Empire GamesCharles Stross
Tor/Forge
January 17th, 2017
It’s 2020, and two women find themselves on opposite sides of a clash that spans multiple alternate timelines.
Miriam is the head of an espionage agency that’s set to bring about the Commonwealth’s great leap forward in technology and culture. She’s been telling everyone for years that the Americans will bring their drones and technology soon–and they do, just when the leader of the Commonwealth is dying.
Her daughter Rita – with whom there is some tension – is in another timeline, recruited by the U.S. to spy across timelines, hunting down any remaining world-walkers that could threaten national security.
Stross has always been a deft hand at intricate plotting and far future intrigue. This is a start of a new series that’s well worth following, if the next books are as good as this one. He balances character and complex plot well, resulting in rich story and world building about characters we can easily be interested in.
JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.