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The story of the worldwalkers just got stranger in Charles Stross's The Merchants' War. More worlds, more surprises. And there's a war going on ...Miriam Beckstein is a young, hip, business journalist in Boston. She discovered in The Family Trade and The Hidden Family that her family came from an alternate reality, that she was very well-connected, and that her family was too much like the mafia for comfort. She found herself caught in a family trap in The Clan Corporate and betrothed to a show more brain-damaged prince, and then all hell broke loose.
Now, in The Merchants' War, Miriam has escaped to yet another world and remains in hiding from both the Clan and their opponents. There is a nasty shooting war going on in the Gruinmarkt world of the Clan, and we know something that Miriam does not; something that she's really going to hate—if she lives long enough to find out.
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Next up is the fourth book in Charles Stross series about a clan of world-walking drug dealers, the Merchants War shares the strengths and the weaknesses of the previous volumes and ramps up the action and plot nicely.
Book Three, Clan Corporate ended with a marriage announcement and gathering that went horribly wrong as, simultaneously, agents from a US Government agency managed to make their way across to the world of the Gruinmarkt into the middle of a gathering set to marry the heroine, Miriam, to a brain-damaged son of the King, and said gathering went up in flames.
Book Four shows the smoke clearing from that event as Egon, elder son of the King, takes control of the situation and decides Something Must Be Done. At the same time, show more Miriam, barely escaped into the third world of New London, has new problems with the police forces in that world. And of course Mike, part of that op across to that world, has problems of his own.
What's more, not content with merely working out the consequences of these plots, Stross throws a new puzzle in the mix, and starts to answer a long standing question of the series: just what is the mechanism that allows the Family to really worldwalk in the first place.
Splendid, vivid writing, great plot and action and character bits make this another winner for Mr. Stross. I particularly liked Mike's view of Olga, a character we've seen before through Miriam, and now get new sides and facets as we see her through the eyes of Mike, and get a sense that she's even more competent that we really knew. The world and set up are just as intriguing as before, if not more so, with the revelations made in the book.
The major flaw in the book, and once again its not Stross' fault, really, is the marketing. The book, like a couple of the previous books, has an "ending problem". These books have been sliced and diced and released in a suboptimal way, in my opinion. The book simply ends without a real attempt at a crescendo.
Still, fans of the previous three novels will love this one, and if you haven't started reading this series--go get the Family Trade and get yourself started. World walking scions, battles in a medieval world with guns and an ultralight(!), intrigue, mystery, fine writing and character development. Its a tasty chili of goodness. show less
Book Three, Clan Corporate ended with a marriage announcement and gathering that went horribly wrong as, simultaneously, agents from a US Government agency managed to make their way across to the world of the Gruinmarkt into the middle of a gathering set to marry the heroine, Miriam, to a brain-damaged son of the King, and said gathering went up in flames.
Book Four shows the smoke clearing from that event as Egon, elder son of the King, takes control of the situation and decides Something Must Be Done. At the same time, show more Miriam, barely escaped into the third world of New London, has new problems with the police forces in that world. And of course Mike, part of that op across to that world, has problems of his own.
What's more, not content with merely working out the consequences of these plots, Stross throws a new puzzle in the mix, and starts to answer a long standing question of the series: just what is the mechanism that allows the Family to really worldwalk in the first place.
Splendid, vivid writing, great plot and action and character bits make this another winner for Mr. Stross. I particularly liked Mike's view of Olga, a character we've seen before through Miriam, and now get new sides and facets as we see her through the eyes of Mike, and get a sense that she's even more competent that we really knew. The world and set up are just as intriguing as before, if not more so, with the revelations made in the book.
The major flaw in the book, and once again its not Stross' fault, really, is the marketing. The book, like a couple of the previous books, has an "ending problem". These books have been sliced and diced and released in a suboptimal way, in my opinion. The book simply ends without a real attempt at a crescendo.
Still, fans of the previous three novels will love this one, and if you haven't started reading this series--go get the Family Trade and get yourself started. World walking scions, battles in a medieval world with guns and an ultralight(!), intrigue, mystery, fine writing and character development. Its a tasty chili of goodness. show less
Wars and rumours of war have broken out across multiple worlds, with internal, international, and interworld tensions ramping up. The threat of intercontinental ballistic magic wands makes the deadly court intrigue that dominated the previous books seem almost petty by comparison.
Miriam is largely sidelined, no longer jailed but on the run from multiple chase forces. Lucky for her (and more importantly for us) the support characters are more than up to the challenge of carrying things forward without her.
Miriam is largely sidelined, no longer jailed but on the run from multiple chase forces. Lucky for her (and more importantly for us) the support characters are more than up to the challenge of carrying things forward without her.
The first hundred pages of this novel should be taken with a wee dram of scotch. That is the only way you can swallow the excessively lumpy exposition that starts off the fourth book of this series describing world walkers from a feudal empire.
Miriam thought she was an adopted American baby, but the truth was much stranger. She was actually a child hidden in our world to protect her from a civil war in the parallel world that she was actually born in. She has the ability to "walk between worlds" when staring at an intricate knot formation. Her traveling unravels the plans of The Clan, others who can also walk between worlds. When last we saw her she was held captive in her medieval home world and about to be wed to the King's idiot son. show more Instead the palace was blown up and she escaped into a third world, New Britain. Here the assassination of the old King had driven his son into a fury of repression and war. Miriam is hunted in that world as a seditionist. In America she is hunted as a leader of the largest narcotic and smuggling trade the DEA has ever found. And the progressive faction of the Clan wants her back because she is carrying the heir to the medieval throne.
