The Clan Corporate

Book Three of the Merchant Princess

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Kate Reading

The third book (after The Family Trade and The Hidden Family) in the saga of the Merchant Princes by Charles Stross, in which Miriam gets into deadly trouble.

Miriam Beckstein has gotten in touch with her roots and they have nearly strangled her. A hip young business journalist in Boston, she discovered (in The Family Trade ) that her family comes from an alternate reality, that she is very well-connected, and that her family is a lot too much like the mafia for comfort. In addition, starting with the fact that women are family property and required to breed more family members with the unique talent to walk between worlds, she has tried to remain an outsider and her own woman. And start a profitable business in a third world she has discovered, outside the family reach (recounted in The Hidden Family). She fell in love with a distant relative but he's dead, killed saving her life. There have been murders, betrayals.

Now, however, in The Clan Corporate, she may be overreaching. And if she gets caught, death or a fate worse is around the bend. There is for instance the brain-damaged son of the local king who needs a wife. But they'd never make her do that, would they?

©2006 Charles Stross (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“The Clan Corporate offers more proof, if any were needed, why Charles Stross has become universally acknowledged as one of science fiction's major new talents.” —Mike Resnick

These books are addictive

Listening to these books is like carrying a tv mini series in my pocket. He really writes great bad guys and awful situations and since it's scifi they are a fun listen.

Not A Bad Book

Finally we find out the reaction of the people on Earth One to the existence of the other Earth. It's just what you might expect from our paranoid country to which 9/11 has happened. Rampant paranoia and the determination to 'get' those alien animals, who probably aren't even human beings. Sadly the book is far too short and imho should have been made into parts of books 2 and 4 with some strong editing.

Seriously, this is BAD

I'm not sure where Audible found 200 people who like this book, but before you buy, consider quickly checking the Amazon review tab or anywhere else people do reviews.

After two books of wonderful world-building and great character development, Charles Stross abandoned the world building and decided to take on Dick Cheney and the NSA/DEA/FBI/CIA and all the other 3 letter American entities. One of the reasons I enjoyed the first two books is that there were Five Female Protagonists that were distinctly different and still relatable and fun. In book 3, we barely see Olga, Paulette, and Brill, and Iris and Miriam have both turned stupid and helpless. So, if you enjoy reading about women being kidnapped, brutalized, threatened, blackmailed, and imprisoned with all agency taken from them, Gosh, you will Love this book. And, if that wasn't enough fun for you, how about a very long book that has NO ENDING WHATSOEVER? Sound fun - Audible found 200 people who thought so, but I'm not one of them.