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    Review of THE MERCHANT PRINCE OF ARCADIA by Rob Preece (see his website)

    www.BooksForABuck.com, April 2005

    Merchant Prince of Arcadia cover Space merchant Jake Borenski has just about cornered the market on an obscure commodity when his captain discovers him--and maroons him on a primative planet. Jake awakens to find he has no useful skills, a huge bar bill, and is in danger of being sold into slavery. He starts out washing beer barrels, but he dreams of getting back into space, away from the miserable dirtball he finds himself on, and into civilization

    Unfortunately, the city Jake wakes up in is the last remnant of an ancient civilization--one that has fallen into such problems that spaceships will no longer travel there. Somehow Jake has to get himself across half a planet and past armies of warring nomads if he's going to make his way off-planet. He has a chance when he angers a powerful guildmaster--and is sent out to prospect for markets for his boss's beer. But Jake has let himself start to care about these people, and about the society being threatened by anti-cultural conquering nomads.

    Author Rob Preece takes an intriguing spin on the traditional high-technology visitor story. Jake has virtually no high-tech skills and certainly no strategic insights missing among the locals. What he has is experience in trading, and an understanding of ancient history. Part of that history is of merchant empires and economic powers. Of course, that knowledge wouldn't help a slave much--nor does it seem adequate in the face of a powerful invasion. Unfortunately, the invaders already know all about gunpowder, so no quick fixes are allowed.

    Preece makes the dying Otranto Empire, the powerful blond Granger invaders, and the barbarian mercenaries from the east come to life in an exciting SF novel. If you like fish-out-of-water stories, you'll definitely want to give MERCHANT PRINCE OF ARCADIA a try.

    See more BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by Rob Preece.

    Four Stars

    Approximately 122,000 words.

    Reviewed 2/10/05

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    Check out the movie trailer on YouTube:

    Coffee Time Romance reviewer Cherokee has given MERCHANT PRINCE the coveted 5 Cup (top) rating. Thanks, Cherokee. Check out the review.

    Motley Fool (U.K.) has a brief review. Here's the URL: http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=9393402&sort=postdate

    Too generous? Too stingy. Or did I miss the whole point? Send your comments to publisher@booksforabuck.com. I'll publish the best letters I get so let me know if I can use your name.

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