The rest of the book is non-stop action as wars and police actions are fought in three worlds and an MIT graduate is investigating a new fourth world. Like many science fiction writers who try fantasy, it is not enough to end there. There is an attempt to place all the phenomenon in a scientific context. So a certain handwavium goes on to describe how world walking could take place via biotechnology and quantum computing. Although I was annoyed by the first quarter of the book, by the end I could not put it down and am once again eagerly awaiting the next volume. show less
Miriam thought she was an adopted American baby, but the truth was much stranger. She was actually a child hidden in our world to protect her from a civil war in the parallel world that she was actually born in. She has the ability to "walk between worlds" when staring at an intricate knot formation. Her traveling unravels the plans of The Clan, others who can also walk between worlds. When last we saw her she was held captive in her medieval home world and about to be wed to the King's idiot son. show more Instead the palace was blown up and she escaped into a third world, New Britain. Here the assassination of the old King had driven his son into a fury of repression and war. Miriam is hunted in that world as a seditionist. In America she is hunted as a leader of the largest narcotic and smuggling trade the DEA has ever found. And the progressive faction of the Clan wants her back because she is carrying the heir to the medieval throne.
The rest of the book is non-stop action as wars and police actions are fought in three worlds and an MIT graduate is investigating a new fourth world. Like many science fiction writers who try fantasy, it is not enough to end there. There is an attempt to place all the phenomenon in a scientific context. So a certain handwavium goes on to describe how world walking could take place via biotechnology and quantum computing. Although I was annoyed by the first quarter of the book, by the end I could not put it down and am once again eagerly awaiting the next volume. show less
Finally! I'm sensing a heartbeat again. Stross is breathing some life back into the patient.
The series was starting to feel like it would fizzle out. This book had better pacing and a good twine of plot lines. Like the other books, we have to keep reading to see where the story goes.
I am noticing he does a good job of reminding us what came before without too much offending infodump. The reminders are not enough to bring a new reader into the series at this point but they make perfect sense to feed a reader who hasn't read the last book recently, as when these books were originally published.
There were fewer points in this book where I was frustrated because a character did not do something I thought was a better and obvious solution. show more Mirriam begins to pick up the reins of her own destiny again. Yay! show less
The series was starting to feel like it would fizzle out. This book had better pacing and a good twine of plot lines. Like the other books, we have to keep reading to see where the story goes.
I am noticing he does a good job of reminding us what came before without too much offending infodump. The reminders are not enough to bring a new reader into the series at this point but they make perfect sense to feed a reader who hasn't read the last book recently, as when these books were originally published.
There were fewer points in this book where I was frustrated because a character did not do something I thought was a better and obvious solution. show more Mirriam begins to pick up the reins of her own destiny again. Yay! show less
Book 4 of the Merchant Princes series, in recovery from the mess that is Book 3. Miriam and her Leveler go on the lam via luxury transcontinental train, civil war between the Pretender and the worldwalker merchants ensues in the Auld Country, and the government task force in this world closes in on the worldwalkers, casting them as enemy alien terrorists based on the nuclear threat Matthias engineered when he defected. in short, somewhat of a return to form (though the first two books in the series, with Miriam making her mark on two new worlds with mad skillz and considerable aplomb, remain the best).
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 show more 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. show less
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 show more 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. show less
This book picks up immediately after the previous one ends. To the second. You might be able to pick up the pieces but probably not - there isn't a lot of explanation in it.
The Tinker families are in trouble: the DEA and FBI are hunting them in the USA. The usurper king in Gruinmarkt is hunting them, and bribing supporters with a share of the money from the tinkers. Just to add to the fun, the victorian world is in deep shit too.
The story weaves back and forward across worlds, across elements of plot: warfare, intrigue, espionage and more. However, all the parts are nicely linked and woven together seamlessly.
Well worth the read, and it starts on a high, and ends on a rather grip plot twist.
The Tinker families are in trouble: the DEA and FBI are hunting them in the USA. The usurper king in Gruinmarkt is hunting them, and bribing supporters with a share of the money from the tinkers. Just to add to the fun, the victorian world is in deep shit too.
The story weaves back and forward across worlds, across elements of plot: warfare, intrigue, espionage and more. However, all the parts are nicely linked and woven together seamlessly.
Well worth the read, and it starts on a high, and ends on a rather grip plot twist.
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Born in Leeds, England, Charles Stross knew he wanted to be a science fiction writer from the age of six. Despite this, he went to university in London and qualified as a Pharmacist. He made his first writing sale to Interzone in 1986, and sold about a dozen stories elsewhere throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. He now writes fiction show more full-time, has sold about 16 novels, has won one Hugo award and been nominated nearly a dozen times, and has been translated into about a dozen languages. He is the author of the Merchant Princes series. His latest book, The Revolution Business, is the fifth in this series. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife Feorag. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Merchants' War
- Original title
- The Merchants' War
- Original publication date
- 2007-10-16
- People/Characters
- Miriam Beckstein
- Dedication
- For Gil, Jane, George, and Leo
- First words
- The wreckage still smoldered in the wan dawn light, sending a column of grayish-white smoke spiraling into the misty sky above Niejwein.
- Quotations
- Oscar head-butted him again, then made a noise like a dying electric shaver. Mike figured his bowl was empty. ... He reached up to stroke the tomcat, who was clearly intent on exercising his feline right to bear a grudge agai... (show all)nst his human whenever it suited him, and not a moment longer. (Chapter 10 "Interaction", pp.220-221)
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"I think we might be able to deal with the enemy without mounting a frontal attack on those guns: and in the process, inconvenience the pretender mightily . . . ."
- Publisher's editor
- Hartwell, David G.
- Blurbers
- Stirling, S. M.
- Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 862
- Popularity
- 31,418
- Reviews
- 19
- Rating
- (3.57)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 3
