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Praise for the novels of The Merchant Princes
"[These books] are, first and foremost, great fun. Charles Stross's Merchant Princes novels are economic science fiction worth reading."
--Paul Krugman, "Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and "author of "The Great Unraveling
""Politics, intrigue, and striking plot twists make this story a compelling read. The fast-paced and complex interpersonal and political maneuvering will leave readers hard-pressed to put this book down before finding out how it ends."
"--RT BOOKreviews "on" The Revolution Business
""For sheer inventiveness and energy, this cliffhanger-riddled serial remains difficult to top."
"--Publishers Weekly" on "The Merchants' War
""Stross has taken the broad idea with which he began the series...and expended it logically in several initially unexpected directions. The action continues to be compelling, with the author throwing in new surprises every time the reader thinks the story's about to settle down."
--"Asimov's Science Fiction" on "The Merchants' War
""Twenty-first-century politics and high-fantasy intrigue make remarkably good bedfellows in Stross' Merchant Princes series. . . . The world-building in this series is simply superb, in other words--it is engaging, crystal-clear and disturbingly real....." The Merchants' War" is fast-paced and engrossing and will leave readers ravenous for the next installment."
--SciFi.com
""The Clan Corporate" offers more proof, if any were needed, why Charles Stross has become universally acknowledged as one of science fiction's major new talents."
--Mike Resnick
""The Hidden Family" is a festival of ideas in action, fast moving and often very funny, but underpinned by a rigorous logical strategy. . . .Stross's breezy, almost Heinleinian mode of narration is on fine display in "The Hidden Family.""
--"Locus
""Stross continues to mix high and low tech in amusing and surprising ways. . .
Product Description
Things are going badly for the Clan in this new SF novel of the Merchant Princes, the immensely popular series by Charles Stross. Locked in a vicious civil war for control over the kingdom of Niejwein, their army is bottled up inside a fortress unders siege in two parallel universes at once. Duke Angbard, the Clan's leader, has been laid low by a stroke: plotters are already conspiring in readiness for the deadly dance to come. Miriam, rescued from a tight spot in New Britain, finds the hopes of the young, progressive faction focused on her. But do they want her as a leader or a figurehead? She soon finds herself thrown into a desperate struggle for power. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the Clan, researchers working for the US government have achieved a technological breakthrough. The War on Terror is about to go transdimensional.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I'm loving this series of books. The fourth and this, the fifth, volumes have been real page turners.
The book does end on something of a cliff-hanger - but the sixth and, for the time being, final book is now published so I'll be investing in that very shortly.
One interesting thing about reading this series is the divided loyalties you feel as a reader. There's not exactly a clear 'good' or 'bad' side of the unfolding events, so you can end up rooting for a group of people who are actually terrorists and drug-traffickers!
Anyway, it's a fun book, not to be taken too seriously, but well worth a read.
The book does end on something of a cliff-hanger - but the sixth and, for the time being, final book is now published so I'll be investing in that very shortly.
One interesting thing about reading this series is the divided loyalties you feel as a reader. There's not exactly a clear 'good' or 'bad' side of the unfolding events, so you can end up rooting for a group of people who are actually terrorists and drug-traffickers!
Anyway, it's a fun book, not to be taken too seriously, but well worth a read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The fifth installment in the series, and series-itis is rearing its head I'm afraid. It's getting a bit silly and over-the-top (you could tell that from the cover: a dude in plate armour, with a Maxim gun to one side and, errm, a nuke going off in the background) but that I can live with. It's fiction, it's entertainment, not serious literature. Unfortunately, there's rather too much politicking and I get the feeling that some fairly important background has been edited out in the process of turning the three huge books that were planned into six small books. That politicking is too opaque to the reader and takes away from the silly entertainment. And there's no chance at all that this would work in isolation - if you've not read the previous books, this will score nul points.
I still got some enjoyment from it, but there were too many points, especially in the last quarter, when I came close to just putting the book down and not finishing it. So I'm afraid that I can't recommend this.
I still got some enjoyment from it, but there were too many points, especially in the last quarter, when I came close to just putting the book down and not finishing it. So I'm afraid that I can't recommend this.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you haven't read any of the merchant prince novels because you've read other Charles Stross science fiction and think you won't like them, you're wrong, you will love these books.
If I'm being really honest I wish I'd waited and read the previous one, this one and the next one all at the same time as they read like one big novel, with a cliff hanger ending in the last one and this one. But the series is very compelling and I just have to read them as they appear because of the cliff hanger endings, which is the point of them I guess. There's nothing worse than waiting a year or more for the next in a series and just loosing interest completely in the intervening time, (David Louis Edelman springs to mind here).
There is one more coming next year to finish off this storyline but this series could run and run, there is just so much there to explore in the worlds Stross has created, and every book teases us just a little more with the back story.
This is an absolutely essential read but not for someone to pick up who hasn't read the previous books in the series, it doesn't stand alone. I'd thoroughly recommend going and getting the first one, by the time you've tracked them all down and read them, there will only be a short delay until The Trade of Queens is published.
My only regret is not being able to wait a month after it was published to get it for this price, I paid an American book chain twice as much and by the time it arrived it was on amazon uk for less. Ho hum.
If I'm being really honest I wish I'd waited and read the previous one, this one and the next one all at the same time as they read like one big novel, with a cliff hanger ending in the last one and this one. But the series is very compelling and I just have to read them as they appear because of the cliff hanger endings, which is the point of them I guess. There's nothing worse than waiting a year or more for the next in a series and just loosing interest completely in the intervening time, (David Louis Edelman springs to mind here).
There is one more coming next year to finish off this storyline but this series could run and run, there is just so much there to explore in the worlds Stross has created, and every book teases us just a little more with the back story.
This is an absolutely essential read but not for someone to pick up who hasn't read the previous books in the series, it doesn't stand alone. I'd thoroughly recommend going and getting the first one, by the time you've tracked them all down and read them, there will only be a short delay until The Trade of Queens is published.
My only regret is not being able to wait a month after it was published to get it for this price, I paid an American book chain twice as much and by the time it arrived it was on amazon uk for less. Ho hum.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Book The Revolution Business
This item was purchased for a third party who was very pleased with the packageing and speed of delivery.
Published 23 months ago by R. W. Mason
Buy the whole series
These books really need to be read in order and this is another fantastic episode.
I really love the way Stross has taken three time periods and shows how the thinking... Read more
I really love the way Stross has taken three time periods and shows how the thinking... Read more
Published on 20 April 2010 by Tallyman
Excellent story continues
Charles Stross continues this excellent series of books with another excellent book. Only problem I can say is that books are too short... cannot wait until next book is out.
Published on 6 April 2010 by Jalepe
An excellent series continues...
This is book 5 in the 'Merchant Princes' series. Normally, 'book 5 in a series' raises the spectre of something running on cliches inherited from earlier books in the series. Read more
Published on 2 April 2010 by A. J. Poulter
The end is near
This book is simply amazing - not the best of the Merchant Princes, but only because the sequel The Trade of Queens (Merchant Princes) - the last in the series - is fractionally... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2010 by D. Harris
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