A bold fantasy in the tradition of Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, The Merchant Princes is a sweeping new series from the hottest new writer ...
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Nov 16, 2007
Seth
rated it: 
Friends have been trying very hard to get me to love Stross. I liked (but didn't love) Halting State enough. This was a poor choice for a second. It may have put me off Stross all together.
The setup is simple enough:
0. Start with an interesting criminal investigation plot and abandon it in three chapters
1. Take Amber, but with only two worlds to jump between
2. Give the protagonist an almost Heinleinesque array of skills to perfectly prepare her for whatever com More...
The setup is simple enough:
0. Start with an interesting criminal investigation plot and abandon it in three chapters
1. Take Amber, but with only two worlds to jump between
2. Give the protagonist an almost Heinleinesque array of skills to perfectly prepare her for whatever com More...
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Sep 05, 2011
Mjhancock
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 19, 2011
***Dave
rated it: 
It's cliche to suggest this book bears a strong inspiration to Zelazny's Amber (albeit with a bit more economics and a bit less drugs). A woman who discovers she has a blood heritage embodied in a "pattern" on a broach that allows her to travel to another world of medieval lords and feuding families ... yeah, hard to argue the basic similarity there.
That said, Stross focuses more on the pragmatic than the phantasmagoric. His protagonist, Miriam Beckstein, finds herself at th More...
That said, Stross focuses more on the pragmatic than the phantasmagoric. His protagonist, Miriam Beckstein, finds herself at th More...
Feb 26, 2011
Alex
rated it: 
I'm a big fan of Chuck Stross's science fiction -- SINGULARITY SKY, ACCELERANDO. But this one left me cold. Why?
For one thing, the conceit is heavily purloined from Narnia: the hero is a boring person here, but a crucial person Over (or Under) There. Neil
Gaiman found a way to take the curse off it in NEVERWHERE: his restless, mundane hero makes the mistake of helping a runaway girl from Under There, and soon starts to become a nonentity Over Here. Stross goes another way: his her More...
For one thing, the conceit is heavily purloined from Narnia: the hero is a boring person here, but a crucial person Over (or Under) There. Neil
Gaiman found a way to take the curse off it in NEVERWHERE: his restless, mundane hero makes the mistake of helping a runaway girl from Under There, and soon starts to become a nonentity Over Here. Stross goes another way: his her More...
Sep 04, 2009
Sueij
rated it:
I'm all the way to Book 4 of this series, and I'm really sad that I'm so hooked on the storyline, because I'm just not really enjoying the reading experience.
On the good side, the basic concept is interesting: There are multiple worlds out there where history diverged, and a few people with a recessive trait are "world walkers" who can travel between them. Miriam is the lost child of one of these families, and (re)discovers them, her skill, and this other world.
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On the good side, the basic concept is interesting: There are multiple worlds out there where history diverged, and a few people with a recessive trait are "world walkers" who can travel between them. Miriam is the lost child of one of these families, and (re)discovers them, her skill, and this other world.
More...
May 29, 2009
Don
rated it:
I found this disappointing. As with most genre novels, plot is all; the writing style and characterizations are rarely memorable. In this case, the writing is a notch above pedestrian, but the storytelling, while adequately compelling, is confusing.
The Family Trade is the first in a series of fantasy novels which attempts to combine traditional sword and sorcery fantasy with modern reality and economic theory. It's at best only partially successful. Truth to tell, I found the eco More...
The Family Trade is the first in a series of fantasy novels which attempts to combine traditional sword and sorcery fantasy with modern reality and economic theory. It's at best only partially successful. Truth to tell, I found the eco More...
Feb 11, 2011
Laylah
rated it: 
Oh man, what a page-turner. (And what an ending! I need to get my hands on the second one. In a hurry.) I loved this one.
This book takes a single otherworldly premise -- what if there were a genetic ability to move between our Earth and a parallel world with different history? -- and develops it in fascinating, plausible ways that depend on real history, real economics, and real human politicking. Labyrinthine schemes and adventures! Shifting allegiances! Smart, adaptable characters! I More...
This book takes a single otherworldly premise -- what if there were a genetic ability to move between our Earth and a parallel world with different history? -- and develops it in fascinating, plausible ways that depend on real history, real economics, and real human politicking. Labyrinthine schemes and adventures! Shifting allegiances! Smart, adaptable characters! I More...
