1633

Rating:
Summary: A truly fine book, with well-drawn characters
Review: If you haven't read 1632 yet, please start there. This book _can_ stand on its own, but is much easier to appreciate in proper context as second in a series. That said...

In 1633 the authors spend much of their time fleshing out characters who were shortchanged in 1632 -- especially the Simpsons. They also show the effect of 1999 history books on 17th century politics, and of manned flight on a world that only recently thought it impossible.

I found the book absolutely fascinating. It's meatier than 1632. Not as much of a romp, but ultimately more satisfying to digest. Now, they just need to get the NEXT book out in record time!

Rating:
Summary: Good, interesting, well thought out alternate history
Review: "1633" isn't quite the novel I expected, but it's still good.

Let me try to explain. First, "1633" is deeper than "1632," which is a plus. Some characters, such as John and Mary Simpson (the CEO and his socialite wife), are fleshed out and made human. That's terrific. OTOH, because Flint and Weber are depicting a war zone, war preparations, and showing politics, there isn't as much human interaction in some ways as there was in "1632."

But the political referents are spot on (perhaps because of all the helpful folks in Eric Flint's 1632 Tech Manual conference at Baen's Bar; Mr. Flint talks about how helpful they are, and it sure seems that way), the intrigue makes sense, the worldbuilding is superlative, and I felt there was plenty of action in the "minor skirmish" sense. (Of course, at least two of the "minor skirmishes" would have become major battles if not for the modern technology the West Virginians brought with them, or at least the modern ideas they used to create or re-create the modern tech.)

However, the main relationships I enjoyed from the first book, namely Mike Stearns and his lovely wife Rebecca Abrabanel, Julie and Alex MacKay, Melissa and the Doctor, etc., are totally missing. There's a little byplay with Rita Stearns and her husband the WVA football player, Tom Simpson, but it's not enough.

And although I loved the development of John and Mary Simpson, and enjoyed very much how a few of the German princes came along as things went, and enjoyed seeing Gretchen Richter and her husband Jeff and how they got along, it just wasn't enough, character-wise, to truly suit me.

Which is why I cannot in good conscience give this book 5 stars.

However, I can't really see how they could have done things any differently; Rebecca is using her knowledge of the rulers and her new, powerful position as wife to the most important man in all of Europe to do what's necessary. And Rita Stearns, et. al., didn't know they'd get locked up in the Tower of London.

And I must admit, I really enjoyed Oliver Cromwell's characterization, and the spots of humor now and again in the book.

Also, I had no problem envisioning Mike Stearns' transformation to consummate politician; it was obvious that Rebecca saw something in him, and she helped him develop it. What's wrong with that? In addition, I bought how James the doctor could form an alliance with Tom Stone the recreational chemist (one of the best new characters in the book; thank you, Mercedes Lackey, for thinking him up -- that's yet another "thank you" Mr. Flint inserted into the remarks at the end of the book), and how the two of them could and would try to help despite having rather limited resources. And finally, I really liked the new character of Colonel Jesse Wood (Mike Spehar, a longtime fan and pilot, thought _him_ up), and appreciated the difference even a rudimentary Air Force could make in the 1632-and-beyond-universe. The new characters helped a great deal, and I look forward to seeing them developed in future books.

Even so, I'd put this as not quite as good at the original "1632," but still a worthy, interesting book. I'm hoping that "1634" will have more character development among the original characters, and that Mike and Rebecca (among others) will actually get to spend more time together in it, too.

Four stars, recommended.

Barb Caffrey

Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Continuation of "1632"
Review: Eric Flint collaborated with David Weber to produce this excellent continuation of the Alternate History begun in "1632." This sequel is very nearly as good as "1632," which is outstanding. If I could give fractional stars, I might rate "1632" 4.99 stars and "1633" 4.98, hardly a significant difference.

I would recommend reading "1632" first, then "1633" and "Ring of Fire"; however, read in any order they would still be thoroly delightful.

One critic complained that Flint was "preachy." If you want to avoid that, just skip the "Author's Afterword" (4 pages of "1632") and read only thru page 492. On the other hand, you may even want to read the Afterword first, because it gives some background information which may help you appreciate the narratives of the series. If you doubt that some blue-collar workers can rise to the level depicted in this series, consider the historical fact that the most brilliant political strategist of the 20th century, Alex Rose, began his career as a member of the Hatters' Union in New York City.

Like most everyone else who has read the three books out so far, I am eagerly awaiting "1634."

Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Continuation of "1632"
Review: Eric Flint collaborated with David Weber to produce this excellent continuation of the Alternate History begun in "1632." This sequel is very nearly as good as "1632," which is outstanding. If I could give fractional stars, I might rate "1632" 4.99 stars and "1633" 4.98, hardly a significant difference.

