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The Merchant Princes #1-2
The Bloodline Feud
The six families of the Clan rule the kingdom of Gruinmarkt from behind the scenes, a mixture of nobility and criminal conspirators whose power to walk between their world and ours makes them rich in both. Miriam, a hip tech journalist from Boston, discovers her alternate world relatives with explosive results that shake three worlds. Now, as the prodigal Countess Helge Thorold-Hjorth, she finds herself ensnared in schemes and plots centuries in the making. She is surrounded by unlikely allies, lethal contraband, and, most dangerous of all, her family. To avoid a slippery slope down to an unmarked grave, Miriam must build a power-base of her own-- with unexpected consequences for three different time-lines, including the quasi-Victorian one exploited by the hidden family.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
576 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2013
134 people are currently reading
859 people want to read
About the author
Charles Stross
158 books5,817 followersCharles David George "Charlie" Stross is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His works range from science fiction and Lovecraftian horror to fantasy.
Stross is sometimes regarded as being part of a new generation of British science fiction writers who specialise in hard science fiction and space opera. His contemporaries include Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Liz Williams and Richard Morgan.
SF Encyclopedia: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_...
Tor: http://us.macmillan.com/author/charle...
Stross is sometimes regarded as being part of a new generation of British science fiction writers who specialise in hard science fiction and space opera. His contemporaries include Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Liz Williams and Richard Morgan.
SF Encyclopedia: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_...
Tor: http://us.macmillan.com/author/charle...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
April 11, 2019
As promising a start as these two books give, I simply cannot recommend this series to anyone. Somewhere in the middle of the third book, Stross completely changes the tone of the series from intrigue/fantasy to "nuke the plot with fire". Plot threads are introduced by the dozen and ignored, previously-interesting characters are narratively destroyed, and a literal nuking everything tops us off, leaving everything hanging and unresolved. The narrative shift is so stark and sudden, I almost have to suspect drama in the author's personal life halfway through the series.
It's a true pity to waste such an interesting premise, but it's not worth the ride; trust me.
It's a true pity to waste such an interesting premise, but it's not worth the ride; trust me.
June 29, 2013
A wonderfully different take on the fantasy genre, though you could almost take it as science fiction if not for the magic Sigils that let certain people walk into alternate dimensions.
One of my favorite things about this book is that it features a protagonist who actually thinks about her situation and comes up with a sensible plan to survive, understand and profit rather than bouncing aimlessly from one crisis to the next like so many others.
Exciting, thought-provoking and extremely enjoyable. I very much hope the rest of this saga lives up to The Bloodline Feud.
One of my favorite things about this book is that it features a protagonist who actually thinks about her situation and comes up with a sensible plan to survive, understand and profit rather than bouncing aimlessly from one crisis to the next like so many others.
Exciting, thought-provoking and extremely enjoyable. I very much hope the rest of this saga lives up to The Bloodline Feud.
October 17, 2015
Enjoyed this a lot. Saying what it is about might not make it sound very attractive: yet another many-worlds or parallel worlds story, with some er, parallels (sorry) with the T Pratchett/S Baxter 'Long Earth' series, amongst others, but in my estimation a good one, well written with an interesting plot and well rounded (at least some of the) characters . In a certain way it is more fantasy than science fiction. The female protagonist is credible as a person although some of the things she does and goes through might stretch your suspension of disbelief. And the first parallel Earth and its ruling class interaction with ours made me think (and I think it is supposed to) Saudi Arabia.
January 23, 2018
3.5 stars. I kept tripping over the language a bit at the beginning (it seemed overly descriptive), but I got completely sucked into the story anyway and stayed up too late to finish it. So!
March 1, 2017
“You earn loyalty by giving it.’
Engaging characters in an intriguing world and storyline. Connecticut Yankee-like situation with modern (2002) American dropped into a quasi-Medieval society. (It’s the “quasi” that makes the story work.) The stakes keep ratcheting higher.
“They don’t have an equal rights amendment.” “These guys don’t have a constitution.”
Published in 2013 but set in 2002. Appropriate tech and culture references. Unlike many modern novels, Stross’ protagonist felt romantic--even sexual--attraction without it short-circuiting her brain.
“There’s a better life awaiting me as a humble illegal immigrant in this world than there as a lady-in-waiting to nobility in my own.”
Ruminations about economics will put some potential readers to sleep. Stross has a better grasp for how economics works than some Nobel laureates. In a nutshell: Smith and Marx were wrong, or at least in complete. Growth doesn’t depend on exploiting resources, women, poor, labor, minorities (those happened but they actually impaired system performance). It’s innovation. (Some day I may blog more, but this enough for now.)
“Taking ideas where they’re needed.”
Good climax, plenty of hook to follow-on volumes.
“Carefully not thinking too hard about the likely consequences of her actions …”
Engaging characters in an intriguing world and storyline. Connecticut Yankee-like situation with modern (2002) American dropped into a quasi-Medieval society. (It’s the “quasi” that makes the story work.) The stakes keep ratcheting higher.
“They don’t have an equal rights amendment.” “These guys don’t have a constitution.”
Published in 2013 but set in 2002. Appropriate tech and culture references. Unlike many modern novels, Stross’ protagonist felt romantic--even sexual--attraction without it short-circuiting her brain.
“There’s a better life awaiting me as a humble illegal immigrant in this world than there as a lady-in-waiting to nobility in my own.”
Ruminations about economics will put some potential readers to sleep. Stross has a better grasp for how economics works than some Nobel laureates. In a nutshell: Smith and Marx were wrong, or at least in complete. Growth doesn’t depend on exploiting resources, women, poor, labor, minorities (those happened but they actually impaired system performance). It’s innovation. (Some day I may blog more, but this enough for now.)
“Taking ideas where they’re needed.”
Good climax, plenty of hook to follow-on volumes.
