1632, Second Edition (Ring of Fire Book 1)

If I were offered the opportunity to be transported into the "1632" universe, I would not hesitate a microsecond. I love the people, the culture and after living through the chaos of 2020s in the USA, I even love the politics of Grantville, Thuringia nee Grantville West Virginia. I give Eric Flint's "1632" my highest recommendation.

It's been a while since I've read a book that I've enjoyed this much, it's told in a third-person point of view with many different story lines running at same times. The first and most prominent of which follows Mike Streans, a mine worker and president of the mine workers union from West Virginia. He's attending his sister's wedding when there's a flash of light and all the power goes out. When Mike goes outside to check on things everything looks normal until he spots smoke rising in the distance. So of course being the hillbillies that they are, Mike and a bunch of his friends all grab their guns and go out to investigate. They end up finding is a small group of 17th century German soldiers raiding a peasant farm, they intervene and so starts an adventure where a small town from 21st century West Virginia is thrust into the middle of the 13 years wars in 17th century Germany.While I found the author's writing style slightly hard to read, it did not detract from the story any. The characters are all very well fleshed out, as well as showing good character growth over the course of the book, which encompassed a year in their timeline. One aspect that I usually don't like in most books it the multiple stories going on at once, but in this one I didn't mind it, enjoyed it actually. It's probably because of the authors ability to write such engaging characters. The beginning revolved mainly around Mike and Rebecca(his romantic interest), showing how her and her father acclimated to the way of life of the Americans.My favorite character has got to be Gretchen, she was introduced mid way through as a slave in one of the small raiding parties that have been roving across the countryside. Her, and her younger brother and sister were taken as slaves 4 years before when her village was raided and her parents were killed. Because of her great beauty she was able to help protect her younger siblings by becoming the concubine of the party's leader, and also becomes somewhat of a surrogate mother to other children taken as slave from other villages.Gretchen finds herself thrown in with the Americans when her raiding party joins up with the main army to lay siege to the America town. The battle is virtually non-existent due to the superior firepower of the Americans. The thing I liked best about her is her strength, while Rebecca is a strong female character in her own right she never had to endure the hardships that Gretchen did. It shows in her later on, after she has settled into life with the Americans she sets up a spy network with some of the other prostitutes in the surrounding towns. She becomes an integral part of the Americans military efforts, and is absolutely unforgiving when it comes to an enemy which is threatening her or her new family.Now for the things I disliked, there really wasn't much. First, I felt it was really odd how non-existent the rest of Mike's family was, his sister had a little bit part in the very beginning at her wedding, and then half way through she got maybe two more lines. Mike's mother had no scenes at all and was later explained away as being an invalid. Now I don't know about you but even if my mother is an invalid she, and my sister, would be a major part in my life, especially in those circumstances. I just think he should have had more interaction with his family, I know the second book has his sister being held captive in another country so maybe she'll be featured a little more in that one.The second thing that sort of bothered me was how the author went into overview mode at around 70% and lasted until around 83%, it was almost like he was trying to fill space until the ending, which by the way was really good.On a whole this was really a great book, it does a good job showing the different issues caused by the differences between our 21st century society and their 17th century society. Things that were thought acceptable back then are now thought to be heinous crimes.One thing to note though, I am not very knowledgeable about that time in the worlds history, so I'm really not sure how historical accurate some of the events taking place in this book are.

