Customer Reviews

The Revolution Business: Book Five of the Merchant Princes

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I really like this series, and have rated the earlier books 4s and 5s, but I gotta say this installment in noticeably weaker than the others.

Portions of it seem a bit sketchy and rushed, notably the New Britain segments. We never see the situation building, just one day everything changes. It reads like the author needed to get from here to there to set up for Book 6, but didn't have the spare pages in which to flesh it out.

The situation in America seems, well, a rant. The same story could have been told without dragging current-day politics into it -- distracting greatly from the story and alienating some readers. The previous clowns in office were not the only clowns ever to be there, nor will they be the last. Generic officeholders would have done as well or better.

That being said, the promised climax to the series in Book 6 ("The Trade of Queens") should be well worth the wait.

From my wife Sarah: I really enjoyed the previous books in the series, and almost didn't get this one because of the reviews. I see that Mr. Stross is writing the next book in this series. So because of that, if you liked the previous books in the series, I'd recommend this book (with one condition - see below) despite the fact that it has some problems.

To tell you about this book, I need to first mention the previous ones in the series. They were great reads. The characters are well developed, the plot was really captivating, and the story lines moved forward in a way that really pulls the reader into this other reality. They were really entertaining, creative, surprising and interesting.

Now about this new edition. All the sections about the New London world put me to sleep. I had to struggle through each one to get to something good. By the end of the book I had no idea why any of it was in there, especially in such detail. It didn't tie into anything! However I suspect it will be revealed in the next book. There were other sections that lulled me, but not as extreme as the New London story.

Also, at times the diaglogue and story line were just difficult to follow. There were long conversations that I just didn't get. I had to really read and reread to try to figure out who some of the characters were, and/or what they were talking about. Some things I just never got. This book was really confusing (I'm a college grad with masters level courses, by the way). I did not find the previous books confusing.

The left wing politics that several other reviewers have mentioned didn't bother me. I'm pretty conservative and sensitive to that stuff, but didn't find it to be overwhelming.

Regardless of the issues with the book, I still enjoyed the story line that revolved around the main character. This book moved the series ahead, and I'm hoping that in the next edition the author goes back to the clarity and great story lines of the previous ones. I'd recommend this book with one condition: If the next book is as good as the others before this one, then this edition would be worth reading just to keep you up to date with the story. It may be smart to wait for the next release. Then see what the reviews look like on the next edition. If they're good, buy this book, and the next one. Or if you're committed to the series, then just buy this one and just read it for the good parts.

I'm disappointed ...
I had hoped for innovative twists in cross-world travel, revelations of the fourth world, a few resolutions, perhaps some thinking out of the mess by our heroine, and if not a happy ending at least something.

But there's not much new here. A lot of the book is the trickery of retracing the material of the prior four with some character so the reader is reminded or brought up to speed on the situation, and things on 47 fronts move two inches further ahead, and several villains do dirty deeds while no good news shows up. And at the end the big revelation is that Cheney is evil... Cheney was a lot more interesting in the plot when he was in office, now it seems a bit passe and reaching.

Three stars for decent workmanship in writing and hopes that something more interesting than Republicans happens from here on.

The first book was a very good attempt at an intelligent series. Some problems but overall nice. I gave it four stars.

Since then, each successive book has gotten steadily worse. Stross seems to have the same problem too many Europeans do: An inwardly focused feeling of inadequacy that comes out with hatred of anything American. They used to rule the world, then they fell apart. As the US became the only major superpower after the USSR fell, Europeans immediately wanted us to join them and rooted for it, looking for every crack and ignoring a lot of reality.

While I think Bush II will go down in history as one of our worst, and very likely our worst, Presidents, Stross lets his hatred destroy the series. His focus on an imaginary US that will do anything and everything is both childish and unrealistic. Yet this book turns even more than the previous two into a polemic about the US rather than a tale of people adapting to walking between alternate universes.

Somehow, the US will use nukes at a drop of the hat, though the US government knows there are multiple factions in the alternate world. That's like saying we'd use a nuke in Baghdad to scare Saddam. And, since the book was written in 2009, you'd think someone capable of writing was also capable of reading and would know we did no such thing -- even under Shrub/Cheney.

