Rating: 
Summary: Fun Light Reading, Better for Kids
Review: This is a fun story about a West Virginia mining town transported to the middle of Germany during the 30 years war. Not only the entire town, but also the coal mines under the town are transported. This creates an instant source of power for the modern industrial base their local machine shops introduce to medieval Europe. The plot, such as it is, is that the Americans are going to introduce the concept of democracy to war ravaged Germany. There are a number of fun scenes where the hillbillies use modern weapons, vehicles, or tactics ... against the primitives.The story is not as much fun as it could be though. The first and most glaring problem is that the writing style is only one or two steps up from a "Dick and Jane" story. (See Spot run. See Jane run.) One of the other reviewers called it comic book writing, with which I would have to agree. The words are short and simple. The sentences are short and simple. The characters are, mostly, two dimensional stereotypes. Sometimes the author tries to be creative and blends two stereotypes together into a single character. My favorite of these is the cold blooded sniper who feels no remorse when killing the enemy from ambush, who is also the captain of her High School cheerleading squad because she's just SO full of spirit. After a while, you just get used to his style though, and maybe it's great for kids. Another thing that really bothered me personally, is that they are in the middle of an historical event, the 30 years war. They have a school library. They know what happens. They should pick a side (the author is very partial to the Protestants and Gustavus Adolphus, which is fine), take advantage of their knowledge of the future and their superior weaponry to win a decisive victory, then march on the enemy capitol and end the war. In other words, fight to win. The Battle of Breitenfield would have been a great place to turn a Protestant victory into a complete Catholic rout. The Americans should have known all about Breitenfield in advance, the same as the author did, yet they didn't even show up at the battle. Instead they think it makes sense to try and mind their own business, despite a Monroe Doctrine type policy of protecting themselves and their neighbors from invasion. This is just an invitation for the enemy to scout out their capabilities and defenses, and take their time to mount a well planned out attack against them. Finally, modern weapons are great and all, but if the good guys lost a round or two occasionally, it would be much more dramatic when they finally won in the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Wishful thinking on a grand scale
Review: While Mr. Flint obviously has done a considerable amount of research on 17th-century Europe, which at least makes the book informative, his style of writing is more suited for that used in comic books. The plot is shallow, controversy is minimal, and the protagonist characters are so much more superior than their "evil" enemies, the outcome of their struggle does not produce even a shadow of a doubt. The author attempted to pluck at the patriotic strings of his readers by having a small group of people from a coal-mining community strive to build the new United States inside war-ravaged Europe, and for some it obviously works - patriotism is a powerful driving force, just look at the success of the movie "Independence Day." However, even this cannot compensate for sugary-plain romance between a number of couples in the story, one-sided battle scenes, and single-minded thought process of the book's characters.
Rating: 
Summary: An intriguing spin on time travel conventions that works!
Review: Flint's background in unions, blue collar work, small town living, and hard core historical analysis make for a fresh and appealing approach to the idea of modern Americans assisting beleagured medieval folks. The characters are multi-faceted, complex real people as opposed to nouveau Napoleons and emerging Edisons as opposed to many novels in this genre that get too devoted to the military and technology aspects of the tale. There are plenty of surprises, good character development with engaging plot lines, and rich context so the actions matter for more than just entertainment. I think it would be a great starting point for discussions about the possibilities for any group who lived in a small town or small city, such as the folks around here in Montana. Let's hope this develops into a series of the same high caliber as Flint's work with David Drake on the Belisaurius series.
Rating:
Summary: Very good story of alernate time
Review: I really enjoyed 1632. I read it in less than two days, because it was very easy to read and was so entertaining it was hard to put down. It was like reading a newer and larger Connetticut Yankee in King Aurthers Court. I then had to order my own copy, since I was reading someone else's book. It starts with a 3 mile radius hemisphere from present day West Virginia (as if picked up with an icecream scoop) replacing a similar section of land in Germany in 1632 during some bad war, aligning the river and most of the terrain. The author only states it was done as an item of art by some quirky advanced extraterrestial beings viewed as a "Ring of Fire" by story characters and goes into a well written story of the "future" common Americans adapting and interfacing with the Europeans of the 1600's. Both plot and character developement is well done and it is an upbeat book. Although it was mild and short and I did not find it the least bit offensive, I was a little surprised at what could be called "gratuitous sex" in the middle of the book describing two secondary characters wedding night (how could that be gratuitous?). This is very unusually for Science Fiction, particularily in a light upbeat story. I really am looking forward to a sequal, as I am sure times will get harder as more and more machines, equipment and modern things fail or are used up. Plus I would like to see more about his interesting characters.
