1632

Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Surprised
Review: As the title of my review indicates, I didn't really expect to enjoy this book all that much. I like hard science fiction, but, outside of Harry Turtledove, I have never been very interested in alternat history sci-fi.

I bought the book solely by dint of the fact that it was published by Baen books. Baen is the major publisher of military sci-fi, and my experience has been that most Baen books are worth reading, and that Jim Baen, the publisher, has a very good eye for entertaining writing. 1632 grabbed my interest from the beginning and justified my trust in the Baen imprimature.

In addition to the standard scenes of combat, Flint has done a wonderful job of telling a story that contrasts the liberal, western democratic ideals of today with the brutal practices of the 17th century. In addition, he comments on a variety of important social issues, by forcing his characters to reevaluate deeply held personal beliefs about discrimination, the moral use of deadly force, and the nature of democratic rule.

By transposing an idealized community of small-town Americans into a world whose practices are utterly oppsed to their beleifs, Flint also forces us to examine the delicate nature of our civilation and the thinness of its veneer, as well as the fact that many of our cherished beleifs and practices are workable only because we are civilized.

Wow, that was deep.

But if you really aren't interested in all that, then just get the book because its terrifically exciting, well writted, and will keep you turning pages as fast as you can. This is the type of book that is so well paced, and tells such a fascinating story, that you will want to finish it all in one sitting.

Rating:
Summary: A surprising read
Review: Disclaimer first - I ordered this because somebody was selling the last hardcover CHEAP, then was put off by the rather obnoxious cover art. Luckily for me, I read it anyway. The history is well researched, and the battle sequences well done, but the reason I have read it now 6 times in three weeks is the characters. They are fascinating people, and act in a believable manner, given their personalities and eperiences. Some of the scenes are so well visualized that they burn themselves into your memory, or at least they did mine.

Some of the complaints in other reviews are reasonable - Mr. Flint's admitted unionism sometimes gets the better of him, and some are not. One reviewer complains that 17th century Europeans are too eager to adopt advanced technology, when such has been the experience every time less advanced people have encountered it. Another complains of the "intolerance" of the West Virginians. Well, when suddenly confronted by torture and gang rape, they put a stop to it. Hooray for them - this multiculturalism can be taken too far.

Mr. Flint introduces characters who are interesting and realistic, and you hate to see the book end. It practically screams the need for a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Research and thought make Flint's book a winner!
Review: Meticulously researched, 1632 is an alternate history novel that really looks at the concept of castaways in time. In many ways better than Steve Sterling's Nantucket series, 1632 disguises a serious and thoughtful message about what makes Americans different, and why. "Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute!" The rallying cry of a set of normal West Virginia mountain people, mostly coal miners, whose first reaction when they get plunked down in Thuringia in the midst of the 30 Years' War is to go to the aid of the country folk who are being ridden over, pillaged and raped by the mercenary armies who rampaged through Germany. It is obvious why Flint picked 1632...because of the Battle of Lutzen, which, in the real time line, was the death of Gustavus Adolphus, and the last chance to unify Germany until the 1870's. Yet Gustavus, King of Sweden, had already done what made the United States possible. At Breitenfeld, by beating Tilly and the Empire, he had enshrined the principle of religious freedom such that the American Founders were able to write it into the Constitution with little or no dissent. Women's Lib, democracy, and the American Revolution 150 years early, and in the middle of Germany...the ideas come fast and furious, and so does the action. The attack of the Croats on the Grantsville High School is one of the best single pieces of action writing I've ever read. Hurry up, Eric, and get 1633 and 1634 written.

Rating:
Summary: Alt. History or Political Agenda?
Review: I really started to enjoy this book, being a big fan of alternate history. However within the first 100 pages and continuously throughout the storyline, I began to pick up on subtle hints at the moral outrage on the inquisitions, the bad christians, specifically catholics, and how the Jewish people propped up the highest levels of all governments with their kind and generous assistance. Introduction of the holocaust of WWII, and how they will stop Hitler 300 years in advance diminishes the intent of the story. This is no means an attempt to be prejudicial. It's that in the afterword, the author states his intentions to not be like other sci. fi. authors, yet can liberally sprinkle moral and political statement at will and lose his objectivity. I don't even want to go into the apparent necessity in glorifying the UMWA and labor unions in a leadership role as a model for democracy.