I doubt I'll read any more of the series. He can't keep his Eurotrash lunacy from interfering with what should have been a good story.

An intelligent parallel world political thriller which would have been more fun to read if it came closer to the date at which its action is set (middle of 2003), while its main villain was still in power.

This book suffers from being published as a part of a multi-volume series. It's very much just a segment of a very large novel: it doesn't have it's own payoff or some sort of introduction to get the reader back up to speed. Supposedly, this series will end with the sixth volume, and I will have to reread the whole series in one sitting to get the proper impact.

Still, Stross shines as always.

Book 5 of Charles Stross' ambitious SF/fantasy cycle of 6 novels is out and the end game is in sight. This is a complex story involving a very likable and tough-minded female business journalist from our world and time and parallel worlds, quite unlike ours. The series have given one of my favorite writers a chance to explore economics, political systems and do so in the context of a rousing tale of good guys and bad guys. You really would not want to jump into this mid-stream, read them in sequence. A very rewarding read, particularly for those who enjoyed Stephenson's Baroque cycle.

Stross created so many story lines in the first four books of this series that trying to juggle them all in this book creates an awkward mess. I had a lot of fun--read it through in one sitting--but am hoping that, as promised, he pulls it all together in Book Six.

A couple of bits seemed to display a lack of editorial supervision. For example, the new king is Egon the Third in Book Four, but Egon the First in Book Five. Whoops.

And the French (following in the footsteps of the New British) got atomic weapons--"corpuscular dissociation petards" early in Book Two. That whole thread has just completely disappeared. Chekov said "The gun that is placed on the mantle in the first act must be shot in the third act." This gun--and some others-- are just lying there collecting dust while we follow Miriam and her merry band through Gruinmarkt politics. Maybe he had different plans for New Britain, but the series would run smoother if some of these abandoned sub-plots had been removed before publication.

Finally, as noted by other reviewers, Stross's obsession regarding Dick Cheney does him no credit; he's welcome to whatever political opinion he likes, but the book would have been stronger with thinly-camouflaged replacements.

You know - I almost didn't get this book based on the really negative reviews here. They were wrong.
I felt the need to write this review only to tell you to ignore the reviews that seem to have an axe to grind, or want to show off their supposed erudition by finding fault that the book wasn't what they had imagined that they expected..
The book is a good solid book in the middle of a 6 book series.
It's easy to read. It is not great and lasting literature - but what book (that is fun to read) really is these days?
I found the progression of the book logical based on the premise that quantum universe shifts are possible. Yeah - character development could have been a bit stronger - but then again, I didn't care about it that much - I had more fun seeing what happened next.
And you know - I find it perfectly rational to have a government black op to exploit and/or defend against a group that had placed nuclear weapons in our cities.
Of course - I hate the cliff-hanger in this book.

When you reach the fifth volume of a collection,

1- You expect a summary of the previous ones
2- You "dream" to see some of the previous issues addressed
3- You hope to have at least the same pleasure to read it as you had with the precedent volumes.

The truth is that there's long scientific (?) demonstrations and passages not really necessary because they lead nowhere.
The continuity with the previous volumes is there but without any real flow. As if it had to be there but without real connexion with what previously happened such as the revolution in New Britain which is deadly slow and almost uninteresting.
The usual fast-pace of the previous volumes is recovered at the end of the book only where finally something happens.

Let's hope the last volume will be more captivating.

And for those who enjoy parallel words SF, Zelazny had started with the collection "Amber princes". Remarkable from the first to the last volume.

I have to admit to being very disappointed by this book. The previous books were all pretty good, though I still like the first in the series the best. I love alternate universes type stories, and the multiple sideways type universe felt like a nice change from the usual. However in his latest book, Charles Stross has allowed his political leanings to influence his writing. While you may agree or disagree with his politics, interjecting it into this book, in what is essentially nothing but a rant, was poorly done.

Myself I don't agree with his politics, and so was more then a little disappointed by this. Even when it happens with authors I do agree with, I still don't like the distraction from the story as happened here. If you are looking for a continuation of the Merchant Princes story. Its here, but don't expect anything but disappointment from this one. Hopefully in the sequel Mr. Stross and his editor(s) will do a better job, then they did on this one.