characters is truly mind-boggling, from the hyperactive kids, via the out of her depth SuperNanny to the quietly sinister people in charge, she is a force to be reckoned with and I will be looking out for other books she's narrated. Her performance makes this book even more exciting than the content. Highly recommended.

Exciting plot, superb narration

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the narrator of the previous book in the series really nailed it, and its an amazing book, but this narrator is just… too cringe, everything in overly emphatic tones, distracting but energetic, like a waiter who just won’t leave you alone when you’re just trying to eat… yes its good, but maybe if you shut up for 30 seconds i could focus on the food

Hammy naration

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The story is good, the drama unfolds and the humour is pure stross.

Unfortunately the narration was nowhere near on point.. from the technical with levels all over the place to poor vocal characterisations that didn't seem to fit with the characters to male characterisations that were barely understandable. If I could get my money back I would.

Not the right narrator

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This was just amazing and a perfect combination of comic horror fantasy that left me almost crying with laughter. Special note of how well the narrator voiced Mary and the Banks children

Excellent on every count

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Story and plot is okay. Funny as usual, nothing much to report.
Sound is horrible. The actress is using the Tony Robinson (of the early Discworld audiobook notoriety) method of reading the story. Every person has a different voice (yay), however allmost everyone is overacted TO THE MAX (buh). The normal text is read in normal voice level, but dialogue is either normal (hurra), w h i s p e r i n g (buh) or SCREECHING (sigh) - and often in the same sentence, making it allmost imposible to adjust the sound level. And making it absolutly imposible to follow all the dialogue if there're any sounds nearby. So driving a car, washing up or doing the shopping with this book sucks.

Book good, audio horrible

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