Empire Games launches a new series of books by Charles Stross (review copy from Pan Macmillan), but it didn't leave me wanting to read on.

I haven't read the earlier Merchant Princes books that this series follows on from, but I don't think reading the earlier books is necessary before reading these. The story follows Rita, a drama graduate scraping a living as a booth babe, whose life is turned upside down when she is recruited by the NSA. What Rita doesn't realise is that she is the child of an experimental programme designed to breed the talent to walk between worlds, a talent limited to a small group of people who are believed to be responsible for a terrorist attack that destroyed the White House. The NSA, fearful of further terrorist attacks, want to train Rita as a worldwalking agent, to infiltrate the terrorists.

In a parallel world, Rita's biological mother, Miriam, is a refugee from the retaliation attack that destroyed the home of her family. She has worked her way up to being a Commissioner in the Government, heading the Ministry of Intertemporal Research and Intelligence, an agency that mixes espionage with the securing of technology to help develop the world in which she is now living. Rita's mission is at risk of upsetting the delicate geopolitics of Miriam's world, potentially triggering a worldwide nuclear war.

While there is a great Cold War espionage-style thriller in Empire Games, it was drowned out by an extremely polemical tone, reminiscent of Cory Doctorow. It was far too prominent in the story, and regularly intruded into and distracted from the story.

Goodreads rating: 2*

Echoes of the PKD in the alternate timestyle. A complex job of pulling the multiple strands together without signposting the conclusion early doors.

Empire Games is the new novel by Charles Stross, and it's the beginning of a new series; however the novel is linked to the Family Trade serie where firsty the time walkers are introduced.

The novel is a science fiction alternative history with the addiction of parallel time lines: the universe is developing in parallel time lines where humanity evolved differently that are accessible only to people able to time-walk (or to normal people with the help of evolved scientific equipment)..

The relation between government and time walkers in time line 2 is deteriorated to end in a war and the elimination of all time-walkers. The survivors went in another time line, less evolved.

About this time 2020) the story begins: two factions are opposed, on one side the US in time line 2, while on the other the time walkers survivors leaded by Miriam Burgeson in time line 3.

Here comes Rita, an actress adopted by US parents, biological daughter of Miriam, but unable to time-walk. The secret service will recruit her and enable her quiescent skill.

The main elements of the novel are action, conspiracies, spy training, unfortunately the characters are poorly built (Rita is the best built, the others are simply inserted in the story). The greater shortcoming of the novel is its being a long introduction for the following installment, here the pawns are arranged, but they do not play very much.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me the copy necessary to write this review.