Showing posts with label 1632 series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1632 series. Show all posts

1634: The Bavarian Crisis (Ring of Fire) Review

1634: The Bavarian Crisis (Ring of Fire)
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1634: The Bavarian Crisis (Ring of Fire) ReviewBavarian Crisis is another novel about diplomacy in "1634", actually avoiding discussion of local military conflict. The main action of that year is covered in "The Baltic War," which could be read first (and, thankfully, has now been belatedly published). If newcomers start here (or with any of the "1634" books), they will miss too much of deeper import, and may find the story both incomprehensible and boring. This new volume takes us back to 1634, to one of the four crucial side-theaters for which longtime readers of this series have been waiting. The story develops in Thuringia, Bavaria, and Vienna, month by month, with chapter headings in Latin for no discernible reason. (You can play a little game, to find the phrase translated somewhere in the text.) Duke Maximilian of Bavaria is a study in religious madness as he loses control of his realm and makes others the scapegoats. He, and other potentates on the edges of the young United States of Europe, are under constant pressure and intrigue from its agents.
The book opens with three maps, showing places and contemporary political borders one won't find on a modern map. DeMare provides four genealogies so we can follow the intricate relations among characters and the ruling Hapsburg dynasty (the longest and therefore most complicated in all known history). There's much humor in these big books--not in dialogue so much as characters' thoughts, wordplay, anachronistic up-time jargon, manly jokes; nothing elaborate. Most everyone is very reasonable, that is, they make their reasons perfectly clear. In general, everybody acts so reasonably, with such little emotion, such wry humor, that the result is flat. One manifest flub--having a lead undercover character blurt out her identity when nobody had asked--is actually a setup for the final suspense. The pace has to be slowed by long digressions on historical and strategical matters (vital to alternative HISTORY, after all), while immediate tactics are concealed in the commanders' heads and cleverly sprung on the enemy (and the reader). That's about the only suspense, as the Adolf/Stearns USE juggernaut rolls on from success to success.
This West-Virginians-in-the-Thirty-Years-War saga is a thoroughly collaborative work in progress, with significant online input. Thus, the fact this book is "late" to the fray means little, because there is no single main line, many themes in parallel, and no single series "hero" (instead, many). That is what makes this alternative history series unique, yet frustrating to try to follow while it is being published. These later novels lack the shock and surprise of the first, truly novel. They also lack the sense of desperation that made "1632" and "1633" so powerful.1634: The Bavarian Crisis (Ring of Fire) Overview

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Grantville Gazette VI (Ring of Fire) Review

Grantville Gazette VI (Ring of Fire)
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Grantville Gazette VI (Ring of Fire) ReviewThis, the sixth volume of the Grantville Gazette, has changed some since it's inception. No longer are all the stories submitted to author/editor Flint published in order received. Instead, this is a more selective compilation of short stories sharing the 1632 Universe as a common thread. Editor Flint has made a good selection this time, and there are fewer "duds" than in previous volumes.
Since this is anthology, combining the efforst of a large collection of authors, I'm only going to mention the short stories I considered outstanding:
The Monster; by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlet. This is an aviation-related tale of a downtimer effort to build an economically useful airplane for TEA (trans European Airlines); there is a warm underlying theme of romance in this one and develops the central characters very well.
Birdwatching: by Garret Vance. Another tale of interaction between a lonely and isolated up-timer, Pam Miller, and how her birdwatching hobby/passion allows her to break from her remorse and begin to connect with the 17th Century through efforts of the good couple, Dore and Gerbald.
Suite for Four Hands; David Carrico. As always in the Grantville Gazette, one of the premier stories! An ongoing tale of music and romance between Marla Linder and Franz Sylwester; this deals with Marla and her newly formed group of young downtimer German musicians and her efforts to teach music theory in a 20th century mode. A very warm and enjoyable journey, it is!
Lost in Translation; by Iver P. Cooper. A clever tale with a surprise ending. Well executed.
Sailing Upwind; by Kevin and Karen Evans; another real "winner" in this volume. This is a very nicely crafted tale of an uptimer hot air balooner and his wife, adapting up-time technology to an unusual proble, A nice subplot involving a young downtimer German lad as an assistant Boy Scout Troop leader plays out nicely.
Jenny and the King's Men; by Mark Huston was something of a return to the British portion of the ongoing tale--and the efforts of King Charles I to eliminate the yet-to-be conspiritors who participated in his not-yet-to-be history of losing his head. I enjoyed this one very much, and Julie (Sims) Mackay and Alex play a small role in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Many of the other stories seemed to be "thread drift," and got a little too far from the main storyline in the 1632 Universe. Not that they weren't well executed, but I've simply highlighted the better installments.
Overall a well crafted collection, and an improvement over previous efforts. Five stars, and no equivocation on my part. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it.Grantville Gazette VI (Ring of Fire) Overview

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Ring of Fire III Review

Ring of Fire III
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Ring of Fire III ReviewThe quality of the set of short story collections in this series has varied from book to book. This book, in my opinion, sets the highest standard in quality, standard of writing and enjoyability of any of the collections set in the Ring of Fire universe. Mr. Flint has not only done an excellent job of editing but has provided one of the best ( and longest ) stories in the collection, "Four Days on the Danube". I also especially enjoyed "All God's Children in the Burning East" by Garrett W. Vance which is set in Indochina, Les Ailes du Papillion by Walter Hunt which is set in North America and "Salonica" set in the Ottoman empire by Kim McKay. Since the forward indicates that that these three areas will be playing a prominent role in future books, this is a good sign for the continued viability and reader interest in the whole series; both novels and collections.
Write on, Eric Flint! Write on!Ring of Fire III Overview

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1636: The Saxon Uprising (The Ring of Fire) Review

1636: The Saxon Uprising (The Ring of Fire)
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1636: The Saxon Uprising (The Ring of Fire) ReviewI read this as an ebook and not as the hardcover.
For the last few books, the Assiti Shards series had been all over the place. It felt like too much was happening in too short a time - a few decades worth of war happened in 4 short years with internal social convulsions thrown in between. I was thinking about giving up on the series.
Then, the last book, The Eastern Front, threw in a seriously unexpected curveball.
From that plot twist, this book started up with a mess that turned into an unexpectedly fun novel. This one felt like a return to the first few books in the series. There are multiple story lines occurring at the same time with many of the usual suspects but without that many new characters added in. It resolved itself nicely while leaving open a handful of story lines to continue in the next books of the series.1636: The Saxon Uprising (The Ring of Fire) Overview

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