A reporter (Miriam Beckstein) stumbles upon evidence of a money laundering scheme. This quickly leads to her being fired, getting death threats – and being transported to a parallel Earth. That other Earth appears mostly medieval, but Miriam quickly discovers that the knights are equipped with very modern rifles. Turns out that some people, including Miriam and her family, can travel between the two Earths, and that’s a powerful asset to have.
Miriam spends the rest of the book getting to know the habits and rules of that other world, and the family politics – and then trying to change them. Lots of intrigue, plotting, more close calls with death, a love affairs etc.
It’s got all the right ingredients – a sensible woman protagonist, discussions of socioeconomic development, suspenseful plot, lots of ideas – but some essential spark is missing. I think it’s the delivery: Stross has great ideas but the writing is lifeless. I wasn’t exactly disappointed with the book but when I put it down and looked at it, I realized I felt no particular need to read book 2 in the series. So I’m not going to.
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