Empire Games - bookrastinating.com

336 pages

Published Jan. 16, 2017 by Tor Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-7653-3756-6

The year is 2020. It's seventeen years since the Revolution overthrew the last king of the New British Empire, and the newly-reconstituted North American Commonwealth is developing rapidly, on course to defeat the French and bring democracy to a troubled world. But Miriam Burgeson, commissioner in charge of the shadowy Ministry of Intertemporal Research and Intelligence—the paratime espionage agency tasked with catalyzing the Commonwealth's great leap forward--has a problem. For years, she's warned everyone: "The Americans are coming." Now their drones arrive in the middle of a succession crisis—the leader of the American Commonwealth is dying and the vultures are circling.

In another timeline, the U.S. has recruited Rita, Miriam's estranged daughter, to spy across timelines and bring down any remaining world-walkers who might threaten national security. But her handlers are keeping information from her.

Two nuclear superpowers are set on a collision course. Two increasingly desperate paratime …

The year is 2020. It's seventeen years since the Revolution overthrew the last king of the New British Empire, and the newly-reconstituted North American Commonwealth is developing rapidly, on course to defeat the French and bring democracy to a troubled world. But Miriam Burgeson, commissioner in charge of the shadowy Ministry of Intertemporal Research and Intelligence—the paratime espionage agency tasked with catalyzing the Commonwealth's great leap forward--has a problem. For years, she's warned everyone: "The Americans are coming." Now their drones arrive in the middle of a succession crisis—the leader of the American Commonwealth is dying and the vultures are circling.

In another timeline, the U.S. has recruited Rita, Miriam's estranged daughter, to spy across timelines and bring down any remaining world-walkers who might threaten national security. But her handlers are keeping information from her.

Two nuclear superpowers are set on a collision course. Two increasingly desperate paratime espionage agencies are fumbling around in the dark, trying to find a solution to the first contact problem that doesn't result in a nuclear holocaust. And two women—a mother and her long-lost, adopted daughter—are about to find themselves on opposite sides of the confrontation.

1 edition

Billie Thompson reviewed Empire Games by Charles Stross (Empire Games, #1)

Review of 'Empire Games: A Tale of the Merchant Princes Universe' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Aaah! The merchant princess university is back except this time the protagonist isn't suck in some crappy medieval world's creepy breeding program (and Stross is a better writer).

Very enjoyable and will totally read the next one. Does feel very much like a direct sequel to the merchant princess series so I am not really sure why it's it's own series.

Sean Randall reviewed Empire Games by Charles Stross (Empire Games, #1)

Review of 'Empire Games' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I found this exceptionally enjoyable, rightly riveting and crazily cool. I thought, having had the whole introductory universe x y and z statement that I'd get very confused, but i actually managed to keep the threads straight in my head and utterly enjoyed the work as a result.

My only small gripe seemed to be the lack of consistency of dialogue and diction in Timeline 3, but even that's not such a huge thing when I consider just how many people we see living there aren't native. other than that, the whole story rocked along at an impressive pace and I eagerly await the next one.