|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
Product Description
A dissident faction of the Clan, the alternate universe group of families that has traded covertly with our world for a century or more, have carried nuclear devices between the worlds and exploded them in Washington, DC, killing the President of the United States. Now they will exterminate the rest of the Clan and keep Miriam alive only long enough to bear her child, the heir to the throne of their land in the Gruinmarkt world.
The worst and deepest secret is now revealed: behind the horrifying plot is a faction of the US government itself, preparing for a political takeover in the aftermath of disaster. There is no safe place for Miriam and her Clan except, perhaps, in the third alternate world, New Britain--which has just had a revolution and a nuclear incident of its own.
Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series reaches a spectacular climax in this sixth volume. Praised by Nobel laureate Paul Krugman as "great fun," this is state of the art, cutting edge SF grown out of a fantastic premise.
About the Author
Charles Stross is the author of the bestselling Merchant Princes series, the Laundry series, and several stand-alone novels including Glasshouse, Accelerando, and Saturn's Children. Born in Leeds, England, in 1964, Stross studied in London and Bradford, earning degrees in pharmacy and computer science. Over the next decade and a half he worked as a pharmacist, a technical writer, a software engineer, and eventually as a prolific journalist covering the IT industry. His short fiction began attracting wide attention in the late 1990s; his first novel, Singularity Sky, appeared in 2003. He has subsequently won the Hugo Award twice. He lives with his wife in Edinburgh, Scotland, in a flat that is slightly older than the state of Texas.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Worst book in the series,
This review is from: The Trade of Queens: Book Six of the Merchant Princes (Hardcover)
Just read it over the weekend.
It has a confused plot with a multitude of underdeveloped characters. No new novel concepts were introduced, an absolute disappointment for a book in the fantasy genre. Yes, everything can be explained by adding the word "quantum", even "The Secret". Maybe the author was in a rush to provide the publisher with any draft material he was able to come up with before the public forgets about the series. The plot can be summarized by the spoiler on the cover - "nuclear incident". Guess how USA reacts. If you must read it, borrow it, but don't spend any money. "reaches a spectacular climax" - I'd say an anti-climax.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
2.6 out of 5 stars (35 customer reviews) 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Books 4 through 6 should be a dream...,
By M. S. Butch - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Trade of Queens: Book Six of the Merchant Princes (Hardcover)
This series started off so well that I was anticipating years of enjoyment. But then, sometime in books 3-4, Stross took a horrible wrong turn. In my opinion, it was a big mistake to allow the current US so much access to the alternative worlds -- there could only be one outcome, one that destroyed the enjoyable pre-industrial worlds and the advantages of world-walking by individuals. Also, the "troop movements." I have never enjoyed battle scenes; to me they are one big yawn, and starting with Book 4, they became a predominant part of the narrative. Mr. Stross should have stuck with the gold he mined in the first two volumes, instead of switching from individual stories to societal apocalypse. What a waste!
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Last of a Looong Series???,
By Peter Pote "Peter" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Trade of Queens: Book Six of the Merchant Princes (Hardcover)
Insisted, upon receiving the dead tree version on "first" rereading the whole series.
Finally reached the 6th book and started reading. It's a huge disappointment. Mr. Stross kind of scrunches the whole caboodle together, accuses the U.S. of A. of Genocide, gets rid of every character he doesn't like or doesn't know what to do with, relegates his heroine to a third rank role,she doesn't "grow" in the series as much as vaccilates to the whim of the author, then disappears while same author expounds ghoulishly upon a rolling barrage of A and H bombs. What's more, he clearly expects that he'll be able to emulate such writers as David Weber in creating a profitable (to him) universe. Not a chance! Very disappointing read. 23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It shouldn't have taken six books to get here.,
By John Nagle "downside" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Trade of Queens: Book Six of the Merchant Princes (Hardcover)
This is the sixth book of what should have been, at worst, a trilogy. Stross put too much filler into this.
What started as a fantasy series migrated to science fiction a few volumes back. It's now firmly in Tom Clancy or Dale Brown territory: "At 11:00 AM Zulu time, the first of thirty-six B52H Stratofortresses ran its engines up to full throttle, and began its takeoff roll. It was a hot day, and the huge jet's wing tanks were gravid with jet fuel; it climbed slowly away, shaking the ground with a bellowing thunder like the onrushing end of the world". If you ever wanted to know what would happen if the United States became seriously annoyed with Mordor, now you can find out. |
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