Feb 05, 2009
British science fiction author Stross (Singularity Sky *** Jan/Feb 2004) has written "a solid page-turner and an uncommonly promising series launcher," writes Michael Berry in the San Francisco Chronicle. Some readers, however, may be put off by the book's lengthy backstory and a few of the smaller roles read "like stock characters from a historical romance" (Austin American-Statesman). Though Family Trade does not boast the most original premise, Stross pulls off the first o
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Apr 28, 2009
Virgil
rated it:
This story covers three genre of books, Science Fiction, suspense and historical. In the SciFic its an alternate world then our on, with cross time travel. As a suspense the main character Miriam who is an investigative journalist for a techical trade magazine has in an investigation found a chain of major corporation laundring money.
Then while going throuh documents her mother gave to her she find a locket that enable her to travel between worlds. The world she ends up in is the More...
Then while going throuh documents her mother gave to her she find a locket that enable her to travel between worlds. The world she ends up in is the More...
Aug 10, 2011
Iain
rated it:
I was disappointed that I didn't like Charles Stross's "Singularity Sky," because I've enjoyed his writing since Charlie Stross was a regular poster to alt.peeves. Critics said it was "dense" - to me it to me it had far too many interesting but distracting ideas on each page to be readable, which I guess is what "dense" can mean.
Since I have high hopes for Charlie's writing, I thought I'd try again, and I wasn't disappointed. "The Family Trade" More...
Since I have high hopes for Charlie's writing, I thought I'd try again, and I wasn't disappointed. "The Family Trade" More...
Jul 26, 2010
John
rated it:
The initial reaction to the premise, a family that can travel to alternate Earths, rightly makes you think of Zelazny's Amber series. You would be doing yourself, and the author, a disservice, though, to think that it's a rip-off, or "homage" as today's vernacular would have it.
Stross says right up front that he was inspired by Zelazny, and Piper for that matter and that's pretty much where it begins and ends. The Family Trade doesn't go beyond giving the family members t More...
Stross says right up front that he was inspired by Zelazny, and Piper for that matter and that's pretty much where it begins and ends. The Family Trade doesn't go beyond giving the family members t More...
Mar 02, 2011
Steve
rated it:
I didn't know this series, but I've read other books by Stross, so I picked it up when I found it in my local library and I enjoyed it, meaning I guess I'll have to get the next, um, five ordered in since they're not in my library's stock...
Adoptee Miriam Beckstein discovers that her biological family actually comes from a parallel world and that she has the rare gift of being able to travel between the worlds. Her family is part of a clan with this ability, powerful and incredibly r More...
Adoptee Miriam Beckstein discovers that her biological family actually comes from a parallel world and that she has the rare gift of being able to travel between the worlds. Her family is part of a clan with this ability, powerful and incredibly r More...
Sep 15, 2009
Joseph
rated it:
Unlike most of Charles Stross's work, this is neither a collection of short stories, nor a novel length pastiche or humor-related work. Its a fairly solid cross-worlds novel, built so far around an alternative reality/Parallel world premise.
The main character is a journalist who finds out in her mid thirties that her mysterious long-dead birth mother did leave something behind that her adopted mother had been hiding that leads to a genetic heritage that transitions her from one versi More...
The main character is a journalist who finds out in her mid thirties that her mysterious long-dead birth mother did leave something behind that her adopted mother had been hiding that leads to a genetic heritage that transitions her from one versi More...
Dec 26, 2011
Emily
rated it:
Miriam's mother gives her a box of her birth mother's effects, which include a locket with a strange pattern inside. When she looks at the locket, she is taken to a strange alternate world, that is somehow stuck in a feudal, pre-industrial age. Except that some of the nobility wear Armani and watch Dallas reruns on flat-screens.
The premise could have been interesting, but the author always seemed to be one step ahead of me (and not in a good way), and wasn't always good about expla More...
The premise could have been interesting, but the author always seemed to be one step ahead of me (and not in a good way), and wasn't always good about expla More...
Dec 03, 2007
Janet
rated it:
Dear Mr. Stross: Since political and economic analysis is clearly your main interest, perhaps you should shift into the non-fiction market. If you wish to continue writing fiction, please bear in mind that readers are expecting a story, preferably one in which something happens. Page after page of exposition does not make an interesting novel.
Adult fiction (of a sort).
Adult fiction (of a sort).
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Jun 22, 2011
Carson
rated it:
I wasn’t able to make it past page 40 of this book because I found it awkwardly paced and unoriginal.