“Carefully not thinking too hard about the likely consequences of her actions …”
February 20, 2014
I have been meaning to read something by Charlie Stross for absolutely ages. I'd heard of him as being a really interesting 'ideas' sf author and as a fast paced fun read, so when the Merchant Princes kindle edition was on special, I thought it was a good opportunity to give a him go. Generally, I thought the book was alright but not great. It took me quite a while to finish when normally I'm quite a fast reader, which was a sign for me that I wasn't really hugely taken with it. Mild spoilers here: I did really like the core concept of parallel worlds where the different economic systems at play in each world was the primary comparative focus rather than, say, military prowess. It was quite fast paced and generally light, so yes, fun, but I never felt very sympathetic to the main character and therefore a little bit disinterested in her actions and uninvested in her fate. I also didn't like the rather large assumption she makes and which then underpins the rest of the plot, that making the parallel worlds more like the modern US is the logical thing to do. Or even the right thing to do. She considers this decision in one small paragraph which briefly lists some arguments for and against and then moves on. There are more books in this series and I am mildly curious to see where the rest of this story will go but I'm not rushing to buy the sequels at the moment. I'd also be willing to give a different Charlie Stross novel a try in the future so I certainly didn't hate him or dislike him as an author. For me, this was an ok book but not great.
September 1, 2017
This book was a free giveaway for Tor's ebook club
This book checks a lot of boxes for me: thriller, science fiction, multiple universes, alternate histories. But I just couldn't get into it as much as I wanted to. I think it was mostly around the way Stross writes his dialogue. I can't quite figure out exactly what it is about it, but it just didn't do it for me.
The plot twists were pretty good.
I'm never a huge fan of chapters where we don't know WTF is going on and everyone's being all cryptic. There were a few of those here. I'd rather either we know a lot more than the protagonists or know only what they know. But it wasn't too hard to eventually figure out what was going on.
I did enjoy the universe building he did. It definitely felt as though he was one of those authors who builds out whole towns and economies we never see in the book, just to make sure he's being thorough.
Not too much else to say. I did enjoy our protagonist being a literal kick-ass woman. I thought the journalist trope worked well for her as it gave her a reason to have good deductive reasoning skills around what was going on as well as a way of getting information out of people. She was, however, THIRSTY AF! I don't ever think I've read a book with someone so constantly sprung outside of the strange, semi-erotica of Vagina Mundi. While it's never explicit (that I can remember), you definitely know what's up when she's with her beau (pun intended).
This book checks a lot of boxes for me: thriller, science fiction, multiple universes, alternate histories. But I just couldn't get into it as much as I wanted to. I think it was mostly around the way Stross writes his dialogue. I can't quite figure out exactly what it is about it, but it just didn't do it for me.
The plot twists were pretty good.
I'm never a huge fan of chapters where we don't know WTF is going on and everyone's being all cryptic. There were a few of those here. I'd rather either we know a lot more than the protagonists or know only what they know. But it wasn't too hard to eventually figure out what was going on.
I did enjoy the universe building he did. It definitely felt as though he was one of those authors who builds out whole towns and economies we never see in the book, just to make sure he's being thorough.
Not too much else to say. I did enjoy our protagonist being a literal kick-ass woman. I thought the journalist trope worked well for her as it gave her a reason to have good deductive reasoning skills around what was going on as well as a way of getting information out of people. She was, however, THIRSTY AF! I don't ever think I've read a book with someone so constantly sprung outside of the strange, semi-erotica of Vagina Mundi. While it's never explicit (that I can remember), you definitely know what's up when she's with her beau (pun intended).
January 4, 2014
I've read hundreds of books with the person from our mundane world steps into parallel world/time opening salvo. A lot of my favourite books like 'mirror of her dreams' by Stephen Donaldson begin this way. This was by far the best of this sub genre I've read. The protagonist does not mince about in a fog of disorientation and have things happen to her, she's proactive and does not (as a lot of book characters) leave her intelligence at the door. Plus - wit, plot twists galore and some bizarre names thrown in to boot.
October 6, 2021
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3776157.html
This is a compilation and revision of the first two books in Stross's Merchant Princes series (originally intended to be one book rather than two). When I read the first, The Family Trade, in 2005, I wrote:
"I had been looking forward to reading this for some time. Reviews that I had skimmed (and indeed hints dropped by the author) led me to understand that it borrows the feudal and feuding families who can walk between the worlds of Roger Zelazny's Amber series, a firm favourite of mine from an early age. But my anticipation was mixed with a little trepidation: even Zelazny was unable to really pull it off in the end - while the Amber books contain some of his most lyrical prose, the plot has holes you can drive an army of dark, clawed, fanged, furry man-like creatures through, and his own interest and energy had very obviously faded by the middle of the second series. And as for the Betancourt prequels - critical reaction has been pretty unanimous, so I don't think I'll bother.
Well, I think Charlie has pulled it off. He's taken Zelazny's idea and wondered what people with that ability would actually do with it in today's world; applied an economic model to it, if you like. Amber was always supposedly a great trading nexus (Corwin had written its anthem, the Ballad of the Water Crossers), but the evidence of this was pretty minimal - rather than wealth, its children seemed to be more attracted to power, and went off to find kingdoms and wars of their own. In the Stross version, there is a convincing business model using the fact that those with the gift can shift between our world and one where the Vikings settled North America and Europe never developed (and, we suspect, at least one other such parallel universe). Also in the Stross version, we have a plot that makes sense and is compelling reading; and some very interesting and complex characters. The Family Trade doesn't have the vivid imagery of some of his other work, but I sat up much later than I should have last night to finish it, and now can't wait for the sequel, The Hidden Family."
A few weeks later, I wrote of the second part, The Hidden Family:
"I once again sat up far too late reading this, the sequel to The Family Trade. And enjoyed it too. Our heroine from the first book has a business plan, an economic model, three parallel universes to trade between, and a bunch of enemies out to kill her. Some vivid scene-setting, including of the weather; one nice little touch which reminded me of my debate with Ken MacLeod back in August:
I don't know much about English history, but it's got this civil war in the sixteen forties, goes on and on about some dude called the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. I looked him up in Encarta and yes, he's there, too. I didn't know the English had a civil war, and it gets better: they had a revolution in 1688, too! Did you know that? I sure didn't, and it's not in Encarta -- but I didn't trust it, so I checked Britannica and it's kosher. Okay, so England has a lot of history, and it's all in the wrong order.
