16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cliffhanger???, December 6, 2007
The other reviews cover what happens in the course of the book, I won't go into all that, I am here to issue a warning to other potential readers....
The bast... Er, that is, the 'Esteemed Author' does not end the book on what I would call a cliffhanger. No, the term cliffhanger implies that the reader still has the very edge of one pinky finger's nail still in contact with the crumpling lip of a precipice. That is not the case here. The story ends with the reader plummeting through thin air screaming in fear and fury, wondering if/when they will ever hit book five. So, if you have a strong heart, go ahead and read it. If, however, you have ever failed a stress test, wait until book five comes out to read this one - your cardiologist will thank you!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
whose universe?, October 27, 2007
The 4th book in Stross' Merchant Princes series lets him introduce even more entanglements into 3 Earths bound by world walkers. He takes several complexities from earlier books and spins them up. Of course, otherwise why would we keep reading?
One neat aspect is that he now explicitly disavows any magical aspect. Some reviewers, in science fiction mags, of earlier books, had pigeonholed the series as fantasy. Even in those books, it really did not play out as such, if you read carefully. In this book, he comes forth with what is really scientific abracadra, but very well done, to provide a plausible technological veneer over the ability to hop between worlds.
There does appears to be one error. In the world of New Britain, a local person makes a remark about "from Washington to New York". Dubious. This was a universe where the American Revolution was crushed. There would have been no town at the location of what we call Washington, under that name. Granted, the person was told various details about our world by Miriam, as expressed in earlier books. So if there was indeed a town there, he might have translated its name into Washington, as he chatted with Miriam. But, it seems unlikely. Instead he would have used his familiar name for the town. Stross doesn't usually slip up, so this is a little gem, for those of you who appreciate such things.
However, is the familiar Boston and the United States from our universe? If not, it is certainly very close, given all the details we recognise. Stross slips in remarks about how the US might go into Iraq after Hussein?! The year is after 2001, because of the many references to "9/11" and terrorists. But what year? If after 2003, then that universe is not ours. Maybe Stross reserves the right to use this in future books. I simply can't recall from the earlier books if you can deduce how many years after 2001 is it.
The mention of perhaps invading Iraq is clearly meant to be jarring. Interesting to see if Stross expands on this dangling thread.
The book also has more action than the 3rd volume. Hopefully, this will assuage the many others who panned the latter as uneventful.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fourth Book in the Series shares strengths and weaknesses of its predecessors, March 28, 2008
The Merchants War is the fourth book in Charles Stross series about a clan of world-walking drug dealers, and the book shares the strengths and the weaknesses of the previous volumes and ramps up the action and plot nicely.
Book Three, Clan Corporate ended with a marriage announcement and gathering that went horribly wrong as, simultaneously, agents from a US Government agency managed to make their way across to the world of the Gruinmarkt into the middle of a gathering set to marry the heroine, Miriam, to a brain-damaged son of the King, and said gathering went up in flames.
Book Four shows the smoke clearing from that event as Egon, elder son of the King, takes control of the situation and decides Something Must Be Done. At the same time, Miriam, barely escaped into the third world of New London, has new problems with the police forces in that world. And of course Mike, part of that op across to that world, has problems of his own.
What's more, not content with merely working out the consequences of these plots, Stross throws a new puzzle in the mix, and starts to answer a long standing question of the series: just what is the mechanism that allows the Family to really worldwalk in the first place.
Splendid, vivid writing, great plot and action and character bits make this another winner for Mr. Stross. I particularly liked Mike's view of Olga, a character we've seen before through Miriam, and now get new sides and facets as we see her through the eyes of Mike, and get a sense that she's even more competent that we really knew. The world and set up are just as intriguing as before, if not more so, with the revelations made in the book.
The major flaw in the book, and once again its not Stross' fault, really, is the marketing. The book, like a couple of the previous books, has an "ending problem". These books have been sliced and diced and released in a suboptimal way, in my opinion. The book simply ends without a real attempt at a crescendo.
Still, fans of the previous three novels will love this one, and if you haven't started reading this series--go get the Family Trade and get yourself started. World walking scions, battles in a medieval world with guns and an ultralight(!), intrigue, mystery, fine writing and character development. Its a tasty chili of goodness.
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