Rating:
Summary: A perfectly nice time travel-romance
Review: In "1632", a six mile sphere of West Virginia is sent back roughly three and a half centuries to the middle of what will be Germany at some point, during some of the most brutal warfare ever waged in the preindustrial world. The interesting thing about this setup is that the brutality is kept to a bare minimum--with all the fighting and shooting and artillery and so forth this could have been a late medieval "Saving Private Ryan". Instead, it becomes a pleasant fantasy of accomodation and cultural assimilation, showing that the American ideals are stronger than hate, fear, and ignorance. Personally, I like stories that have morals like that. I also like that the event was barely explained; the author wanted to tell this story, so he did. End of discussion. The characters are reasonably easy to distinguish, although some of the dialogue gets clunky (Gretchen's Katzenjammer Kids accent really got on my nerves). I also liked the times that someone from the early 17th century would do something that wasn't the stereotype of how someone would act in that time, but rather something that seemed more human. All in all, a perfectly pleasant book. Just about the entire cast of protagonists makes it to the end of the book, and there's always a chance that the author would revisit this particular world to see how things go for the time-lost Americans. Also, they get an extra star for calling the event that sent the community back in time the Ring of Fire. Johnny Cash should be proud.
Rating: 
Summary: Strong action, good characterization, engaging story.
Review: In a small town in the year 2000 an entire community and surrounding regions are transported into the past via a cosmic glitch, to find they must only adjust to life in the 1600s, but build themselves a 'new America' based on the strengths of common folk and their own ideals. Flint's sagas of battles are unerringly pro-American and always with positive outcomes - while annoying at moments to have few setbacks for the transplants, the plot is charged with strong action and characterization and the story proves hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Good fun... but others have done it better
Review: 1632 is worth reading, but don't expect a masterpiece: it's a good enough treatment of a very old science-fiction idea: Modern men get transported into the past, and, thanks to superior technology, soon gain the upper hand. I only remember a short story (by Poul Anderson, but I don't remeber the title), in which the modern man tranported to the past couldn't get a handle on ancient technolgy and ended up dead. The same theme has been developed (often better), by others: S.M. Stirling (Island in the Sea of Time), Leo Frankowski (his Cross-Time Engineer series), H. Beam Piper (Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen), L. Spreague De Camp (Lest Darkness Fall), and, of course, originally by Mark Twain (A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court).
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good "out of time" book, not great but pretty good...
Review: A small town in West Virginia somehow find themselves displaced, not merely through time, but through location as well and find themselves in the Germany of 1632, right in the middle of the Thirty Years War. The book is well paced and the author, Eric Flint, has done a thorough job of research on the historical aspects of this book. ( A slight case of hero worship for the Swedish king Gustav Adolphus is evident, but not to the point of hurting the book). Where the problem comes,in my opinion, is the way this small community rapidly becomes the domiant power in the area. Granted modern weapons would give a small "army" a tremendous advantage over a 17th century army, but one thing not considered is that modern weapons require, unlike the matchlocks and wheelocks of that period, modern powder, modern bullets,primers and occasional replacement of the cartridge cases. Even a small "country" town with well stocked gunshops could not keep even a tiny army actively campaining supplied long, but yet this does not seem to be a problem here. What is even more unbelivable, the whole process (including rescaling their 20th ,or 21st ,if you prefer, lifstyle) takes only a year or so...no struggle for survial here....a fast paced and basically well written book but one that stretches the bounds of crediability even for this genre...
Rating:
Summary: A suprisingly intelligent read
Review: Eric Flint has written a very entertaining "what-if" story here. Do not be fooled by the ridiculous cover art, this is not a stupid book. Will the upright and resourceful Americans succeed in transforming northern Germany, gripped in the cruel vise of the Thirty Years War, into a place of peace, plenty, democracy and religious tolerance? With help from the locals, luck and flexibility they just might. Read it and see for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous Book
Review: This is one of those books I did not want to end. The author has created an incredible setting and strong developing charaters. He blends gripping military action, international politics, and romance into one of the best time displacement stories I have ever read. I am pleading with Mr. Flint for a sequel and hope for a long series of books from him.
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