Helpful Score: 3
Fantasy is not usually my thing, but I found Family Trade to be very good. I actually went and paid full price for the next book in this series.
Helpful Score: 2
A bold fantasy in the tradition of Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of amber, The Merchant Princes is a sweeping new series!
I liked it. Miriam is smart and funny, getting fired of a whole new start of her life. Stross has greated a new world, believable and invenetive
I liked it. Miriam is smart and funny, getting fired of a whole new start of her life. Stross has greated a new world, believable and invenetive
Helpful Score: 2
OK, so you know how it goes. You see rave reviews of a fantasy series and you check your PBS credits, see if you can order all three books in the trilogy at once just so #2 and #3 will be lined up by your bedside while you're reading #1. Then, bleh! The first book stinks and you realize you're stuck with all three...
Well, I did feel obliged to push through #1 and even #2 just in case the series got better. It didn't.
The main character in the story, Miriam, is a business journalist who discovers - the hard way - that she has family ties to a feudal, otherworldly crime syndicate. Now she's dodging assasins right and left. But if she can just stay alive long enough, she'll have plenty of opportunities to apply her modern ideas to the family business.
It's a neat idea but Miriam left me totally cold. There's just nothing likeable or even believable about her. And none of the supporting characters were any better.
I know there are people who love this series but I was sorry to waste the credits.
Well, I did feel obliged to push through #1 and even #2 just in case the series got better. It didn't.
The main character in the story, Miriam, is a business journalist who discovers - the hard way - that she has family ties to a feudal, otherworldly crime syndicate. Now she's dodging assasins right and left. But if she can just stay alive long enough, she'll have plenty of opportunities to apply her modern ideas to the family business.
It's a neat idea but Miriam left me totally cold. There's just nothing likeable or even believable about her. And none of the supporting characters were any better.
I know there are people who love this series but I was sorry to waste the credits.
Helpful Score: 2
OK book. The premise is fine, but it seemed to me that Stross did not think through some of the implications of early events and personalities, and they morphed without reason later in the book. I will probably read the subsequent books- especially if I can get them here- but it has not changed my opinion of Stross based on a couple of his sf books, like "Accelerando," which I thought was a silly waste of time. And I'm an sf fan.
Helpful Score: 1
An alternate world adventure featuring "world walkers" and the fascinating yet brutal society they have created. The protagonist is a journalist whose career is abruptly threatened when she uncovers evidence of a massive money-laundering conspiracy. When she begins to learn of her heritage, she becomes intent on affecting much-needed change. I can't wait to read the rest of the series! Highly recommended.