Miriam is a tech journalist who gets fired for uncovering money laundering, and according to the dust jacket she eventually finds out that she’s a member of a crime family spanning multiple dimensions. I wanted to be interested in the story, but it was hard for me when the author spent the first three pages describing Miriam getting dressed and driving to work.
(Also, one o More...
Miriam is a tech journalist who gets fired for uncovering money laundering, and according to the dust jacket she eventually finds out that she’s a member of a crime family spanning multiple dimensions. I wanted to be interested in the story, but it was hard for me when the author spent the first three pages describing Miriam getting dressed and driving to work.
(Also, one o More...
Oct 03, 2011
Nicolas
rated it:
Un elcteur est une chose étrange : quand c'est long, c'est trop long, et quand c'est court, c'est trop court.
Et pour ce premier tome, c'est "heureusement", le second cas.
En effet, si on y découvre une journaliste plongée par le hasard des réalités parallèles dans des conflits dynastiques dignes des Borgia, la fin du tome nous fait arriver à un point de l'intrigue situé à peine quzine jours après le début.
Et en quinze jours, elle a le temps de se transformer d'une jour More...
Et pour ce premier tome, c'est "heureusement", le second cas.
En effet, si on y découvre une journaliste plongée par le hasard des réalités parallèles dans des conflits dynastiques dignes des Borgia, la fin du tome nous fait arriver à un point de l'intrigue situé à peine quzine jours après le début.
Et en quinze jours, elle a le temps de se transformer d'une jour More...
Jul 26, 2009
Elizabeth
rated it:
This is the first book in a trilogy and the premise is interesting. The main character is the long lost relative of a powerful family that can travel between two worlds. She doesn't know anything of these relatives or her special abilities until her adopted mother gives her a locket found on the body of her murdered mother and she opens it and finds herself somewhere else. Unfortunately the dialog is awkward and unnatural. The characters display emotion through their conversation that seem i
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Jan 06, 2009
Collin
rated it:
This is another "Chronicles of Amber"ish story involving a protagonist in the real world who's really from an alternate reality where they are rich, powerful and cool. I picked this book up initially because it mentioned knights with guns and the title suggested warring merchant houes, which made me think "awesome sweeping multi-volume epic". Instead the story (at least in this first volume) feels rather small and the knights with guns angle is minimal. There's no Battle o
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Oct 10, 2011
Akasha
rated it:
Well, I'm not exactly how to put my thoughts down for this book. I got it by find it and the second book left at a bus stop in SF. I figured, whats the harm in taking them and making an attempt at reading them.
Overall, I found it enjoyable but something is lacking that I can't quite put my finger on. The reading of the book took me a few days, and it is a good, enjoyable and quick read. Nothing to dense or heavy about it but the book does make an attempt to be that. It did make me fe More...
Overall, I found it enjoyable but something is lacking that I can't quite put my finger on. The reading of the book took me a few days, and it is a good, enjoyable and quick read. Nothing to dense or heavy about it but the book does make an attempt to be that. It did make me fe More...
Aug 13, 2009
MarsianMan
rated it:
I might re-rate this higher if the series proves to be good. This is definitely not an entire story in itself, I don't really feel like it was really worth a book in itself; should be a part of a larger book.
Moving onwards, it is an interesting premise that does have obvious Zelazny influences. I think the political situation was too complicated and devious for me to really understand or appreciate. The main character is interesting and fun, though I found the romantic angle to be...u More...
Moving onwards, it is an interesting premise that does have obvious Zelazny influences. I think the political situation was too complicated and devious for me to really understand or appreciate. The main character is interesting and fun, though I found the romantic angle to be...u More...
Jul 18, 2011
Benjamin
rated it:
The Family Trade (The Merchant Princes #1) is a fantastic read from Charles Stross. It is a great blend of fantasy, and some science fiction/fantasy elements blended it.
The basic premise is that an investigative reporter in our world, finds her heritage of being able to transport to other parallel worlds. For example, an early 1800's colonial america...
It's a great change from Accelerando.... My only complaint is that the novel doesn't have a solid conclusion. It is a More...
The basic premise is that an investigative reporter in our world, finds her heritage of being able to transport to other parallel worlds. For example, an early 1800's colonial america...
It's a great change from Accelerando.... My only complaint is that the novel doesn't have a solid conclusion. It is a More...
