The second book in the Merchant Princes series is even more fast-paced than the first. Stross is not afraid to pull any punches as he teases out the complexities of running a business across multiple dimensions. This book had a few unsurprising revelations and some unpleasant and surprising plot twists. All in all, it makes me want to keep reading the series to find out what perils await Miriam and the Clan next. ( )

getting better, I like how the main character is changing the male dominated society ( )

A slight improvement on the previous book, I think; the plot flows a little smoother. Generally, still fun; a few of the ideas touched on earlier (mainly in the economic side of things) get brought front and centre. The series is developed quite effectively by bringing in another world and a second faction of world-walkers; our heroine sets herself up as, in effect, a third faction; and a lot of the backstory of the Clan itself is resolved. The new world is delightfully drawn - a French conquest of Britain in the eighteenth century leads to the North American colonies forming something of a state-in-exile, which a couple of centuries down the line has become a sort of late-Victorian police state with a perpetual trans-Atlantic cold war. Historical plausibility not perfect, atmosphere excellent.

Minor quibbles; the infodumping was perhaps a little heavier than need be - it seemed like we got the same lecture on mercantilism and Why It's Wrong twice. The denouement was a little overblown for my liking, but it did fit with the overall plot. And we did get a nice, clear, definite ending; there are clearly directions in which bad things could happen (the authorities of the two 'modern' worlds are getting suspicious) but you're not left with the feeling that it ended in the middle of events as the previous book did.

This was a good book about alternate worlds. I liked how Miriam learned about the third world and how she brought new inventions there. I looking forward to reading the next book in the series, The Clan Corporate. ( )

Very much enjoying the series. Recommended by a friend that they should be read in order is proving to be wise as I believe you'll struggle some if you read this one before The Family Trade. Personally, liked this one better than the first one -- perhaps the 3rd world was more appealing to me.... ( )

I have to admit that this is probably my least favorite novel by Charles Stross to date. For the first two-thirds of the story one is just waiting for the other shoe to drop, as Miriam Beckstein finds a whole new world to get into trouble in. It's only with the last third of the book that the other shoe drops, but it's a hob-nailed combat boot, as Miriam learns that much more of what she thought was true was wrong, and war is on. At the very least I'll get to the third book rather sooner then a year and a half from now. ( )

As we get deeper into the narrative of the Merchant Princes, the story becomes more gripping and some of the problems I had with the first volume are ironed out. Greatly enjoyable read. ( )

Sample Chapters: http://webscriptions.net/chapters/076...

The opening book in an alternative history series which plays on the traditional theme of the ordinary girl who finds out she's really a princess, with some very nice Strossian twists.

http://home.earthlink.net/~karen20000... ( )

Part two the Merchant Princes.

This book is longer on the conspiracy theories than the first book... at least in part because it picks up pretty much at the end of the first book and being the target of two assassination attempts from two sources makes conspiracy theories easy and not paranoid when they are demonstrably out to get you.

That part is more than competently handled.

Of still higher quality is yet another sketch of a plausible alternate history of Earth. I find myself wondering why they're both in many ways less advanced than our Earth (socially, medically and technologically) although I appreciate that in some respects that could be part of a need to get the story working well. There are comments about how bad modern USA appears from within, compared to how good from without... somewhere that makes it seem bad from without too would be a lovely step in the series, and would lift this to a full 5 stars. ( )

The follow-up to the Family Trade. The tone is a little different. In
the first book Miriam is trying to find out what the hell is going on,
and what the hell all this Clan craziness is. Staying alive is also
rather tricky, as is dealing with a primitive, horse-level society.

Here, she is a lot more in control, she has a plan, is setting up things on more than one world.

The hook here is that, the 'sixth' family of the Clan, lost a long
time ago, are involved. Just not in the way people with think.

This discovery gives Miriam an advantage she looks to exploit, hard, to put her enemies on the back foot.

The writing here is just as high quality, the plans of the various
characters continue to unfold with plots, betrayals, murders, etc. None
of which is too surprising for a bunch of people making money by
interplanar drug smuggling.

As Miriam points out, sardonically, they need to be bootstrapped
intot he industrial age, as with anti money laundering and terrorism
laws in the USA, the whole business model is in trouble. That was
highly amusing.

Oh, and it appears the story is not finished yet, it appears, but
the end here would be a satisfactory place to leave if you didn't want
to go any further. It would be rather confusing without reading the
first book, I think.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12... ( )

http://www.fast-forward.tv/bookreview... ( )

Note: This book should be read in conjunction with the prequel "The Family Trade" as it is really one story spread over two volumes for publishing reasons. Read on its' own, "The Hidden Family" is incomplete and unlikely to make much coherent sense; read as a whole it's a very engaging parallel worlds story. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/499648.htm...

Enjoyed it. 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:

"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. ( )

(Amy) Begins right where the previous installment left off (abruptly), carries on for a while, then stops (abruptly). I'm enjoying the story, but I think maybe he needs to work on his pacing, and on his beginnings and endings.