Writers should stick to the facts and write around them to build a good story. My anticipation of reading this became very much cooled as I picked up on the message. I fear the next book will again be as bad.

Rating:
Summary: Ok for a rainy day with one leg in a cast.
Review: Take one small West Virginia coal town, a "best pistol shot in town" Chief of Police, one "Not quite ready for Prime Time" Boxing (light/heavy weight) ex army miner. One young "Also not ready for Prime Time" football player. A biathlon shooting cheerleader turned sniper, a liberal schoolteacher, and a black ex ghetto thug, ex Marine turned doctor. Mix in Europe (in this case Germany) in 1632 AD add a friendly (not war mongering, even though he was invading) King Gustavus Adolphus, mix in a few good battles and what seems to be reasonable research in to European history. Then for seasoning, blend it all with a dash of anti Catholicism and the required bigotry towards Germans, and you have Eric Flint's 1632.

All in all not the worst read I have ever read. Twains "Yankee" is the earliest version of this that I have ever read. It may be as good, but then I think that Twain tends to be overrated. Others have tried this scenario. In the 70's someone wrote a book called "The ship who sailed the time stream", 1632 is better. Just lately S.M Stirling has written a series of novels about the Island of Nantucket being sent back to the Bronze Age, they are better. And my favorite of all H. Beam Pipers "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen". Frankly I would go out and buy Pipers "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" and read it, but then I like Piper's writing. Go ahead and buy 1632, just don't think you are buying a keeper. My copy will be sent to my brother for his reading pleasure, then disposal.

Rating:
Summary: Howard Zinn's politics with John Philip Sousa's patriotism
Review: In this novel, a town in West Virginia suddenly gets picked up by a cosmic "Ring of Fire," and is suddenly transported back in time to the middle of the Thirty Years' War in Germany, in the Seventeenth Century. The scientific aspects of this event are mostly glossed over in a brief prologue -- it's supposed to be the doing of a band of irresponsible aliens. That hardly figures into the story at all, however. The main point of reading this book is to get your face rubbed in a certain robust brand of populist political philosophy, with a lot of military action thrown in for good measure. If you like Robert Heinlein's more militaristic writings, you will love "1632."

The little town of West Virginians must survive in an incredibly hostile environment, as refugees flood into their territory. Outside, one of the bloodiest wars of the past millenium rages, as the forces of feudalism clash with the emerging forces of freedom of religion, and nationalism. Eric Flint has astutely recognized that the time was ripe in the 1630s for many concepts fundamental to American democracy, and out of these concepts he has fashioned a terrific tale. The Americans adrift in a strange land must not only survive, but try to ensure that the world they have landed in might become a better place for their having been there... The militaristic component of this story can get to be a bit much at times. There are a LOT of rousing cheers, and high-spirited charges... Probably my favorite character is the daughter of a Sephardic Jewish family, whose incredibly cultivated mind comes to be a major asset to the little town of lost Americans.

A few reviewers here have noted that Flint's writing style isn't overly sophisticated. Lighten up. Many people in this country haven't been preposterously overeducated enough to have opinions about things like that, and many of the characters in his story are of that very background. If you want your ideas to meet with a wide audience, maybe it isn't so wrong to keep your writing style simple enough that regular folks can understand what you're saying.

If you enjoy this kind of story, let me quickly recommend "An Island in the Sea of Time," by... I cannot recall the author's name, but if you can find the book, you should remember his name, because he's really good. Michael Crichton's "Timeline" is another great read, in a very similar way, as is L. Sprague de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall." If you are excited by the kind of IDEAS in Eric Flint's book, as opposed to the story per se, you should think about reading "A People's History of the United States," by Howard Zinn, or "The Federalist Papers," edited by James Madison.