As the climax loomed and the number of pages left to read dwindled rapidly, I began to wonder if the book would end on a genuine cliff-hanger to encourage us to look out for The Clan Corporate. But in fact enough was resolved - if in a bit of a rush - for the story to come to a satisfactory halt for now.
Charlie does like his feisty women heroes! And does them well."
Sixteen years on, I had forgotten enough of the plot to enjoy it all over again, and also to note that some of the rough edges have been filed off. Perhaps I know the northeast of the US a bit better now than I did, after various visits to my brother in Boston and my former employers in New York, and also a bit more historical background reading, so it all cohered a bit better in my mind. I still love Zelazny and Amber, but I also really like the economic/business mindset that Stross's heroine brings to a similar situation, and the desperate attempts of surveillance states in each of the parallel worlds to keep track of people who can move between them.
This is a compilation and revision of the first two books in Stross's Merchant Princes series (originally intended to be one book rather than two). When I read the first, The Family Trade, in 2005, I wrote:
"I had been looking forward to reading this for some time. Reviews that I had skimmed (and indeed hints dropped by the author) led me to understand that it borrows the feudal and feuding families who can walk between the worlds of Roger Zelazny's Amber series, a firm favourite of mine from an early age. But my anticipation was mixed with a little trepidation: even Zelazny was unable to really pull it off in the end - while the Amber books contain some of his most lyrical prose, the plot has holes you can drive an army of dark, clawed, fanged, furry man-like creatures through, and his own interest and energy had very obviously faded by the middle of the second series. And as for the Betancourt prequels - critical reaction has been pretty unanimous, so I don't think I'll bother.
Well, I think Charlie has pulled it off. He's taken Zelazny's idea and wondered what people with that ability would actually do with it in today's world; applied an economic model to it, if you like. Amber was always supposedly a great trading nexus (Corwin had written its anthem, the Ballad of the Water Crossers), but the evidence of this was pretty minimal - rather than wealth, its children seemed to be more attracted to power, and went off to find kingdoms and wars of their own. In the Stross version, there is a convincing business model using the fact that those with the gift can shift between our world and one where the Vikings settled North America and Europe never developed (and, we suspect, at least one other such parallel universe). Also in the Stross version, we have a plot that makes sense and is compelling reading; and some very interesting and complex characters. The Family Trade doesn't have the vivid imagery of some of his other work, but I sat up much later than I should have last night to finish it, and now can't wait for the sequel, The Hidden Family."
A few weeks later, I wrote of the second part, The Hidden Family:
"I once again sat up far too late reading this, the sequel to The Family Trade. And enjoyed it too. Our heroine from the first book has a business plan, an economic model, three parallel universes to trade between, and a bunch of enemies out to kill her. Some vivid scene-setting, including of the weather; one nice little touch which reminded me of my debate with Ken MacLeod back in August:
I don't know much about English history, but it's got this civil war in the sixteen forties, goes on and on about some dude called the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. I looked him up in Encarta and yes, he's there, too. I didn't know the English had a civil war, and it gets better: they had a revolution in 1688, too! Did you know that? I sure didn't, and it's not in Encarta -- but I didn't trust it, so I checked Britannica and it's kosher. Okay, so England has a lot of history, and it's all in the wrong order.
As the climax loomed and the number of pages left to read dwindled rapidly, I began to wonder if the book would end on a genuine cliff-hanger to encourage us to look out for The Clan Corporate. But in fact enough was resolved - if in a bit of a rush - for the story to come to a satisfactory halt for now.
Charlie does like his feisty women heroes! And does them well."
Sixteen years on, I had forgotten enough of the plot to enjoy it all over again, and also to note that some of the rough edges have been filed off. Perhaps I know the northeast of the US a bit better now than I did, after various visits to my brother in Boston and my former employers in New York, and also a bit more historical background reading, so it all cohered a bit better in my mind. I still love Zelazny and Amber, but I also really like the economic/business mindset that Stross's heroine brings to a similar situation, and the desperate attempts of surveillance states in each of the parallel worlds to keep track of people who can move between them.
December 23, 2014
What the hell is this? Not even remotely one of Stross' best works. Am I reading a YA novel? Why does every character behave as some type of crude sketch?
September 23, 2017
7- First half of the book a 6. Second half 8-, so in all, not 4 stars, but by a small margin. I read about this book online and was intrigued by the premise - a family with the talent to cross worlds, parallel universes. All fascinating! And I must say that Stross can indeed write a fast moving, exciting tale. He's also clearly knowledgeable about science (history and economy in this book), and is a master in pulling out the rug from under the reader, and making sure the course the story is taking remains unpredictable, up to the very end. Miriam, the main character is resourceful, intelligent and a woman of action, and the way in which she secures her place in several male dominated worlds is a joy to witness. But still, another reviewer on here wrote that he had trouble going through this, and I had the same issue, especially in the first half: I read slowly, checking page numbers and reaching for distraction after a couple of pages. It was a bit frustrating. There are several reasons for this that I can think of. Firstly there's a lot of information dumping going on, about several different worlds and families. Secondly, it read as a contemporary thriller, not my favorite genre, or milieu. It's about a workaholic journalist, discovering a white washing operation and a drugs ring, discovering a family with maffia influences and so on ... But the fact is I do not really care about economics, or crime stories, and stuff like that. It's boring to me (sorry, economy nerds!). Also, the concept of parallel universes and 'sliding' between them is not really that new or exciting in itself if there's nothing new done with it. The second half was a better reading experience for me, with the introduction of a thirld world, the protagonist striking out on her own, building her own business and dealing with revolutionaries. Here there were themes that I did like and a fast paced plot with several unexpected revelations. The drug business took a step to the background and new inventions took over. I liked that. But even though this book finishes with a lot of loose ends, I don't think I will read the sequels. There are too many good books waiting for me to read them ...
