Review - The Bloodline Feud

The Merchant Princes is a science fictional examination of parallel universes whose societies exist at different points of development, as one woman from “normal” Earth discovers her true bloodline and the ability to walk between these worlds:

I met Stross in a crypt in London several years ago. He was unknown to me as an author, so I brashly asked him what he'd written. He politely told me "quite a lot" and he suggested I start with Halting State. I've been a fan ever since.

Stross has half-a-dozen worlds he plays in. I was unaware of this one until it came up on a special offer. It's a great idea for a story - can you bring modern economic thinking to a parallel world stuck in the past?

But something just didn't resonate with me. There were too many characters each with a different political view and it just ended up confusing me. There's blood, and sex, and guns, and high-jinks, but it just didn't draw me in as much as his other works like, say, The Laundry Files.

Entertaining - but not compelling enough for me.