Rating: 
Summary: Boring beyond belief
Review: I read the other books in this series and loved them, this one I could have passed on and have been happy doing so. 2 short action sequences, and a lot of blah blah blah. What I loved about this series was what the tech of the future could do in the past. I loved the use of vehicles and weapons in the first 2 books. But other than the mention of radio and some future drugs and such, nothing was interesting to me. I want action and always got what I wanted from Eric Flint, maybe he should rethink his paring with Andrew Dennis.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe just 3 1/2 Stars...
Review: I struggled a bit with how to review this novel. First, let me say it definitely does not stand well on its own, and it represents a pretty far departure from 1632. Let's recap briefly. You've got 1632 where Grantville, WV from present day gets sucked back into time and deposited in the middle of Germany during the 30 Year War. This first book is really fun and I highly recommend. The focus is mostly about the people of Grantville and the initial folks they come into contact with. Then you've got 1633. The focus is still mostly on the main characters from 1632, but the book is no longer just about the situation of Germany. The "battles" - political as well as physical - involve all of Europe. The politics and religion of the time begin to play a much larger role. Ring of Fire is a departure from the linear story and is basically a series of short stories to lay the ground work for sub-plots and develop additional characters. It's actually quite good too. Then you get to 1634: The Gallileo Affair. I'm a little on the fence on this one. There is very little about the major characters from 1632 - Mike Stearns, Rebecca and crew. The primary characters are the Stones (Grantville's flower children) and the local priests - Mazzare and Jones. The characters are good, but I still miss Mike and Becky, but that's okay. They can't be everywhere. I really enjoy the detail and background of Venice and the Catholic Church. I'm not enough of a historian to know if its really accurate, but if its not it seems very plausible and it makes for a fascinating read. My biggest complaint is that the primary story thread - freeing Gallileo (I'm not giving away anything here hence the name of the book) is carried out by a bunch of numbskulls. Overall, its still an enjoyable read. Don't expect the fighting of the earlier books though. There's very little actual action in this story. No shortage of politics, diplomacy and religion though. I'm hopeful that there will be a bit more action in the future releases that Mr. Flint is writing with David Weber.
Rating: 
Summary: disapointment
Review: i think this book did not live up to it's predasesors[my spelling is terrible]i was very disapointed.
Rating:
Summary: BORING!
Review: I'll start out being up front , in that I am really a fan of the 1632 universe alternate histories. I have read all 4 books in the series. Unfortunately this one is a real bust. The basis of the story is a mission to Venice is set up by USE President Mike Stearns to establish a trade relationship for the growing industrial power of Grantville/Thuringia/USE. Stearns selects Fr. Larry Mazzare , Sharon Nichols , and Tom "Stoner" Stone to handle things as the diplomatic mission. Stoner also includes his three (behaviorally moronic) sons to accompany the mission. Cardinal Richelieu has plans to thwart the Grantville mission and sends forth assorted nasty fellows , such as Michel Ducos , to inflict as much grief as possible on our assorted heroes (and heroine). The planning of the trade mission is convoluted , seems to drag on forever , and is BORING. I normally have trouble sleeping in hotels while on business trips ; I took this book along to read in the evenings and had no trouble sleeping at all. The plot to free Galileo from the clutches of the Papal Inquisition almost seems an afterthought to the general story line , excepr that Father Mazzere is summoned to Rome as Galileo's defense counsel. Even as slow as this book is paced , it isn't all that bad. My initial take while reading the first 3/4 was either one or two stars. It does pick up towards the end and become fairly interesting. Even though it is really different from the other 163X AH novels , all fans of this timeline need to read it to keep pace with all of the characters. Could have been much better , but sadly enough only a weak 3 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Great, albeit not perfect, sequel!
Review: If you have been reading the saga of Grantville, WV transported back to the Thirty Years War, you will already have read 1632 and 1633. You may not have yet read "Ring of Fire," a supplemental collection of short stories. Do so before you pick up "1634: The Galileo Affair." Many of the characters and plot lines in the new book depend on amplifications and stories from "Ring of Fire." You will enjoy seeing some favorite uptime and downtime characters further developed, especially Tom Stoner and Sharon Nichols. You will, again, get a palpable sense of being there, for the book is well written and meticulously detailed. 1634 is also less miltiary-oriented than 1633, and, perhaps blessedly, has fewer competing plotlines. However, it is a shame that some of the themes and plotlines from 1633 were not wrapped up. If there are any weaknesses to the new volume, they are, first, that it is like a shotgun blast, scattering wider as time goes on, and, second, that the downtime characters seem too twentieth-century. People are people, but folk were by all accounts, a lot more unreasonable, smelly, and brutish in 1634 than they are portrayed here. That said, the book is a fun romp and you won't be able to put it down. You'll reacquaint yourself with old friends, have a ball as a 20th century muckracking reporter goes wild in 1634, and root for the good guys the whole time. If you have started this series, you won't want to stop now!
