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tartancrusader's review against another edition
1.0
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.
djotaku's review against another edition
3.0
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 [b:Vagina Mundi|22905573|Vagina Mundi|Wol-vriey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408017031s/22905573.jpg|42440908]. 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 [b:Vagina Mundi|22905573|Vagina Mundi|Wol-vriey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408017031s/22905573.jpg|42440908]. While it's never explicit (that I can remember), you definitely know what's up when she's with her beau (pun intended).
nwhyte's review against another edition
4.0
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.
odysseusta's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this "double feature" more than I expected. I was avoiding Stross' "Merchant Princes" series because the premise sounded iffy to me -- unexplainable timeline jumping with a medieval setting? -- but I became curious after reading about the series reboot "Empire Games", and I couldn't pass up a free ebook (thanks Tor!).
Generally I find Charles Stross stories to be filled with fascinating ideas, and good-to-great plots, but weak in the areas of character and dialogue, and confusing scenes (detailed in description, I just get lost in the minutae). "Bloodline Feud" was a good example of these features. The ideas around a dimension-traveling clan(s?) economically exploiting less advanced societies for fun and profit -- I wasn't expecting this! It was fascinating. And 3/4ths of the time I found the story unputdownable.
The dialogue between the various characters, particularly Miriam and her mother, or the unnecessary "love" plot for Miriam...bleh. It also seemed a little too neat that Miriam was so quick to come up with a plan concerning the third timeline, as interesting as it was.
Overall, though, I liked it. The book ends in such a way that I wasn't left with any major lingering mysteries, other than "what happens next?", so I'm not feeling any pressure to continue on in the series, but I am curious.
mentat_stem's review against another edition
4.0
I got more out of this than when I originally read the individual books.
melkarth's review against another edition
4.0
Emprendedores, familias al más puro estilo de la mafia de la televisión, y dimensiones paralelas.
Hace falta poco más para hacer algo potable, pero de aquí sale un (dos) libro totalmente disfrutable, y que recomiendo a cualquiera al que le llame la atención algo de lo mencionado.
Hace falta poco más para hacer algo potable, pero de aquí sale un (dos) libro totalmente disfrutable, y que recomiendo a cualquiera al que le llame la atención algo de lo mencionado.
tinababa's review
Great premise and concept - ability to travel between two different realms. let down by its completely bland characters who I did not care about at all. Made it more than halfway through I think.
Abandoned at 43% mark. Unclear DOA
Abandoned at 43% mark. Unclear DOA
tachyondecay's review
4.0
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 →
rayirving's review
4.0
I've read all three volumes in this series back to back, but I will cover all of them in this review. It's good fun - the best Stross novel I've read apart from the Atrocity Archives. A must read for all Stross fans and fans of the Roger Zelazny Nine Princes in Amber series. Story is that a our heroine, a US tech journalist, finds she has a genetic trait that let's her flip into a parallel universe where the US is a feudal state. Worse, her "family" over there - aristocrats known as "the clan" have been using this talent for nefarious purposes. The plot twists and turns as she discovers a second virtual America, this time a Victorian steampunk version, and hatches a plot to exploit all three worlds with a new business plan to gain the respect of her newly discovered family. The 2nd and 3rd books continue as the activities of "the clan" come to the attention of the US authorities and ultimately put them on a direct collision course with Vice President Dick Cheney (this is set in a post 9/11 2003) with catastrophic results. Gripping and highly recommended play on the alternate earths idea. Available as DRM free ebooks, a worthy cause. My only complaint is the heroines voice sometimes seems a little too like Charlie himself (I read his blog) and I'm not sure how feminine she really is - female readers comment please!