There's few people who don't find the prospect of alternate history, in one form or another, fascinating in some way. It's a harmless but thoroughly enjoyable way to put together different historical (albeit impossible) scenarios and see how they play out. Imagine if Hannibal had cannon technology and laid seige to Rome? What if Darius had breach-loading rifles and was able to stop Alexander the Great dead in his tracks at the battle of Issus? What if the Confederate army had access to biplanes and engaged in days-long strafing runs of Union forces at Gettysburg? Admittedly a lot of the ideas (like the ones I put) are beyond comprehension, and perhaps a little silly, but it still draws a lot of people in, mostly to see how things would have turned out had history been nudged a little, or quite a lot, as with "1632".Through some intergalactic artsy accident, the town of Grantville, WV is blasted back in time to the 30 Years War in central Germany. The denizens of the town, largely miners, are initially oblivious to what has happened but quickly integrate themselves into the military/political situation of the day by liberating a slew of local peasants and townships and incorporating them into a new USA. All this is made possible by the incredible array of weapons that the citizens of Grantville have in their ownership, including a lone M-60 machine gun, which plays a pivotal part in the first "battle" of the book.The book is a real page-turner and you'll find yourself drawn into the story with surprising ease. The main characters are not stand-out heroes like you see in the movies, but rather just like you or I. This is a very pleasing aspect of the book as is the way the book precedes the reader's thoughts of what technological advancements can be made from what they have on hand. After all, there are only finite sources of ammunition and technology (such as computers, cars, etc) that will only last for so many years. As a result the citizens of Grantville are forced to create technology, which archaic by our standards today, would be wildly advanced for the time in which they find themselves; steam engines, rifled cannon, gatling guns, etc. As I read I kept thinking "you know, they can make zeppelins, submarines, battleships, rail-lines, penicillin, and things that would *still* blow the doors off of 17th century Europe". And that's a large part of where the genius and fun of this book comes from. It practically begs the imagination of the reader to use their noodle to involve itself in the creation process. I've no doubt at all that this is what forms the bedrock of the strength of the series.On the flipside, to echo some of the other reviewers, Mr. Flint does get a little heavy-handed at times with the bellicose union sentiment, such as when Mike leaves the wedding at the beginning of the book and sees all his union/miner cohorts in the parking lot and thinks, "UMWA. Solidarity forever". What??? I actually heard a groan escape my lips. The book has it's moments when dialogue becomes slightly clunky, but my only real complaint was the aforementioned excessive-at-times pro-union stance the author takes. Such is his right as the author, and truthfully it's only a very minor distraction in the overall scheme of things.Some have argued that the book takes a left of center approach, while others have stated a distinctly conservative bent from the book. The truth is that it's actually a unique combination of both. Union members tend to be a strange mix of "Live conservative, Vote liberal" types of people you're likely to come across in the country and before you bash the book too hard for any perceived political messages, think how God-awful it could have been had Mr. Flint blasted members of PETA, NOW, or MoveOn.org into the past. George Soros versus Cardinal Richlieu would have been a hoot, but c'mon!In summary, fantastic book. It's a great, addictive read that has me salivating to read the sequels. Thoroughly recommended!

Bought this for myself and thought it had an intriguing plot ( which I won’t go into to avoid spoilers ) I did find it a bit rambling in that the plot while all linked didn’t flow too well and one chapter involving fairly graphic sex was followed by another purely on politics then another covering a battle! For me you can lose the sex ( thankfully minimal so why bother? ) but also the plot involves a settlement with lots of mixed race / national members with little or no friction I find unbelievable and all through there is a tang of Americanism which can grate.

It’s an odd book. On one hand we’ve got a pulpy “Gung Ho Americans transported back in time sort everybody out with their superior fire power” on the other we’ve got some well woven in historical facts that compliment the story.My biggest issue is that this book is focussed on blue collar characters but by sheer luck one of them has all the intelligence of a General , a President and a great philosopher...it was a stretch.I enjoyed it, I liked the characters, there were moments of inspired writing...Captain Gars in particular.Fun stuff

Important kingdom building aspects are skipped, instead Eric focuses on silly romance(I am not against romance, it's just that author's version of it is silly white knight/damsels love at first sight). Writting style is scatter focused, there's a bit too much of USA Kool Aid (for example, who cares what the date is, if we say it's 4th of July, then it is! 'Murica!), I don't know why is he graphically describing each kill(fetish? I'm not queasy, it's just unnecessary and getting in the way of the story, OK we get it! Soldiers kill soldiers, no need to describe how many tendons are left holding the head attached to a corpse). Oh and let's not forget the power of friendship! Modern Americans find themselves in medieval Europe and after killing rapist mercenaries they encounter Scotish cavalry, oh hey it's the Scots! They speek the same language as us so that makes them family! Let's all get along. How to make Spanish army surrender plans : surround them and play various music at them at night so they can't sleep, then spend several pages boring the readers with useless information of which songs were played, then throw napalm at them. Have you ever read fanfics where authors have characters list their favourite songs or even copy paste lyrics in their fanboying/fangirling? This is it.

A concept I enjoyed and a satisfactory read. Eric Flint has done his historic homework; I'm very pleased to see Gustav Adolph centre stage. But Mr Flint has a very wide canvas to paint. I warmed to some characters such as Rebecca and Julie as well as to James the doctor and Alex, but several seemed a little fleeting. But it's very difficult for a writer to keep track of so many characters when describing a whole new world.I found the writing without pace in places; the author explained things and then went on to describe them. I wish he hadn't, but let us be surprised and a little worried instead. Despite the bloodshed and brutal environment of the Thirty Years' War, this is an upbeat gung-ho story where the 'good guys' win at everything. It doesn't detract from the overall idea, but it saps narrative tension.The author manages to herd it all together competently. Read it for the concept.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters from 21st century dropped into the 17th and no way back, how do they cope? Well I suggest you read it and find out. I found this book to be well written, with a tremendous amount of research done to back up the story line. Trying to thread a story amongst the timelines of known history and well documented characters is a difficult task, and I think that this ranks alongside the story lines of Sharpe and his Rifles. No spoilers, but be prepared to spend your money on the rest of the books in this Universe.