Jun 08, 2009
Well, this concept for this one was interesting. There is an ongoing series, and I might read another one if it's in the library. A woman finds out by accident that she can travel between parallel universes. So there are different realities for each corresponding place, and her real family from world two are cross-dimensional drug smugglers. She's an annoying character most of the time. I'm reminded of the movie "Spaceballs" when Lord Helmet? says "Just what we need, a Druish prin
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Aug 29, 2011
Donald
rated it:
Rereading this series. These books are entertaining, but not great. There is a very "serial-esque" quality to them. A fast pace, quite a bit happens, but nothing too deep. There is some speculation on the socio-economic impacts of a group of people able to travel between alternate realities.
The cliff-hanger endings, to be expected in a serial style story, sometimes feel rushed, as if the author got to a certain number of pages and said, "Oh, gotta wrap it up!".
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The cliff-hanger endings, to be expected in a serial style story, sometimes feel rushed, as if the author got to a certain number of pages and said, "Oh, gotta wrap it up!".
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Dec 12, 2010
Hester
rated it:
"The Family Trade" is a tremendously fun action adventure about development economics. Stross seems to subvert expectations; the main idea is that a 32 year old investigative journalist finds out she is a powerful countess in a medieval kingdom. What is every little girl's fantasy turns out the be every independent woman's nightmare. One of the themes that resonates with me is how feudal organized crime is. Not only is the mafia feudal today, but the old aristocracies functioned li
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Sep 22, 2011
Jjlupa
rated it:
I was totally set to give this book the big 4-stars (meaning I liked it a lot and it was good), but the ending totally felt like the book was written as a whole, then chopped in parts to publish. I'd be raging right now if the year was 2006 (or whenever this came out).
Anyways, the book smacks of Zelazny/Amber, which you could either see as making it hopelessly derivative, or you could think of it as TOTALLY AWESEOME (probably because you feel the way about Zelazny that I do).
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Anyways, the book smacks of Zelazny/Amber, which you could either see as making it hopelessly derivative, or you could think of it as TOTALLY AWESEOME (probably because you feel the way about Zelazny that I do).
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Mar 22, 2009
Justin
rated it:
I was skeptically going in...I'm no economist, a recommendation from Paul Krugman intrigues me but I'm not sure what it says. This is "real world" fantasy, alternate-history yankee in king arthur's court and a development econ crash course all in one, and a lot more entertaining then I thought it'd be. Stross's intrigue works on levels you won't give him credit for in the first 100 pages, and it's got a couple of those "wow this story just got a whole lot fucking bigger" m
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Sep 17, 2011
brian
rated it:
The reviews describe the book as akin to Zelazny's Amber series. I love Zelazny's work although I consider Amber to not be among his best material. Anyway, the series is off to a strong start and I will be reading more. I could faintly see why people made the connection to Amber but it was only at the end, when a new set of players is found, that I felt it.
Zelazny's characters in Amber were nigh-immortal and that might be a good excuse for why their actions and machinations seemed a More...
Zelazny's characters in Amber were nigh-immortal and that might be a good excuse for why their actions and machinations seemed a More...
Jun 25, 2010
John Carter
rated it:
A clever riff on one of the most hackneyed conceits in fantasy literature, the Ordinary Person from Earth magically transported to a realm where they're Tremendously Important.
Stross introduces economic history and a feisty financial reporter - and guys in armor with submachine guns - to the formula, but for me it never really rose above "okay," and certainly wasn't the masterful play on genre tropes his Laundry novels have been.
I'll read more in the series, b More...
Stross introduces economic history and a feisty financial reporter - and guys in armor with submachine guns - to the formula, but for me it never really rose above "okay," and certainly wasn't the masterful play on genre tropes his Laundry novels have been.
I'll read more in the series, b More...
Jan 23, 2012
Chris
rated it:
So, I was basically sold on this series for two reasons:
1) Charles Stross
2) It's supposedly an homage to Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, which is one of my favourite book series.
Now, I can see where the Amber comparison comes into play--there are parallel worlds, scheming family members and Machiavellian conspiracies, so all the major themes are represented--but it's a substantially different feeling book. It's a lot slower-paced, for one. The Family Trade starts of More...
1) Charles Stross
2) It's supposedly an homage to Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, which is one of my favourite book series.
Now, I can see where the Amber comparison comes into play--there are parallel worlds, scheming family members and Machiavellian conspiracies, so all the major themes are represented--but it's a substantially different feeling book. It's a lot slower-paced, for one. The Family Trade starts of More...
