The Merchants of Souls

This book is just marvelous and should be rewarding to those who have read the first two books in the series. I greatly enjoyed the fleshing out of Giraut's childhood and the formation of his campanho. The history of the earth and all of the various wars (a very believable possible Earth future), the Rising of the aintellects, and the relationship of the inner sphere to the Thousand Cultures are all very well-done and require very little suspension of disbelief. "Another round for humanity and one more for the good guys."

Another wonderful read by John Barnes. His books are always enjoyable and fun to read and never take themselves too seriously. ... it was quite good and told an interesting story, although I will say the ending was a little too silly for me. Don't read this book without first having read, "A Million Open Doors" and "Earth Made of Glass", in that order. These books introduce us to the world of the 1000 Cultures and Giraut Leones, the first person protagonist of all the novels. They are also enjoyable stories, set in a very believable futuristic world. Anyone who doubts Barnes "predictions" for Earth 900 years from now, just has to watch a kid play X Box or talk to those people who live in their role playing computer worlds. Barnes just takes this desire of people to want to live in a fantasy world to its logical conclusions. I enjoyed this book very much and can't wait for the next one in the series.

Unlike the other reviewers of this book, I found the obviously deeply personal involvement in the plot of this book to parallel the attitudes and observations of our hero, Giraut. There is a deep synergy, to me, between the writing style, the character's emotions, and the plot of the book. Very different from the first book of the series and similar in style to the second, I was amazed at the depth and clarity provided by the dual personalities in the main character and the time spent reviewing what made the protagonist who he was. Certainly not typical sci-fi, it may be hard-to-swallow for a person looking for futuristic adventure. As existential fiction, however, it seemed right-on.

Among the Thousand Cultures that make up the galaxy, earth already has a decadent reputation for misusing things. The latest movement on earth involves what most other worlds would say are the misuse of the recordings of the psypyx. Most of the worlds relish sharing their minds with the recordings of the deceased, but on earth the push is to place the recordings into games as virtual toys. The outrage among the Thousand Cultures and the earthlings' ignorance of this reaction could lead to war. Girault Leones vowed never to work for the Office of Special Projects, especially with Shan, because their last disastrous collaboration led to the destruction of the planet Briand and his own divorce from Margaret. However, circumstances makes Girault realize never say never because he knows the galaxy needs him to influence the decisions on earth. He volunteers to try to keep the planet from taking actions that could lead to war. The third Thousand Cultures tale, THE MERCHANTS OF SOULS, is an exciting science fiction tale that contains several intriguing premises especially the concept of sharing brain cells. The story line is overloaded so pivotal events are passively discussed between characters as having happened rather than actively described. Still, John Barnes shows why he is an award-winning author by making his futuristic realms seem authentic while fostering some novel ideas.Harriet Klausner

John Barnes has written books that appeal to a variety of tastes, but this 3rd entry in a projected 5 book series ought to attract readership from a wide audience. I hate to say that I doubt this, given the popularity of Trek, * Wars, B5, etc., and the prejudice of "serious mainstream" readers against SF. I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in the future of humanity to read these books!Start with "A Million Open Doors": the series goes uphill from there (and I am amazed that Barnes keeps upping the ante). Anyone who thinks that hard SF can't have a heart will find that the emphasis is on the interior emotional life of the viewpoint character. Bravo to John Barnes!!