October 28, 2014
Mon avis en Français
My English review
I did not know anything about the author or the novels and I confess that when I received the book, I was not sure it would be for me. Why is that? The cover didn’t really attract me that much (yes I’m superficial). Yet I had a great time with this story that compiles the first and second book in the series.
Miriam’s life will change overnight when she is fired from her job with her assistant after finding a huge scoop combining a large number of important people. At the same time, her adoptive mother gives her a box with items that belonged to her biological mother. There she discovers a locket that will completely change the game! Oh yes, because the young woman discovers that the object can allow her to travel from one world to another, a very different world from hers in regard of technologies. In fact, everyone seems to live in the Victorian era, all controlled by clans, a kind of mafia that earns large amounts of money by doing business between the kingdoms. It is in this context that Miriam appears, learning that she is the daughter of an important (and murdered) woman of the clan. But this fact complicates everything because it seems that many people now want her dead. And as she tries to understand with the Roland’s help, a member of her family (and maybe more), who she is and what this world hides, she will also understand that there is more than all this. Miriam is full of revolutionary ideas and she is determined to change the laws governing the game of power and money. So we’ll go on an adventure while following this heroine to discover the secrets of the worlds.
I took great pleasure in discovering this story. The author has created a completely amazing universe! I confess that I did not expect that at all, but it was fascinating to discover what these worlds could conceal. Although we have similarities with ours, their past, their history, their advances are all different. But Miriam is determined to shake the clans, and it’s true that I was really curious to see what she would do. This young woman is amazing! She is projected in a life she does not know anything about and she will have to adapt very quickly. And even though it will be very hard to know who she can turn to and who she can trust, she will have to choose her allies to thwart all the multiple attempted murder against her. But Miriam is much smarter than it appears to be and I did not expect to find such a plan for her. Our young heroine will join forces with a few people who will help her throughout the story and that we enjoy exploring about.
The author did a great job on his story, worlds and details. It is even very difficult to know exactly what people think and their ulterior motives and it’s true that everything keeps us in suspense throughout the book. I do not want to give too much away but I can tell you that this novel is a mix of conspiracy, betrayal, murder and money. An explosive mix and I look forward to reading the sequel!
My English review
I did not know anything about the author or the novels and I confess that when I received the book, I was not sure it would be for me. Why is that? The cover didn’t really attract me that much (yes I’m superficial). Yet I had a great time with this story that compiles the first and second book in the series.
Miriam’s life will change overnight when she is fired from her job with her assistant after finding a huge scoop combining a large number of important people. At the same time, her adoptive mother gives her a box with items that belonged to her biological mother. There she discovers a locket that will completely change the game! Oh yes, because the young woman discovers that the object can allow her to travel from one world to another, a very different world from hers in regard of technologies. In fact, everyone seems to live in the Victorian era, all controlled by clans, a kind of mafia that earns large amounts of money by doing business between the kingdoms. It is in this context that Miriam appears, learning that she is the daughter of an important (and murdered) woman of the clan. But this fact complicates everything because it seems that many people now want her dead. And as she tries to understand with the Roland’s help, a member of her family (and maybe more), who she is and what this world hides, she will also understand that there is more than all this. Miriam is full of revolutionary ideas and she is determined to change the laws governing the game of power and money. So we’ll go on an adventure while following this heroine to discover the secrets of the worlds.
I took great pleasure in discovering this story. The author has created a completely amazing universe! I confess that I did not expect that at all, but it was fascinating to discover what these worlds could conceal. Although we have similarities with ours, their past, their history, their advances are all different. But Miriam is determined to shake the clans, and it’s true that I was really curious to see what she would do. This young woman is amazing! She is projected in a life she does not know anything about and she will have to adapt very quickly. And even though it will be very hard to know who she can turn to and who she can trust, she will have to choose her allies to thwart all the multiple attempted murder against her. But Miriam is much smarter than it appears to be and I did not expect to find such a plan for her. Our young heroine will join forces with a few people who will help her throughout the story and that we enjoy exploring about.
The author did a great job on his story, worlds and details. It is even very difficult to know exactly what people think and their ulterior motives and it’s true that everything keeps us in suspense throughout the book. I do not want to give too much away but I can tell you that this novel is a mix of conspiracy, betrayal, murder and money. An explosive mix and I look forward to reading the sequel!
June 3, 2013
This is the first two books of the Merchant Princes series, re-edited into a single volume as Charlie Stross originally intended when he was drafting them as a trilogy of 'fat-fantasy' doorsteps. They definitely benefit from the re-edit I think - chopping the original books into two slimmer volumes did funny things to the pacing and made for some lurches of style that are less jarring if you read them as they were originally conceived.
I described them as 'Fat fantasies' initially but that's a actually a misnomer - even though the initial call to action (modern-day person discovers gateway into strange medieval land) has been a staple of the Fantasy genre since Narnia. What these books actually turn out to be are contemporary thrillers turning on a single science-fictional high concept - which is that there exists a secretive group of people who can 'world walk' between our world and a parallel universe. History has taken a different turn on the other side and things are much less developed over there (roughly speaking they are somewhere around C15-16th in terms of technology and social forms) so these world walkers have exploited their talent to set themselves up as merchant princes; they offer an express message service and hi-tech goodies to the wealthy of their own world, whilst offering a completely secure and untraceable (albeit slow) courier service for high-value, low weight commodities to cash-rich customers in our world - in other words they run the toppest of top-dollar wholesale narcotics pipelines for the Medellin Cartel and similar.
