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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
entertaining but average read, July 17, 2005
This review is from: The Hidden Family (The Merchant Princes, Book 2) (Hardcover)
The Hidden Family picks up at the end of The Family Trade and continues that story's basic premise, in both good and bad fashion. In the good, the story remains fast-paced, a quick and entertaining if not too deep read. Stross introduces us to another world here, one that lies somewhere between our own and the Clan's both technically and socially, opening new and more interesting settings. Miriam remains an active, strong character, joined by others equally strong. Questions from book one are answered while new ones are raised. And as he did in book one with regard to the medieval setting, Stross continues to capture the gritty reality of non-modern times, unlike many fantasy authors, though at times he does so too obviously, as when he has one of his characters shrilly make that point in a lengthy paragraph.
On the bad, the story continues to be bedeviled by jargon. Miriam still is too accomplished, too pre-set in convenient fashion to take over the situations. The characters still lack some depth and the romance, as it was in book one, reads as if Stross can't decide if he wants it realistic or as parody. And some of the questions answered seem a bit too pat or contrived. The book does come to some resolution at the end though it also obviously leaves room for more.
If the first book was mildly recommended, this one is as well, perhaps less so as one would hope for some improvements between one and two. The addition of the second world does add interest, however, so recommended it is, if not with a lot of excitement.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's Pneumatic, not Pneumonic, November 6, 2005
This review is from: The Hidden Family (The Merchant Princes, Book 2) (Hardcover)
The Hidden Family, book 2 of the Merchant Princes saga picks up where book one left off. Miriam Beckstein was a journalist for a Red Herring-like magazine focusing on the Massachusetts bio-tech industry. A heretofore hidden past makes that life almost impossible to continue. In book 2, Miriam decides to strike out on her own to discover who has been trying to assassinate her as well as establish a business foothold of her own so that she can deal with her avaricious and unpleasant family from a position of power.
Very much mental chewing gum, The Hidden Family is a mildly interesting if sometimes irritating read. Miriam is a pleasantly strong female character but far too glib and adaptable to her circumstances while her circumstances are too accommodating for her. She manages to move through the action of the book without any serious obstacles to her plans. There's no sense that she could encounter a significant setback that would endanger her entire scheme at any moment that would require her ingenuity and intelligence to resolve.
Miriam knows all the questions and has all the answers, even in places she's never set foot in, before.
While most of the female characters come across as fairly strong, independent women they are interchangeable, without distinctive voices or personalities. There were times I had to re-read passages to determine which female character was speaking, when two or more were in a scene. Mr. Stross does slightly better at making the male characters distinct but all the men, every last one, are from Central Casting. None of the characters, male or female, inspire strong emotions in the reader. There is no 'evil' character he offers up that has a sympathetic side to them and there is no 'good' character that has a repellant side to them (except one that is never, ever exploited in either book). The supposedly Machiavellian maneuverings of her extended family are never very Machiavellian or very subtle and her brief confrontations with them at the end of the book come across more as petty familial squabbling than the nuanced maneuverings for advantage that the author intimates.
The 'romance' in the book has all the emotional heat of a clean, empty charcoal grill. While I appreciate that the author wants to focus on action and not sex I'd like to have seen why there was an intense attraction between Miriam and Roland rather than being told repeatedly it was there. While, in Denis Leary's words, 'chicks dig jerks' (sadly true) one cannot quite believe 'chicks dig wimps' even good looking, exquisitely dressed ones. Miriam isn't that shallow in other areas of her life, why is it the case with Roland?
Beyond these quibbles, Mr. Stross uses phrases like 'pocket torch' interchangeably with 'flashlight' and other differences in expression and slang that I can't think of specifically at this instant. There are continuity issues with the slang, minor characters and settings that a good editor should probably have caught.
One last thing. It's pneumatic tires not pneumonic tires. A good editor should have caught that, too.
My husband is a fan of Zelazny which is why he's drawn to these books and it was on his recommendation I read them. I won't be rushing to read the third book in the series if there is one.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wanna Buy a Tubeless Tire?, August 13, 2006
This review is from: The Hidden Family (The Merchant Princes, Book 2) (Hardcover)
Charles Stross is a true genre bender. Just when you think you've got him pegged he goes off in a different direction. Often several ways at once. Stross is one of those authors who has a good idea and promptly writes a book about it. And if it works out, he writes another book and makes a series of it. The Merchant Princes explores the idea of inter-dimensional travel, from, of all things, a business perspective.
In the first volume, The Family Trade, freelance journalist Miriam Beckstein discovers that she isn't Miriam Beckstein, but Helge Thorvold-Hjorth, a member of a clan in another dimension that has discovered how to travel to our own, and have set up a drug dealing business in order to buy goodies for their otherwise primitive, barely post-feudal, lifestyle. Think medieval mafia and you will have the big picture. In between various attempts on her life Miriam realizes that the Thorvold-Hjorth business model has reached its limits and she sets off, credit card in hand to make money where no journalist has gone before. Hence this novel, The Hidden Family.
Miriam, in the process of trying to discover who is plotting against her, discovers that there is more than one plot afoot. Somebody else besides the Clan can trip the dimensions fantastic and this new group has discovered an entirely new world of their own, something of a combination of an early 19th Century lifestyle with a good deal of modern science mixed in. Call it techno-Gothic. With three worlds before her, Miriam quickly realizes the opportunities for profit and sets about making a large profit while dodging assassins and plots to wrest her position and power away from her.
This is a great story, but it has some severe believability problems. The most glaring of this is how easy it is for Miriam to set up as an entrepreneur in a world that frowns on women doing much more than child-bearing and tatting. Especially when her stock in trade are things like advanced automobile breaks. Going in the other direction her plan is to track down artworks that were lost in this world, but still exist in the other. It seems to me that setting up in business as a rediscoverer of lost masterpieces is bound to attract a lot of unwelcome attention.
However, if you can manage the willing suspension of disbelief, this is an interesting story that is completely different from run-of-the-mill dimension hopping. Miriam is tough and determined to succeed, and if she doesn't get caught, she is destined to be a billionaire. Now how often do you get to read a series about a billionaire journalist?
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