The Hidden Family: Book Two of Merchant Princes

Written by Charles Stross

Narrated by Kate Reading

The Merchant Princes is a sweeping new series from the hottest new writer in science fiction!

The six families of the Clan rule the kingdom of Gruinmarkt from behind the scenes, a mixture of nobility and criminal conspirators whose power to walk between their world and ours make them rich in both. Braids of family loyalty and intermarriage provide a fragile guarantee of peace, but a recently ended civil war has left the families shaken and suspicious.

Miriam, a hip tech journalist form Boston, discovered her alternate-world relatives with explosive results that shook three worlds. Now, as the prodigal Countess Helge Thorold-Hyorth, she finds herself ensnared in schemes and plots centuries in the making. She is surrounded by unlikely allies, lethal contraband, and, most dangerous of all, her family. With her modern American attitudes, she's not sure she can fit in, or if she even wants to, but to stay alive, she really has no choice.

To avoid a slippery slope down to an unmarked grave, Miriam must build a power-base of her own. She started applying modern business practices and scientific knowledge to a trade heretofore dominated by medieval mercantilists-with unexpected consequences for three different timelines, including the quasi-Victorian one exploited by the hidden family.

Blending the creativity and humor, and the rigor and scope of science-fiction on the grandest scale, Charles Stross has set a new standard for fantasy epics.

Charles Stross is one of the big new SF writers of the 21st century, and the saga of The Merchant Princes is his most ambitious work yet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Feb 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781427262851

Charles Stross

Charles Stross was born in Leeds, England, in 1964. He has worked as a pharmacist, software engineer and freelance journalist, but now writes full-time. To date, Stross has won two Hugo awards and been nominated twelve times. He has also won the Locus Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best Novella and has been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke and Nebula Awards. He is the author of the popular Merchant Princes and Empire Games series, set in the same world. In addition, his fiction has been translated into around a dozen languages. Stross lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife Feorag, a couple of cats, several thousand books, and an ever-changing herd of obsolescent computers.

Reviews for The Hidden Family

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't know what took me so long to get back to this series. As I read it I remembered how much I liked the old style pulp cliffhanger feeling. Sometimes the plot runs a little thin but I really like the characters and all the back stabbing. I am looking forward to the next one.

[jkdavies · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ok, the first part of the book is the discovery of another parallel world, and the setting up of this was enjoyable... then we deteriorate into action scenes and plotting... I think I just like seeing the mechanics of world building more than the rest...

[rlangston-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not as gripping as the first book, but I liked the initial exploration of how money could be made exploiting patents - slightly disappointing that this got overshadowed by the wider plot.

[penforhire · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Still entertaining but not really rising above the first book and now I'm more concerned about Mirriam's character than ever. She was set up as a strong female lead but too much plot comes to her rather than vice versa.The hidden family was just not set up in the most convincing way. The secretive meetings felt sketchy. Then they swoop in and... we have to wait for the next book to see how they respond to Mirriam's peace offering? Ugh!I had a hard time with the lax security oversight when Matthias turns. You mean in a hundred years of Clan backstab-ery, power plays, and extreme-value shipping they haven't instituted proper checks and balances on their security apparatus? Not buying it.Or that their response to current-world authorities getting wind of them wasn't fully scripted, with enough world walkers always on emergency stand-by? Not buying that one either.Or that they would let Mirriam lead a counter-response (first to walk over)? Nope, give me a break.I'm still having some difficulty accepting Matthias' belief that he will get away with his actions. He has to wipe out every last world-walker if he'll ever feel safe at ground level again. He's not going to gain any power so it isn't clear to me why he didn't just keep a lower profile and stay in place.Oh well, Stross' worst is still beats most others' best. I do want to see how she gets out from under the Clan. And if there are more than three worlds (why not?). I'm on to book 3.

[mbg0312 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fun read in the series.

[gregandlarry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Page turner

[lithicbee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[gerleliz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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

[skraft001 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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....

[shrike58 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[elmyra_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[lewispike · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.