Our protagonist is Miriam Beckstein a business journalist on the new tech beat. Her discovery that she is a long-lost cousin of a clan of world walking, drug-dealing Medicis prompts her to conclude that their business model is in dire need of an overhaul and she resolves to drag them and their backward home world, kicking and screaming into the twenty first century. Hijinks, as they say, ensue - it turns out that many of her newly found relatives are quite happy with being the only folk with access to penicillin and the latest HBO box sets in their benighted homeland and see no reason why they need to change their ways. Add in a second faction of long lost world-walking cousins (who carry a serious grudge and have a disturbing habit of assassinating members of the first lot in an effort to turn them against each other) and you soon have a merrily bubbling stew of intrigue, divided loyalties and trans-dimensional developmental economics.
By the end of this first installment, Miriam has come in from the cold, demonstrated to her kin that she has sufficient potential to be worthy of at least some respect and the initial steps towards opening up a third parallel universe for the Clan are under way; but the heat generated by the various missteps and betrayals along the way have started to attract some unwelcome attention from the Powers That Be (both in our world, the Clan's homeland and the newly opened world of New Britain) it is the moves that they take in response to their growing awareness of the Clan's activities which will provide the motor for events in installments two and three.
I described them as 'Fat fantasies' initially but that's a actually a misnomer - even though the initial call to action (modern-day person discovers gateway into strange medieval land) has been a staple of the Fantasy genre since Narnia. What these books actually turn out to be are contemporary thrillers turning on a single science-fictional high concept - which is that there exists a secretive group of people who can 'world walk' between our world and a parallel universe. History has taken a different turn on the other side and things are much less developed over there (roughly speaking they are somewhere around C15-16th in terms of technology and social forms) so these world walkers have exploited their talent to set themselves up as merchant princes; they offer an express message service and hi-tech goodies to the wealthy of their own world, whilst offering a completely secure and untraceable (albeit slow) courier service for high-value, low weight commodities to cash-rich customers in our world - in other words they run the toppest of top-dollar wholesale narcotics pipelines for the Medellin Cartel and similar.
Our protagonist is Miriam Beckstein a business journalist on the new tech beat. Her discovery that she is a long-lost cousin of a clan of world walking, drug-dealing Medicis prompts her to conclude that their business model is in dire need of an overhaul and she resolves to drag them and their backward home world, kicking and screaming into the twenty first century. Hijinks, as they say, ensue - it turns out that many of her newly found relatives are quite happy with being the only folk with access to penicillin and the latest HBO box sets in their benighted homeland and see no reason why they need to change their ways. Add in a second faction of long lost world-walking cousins (who carry a serious grudge and have a disturbing habit of assassinating members of the first lot in an effort to turn them against each other) and you soon have a merrily bubbling stew of intrigue, divided loyalties and trans-dimensional developmental economics.
By the end of this first installment, Miriam has come in from the cold, demonstrated to her kin that she has sufficient potential to be worthy of at least some respect and the initial steps towards opening up a third parallel universe for the Clan are under way; but the heat generated by the various missteps and betrayals along the way have started to attract some unwelcome attention from the Powers That Be (both in our world, the Clan's homeland and the newly opened world of New Britain) it is the moves that they take in response to their growing awareness of the Clan's activities which will provide the motor for events in installments two and three.
July 27, 2017
The Bloodline Feud is an omnibus edition of the first two books in Charles Stross’ Merchant Princes series. You can read about the origins of the omnibus from Stross himself.
Suffice it to say, even though I already read the first two books, I decided to pick up this one and start reading the series in its rebooted form. I don’t remember enough of the original books to catch what (if any) substantial changes Stross has made here; the overall story feels very similar though. I wouldn’t say you have to read this one if you’ve read the first two books and want to pick up the new version of the series for the rest of them—but I want all the nice covers on my shelf!
Speaking of covers, this is a great example of how branding changes the reception of a book. The cover for The Family Trade looks like such a medieval fantasy book, when in fact this is an intense sci-fi thriller—The Bloodline Feud definitely gives off that vibe. So kudos to the new cover design, the artist, and the publishers who let that happen.
If you want to read my thoughts on the two books within this one, check out my review of The Family Trade and my review of The Hidden Family.
I have very little to add or amend about those reviews. Reading these a second time around, as a unified story like they had originally been, was, if anything, even more enjoyable than my first reading. This is smart stuff, like almost on the verge of Doctorow-level infodumpy at times, but it’s matched by such a fast pace. It really is a thriller—and I say that as someone who almost snobbishly pans thrillers, yet it’s a compliment here. If you like SF that dabbles on the economic side of things, you really should check this out.
My reviews of The Merchant Princes omnibus:
The Traders’ War →
Suffice it to say, even though I already read the first two books, I decided to pick up this one and start reading the series in its rebooted form. I don’t remember enough of the original books to catch what (if any) substantial changes Stross has made here; the overall story feels very similar though. I wouldn’t say you have to read this one if you’ve read the first two books and want to pick up the new version of the series for the rest of them—but I want all the nice covers on my shelf!
Speaking of covers, this is a great example of how branding changes the reception of a book. The cover for The Family Trade looks like such a medieval fantasy book, when in fact this is an intense sci-fi thriller—The Bloodline Feud definitely gives off that vibe. So kudos to the new cover design, the artist, and the publishers who let that happen.
If you want to read my thoughts on the two books within this one, check out my review of The Family Trade and my review of The Hidden Family.
I have very little to add or amend about those reviews. Reading these a second time around, as a unified story like they had originally been, was, if anything, even more enjoyable than my first reading. This is smart stuff, like almost on the verge of Doctorow-level infodumpy at times, but it’s matched by such a fast pace. It really is a thriller—and I say that as someone who almost snobbishly pans thrillers, yet it’s a compliment here. If you like SF that dabbles on the economic side of things, you really should check this out.
My reviews of The Merchant Princes omnibus:
The Traders’ War →
May 25, 2015
The Bloodline Feud is a fun, slightly twisty adventure across multiple realities. World jumping is very limited---it's a recessive genetic trait---so those who can jump can make lots of money. The book has some good intrigue, a few mysteries, some thrills. Nothing real deep, just a good deal of fun.
My primary complaint is that the main character is a little too lucky. She happens to meet and trust the right people awfully fast. She does vet her accomplices and partners, but she never rejects anyone (not that I can remember). In the interest of a good thriller, I don't really hold this against the book, but I rolled my eyes a couple of times.
