The Bloodline Feud: A Merchant Princes Omnibus: The Family Trade & The Hidden Family

I've been reading Stross stories, novels, and website for some years now, and so when he announced that the Merchant Princes were being remade and re-released in the colonies, I jumped to get them and tore through the Kindle books quickly. Of the whole series I can say: I really like and am worried for the main characters, and am not entirely pleased with the direction of the plot. In this first book (or first and second if you like) we are introduced to the world and to Miriam. And then quite quickly the reader and Miriam both find out there is more to the world than we thought. And then it happens again to the great discomfort of Miriam and her office furniture. And slowly but relentlessly some of the true nature of things and the conflicts between hidden powers is revealed and Miriam is quite stuck in the middle of all of it. I quite like Miriam and some of other characters. I enjoyed how Stross teases together a complex and treacherous plot across many settings and locales and how this volume is plotted. I like the settings and how they are contrasted. I even enjoy the perhaps overbearing contrasts between the modern and historical worlds and the technological developments. Why, I even appreciate the economics lessons :) I recommend this first volume of the redone Merchant Princes to everyone. After you read it we can argue about whether you'll like the rest of the series. And if this is your first Stross there are some wonderful surprises awaiting you in the book and his others.

Stress turned the parallel universe trope into an economics lesson which was fun to read and surprising no one did before. Making the central characters female provided Stross ample room to critique gender politics and economics adding additional interest. His interest in playing with his worlds and weaving these lessons is not matched in his character development, however. Many relatively central characters are two dimensional foils, often rendered without consistent aspects. But high literature wasn't Astros' aim. As a quick read entertainment The Bloodline Feud is pretty good. Sets up for sequels, revenue streams for the author and publisher, but that's a function of the times, I guess, part of our increasingly crass commercial culture.

Great fun. Great writingl Contemporary (a decade or so) U.S., mainly Washington D.C., New York, & Boston, plus similar but historically altered locations a century or so earlier, plus analogous places in feudal England. The characters travel between them, helping and/or betraying each other while trying to cope with all the cultural, political, and technical differences as they attempt to manipulate history and each other to fit their plans. Exciting narrative action, full of Stross' best humor & political satire, and especially engaging if you're a history buff.

This is an enjoyable romp as Stross takes traveling between parallel universes as a given and then digs into the really far-out stuff: the economics of it all. The "21st century American in a medieval world" plotline has serious risk of becoming tedious but Stross handles it very well. Witty and fun, I found myself absorbed in the book really quickly.

The Bloodline Feud (The Merchant Princes, #1-2) by Charles Stross An interesting mix of SciFi and Fantasy. Set in the America during the Bush-Cheney administration, and a couple of tangential worlds. Our hero, Miriam, has an entire warehouse of surprises when her mom finally lets on the family secret. Not the least of which is being able to transport herself into a medieval style world where (oh dear) she is a noble person. And in the middle of a very drastic feud! Miriam really does not do well at Court. And her rather botches a lot of folks plans, both for her wealth, and her health! Tightly written, but sometimes a bit forced. Good characterizations (as you would expect from Charlie) but the plot does get disjointed. At least you, dear reader, have the luxury of putting the book down. Which you really won't do as you need to find out what happens next.

Some time back I had an online discussion with the author concerning whether kindle prices were being set too high. Stross was in favour of the high price route while I argued, as an economist, that he might well sell more in total with a low price approach (we call it elasticity of demand). Now his Family series about Miriam Beckstein, a world walking missing princess, have been issued as double novels, all six of them. Even though I had bought all of the individual novels (in hardback no less) I succumbed and bought them all again to carry them on my kindle when I travel. The books are great fun, as well as being an interesting attempt to write from a more left wing approach (rather than the more typical American right wing approach personified by Heinlein and Pournelle). I will be curious to know how successful the lower price approach is. There are six books (three volumes in kindle) in the series so far but each stands largely on its own and Stross has outlined some interesting directions in which he may take the series. If you haven't read any of this series, particularly if you have liked his Laundry novels, go ahead.

Stross always entices me to keep reading, especially when I have other things to do. Somehow, his misses in American vernacular add to—rather than detract from—the authenticity of his characters.