Stross, C 2013, The Traders' War

"It's never treason if you win"

Had I realised in the library that this brick of a book was part two of a trilogy (more accurately, parts three and four of a sixology), I'd have put it back and started at the beginning.  But I didn't realise, and the first thirty pages had me intrigued enough to read on and work it all out as I go. My way requires concentration, but it is doable. I imagine that linear types would be less confused by starting with book one.

The story? Modern Miss finds herself living a luxury medieval-ish life on a parallel earth. Time passes, more worlds ensue. There is a War. This isn't a spoiler: the set up is in book one (I guess), and the war is in the title.

I'm already a fan of Stross' excellent Laundry series - although the stories often confuse me and I only get about 3% of the geek references - he's a writer I enjoy. The Traders' War is a different genre, and I'm delighted to discover I'm a fan of this Stross too. So much a fan that I'll be reading books one and three as soon as I can lay my hands on them.

Handy hint: it's a brick. Buy on Kindle or get in some training with light hand weights.

First line:

Nail lacquer, the woman called Helge reflected as she paused in the antechamber, always did two things to her: it reminded her of her mother, and it made her feel like a rebellious  little girl.

Last line: SPOILER ALERT

'I think we might be able to deal with the enemy without mounting a frontal attack on those guns: and in the process, inconvenience the pretender mightily...'