I wish he had spent a little more time on the alternate histories in the other realities, but that's not the story he was trying to tell, so I don't hold this against the book.
Originally in this review, I complained about Stross's handling of sexism and racism in this book. I thought about it some more, and I changed my mind. The main "discovery" I made is that every interesting character in this book is female. A few males may be slightly multidimensional, but I still wouldn't call them particularly interesting.
My primary complaint is that the main character is a little too lucky. She happens to meet and trust the right people awfully fast. She does vet her accomplices and partners, but she never rejects anyone (not that I can remember). In the interest of a good thriller, I don't really hold this against the book, but I rolled my eyes a couple of times.
I wish he had spent a little more time on the alternate histories in the other realities, but that's not the story he was trying to tell, so I don't hold this against the book.
Originally in this review, I complained about Stross's handling of sexism and racism in this book. I thought about it some more, and I changed my mind. The main "discovery" I made is that every interesting character in this book is female. A few males may be slightly multidimensional, but I still wouldn't call them particularly interesting.
June 15, 2018
I wanted to love this. Really, I did. I likeds Stross' style in his other work that I've read, and the combination of old tropes and new presentation that The Bloodline Feud represented sounded really fantastic. And it wasn't bad? But for the most part it didn't live up to my hopes for it (This is admittedly my fault more than it is the book's).
Looking at it more objectively, the idea behind the story is still fascinating. Protagonist Miriam learns that she's part of a family that knows how to walk between worlds - specifically, one that never developed past mercantilism and another in an imperial Gilded age. Stross uses Miriam's ability to cross worlds to examine those systems, and how they compare to knowledge-based capitalism. While that's an interesting exercise, he's awfully slow on character development at the same time. It takes a good three quarters of the book for his characters to turn into people. This means that by the end of the book you're finally willing to check out a sequel to see what happens to them, so I guess that's a smart marketing decision? Makes for a bit of a feel-bad reading experience, though.
Looking at it more objectively, the idea behind the story is still fascinating. Protagonist Miriam learns that she's part of a family that knows how to walk between worlds - specifically, one that never developed past mercantilism and another in an imperial Gilded age. Stross uses Miriam's ability to cross worlds to examine those systems, and how they compare to knowledge-based capitalism. While that's an interesting exercise, he's awfully slow on character development at the same time. It takes a good three quarters of the book for his characters to turn into people. This means that by the end of the book you're finally willing to check out a sequel to see what happens to them, so I guess that's a smart marketing decision? Makes for a bit of a feel-bad reading experience, though.
February 18, 2014
Wow, this was a mess. It seems to me like the author couldn't decide which plot elements to include so he just included ALL of them. And the MacGuffins were just clunky beyond belief, not to mention arbitrarily ill-defined.
If the cut and thrust of High Finance and Mercantilism is your thing, then you'll probably enjoy this but for me it was dull, dull, dull. It was only my newly-formed intention to try much harder to refrain from abandoning books that kept me going on this one. I certainly won't be reading any more of this series but am willing to give the author's Science Fiction a try. Incidentally, I've seen some describe this as Science Fiction; don't be fooled - it isn't. It's parallel worlds Fantasy in which the worlds themselves were probably the best thing about the book.
If the cut and thrust of High Finance and Mercantilism is your thing, then you'll probably enjoy this but for me it was dull, dull, dull. It was only my newly-formed intention to try much harder to refrain from abandoning books that kept me going on this one. I certainly won't be reading any more of this series but am willing to give the author's Science Fiction a try. Incidentally, I've seen some describe this as Science Fiction; don't be fooled - it isn't. It's parallel worlds Fantasy in which the worlds themselves were probably the best thing about the book.
February 4, 2015
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, after reading a string of amazing books by the man (Laundry Files, Rule 34...) I finally have found that rare beast: a lesser Stross. The premise had me worried from the start, a bloodline capable of jumping between parallel universes (ours and a pseudo-medieval one) by looking at a certain geometric pattern, reminded me an awful lot of that silly genre of alternate world SF with a Mary Sue protagonist, preferably written by military SF writers like David Drake or John Ringo. And yes, the book feels a lot like those, balancing on the edge of cheesiness but not quite dropping over it. I have to admit, alt world mil-scifi is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, so YMMV :-) I had fun, but it's not great, and Charlie can do (and has done) a lot better than this.
February 6, 2017
I'd been plowing my way through CS's other stuff but hadn't hit this one yet. Subsequently I learned that sometimes holding off on a set is awesome: not only is there a new one based on this series but if I haven't *actually read the series yet* then I MAY ALREADY BE A WINNER.
Speaking of possibilities: This one covers the first *two* books, which may have led to "wait, no, I've totally seen this" before landing with both feet on "it's a good thing I'm cute, because I was not so bright" when I perhaps turnt-clicked my way into purchasing a copy of #2 without realizing I already had it.
Not sure what the profits to the author are from one book, but cheers! Part of a beer on me!
TL;DR: Sometimes I tipsy-shop online.
Speaking of possibilities: This one covers the first *two* books, which may have led to "wait, no, I've totally seen this" before landing with both feet on "it's a good thing I'm cute, because I was not so bright" when I perhaps turnt-clicked my way into purchasing a copy of #2 without realizing I already had it.
Not sure what the profits to the author are from one book, but cheers! Part of a beer on me!
TL;DR: Sometimes I tipsy-shop online.
January 29, 2022
I quite enjoyed The Bloodline Feud. It is great writing and a very good story, but it doesn't fit easily into a genre -- call it a sort of a speculative-fiction, techno-thriller, crime-fiction crossover. It is an exciting romp with alternate-Earths, deadly feuds, and a ton of action and intrigue. It actually reminded me quite a lot of Roger Zelazny's Amber books.
(Fair warning: The Bloodline Feud is a re-edited omnibus edition of a story that was originally published as The Family Trade and The Hidden Family.)
