1634: The Baltic War (The Assiti Shards) by David Weber, Eric Flint
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Book Reviews of 1634: The Baltic War (The Assiti Shards)
Book Review: As good as 1632 and 1633
Summary: 5 Stars
In a shared universe such as 1632 - with numerous authors weighing in with their respective contributions and personal visions of who these characters actually ARE - unevenness of product is bound to emerge. And it has - with a vengence. But whenever Eric Flint can team up with another first rate writer - and they can utilize the core characters from 1632 - the reader is bound to encounter some magic. 1364 -The Baltic War is a first rate story with plotlines and character development that are true to the terrific quality established in the first two books in the series. The reader is reminded why they fell in love with these characters and this historical setting in the first place.Book Review: History is messy business
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this series enough to try mightily at presenting it on Wikipedia and having it make sense to some reader who is in all likelihood not a book lover. I can't really disagree with any of the fourteen review opinions presented before this writing (but would add the "Ring of Fire" as a mandantory pre-read--those anthologies as noted in its forward were written concurrently with and shaped this milieu at the same time as the justly lauded and vaunted 1633, and I would suggest reading it before even that triumphant work!), as I understand that not all of us look for the same things in a "good read". But the fact is, I AM going to rebut a few things said -- instead of writing a standard review myself, as the earliest five or six singing the praise of the work pretty much are what I would have written. It's the couple of sour apples in the batch that I want to present a different viewpoint on their gripe, or shed some light as to why they shouldn't be griping about that aspect at all with a reason or two behind the issue.
The critics filing reviews ahead of me complaining about the sunny tone and romance have a right to their dismal preferences, but I can say this to them--this is post 90's guys--get in touch with some of your female side, this thing isn't being written to be read only by guys as many of it's boosters (and writers) are of the female persuasion. (Kind of reminds me of 'The Princess Bride' line: "Is this a kissing book?", asked the boy. The answer's the same of course-- Yep, some of the time!)
But the 1632 Afterword addressed that sunniness quite well--the late Jim Baen advised Flint to lighten it up and go easy on the violent side of things--and that's the nature of the storyline and tone that began what is truly deserved to be called a phenomenon. Flint likes the light hearted approach on top of that, and his humor pays that bill nicely for me most of the time. So the first moral is the prologs and afterwords in this series are pretty important reading... and relatively brief at that, so I recommend you do that.
The critics lamenting the "too many characters" most of us don't see often enough and get enough of fast enough will be unhappy with the next three novels Flint and Weber have a contract to write as well. (No speculation here, just fact--we can but hope they take less time to schedule a writing window in their respective careers sooner than this last lengthy delay, as Flint and Weber are definitely carrying the Central European thread together--and some of the reviewers below have missed the point that many Europeans live outside that geographic region, and those other threads will cross back and recross and tangle with the mainline story again and again-- as Flint says, History is a messy business as it's generated by the actions of the many, not just a couple of supermen.) But the series does have all those complicated side threads, and will have a few more yet, I'm sure. And those all have hints and obvious literary hooks a plenty already generating speculative "What are they planning next" suspicions to anyone who has payed close attention to some of those "color factors". The Ram Rebellion and The Cannon Law have monstrously large implications to future complicated plots by the things they left hanging and pregnant. The confrontations with Spain and France have barely been scratched. Off to the East, the very large nation of Poland, an international power of the first rank in that day looms darkly and only the short stories have begun to pursue the ripples of Grantville's impact out in that direction, well that and Gustavus's anger with certain princes located in points east of Magdeburg. The Ottoman Empire has been given a poisoned image of the Americans at the hands of Richelieu, and how that may play out is a hand full of wild cards as well. Will the usurpers in Charles I's court decide that being in for a Penny means they should take the bet of a pound and "off with his head" a decade early? Will then Cromwell return to save the Isle from their machinations? The canvas is mind boggling, and that's without mentioning the armed schism that evicted the Pope from Rome and has the Spanish Cardinal temporarily in possession. Nor the resources aspects--the USE arranged for many with the mercantile-coupe-de-main in Venice in The Galileo Affair, but there is almost certainly some strategic material that will be lacking somewhere within the reach of the USE's sworn foes. If none other, rubber is a candidate there, as is cotton and oil.
Some below criticize the breadth of characters as a flaw, but Flint's intent all along was to use a town as a collective protagonist, and his experiment clearly worked or we wouldn't be discussing the ten books already in print in the set (some reviewing before me can't count higher than five, I suppose.), nor looking forward to "1634: The Bavarian Crises" and "Grantville Gazette IV" in October and December(?) respectively. The second Ring of Fire II is in production for early in the year 2008, AFAIK. By any measure, that's a remarkable record since the 2003-2004 release of the first two sequels. Think on it-- the series has not only sustained a fan base, but grown it fast enough to support a book released about three to four to the year! If you're a 1632 virgin, that "without any further ado or gilding the Lily" should tell you that you don't need to be reading us about the series, but should jump on in to see what has captured so many in so short a time in a day when reading for recreation is a dying pass time.