I would recommend reading "1632" first, then "1633" and "Ring of Fire"; however, read in any order they would still be thoroly delightful.

One critic complained that Flint was "preachy." If you want to avoid that, just skip the "Author's Afterword" (4 pages of "1632") and read only thru page 492. On the other hand, you may even want to read the Afterword first, because it gives some background information which may help you appreciate the narratives of the series. If you doubt that some blue-collar workers can rise to the level depicted in this series, consider the historical fact that the most brilliant political strategist of the 20th century, Alex Rose, began his career as a member of the Hatters' Union in New York City.

Like most everyone else who has read the three books out so far, I am eagerly awaiting "1634."

Rating:
Summary: Thirty Years Bore
Review: I must admit, almost guiltily, that I really enjoyed this book's predecessor, 1632, and looked forward to reading the sequel. Alas, it seemed that Eric Flint found it necessary to write the novel with David Weber, which basically dragged both authors down into a long-winded mire of dialogue and politics. Too bad. The strength of the first book could be found in the simplicity of the plot: what happens if you take a town of civilized rednecks from good old West Virginia and plop them down in the middle of the 30 Years War? It was a fun read, full of action, excitement and characters who seemed to act true to form.

That's all gone now. The book is woefully lacking in any sort of action whatsoever, hard to believe in a book co-authored by Weber, but it's true. The former Hillbillies have almost to a man turned into waxing philisophers who ponder the politics of their era using a language and sophistication they did not possess in the first book, nor one that they could have realistically picked up given their desparate situation. I kept waiting for something to happen, but outside of a rousing sea battle at about page 200 nothing happened until a rather dull conclusion. What's worse, is that two of the best characters from the first book, Alex and Julie MacKay, are almost completely written out of this one.

There is way too much character development for a book of this genre and most of it is hard to believe (such as a discussion on the morality of Oliver Cromwell between a 20 something West Virginian and a former WVA football player) and there are way too many plot lines left unresolved. This leaves us all pondering exactly how many years these two are planning on going. Maybe Robert Jordan will co-author the next book with them and they can call it, "January, 03, 1634" or something like that.

Mr. Flint, if you read this review, please write the next one by yourself and get back to the original point of the novel. Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, but not as good as 1632
Review: 1633 is a fun book, though it's slightly less enjoyable than the original (1632). The basic plotline - a small West Virginian town is transported to Germany during the Thirty Years' War and must survive and attempt to civilize Europe - remains the same. A few new characters are introduced, though some of the protagonists from the first book get short shrift (e.g., Julie Sims) this time around.

The book is probably about a hundred pages too long, and it goes into unnecessary detail on the creation of the (new) U.S. Air Force and Navy. An inordinate amount of time is spent on the initial flight training of a couple of new pilots and the construction of the first ironclads. That would be fine if, for example, the ironclads ever saw action in the book - they do not. Presumably, Flint will have them play a significant role in 1634. Flint still uses way too many lengthy expository passages for my taste (even more so than in 1632).

You get the impression from reading the book that Flint sees 1633 as being just an opening chapter in a much larger story rather than as a coherent, stand-alone book. While many "epic" series suffer from this problem (I hesitate to even begin to compare 1633 to a Robert Jordan book), I do wish that 1633 had been a little more self-contained.

All that being said, 1633 *is* an enjoyable read, and if you enjoyed the first book in the series, you should definitely take a look at this one, you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Spinach with your meal
Review: For starters, I immensely like the 1632 series as a whole. I have felt that since the beginning, this series can and probably will be around for awhile. There is no "end" in actuality. Now, onto the actually dissection:

First off, even Eric Flint admitted that 1633 was the "spinach with your steak" of the series. 1633 is highly detailed and intricately woven, with characters developing nicely. However, the tech info dump that occurs does leave one, unless suitably prepared, with a minor headache. However, this book is a MUST for any fan of the series. With Ring of Fire, and 1634: The Gallileo Affair arrived or arriving, this is the story that is the glue to it all.

Rating:
Summary: I just have one problem
Review: First I must say that I for one think that this series is only getting better. David Weber and Eric Flint are excellent at complementing each other. Don't get me wrong I loved 1632 but this book was a lot more precise and intricate than a bunch of hevily armed hillbilly's blasting there way through poorly armed inexperienced mercenaries. I still have some problems with this book but they are so minor I will not even mention them.

This book proposes some interesting ideas

When the small West Virgina mining town was transported back through time did they emerge in a new universe or the old one that they came from?

What would nations in 1633 do if they had access to history textbooks? .