Update: Even better on a re-read. I finished it thinking of snarky alternate titles like Miriam in Wonderland and Looking Glass 2.0.
(Fair warning: The Bloodline Feud is a re-edited omnibus edition of a story that was originally published as The Family Trade and The Hidden Family.)
Update: Even better on a re-read. I finished it thinking of snarky alternate titles like Miriam in Wonderland and Looking Glass 2.0.
December 4, 2014
After investigative reporter Miriam Beckstein accidentally travels to a parallel universe, she finds she's a lost member of a family (think Mafia Family) that rules this other world with riches taken from ours. But when her Family wants her to toe the line and not rock the boat, Miriam decides that maybe their methods need a little updating.
Especially since people from THREE worlds are trying to kill her.
This is an awesomely great read. I turned the last page wanting to spend more time in these worlds. However, the reviews of future volumes sound like the magic of this first volume (split into two books for first publication, melded back into one for this release) is largely lost.
Especially since people from THREE worlds are trying to kill her.
This is an awesomely great read. I turned the last page wanting to spend more time in these worlds. However, the reviews of future volumes sound like the magic of this first volume (split into two books for first publication, melded back into one for this release) is largely lost.
March 9, 2017
Why didn't I read this series sooner?
A kickass female protagonist. Guns drugs money and parallel worlds. All written with Stross's dry humour and fast pacing.
A kickass female protagonist. Guns drugs money and parallel worlds. All written with Stross's dry humour and fast pacing.
August 12, 2014
This was an interesting book with a unique storyline, and I was excited when I first picked it up. I found the characters a little lacklustre though - not well profiled, or rather the character profiles seemed to be lacking "persona continuity". I found it difficult to bond with any of the characters as their "nature" seemed to change as the storyline wandered. I also found it difficult to remember "which world" I was in at any given time. I am glad I finished the book, as I wanted to see where the story went, but not interested enough to continue with the next book in the series.
June 28, 2017
Reads like a cross between Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber and H. Beam Piper's Paratime.
Mostly a smooth read, but I wished for more infodumps a la Neal Stephenson (especially the Baroque Cycle ones); I think this kind of story could use it.
I did like that the majority of major characters were women, but I think Stross bends over backward too far trying to write a book where "the women are just as good as the men". I think this aspect could have been handled far more subtly.
Mostly a smooth read, but I wished for more infodumps a la Neal Stephenson (especially the Baroque Cycle ones); I think this kind of story could use it.
I did like that the majority of major characters were women, but I think Stross bends over backward too far trying to write a book where "the women are just as good as the men". I think this aspect could have been handled far more subtly.
March 9, 2017
Not nearly as good as I was expecting based on reviews and Stross' other works. I though the initial story was much more engaging than the story it ended up going with. Despite being the edition with both books 1 and 2 the ending seemed rushed.
Also borrowing the great beginning line from Neuromancer (with slight modifications) made no sense at all and didn't even sound good here.
Also borrowing the great beginning line from Neuromancer (with slight modifications) made no sense at all and didn't even sound good here.
September 16, 2013
Sorry Charles, but this disappointed me. It's a pretty smart take on alternative worlds ideas and enjoyable to read but didn't engross me. I don't think I'll be rushing to read the rest of the series.
January 11, 2015
This was a phenomenal first book in a trilogy I will definitely be reading the rest of. Miriam is a engaging heroïne and the combination of action, intrigue, espionage, and science fiction is explosively enjoyable. Highly recommended!
July 6, 2017
Sehr schöne, mal wieder etwas andere Fantasy mit irren Ideen, Parallelwelten und einem ökonomischen Schwerpunkt.
November 14, 2025
The 'Bloodline Feud' pulls together the first two of nine books of fantasy-science fiction in Stross' successful 'The Merchant Princes' series which he re-edited for style but not for content. The original novels were published in 2004/2005 and the redraft and compilation in 2014.
The premise is simple and the tale readable and effective even if the exposition is highly complex. It is alternate history with a 'bloodline' capable (variously) of travelling between three worlds: immediately contemporary, one that is semi-feudal and one that is effectively steam punk.
Travelling between the worlds is not time-travelling but between worlds that developed at different speeds in real time. Ours is the most advanced. The intermediate in development and last to appear postulates a much-delayed industrial revolution: America is still British.
The series has become (rightfully in my opinion) praised as an unusual genre fiction exploration of development economics. Stross seems to have made a real effort to understand how capital accumulation and politics interact and then apply this to a wholly non-didactic story line.
Indeed, this is the skill of the author. It is fundamentally a rollicking adventure romp with lots of shoot ups, double-dealing and attractive (mostly female) characters even if, at times, it can seem like a girlie version of the Famous Five with serious armament.
The cleverness of the plotting lies in how technology transfer is managed under severe transfer constraints. The bloodline that emerged as travellers out of the feudal world is effectively a sophisticated crime family exploiting supply and demand.
It is a parallel elite group that can pacify the sleepy and arrogant landholding class at home with goodies and supply themselves with the creature comforts of our world including advanced weapons as well as highly rare and expensive 'M&Ms'.
Naturally control of this lucrative trade and resentments amongst those who cannot travel within the family (the non-bloodline) is at the centre of the plot with the accidental uncovering by a neglected cadet branch of the line to the 'steam punk' America creating new and interesting complexities.
That the feudals are a merchant family in one world and a crime family in another naturally brings in the possibility of a future story line that involves US law enforcement and homeland security while our heroine Miriam's opening up of New Britain is also industrialising a Castlereaghan police state.
We have a 'liberal' faction trying to modernise the feudal world against conservative fears of disruption and that same faction seeking to industrialise more effectively for billionaire profit a third world in effective informal alliance with radicals who take their position from a kindly Marx.
Meanwhile the world that the liberals are ultimately trying to emulate is having to deal (though this is not a major factor in these first two books) with the sort of entrepreneurialism, criminal and robber baron, that it has long grown out of and is trying to ensure is kept in its box or eliminated.
