The Family Trade

by Charles Stross

When I first started reading this, I thought it was going to be a fairly standard riff on the parallel worlds sub-genre but how wrong I was. In ‘The Family Trade’, Charles Stross has crafted a terrific thriller that takes place between two very different, parallel worlds filled with political intrigue, in-fighting and assassinations. I shouldn’t really be surprised, Mr. Stross has proven time and again that he can write great sci-fi and critical acclaim for his work spreads far and wide, but now he has turned his hand to fantasy and done it with aplomb.

The story unfolds at a brisk pace, starting in modern California when our heroine, Miriam Beckstein, recently sacked from her job as a technology journalist, visits her stepmother and is presented with a box containing information about her real mother who was found dead 30 years earlier. Inside the box is a locket – the only thing she had with her when she was found – which turns out to be the key to Miriam being able to ‘walk’ between two worlds, this one and a seemingly medieval counterpart.

Pretty soon she finds out that she is not the only ‘world walker’ but is actually a long, lost member of the Lofstrom clan who stay rich by thwarting economic growth in their own world and trading in goods brought from ours. Worse still, the main products they trade in are drugs which they safely traffic through their own world and deliver to ours, perfectly avoiding the authorities. Consequently they – including Miriam – are very rich and very powerful, but her sudden and unexpected appearance as heir to the family fortune ruffles more than a few family feathers, and she must be constantly on her guard.

Along the way there is romance (forbidden, of course), murder, mystery and suspense but what keeps it interesting is how Stross seamlessly moves the action between the two worlds, keeping the reader in constant suspense as nowhere ever really seems safe for Miriam. There are some lovely touches too, certain buildings are ‘doppelgangered’ – replicated in both worlds – so that a walker can safely move between worlds knowing what to expect and some Clan members travel to this world for their education as nothing on their side comes close to Harvard. Another nice touch is that walkers can only transport what they can carry, so their world has limited technology available to it and the complete absence of swords and sorcery makes a welcome change.

The writing is beautifully transparent, taking complicated ideas like the relationship between politics and organised crime and interlacing them with intrigue, action and romance without ever boring the reader. The choice to make Miriam a reporter works well, she is resourceful without being too tough, she’s knowledgeable about business so she understands this new world quickly but she does make the occasional mistake so she’s never so smart as to irritate. She also quickly realises that she cannot beat the people of this world so her way out is to try and change things, upset the balance and make it work in her favour before she is married-off for the sake of the world walker bloodline or murdered for the family fortune.

It’s not without it’s faults, the speed of the romance beggars belief and towards the end the twists and turns take a bit of untangling to make sense of. Also, this is a large series of books, the downside of which is that the ending of this one feels too sudden and wants to step straight into its sequel. Apparently books one and two were originally one volume and I can’t help thinking that they should have stayed that way.

Having said all that, it’s a cracking read, and although only recently available in the UK it has definitely been worth the wait.

The Family Trade is published by Tor through Pan Macmillan and is
available from Amazon priced £5.99