I just think that this book takes itself more seriously than 1632 and as such characters that we were not supposed to like(The Simpsons) were fleshed out and made more human proving that they too had a role to play in this new world the West Virginia find themselves thrown into.

My only beef is that it has been some time since I read 1632 a list of characters would have been appreciated.

Overall-All in all this is a good book and it has the potential to be a great series(highly recommended).

Rating:
Summary: More depth than 1632
Review: I enjoyed 1633 more than 1632 as one of the larger flaws of the first book was that toward the end it became far too much action and not enough thought (sort of like watching a movie chase scene that goes on for 20 minutes, fun but tedious after a while) I thought that presenting the characters, in particualr the non-americans, as people with their own agenda and not as two dimensional "bad guys" set up to have massive battles with the "good guys" made it a stronger book. I enyoyed the action elements and would not want to have a turgid history book of a history that does not even exist, but I am very glad that the characters were more interesting and that the context of the actions made sense.

Rating:
Summary: Good reading is hard to find.
Review: This type of story is what I'm most addicted to and it's hard to find. While this isn't the first alternative history type book I've read(i.e I've read Turtledove, S.M. Stirling, and Forstchein) it's still one of the more balanced...in a political sense.
I've just read the other reviews where somebody called Flint "a socialist". Speaking as a leftist radical myself---(I'm not afraid to admit it),(Not a "liberal" if you ever studied the use of that word),-- Flint does a little bit if sometimes not a lot more than the other authors I mentioned above to more accurately portray the United States of our own time(or if a W. Virginia small town and its miners' union were the model), and the diversity of people that could go with it, i.e. White Trash, Hillbillies, a Black Man that made it out of the ghetto, a lefty schoolteacher, and a CEO type.
I definitely compare Flint's and Weber's novel favorably to Harry Turtledove, Guns of the South, and World War Series where Blacks and anyone darker than Asian is just a two dimensional character to be pitied or seen from the outside and not the inside. Although I love what Turtledove does with Robert E. Lee, and the Confederate infantry men(and woman), Nate, and Molly...it still doesn't excuse his obvious pattern, also evident in his world war series of making African-Americans into cardboard figures, and American Indians as practically non-existent.
I also compare Flint and 1632 with 1633 favorably to Forstchein and his Lost Regiment Series where "free" market, neo-liberalism(free trade), and the motives for the Civil War were all just shining stars of the Great White American past. Compare it on those aspects and 1632, and 1633 are both breaths of fresh air.
If you just looked at the covers you might think the books are just Manifest Destiny(looking at the stars and stripes) only centuries earlier and a continent away, but that tells you "Don't judge a book.""" You know the rest.
So far overall I like it because I know that a CEO who makes literally 100 times the salary that his average laborer makes(and that's on this side of the border), and will downsize, or cut jobs, and lives without blinking an eye can't be somebody I can comfortably sit at the table with. John Simpson the CEO is actually treated pretty good as that goes, because he's given a chance to be human even if he is the 21st century's counterpart to those nobles of the 17th century.
I read Flint's statement at the end where he asserts that rural people in the United States aren't necessarily ignorant and racists, and I agree with it. I've come across white people from places like Texas, and Montana, and I've found them easier to talk to and more open minded than some of the "cosmopolitans" that live around me in Southern California. I remember the family( I don't remember where exactly they were from but somewhere in the South), and they were eating the ice cream in Tijuana Mexico, something most white Southern Californians will never know the pleasure of because they're afraid of it because of their prejudice while they trust McDonald's and Carl's Jr. like it was their mother's cooking.
I also compare Flint, and 1632, and 1633 to S.M. Stirling and his Island in the Sea of Time who tries to make me believe that 20th Century dojo practioners are going to beat ancient warriors of Europe and America in hand to hand combat. That's just not reality. We don't know what those ancient warriors could do if we put them amongst us today and it doesn't matter if their martial arts were Asian or not. Somebody whose combat tested with swords, or his hands would not be somebody to take lightly by somebody whose done it for a hobby, sport, or "self-defense" in our own time.
I'm addicted to the basic concept of the books, that is mixing people and places from different times. It's always fascinating to entertain the fantasy of changing history with what we know today. My only criticism so far would have to be that things go too often into the American Republic's favor with out too much complication or challenge. Aside from that though it's great reading because of the detail and authenticity. When you read these books you get a feel for what 17th century life, nobility, and squalor was like, and what would happen if it collided with 21st century idealists(and not everybody in this century is an idealists, i.e CEOs). You're also getting very good basic introductions into people, places, and events should you for some reason want to do research on them for school or some other reason.
If nothing else it'll incite your interest in the actual recorded facts. Four stars, or what to me would be an A-, not perfect or ideal but damn good, and definitely riveting.