The mention of Karl (apparently a martyr to radicals who are closer to Chartists than Communists) gives us a clue to the origins of some of Stross' implicit analysis. He is playing an entertaining mind game here, taking depressingly over-serious historical economics and giving us a romp.
Something that is entertaining, creative and yet appeals intellectually as to its underlying attempt to open up the 'laws of history' to scrutiny has to get reasonably high marks and Stross writes well, rarely faltering in either style or momentum.
Of course, occasionally the flipping between worlds can get a little confusing but that rather goes with the territory and is quickly rectified. The twists and turns of the plot are well within the confines of the popular thriller. There is nothing offered to us that is intrinsically stupid.
Our female hero may seem a fantasy figure in her command of her situation but she is not implausible and nor are her sidekicks from the world of feudalism - Lady Olga and Brill. Above all, they are all likeable, outclassing the blokes without fashionable wokery. Why it is not a Netflix series beats me.
Would I read the rest of the series? To be honest, probably not. I have the gist of the situation and the rest of the exposition will no doubt be creative and entertaining but time is short. However, I would recommend it to anyone younger and with more time - perfectly suitable for young adults in my view.
March 15, 2017
A professional journalist recieves some belongings that supposedly belonged to her long-dead birth mother, and one of them includes a locket... that when she stares at it, it sends her to another Earth. She soon learns that she's a lost heir to a family of interdimensional traders with a decidedly medieval mindset and vicious internal politics. If she wants to survive, and better yet, survive with any sort of independence, she needs to think fast, make alliances, and use some 21st century knowledge.
I'm a big fan of Stross, but I've always been hesitant about trying this series, because it seemed like it might edge too much on the fantasy end of things. Luckily, this was offered as a free ebook by the publisher, so I could try it without any risk other than time. And while the "pattern that can send you to another world" might well be considered a fantasy element, everything else is treated more or less logically, no magicians or dragons or anything like that, just a straightforward set of alternate timelines with a means to move back and forth within them. Moreover, it has a science-fictional outlook, with the main character, at first, experimenting with the world-travelling ability in reasonable ways and coming up with interesting plans to make use of it.
In fact, at first, when it seemed like it was just a plot about a woman and her co-worker/friend exploring the ability and the other side with rational experimentation and planning ahead. Unfortunately, it quickly moved into the family politics plot which was okay but didn't quite capture my imagination the same way. The "using your brain to exploit this unique condition" aspect does come into full force later on in the book (or depending on how you view it, the second book, since what I read was a compilation of the first two books), and it does get very entertaining. You might not imagine it's that fun to read about someone using modern economic theories from a post-dot-com world to revolutionize a medieval mercentile business, but it is, at least for me.
In terms of weaknesses, as I said, the family-politics plot didn't engage me as much, and there was a sort of light briskness to all the character interactions that seemed to make them feel on the shallow end... like, that they're there mostly to explore the ideas rather than be compelling in their own right. Oddly enough, I felt much more depth from Stross in his harder SF stories. Another problem is that there's a lot of scenes where people are explaining either their plans or what they have found out about the various conspiracies to other people, sometimes the same thing gets explained several times. In addition to being somewhat redundant to the reader, it leads to this bizarre situation where it was hard to keep track of who knew what. There were several times I was certain someone already knew some aspect of the story, but apparently it was a surprise to them and they only were told some lesser part of the tale. It was also occasionally hard to keep track of all of the interconnected and overlapping schemes by various factions, and at least a few times where characters missed obvious hints towards something, with other characters telling the main character things in conversation that I'd think she would have pounced on and asked follow-up questions, but instead just seemed to ignore until they were later surprised to discover.
On the whole, I liked it, mildly. Enough that I might seek out the later books in the series, because I do want to see how things develop, but it's not enough that I'm rushing out to find them.
I'm a big fan of Stross, but I've always been hesitant about trying this series, because it seemed like it might edge too much on the fantasy end of things. Luckily, this was offered as a free ebook by the publisher, so I could try it without any risk other than time. And while the "pattern that can send you to another world" might well be considered a fantasy element, everything else is treated more or less logically, no magicians or dragons or anything like that, just a straightforward set of alternate timelines with a means to move back and forth within them. Moreover, it has a science-fictional outlook, with the main character, at first, experimenting with the world-travelling ability in reasonable ways and coming up with interesting plans to make use of it.
In fact, at first, when it seemed like it was just a plot about a woman and her co-worker/friend exploring the ability and the other side with rational experimentation and planning ahead. Unfortunately, it quickly moved into the family politics plot which was okay but didn't quite capture my imagination the same way. The "using your brain to exploit this unique condition" aspect does come into full force later on in the book (or depending on how you view it, the second book, since what I read was a compilation of the first two books), and it does get very entertaining. You might not imagine it's that fun to read about someone using modern economic theories from a post-dot-com world to revolutionize a medieval mercentile business, but it is, at least for me.
In terms of weaknesses, as I said, the family-politics plot didn't engage me as much, and there was a sort of light briskness to all the character interactions that seemed to make them feel on the shallow end... like, that they're there mostly to explore the ideas rather than be compelling in their own right. Oddly enough, I felt much more depth from Stross in his harder SF stories. Another problem is that there's a lot of scenes where people are explaining either their plans or what they have found out about the various conspiracies to other people, sometimes the same thing gets explained several times. In addition to being somewhat redundant to the reader, it leads to this bizarre situation where it was hard to keep track of who knew what. There were several times I was certain someone already knew some aspect of the story, but apparently it was a surprise to them and they only were told some lesser part of the tale. It was also occasionally hard to keep track of all of the interconnected and overlapping schemes by various factions, and at least a few times where characters missed obvious hints towards something, with other characters telling the main character things in conversation that I'd think she would have pounced on and asked follow-up questions, but instead just seemed to ignore until they were later surprised to discover.
On the whole, I liked it, mildly. Enough that I might seek out the later books in the series, because I do want to see how things develop, but it's not enough that I'm rushing out to find them.
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