While I can agree that some characters need better development, for the most part the trend to well-roundedness has taken place over several books even for such major figures as Mike Sterns ("Prince of all Germans"--where is THAT repeated mention going anyway? One can but speculate, and hope dizziness stays away!), Becky, John Simpson, and Melissa Mailey as the authors aren't letting "well rounded" characterizations get in the way of keeping the plot moving forward. Every time we meet one again, we learn a bit more of them, and more importantly, of the world as that which birthed our modern past, and even more, the insights behind the politics as practiced in the day. One person moaned about the characters in this set in the context of these mainline books--which means she's ignored the four other novels (which were criticised by others for not using the same characters!) nor the Grantville Gazettes (Now up to the 12th in the online magazine version--and Flint hopes to add about three a year to that juggernaut of stories--many of which fill in the gaps and blank spots in the background aiding understanding of all that's going on as Grantville settles into only its third year in Central Europe. (Excluding the Cannon Law--The various works set in 1634 have us to late spring/early summer so far, and no further.)
With (at least) three top notch Historians (Flint and Weber each holds a Masters, DeMarce a PhD in history--and is a 17th century specialist to boot!) checking each other on the plot and background, the series offers an unparalleled view of our own messy historical underpinnings. They are no doubt taking some liberties with persona's of figures such as Richelieu and Gustavus--I doubt either of them spoke English for example, and the "personalities" of such figures is at best only inferable based on historical sources, but the triumph therein is that they are making the effort and putting in the work to present plausible and realistic portraits of those very real and very influential figures of their day.
All in all, I'm more than getting my money's worth as the second reading is at least as good as the first, and the third repeats the experience. With each pass, I see a bit more of the literary hooks that future stories hang their hats upon, demolishing my innocent understanding of "that bit is just some background color" and replacing it with, "my how clever they were--figuring this thing in the storyline three books back and two years earlier, and it all ties in logically!" That sort of discovery gives this set, along with the historical insights and leads it contains a wonderful refreshing nature like nothing that I've ever experienced. Harry Turtledove has shown pieces of that, J.R.R. Tolkein a whole lot more, but no one else I can recollect has presented the rich gestalt this series is building. I look forward to many more surprises along the journey forward.
Book Review: Another GOOD chapter in the 1632 saga
Summary: 5 Stars
"1634 the Baltic War" ties a lot of the 1632 story threads together. It answers the question of what happened to the prisoners in the Tower of London, what happened to Eddie Cantrell - a captive of the King of Denmark, what happened to the ironclad warships admiral Simpson was building, what happened to Rebecca Sterns and the Cardinal-Infante at Amsterdam, and what happened to the siege of Luebeck.
Without giving away the plot, as with all Eric Flint stories, you can depend on the story coming to a happy conclusion with none of the major characters being killed off. Of course it creates as many new questions as it answers. This is definitely a five star read and the CD bound into the back of the book is worth the cost of the book by itself. I can hardly wait until the next book comes out.
Book Review: Enjoyable. Innovative use of Electronic Technology
Summary: 4 Stars
In the past, I would have said that if you haven't read the PRIOR books in this series, you should not buy this particular book. But, they provided the previous books in a CD packaged with the book. A great idea in my opinion; In fact, absolutely essential considering how complex and convoluted this story has become. Overall, I liked the book and found it as interesting and as much fun as the previous books. My only major criticism is the aforementioned convoluted plotline and the large number of characters to track across the entire series of novels. However, it is difficult to argue that they haven't created a complete and fully detailed universe around this concept. If you like a compact and efficient writing style, this is not the book for you. But, I've grown quite fond of the characters in this series and I look forward to further adventures in the next book(s) in the series. But, as a West Virginian, I'm biased. Question is, how long can supplies of "up-time" technologies brought along from a small town in WV last in the 17th century?Book Review: A big bowl of "meh"
Summary: 3 Stars
So... five years later we get... well, what we got. This book was a very slight disapointment for me. It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't as good as it should've been.
My basic problem with the novel was that it put out a lot of unconnected plot lines and didn't really handle them well. Some, like the escape from London, events in Coppenhaggen and the Ironclad Fleet, were very well done. Others, like Colonel Wood's adventures, seemed tacked-on and pointless. Harry Turtledove, another great alternate history writer, also does multiple viewpoint character novels, but he tends to handle them a little better. On the other hand, he's also written dozens of novels, so hopefully Flint and Webber will get better at that sort of thing as they go along.
I really like the 1632 series. I find them to be very well written and entertaining examples of temporal displacement fiction (I made that genre name up, but you can use it! Put it on t-shirts!). I find them much more enjoyable then the "Island in the Sea of Time" books, for example. But while this one wasn't as flat-out bad as "The Gallelio Affair", it still wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be.
Still, I'll read 1635, 1636, 1637, etc, etc, because I like the series. And this wasn't a BAD novel by any means. It just wasn't great, and "1632" and "1633" were.