From Amazon:
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.

My thoughts:
As with earlier books in this series, the very frequent POV changes and constant plotting and double crossing factions makes this a bit of a choppy read. If I hadn't read the previous 4 books in the last year I wouldn't have a clue what was going on. It's pretty much that already invested time that keeps me going with this series (only buying second hand copies to read); sooner or later some resolution in plots will have to come! ( )

Starting to bring the narrative strands back together, but still not as good as the first couple in the series. A shame in some ways, as some of the storylines could be much stronger if focussed on. ( )

Moved along pretty fast. I want a little less action and a little more of the ideas. Is that weird? Cliffhanger - I'm going to have to get the next one quickly, but I have come to suspect that this whole series ends each book on a cliffhanger, and I'll be stuck on the author's writing pace pretty soon... ( )

Everything blows up. ( )

Not up to the standards of the rest of the series to date; this book feels like it's just setting things up for the last volume. I suspect I may be unable to evaluate it fairly for personal reasons; the Plot Device Pregnancy is an issue I have difficulty with and that perhaps colors my overall opinion of the book, and someone with different triggers would find the book more enjoyable. ( )