My second favorite of the series . The first one was the best in my opinion, perhaps because the world-walking plot was first introduced.

Moving between three separate worlds in this book with the introduction of a fourth. Current day Boston and New Britian were well written about -- I lost interest in what was transpiring in Niejwein.

The new world found by Huw, Elena and Yul was left wanting for any closure. Sure, leaves open another book but would be nice to ( )

ZZB4

This book was a good installment in the Merchant Princes story. I liked the various storyline featuring other characters which intersect at the end. I look forward to finding out what happens next in The Revolution Business. ( )

This ongoing story finds Mirjam Beckstein, a Boston journalist, worlds away from her home after escaping an attempt on her life. Finding herself in another world and just as much danger she tries to cope with the twisting plots of her long lost family (the Clan) and come to terms with who she is. In the meantime her family is having problems of their own and increasingly finds need of Mirjam.
Each book in this series tends to lead to the next so if you start in the middle you will be completely lost, but that said each book is well worth reading. ( )

Very good fourth book - although it feels like a second book. This is a fantastic series, but the complexity of the plots and the long interval between books is beginning to bog down my appreciation. There are complex concepts in these books, thoroughly examined. It is difficult to remember all of them - for example I can't recall the definition of "inner" and "outer" family, nor the complex social importance of the distinction.

In prior volumes, the Clan defeated the Lee subclan; once the Lee clan's secret advantage was made public, the mop up seemed to proceed quickly. In this volume, the clan is preparing a two front war between the royalty on their original world, and the FBI in "our" world. The war in the original world goes hot quickly, and there are people working furiously on both sides to prevent the war with the modern world from going hot. Probably the strongest feature of these books is that all parties - the clan, their adversaries, and our government are all smart people who think creatively, but none of them are supermen. All sides of the conflict are believable people, doing the best they can within their constraints. (I'm not advocating any more sympathy for any of them than that which is due to any other human. I don't like Madame Beckstein or His Royal Majesty Egon). The plots advance because of the character's action, not because of their adversaries stupidity.

The series is getting long in the tooth and losing focus. At this point I'd like to see the overplots resolved, and a series of smaller works set within the universe. I'd love to read more about Gruinmarket, but I feel it is getting short shrift. There are other plots that could be spun off into entire books without harming the core plots. I'd like a whole book on Brill.

Stross is a fantastic writer with an astonishing command of a wide variety of disciplines. ( )