Revolution Business is the latest entry in Stross's Merchant Princes series. Originally billed as fantasy by the publisher and most reviewers, this fast-paced series is more of a mash-up of sci-fi (or spec-fic if you prefer), political intrigue, and a thriller. It has schemes, plot twists, and of course, cliffhanger endings.
This book picks up not long after the last one leaves off - and you know, the problem with reviewing a book in the middle of an intrigue series is that I don't really want to discuss specific plot points, because then I would spoil it for people who might be arriving to the series late (like I did). So I'll just say that this book continues in the vein of the previous ones, with various factions vying for the control of several different versions of Earth, and our hero Miriam/Helge has to decide who she wants to side with.
One enjoyable thing about this series is that characters lie. A lot. Even the ones who you would technically consider "good guys." And the author doesn't always clue you in to whether or not a character is lying - or you might know that they are, but you don't know what the truth is. So while Miriam is trying to figure out what's going on, so is the reader. We might have more information than she does, but we don't know how much of what we know is actually fact.
Anyway, more facts are revealed, old plots unravel as new ones are picked up, and various people die in various ways. It's all very exciting. I had to limit myself to only one chapter per day during the day (and then a little more before bed), as this book was literally a page turner and if I hadn't exerted self-control, I wouldn't have done any work until the book was finished.
If I have one complaint with the novel, it's that contemporary fiction quickly becomes dated when novels take longer to publish than the amount of time that occurs on the pages within. Here I am, sitting in 2009, a few months into President Obama's term in office, and the characters in the novel are in 2003ish, during Bush's first term (I don't think Stross ever calls Bush by name, preferring to use Secret Service code names for the prez and veep, but it's pretty obvious who they are).
I guess The Merchant Princes could be considered Revisionist Recent History. The series asks the question, "What if there had been world walking drug runners active during Bush's presidency?" and the reader obligingly says "Yeah, what if." If the reader is of the Bush-supporting camp, they might get annoyed and put the book down, but otherwise, they'll hang on and enjoy the ride.
Over all, I greatly enjoyed Revolution Business and can't wait for the next novel, which unfortunately isn't due out for a while. For readers new to the series, however, I recommend starting with The Family Trade and reading your way straight through, otherwise you'll be a little lost.
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