1633 by Eric Flint, David Weber
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Book Reviews of 1633
Book Review: A Struggle, Tedious, Difficult , Possibly Worth It
Summary: 2 Stars
To be honest the collaboration of David Weber and Eric Flint in this sequel of the fantastic "1632" may not have been a disaster but it sure is close. Taking up where "1632" left off "1633" tries to follow the development of the tiny American culture that has been forcibly grafted into 17th century Germany. "Tries" to follow is the operative word! This is one of the most convoluted and unnecessarily complex storylines that I have seen in years! It was a real struggle to get through the first 2/3 of the book, I can't remember how many times I almost gave up in shear boredom! One of the problems is the first volume "1632" really concentrated on characters and not plot, the opposite is true for "1633" and it shows. Even the well developed characters from "1632" are somehow defocused and mutated almost beyond recognition.
Little action except for the very end, not much romance, very little character development and unnecessarily complicated plot, not much positive, well the cover art was better than "1632" but that's about all.
Since this seems to been just another volume in a larger series you may want to read it for continuity if nothing else, but wait until there actually is another one. You wouldn't want to waste your time if this is the last.
NOT RECOMMENDED unless you really think you must and even then, hay it's your time buddy!
Book Review: Time Travel and Alternate History--Winning Combination!
Summary: 5 Stars
1633 is the sequel to the excellent book 1632, which tells the riveting story of a modern day West Virginia town suddenly cast into the Germany of the past (guess what year?). This one was written in collaberation with David Weber, but I detected no break in the excellent writing style. 1633 takes the story further and develops the political alliances and relationships between the Americans and the Europeans. The naval war battles are graphic. I found it easy to fall into this story, and felt like I was there myself. That's the best test of good writing for me--complete absorption in the plot and characters. I can't wait for the promised 1634--the Baltic Wars. I highly recommend this book...there's something for everyone in it!Book Review: A DISAPPOINTING SEQUEL
Summary: 3 Stars
Although I loved 1632, and found it to be a unique sci- fi story, 1633 is a weak sequel. Those of you looking for sci fi content will not find any. The book was boring - very little action. Most of the book is about the backroom political maneuverings in Europe. You can skip fifty pages here and there and you will not feel like you missed anything.Book Review: fun, but danger lurks ahead
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was very fun to read and I liked it enough to give it four stars. What prevented the fifth star was length and context. The authors tried very hard to give us hope in 1632 but they failed to lay the ground work in 1633. Politicaly the ground will hold but militarily and more importantly Economicaly will they survive? I have my doubts. Building the ironclads is needed because the will insure the lines of supplies for the military and the flow of raw materials for the developing industries. How are the industries doing? We can't tell here. The Military builders are doing good but from whom do they get the material? How are they brought in. The expendature of time and wear on the building of roads was needed but to pull off a Industrial Revolution one needs to know how it started. My impression is that the U.S.A. is trying to push a nineteenth century economy on a engine that can only produce a eighteenth century economy. Railroads powered the 19th century and still are a vital component of the modern economy.(don't beleive me? Watch how fast congress makes railroads operate after a strike has been declared. The last time it could be measured in hours, not days.)Now personaly I like railroads but the railroads have their own problems with labor and they are still not resolved. On a different subject, The lack of corperations will be need to be resolved. The power of a corp. is vastly greater than a single individual because they can bring more people to bear on a problem than a single problem. Also a corperation pays taxes on what is left after paying all their bills were as a person pays the government first. How does the U.S.A. collect its taxes? We don't find out and probably never will but I suspect that mugging the tax man is a very profitable endevor. While having every one organized is great there will be many resources wasted due to duplication and contrasting needs. The little economic information that we are told could cause the whole house of cards to colapse. Fun but what a waste of time.Book Review: a finely crafted sequel
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a rare sequel in science fiction. Not only did I find it to be as enjoyable as the first book, but it manages to surpass my low expectations for a collaborative venture. Instead of another hackneyed collaboration I simply could not tell when one author stopped writing and the other picked the story up. For this alone, the book deserves high marks.Further, the scope of the book expands dramatically showing the consequences of the sudden appearance of the Americans in European politics. As a result of this, the book does become quite wordy as one character or another has to explain the importance of historical characters and events to others (including the reader). Fortunately, though, Flint and Weber manage to pull it off, without bogging the book down with heavy-handed exposition.
In the end, I guess the best review I can give is this: When I finished the book, I wanted to read it again and found myself eagerly awaiting the rest of the series. Not bad for an impromptu series.