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The Family Trade

Charles Stross



"The Family Trade shows that Charles Stross is no longer a beginner to watch,
but a star to watch." —Mike Resnick

"Quirky, original, and entertaining. The Family Trade could be The Godfather of
all fantasy novels."
—Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of A Forest of Stars

THE MERCHANT PRINCES The Family Trade
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 the worlds makes 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.
Caught up in schemes and plots centuries in the making, Miriam Beckstein is
surrounded by unlikely allies, forbidden loves, lethal contraband, and, most
dangerous of all, her family. Her unexpected return to this world will supersede
the claims of other clan members to her mother's fortune and power, and whoever
killed her mother will be happy to see her dead, too.
Behind all this lie deeper secrets still, which threaten everyone and everything
she has ever known. Patterns of deception and interlocking lies, as intricate as
the knotwork between the universes.
"The Family Trade is one of those rare delights—a book that is fun,
intelligently written, and which leaves a reader breathlessly wondering what
will happen next. Readers Beware: Stross weaves a tale that continually builds
to an engrossing climax. Once you get into this, you'll find yourself hooked."
—David Farland
"At last, a story in which a character from our world is plunged into another,
and doesn't act like a complete idiot. Miriam Beckstein is sharp-witted enough
not to waste time trying to pretend that she can avoid the dilemmas that have
been forced on her, while being human enough to let her emotions guide her into
risky territory."
"Stross not only creates a alternate world that is fascinating and original, he
even does the unheard of, for a fantasist: His depiction of our world is deep
and real. Many a fantasist is able to create, or at least borrow from Tolkien, a
reasonably interesting milieu in which the characters can cavort, but when they
try their hand at showing something from the real world, like, in this case, the
society of high finance, they embarrass themselves by revealing how little they
know."
"No such problem with Stross. He knows this world backward and forward, and
seems to have thought of everything. His characters behave in ways that make
sense. They know all the things they should know, and don't know the things they
shouldn't. The result is that we readers can trust this author completely, dive
into this story and let it carry us wherever the current flows."
"Not to mention the fact that it's simply a great adventure, full of dangers, of