Rating:
Summary: Humanity unchained!
Review: Sometimes you wonder what an author must have been thinking when he came up with the idea for a book. I mean come on, a town of West Virginians transported into the bloody 30-years war? What was he drinking? Having read the book I have decided I really don't care what the author was drinking, except that I'd like to buy him another round. This book was really fun. Some people have laughed at its premise and story line but one of the things I like about this book is that it concentrates on people - How do the ordinary people, both of the WV town and of 1632, respond to extra ordinary circumstances? How do they rise to the occasion? That's what this book is about - people. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: There will be sequels!
Review: I was checking out the forthcoming books section of Uchronia-the alternate history site, and discovered that Flint has projected three sequels: 1633, 1634, and 1783! Since I enjoyed this book more than most AH (Card's Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus is my favorite) I am pleased to see that this allo-history will be further explored. One of my reactions to this novel was to speculate which part of Ohio I would have chosen instead of WV. I think that New Philadelphia would be my choice: it posseses two things that make it superior to Flint's fictional town: a regional campus of Kent State and a community of German-speaking Amish. Imagine their moral dilemma--caught between their religious pacifism and the need to aid their neighbors.

Rating:
Summary: Great premise, not very well developed.
Review: While the concept of plopping a bunch of hillbillies into 17th Century Thuringia is engaging, this story never quite lives up to its potential. Flint's writing style is simplistic, his characters are two dimensional, and the challenges they face aren't particularly challenging.

For example, the locals give into the American way of doing things all too easily, throwing off social convention and prejudice with wild abandon. The political powers the Americans have to deal with show a similar lack of willpower. Flint doesn't seem to believe that anyone could hold religious or political convictions strong enough seriously oppose Americans and their winning ways. Never mind that the historical residents of the area in question had been happily slaughtering each other over minor points of doctrine for years. Yet it barely takes any time at all for Flint to have Catholics, Jews, and Protestants of all nationalities working together for no greater goal than television, while the authorities do nothing to crush a major threat to their power.

A better fish-out-of-time story is Leo Frankowski's "Cross-Time Engineer" series. While Conrad Schwartz has some help from the same agency that accidentally sends him back to 13th Century Poland, Frankowski makes his main character face some truly daunting tasks, not least defending Poland from invading Mongols. Which makes for a much more exciting tale.

Rating:
Summary: The United States of Europe
Review: There may not be many novels written by Eric Flint, and even fewer where he's written without a partner but I've yet to find a dud. The novel I like best so far is his alternate history story, "1632", the title relating to a year, of course. It may not be as complex as a Turtledove novel but it hit it's mark with a great deal of force none the less.

Alternate history ideas can be as subtle as one man making a different decision, sometime in the past. "1632" is a little more dramatic. An entire mining town in West Virginia is sucked back in time and dropped in Northern Germany during a time of war, disease and starvation. There are similarities between this book and the Natucket series written by S M Stirling but "1632" is more in the adventure mold.

The narrative tends to focus on Mike Stearns, the mine's union leader, who seems to have more of what their new situation needs than most. He reluctantly takes the reigns of a red-neck train that's on a collision course with the Holy Catholic Spanish Army, amongst other. But the town has to take a few steps back in time themselves, before they find a sustainable level of technology. In the mean time, some of their tricks are leaking to the enemy. Their survival hinges on making friends and allies as fast as possible.

There is a strong theme of American pride in this book. I'm not American so it might have been irritating. In the end though, it comes across more as pride in modern man's culture, its achievements and the fibre of its people. Flint takes a long look at the moral differences that 450 years have made, just as much as he covers the technology gap. The locals take one look at these Americans, their confidence and their sense of freedom, and assume they are all aristocrats. For only princes could live a life without fear. It is this human element, that makes the novel so good. I was bitterly sorry to see it end and can only hope Eric decides to continue his extrapolation of a time that never was.