Overtime by Charles Stross
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Holiday, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (30 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Review by: AstilbeIntroduced to readers in the novels The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue, the Laundry is a secret British government agency charged with preventing dark interdimensional entities from destroying the human race. Now, in “Overtime,” the Laundry is on a skeleton staff for Christmas—leaving one bureaucrat to be all that stands between the world and annihilation by the Thing That Comes Down Chimneys. Written especially for Tor.com’s holiday season, Charles Stross’s novelette is a finalist for the 2010 Hugo Award.
Charles Stross is the Hugo-winning author of some of the most acclaimed novels and stories of the last ten years, including Singularity Sky, Accelerando, Halting State, the “Merchant Princes” series beginning with The Family Trade, and the story collections Toast and Wireless.
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Bob was an intelligent and sensible main character. I especially liked how cautious he was once he realized that the Christmas shifts he’d been assigned to take at his job weren’t going to be as quiet as he’d hoped. He took even the slightest whiff of danger seriously, and that’s something I always appreciate. There’s something to be said for a character who planned his moves out strategically instead of assuming that he had all of the information he needed thirty seconds after he realized something had gone horribly wrong.
As much as I enjoyed the time travel elements of the plot, I also found them confusing at times. A few key scenes were shared at times when I didn’t yet understand their full significance. Since they weren’t necessarily shared in order either, this only made me more uncertain about what was going on and when it was happening. It would have been really nice to have more direction from the narrator about how all of these pieces of the puzzle fit together.
The villain in this tale was deliciously frightening. Their backstory was as complex as it was relatable. While I can’t go into any detail about their identity or what their motives were, it was nice to meet an antagonist who was so interesting. Would I want to meet them? No, but I was intrigued by who they were and how much effort Mr. Stross put into given them a three-dimensional personality.
This story is part of a series, but it can be read on its own or out of order.
Overtime should be read by anyone who will be working over the holiday season.
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