Rating: 
Summary: Wait for Paperback!
Review: While this book was "OK", it's not even in the league of S.M. Sterling's "Against the Tide of Time"... Sometimes the internal logic of the novel colapses. sometimes, it's just absurd.
Rating: 
Summary: Great time travel tale
Review: In 2000 Grantville, West Virginia, every card-carrying member of the local United Mine Workers of America chapter is attending the wedding of Sharon Stearns and Tom Simpson. Sharon's brother Mike is the local union president and very popular with the rank and file. The groom, the son of wealthy parents who object to this wedding, plays football at West Virginia. In spite of the elitist, scornful behavior of Tom's parents, the ceremony appears to be a success until a Ring of Fire erupts. When the air clears, Mike, the other guests, and much of the townsfolk realize they are no longer in West Virginia. They soon learn that somehow the Ring of Fire transported them to 1632 in the Northern Germanic States. The new world that Mike and his cohorts have entered is a devastated place filled with famine and the death of peasants caused by the unending religious wars. Yet, for the aristocrat, the world remains untouched until Mike and company form the local chapter of the UMWA. 1632 is a clever time travel tale that should provide much acclaim to author Eric Flint for his imaginative and speculative story line. The entertaining tale is crisp and fun to read as the twentieth century union members clash with a class system outside anything they ever imagined. Science Fiction readers who enjoy novels like Crichton's Timeline and Hoyle's Professor Q books will fully relish the impact of this wild displacement book.
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Summary: Remarkably good history!
Review: This is not traditional alternate history (how did things develop on a different line?) so much as it is transposed history--analyzing the impact of a transplanted culture. The time/place of both were shrewdly chosen. As a Ph.D in early modern Europe, I like it; as someone who works in coal mine workers' compensation programs (and wanted to name our oldest son Gustavus Adolphus!), my husband liked it after I insisted that he read it; as a man who stayed home to keep a rural community running, my brother liked it also, after I insisted that he read it. It's not just a remarkably good story -- though that is the case. As a possible history, it works.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent alternative-history romp
Review: Except for its unimpressive cover, there's hardly a bad word to say about this book. The very beginning is a bit rough, but Flint quickly hits his stride and produces an alternate history work worthy of Turtledove or Stirling. In fact, the closest parallel is to Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time series, but although that parallel is obvious, it is also not as great as it first appears. Despite the structural parallels (mining an old science-fiction style), this is a very different story from Stirling's. That said, if you enjoy Stirling's work, you'll probably enjoy this one. I've taken great pleasure in Flint's earlier work, especially the coauthored Belisarius series, and I'm happy to see him produce such an excellent tale on his own. I assume there's a sequel?
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Summary: Superbly done "What If" story
Review: Sure, it's been done before... from Twain to deCamp to Turtledove to Stirling. But no one else has done it quite like Eric Flint. He paints a town full of characters you really care about, and gives you a lot to think about along the way. Had I been the protagonist, I'd have made some different decisions... and, through the unfolding of this book, Flint convinced me that I would have been wrong. Bravo, and bravo to Jim Baen for publishing this! Now, lock Flint in his house and don't let him come out without a sequel...
Rating:
Summary: A fine example of a venerable plot device
Review: Time travel stories have been a staple of Science Fiction essentially forever. The plot device of a modern man displaced into a historical era is a popular one, and traces its immediate lineage to Mark Twain's A CONNETICUTT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT. While always great fun these stories tend to push the bounds of credulity when it come to the introduction of modern technology, and they frequently fall apart toward the end for that reason. 1632 manages to remain faintly plausable throughout. Just how historically reasonable its plot may be is open to question, but it manages not to jar the reader too badly while he is engrossed in the tale. The characters are mostly well drawn, with the exception of one cardboard cut-out whose presence does not materially detract from the book. the action is brisk and (at least to my non-military eye) believable in context. Most importantly the book is just plain fun to read. The author has a good command of human emotion and motives, as well as seeming to know his history. If this sub-genera is one that you like I heartily recommend this example. If you are unfamilliar with the whole time-traveler gig you could do much worse than this book as an introduction.
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Summary: Excellent meeting of the 20th century with the 17th
Review: A town of West Virginians gets dropped right into the most vicious war Europe had ever seen until our own century. Naturally, they want to protect themselves and bring the best of America to the Old World. The resultant clashes of cultures, military traditions, and attitudes are well written and exciting, and done with as much attention to realism and historical accuracy as is possible. I loved this book, and it has served me as a powerful lesson: Bullies, whether their names are Tilly and Wallenstein, or Valenti and Eisner, don't really *LIKE* it when the peasants rise up and say "Enough! Our lives are OURS!" Bravo to Eric Flint. From now on, I'll be giving any book he writes a taste.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fantastic!
Review: I picked up 1632 four days ago, and I have read the book 5 times already. This has now become one of the greatest books that I have ever read (#2, sorry, but Ender's Game is still #1). It's not necessarily the actual storyline that makes this book great (although it does have a wonderful storyline), but rather the characters and character interaction that makes this book truly stand out. Take for instance my favorite character, the Scotsman Alex Mackay. When he's first introduced, he's a pretty good character, but Eric Flint makes him great by the simple fact that he get's a crush on another excellent character, Julie. Now, most author's would simply put a little into this, but in this book, Flint draws it out in a really exciting and funny way, without impeding the story at all, and he does this over and over agin in the book. It's absolutely incredible (I'm also biased a little seeing that I'm Jewish). He also doesn't put any real stupid sub-stories in it like many other Alternative History author's do, nor are there any terrible and idiotic righteous characters who are able to do the impossible and interfere with a good book, the characters in this book are fallable, which makes them seem real. Furthermore, Flint uses actual historical characters and real historical events, which make this a great book for history buffs as well. I do so hope that there is not a sequal to this, but rather a non-stop epic (Like the Conrad Stargard Series by Leo Frankowski, another great story).
Rating:
Summary: If you like well written Science Fiction!
Review: One of the best written, best plotted Alternate History books I have ever read! A very fitting succesor to H. Bean Piper's "Lord Kalvan". The settings are realistic, the character's are very well developed, a few errors in weapons, but overall very well done!
Rating:
Summary: Deserves a sixth star rating
Review: I read the first 21 chapters on the Baen web page, twice, and was hooked. When "1632" arrived by mail, I couldn't put it down. The novel starts out like, "Island in the Sea of Time" by S.M. Stirling, but is developed very differently. Flint puts most of his character development into the nice characters, otherwise his writing style is a lot like Stirling. "1632" ends well and leaves to your imagination how modern American technology and political thought will impact European social development in 1632. Dare we hope for a sequel?
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