Rating:
Summary: Great, albeit not perfect, sequel!
Review: If you have been reading the saga of Grantville, WV transported back to the Thirty Years War, you will already have read 1632 and 1633. You may not have yet read "Ring of Fire," a supplemental collection of short stories. Do so before you pick up "1634: The Galileo Affair." Many of the characters and plot lines in the new book depend on amplifications and stories from "Ring of Fire." You will enjoy seeing some favorite uptime and downtime characters further developed, especially Tom Stoner and Sharon Nichols. You will, again, get a palpable sense of being there, for the book is well written and meticulously detailed. 1634 is also less miltiary-oriented than 1633, and, perhaps blessedly, has fewer competing plotlines. However, it is a shame that some of the themes and plotlines from 1633 were not wrapped up. If there are any weaknesses to the new volume, they are, first, that it is like a shotgun blast, scattering wider as time goes on, and, second, that the downtime characters seem too twentieth-century. People are people, but folk were by all accounts, a lot more unreasonable, smelly, and brutish in 1634 than they are portrayed here. That said, the book is a fun romp and you won't be able to put it down. You'll reacquaint yourself with old friends, have a ball as a 20th century muckracking reporter goes wild in 1634, and root for the good guys the whole time. If you have started this series, you won't want to stop now!
Rating:
Summary: Nice Job!
Review: It's an interesting and entertaining romp, with fun characters and good action. If there's a problem, it's the same one I have with the whole series: the downtime characters are too 21st-century. And they have too much of a tendency to read a Grantville history book, or talk to a Grantviller, slap their foreheads and proclaim: "How could I have been so blind!" as they abandon or modify their beliefs. It's the same fault that L. Neil Smith's work has, although not to the same annoying degree. People in the past were _different_. By our standards, they were mostly villains and thugs, and they really _believed_ in the things that made them burn witches and heretics.
Rating: 
Summary: It's not your father's alternate history
Review: Readers who have come to Eric Flint expecting complex characters, adult romance, political intrigue, varied backgrounds, and comedic action will not be dissappointed by The Galileo Affair. The novel builds on the detailed background work that Flint has shared with the hundreds of participants in the 1632 series web boards on Baen's web site. However, Flint and Dennis choose to expand the stage of the 1632 series into early modern Venice and provide readers with a series of mis-understandings, and mis-directions and mis-stakes ;-) that rivals a Hal Roach movie. Galileo was a lot of fun. If you come to it expecting alternate history to be turgid battle scenes and amazing near super-heros, you will be dissappointed. If you expect to see normal everyday people thrust into very unusual circumstances and making the best of it in their own unique way, you will be delighted. As always, Flint celebrates everyman, and provides us with the opportunity to put ourselves into another place and another time, with the hope that we might do as well as his "everyman" does.
Rating:
Summary: Exhilarating
Review: Starting off slowly, with too much labyrinthine Byzantine politics, with time the book increases in pace and interest. It's not really a book about Galileo though- it's rather mistitled. The story is about the mission to Venice, and trying to establish USE presence in the country. Galileo's possible rescue is an undercurrent in the story really until the last 1/5th of the novel.
But the book is well written and engaging. It is especially pleasant to read an alternative history work that is *not* constantly focused on war and gruesome violence. I appreciated the strong correction of historical events on Galileo's trial not being about science or religion, but politics- something Stephen Jay Gould has written extensively on in Rock of Ages. The less engaging sections are pulled up by great twists in plot and unexpected but believable character developments. Flint writes in such a way that the reader believes that they are forewarned of looming disaster, for they have heard a character desperately hope for something greater- and then the result is what neither the character nor the reader expects.
I look forward to reading other works in this series, and recommend the series from 1632 throughout the 17th century.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing book
Review: The authors have developed their characters well and the dialogue has some interesting sequences. However, compared to the earlier stories in the series, the main plot isn't strong enough to carry everything in a smooth and compelling way. Developing Venice as a industrial/commercial partner sounds good on the surface, but the distance and political divisions separating Venice and Grantville make direct trade virtually impossible. Given what historians have written about the Counter Reformation era, I have trouble envisioning any pope of that period being as willing to make changes as the pope in the novel was. I'm hoping that the upcoming novel on the Baltic War and the one about getting the Americans home from England will have stronger plots.
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