Rating: 
Summary: An innovative look at an alternate history
Review: The whole concept of an "alternate" history is interresting to me. Who would ever think of such a thing. I normally read books about real history, but this was a nice alternative. I also recommend Tale of a German Sniper.
Rating: 
Summary: More Talk Than Plot
Review: Yes, I tore the Aamzon box open and starting reading immediately. Yes, I read the entire book in almost one sitting.
Still...1633, the second installment in Eric Flint's expanding universe ends with a long defense of collaboration with David Weber and others, which I think is due to the reader since 1633 is more than anything else, a victim of collabortion. This long book reads more like an outline than a novel. Characters we came to know and love are shoved off to the sidelines so Mr. Weber can practice his compelling sea battles for the next Honor Harrington book. Where is Julie and Alexander? Melissa Mailey? Eric Flint, on his own, created a riveting story, one of the finest of the genre, but here, in what I am sure is in the spirit of generousity, proves the adage that too many cooks spoil the soup. 1633 should be called "Richeilu Strikes Back" which is essentially the plot. The best potential material, to me, at least, is the attempts of King Charles to circumvent the English Civil War. But as good as this underdeveloped material is, there are far too many characters who are introduced only to be killed, wasting the readers time, while Mackay cools his heels in Glascow and his killer wife, Julie, frets over a child who may be ill. I wanted to be engrossed by this book, but the numerous history lessons, character introductions, and poor writing (the number of "words" put in "quotation" makes this read like a "bad" freshman essay - these quotes "suppose" that the "reader" is incapable of making his or her own "judgement"). A lot of sheer joy of 1632 has gone missing here. Mr. Flint is one of the few Alt History writers who is not a near fascist, and his attempts to show labor's side of tale is what made 1632 great. Mr. Weber has spent his career supporting cod royality and elitism. Is this the pairing of comparitive strengths Mr. Flints tells us it is? Perhaps writing is not as communtarian an art as Mr. Flint wants it to be, and the vision that he fears might ossify over the course of a series is the vision that many of his reader would like most of all.
Rating:
Summary: Very fun Alternate History!
Review: 1632 was compared by many (including myself) to S.M. Stirling's "Island in the Sea of Time". They certainly share some similarities -- small part of the USA dropped mysteriously back in time and has to find a way to deal with the problems caused thereby -- but other than that and the "rebuild civilization" general idea that follows from the premise, they're not much alike. 1632, and now 1633, are FUN books. "Island" hammered away at you with the tough details, but Eric Flint instead gives us a more engaging cast of characters overall and less vicious villains.
In fact, even the villains are painted in such a way as to give one sympathy for them on occasion. One major complaint about 1632 was the character Simpson, a former CEO, who was a foil for the main character and appeared only in two chapters. Eric Flint has told me (and others) that Simpson was a convenience to get things moving, nothing more, and that's why he ended up looking like cardboard. The book was not intended to be a series originally, but it did so well that it would have been foolish to NOT make it a series. Simpson-the-foil is gone, replaced by a still-obstreperous and uptight, but no-longer-cardboard character who has invaluable skills to the new "United States" that's trying to survive in the war-riddled Europe of 1633. Simpson can still be more annoying than many of the villains, which I actually count as a good thing; it's nice to make the point that someone can be on your side and still not be as nice a PERSON as some of the people who oppose you. The characterization of Richelieu, the Cardinal who was the true Power in France at the time, is frightening. He is that (thankfully) rare sort, a man of great intellect and wide education who has charisma, empathy, warmth... and an unswervable, Machiavellian determination to achieve his goals. He regrets the loss, yet will order an execution in a heartbeat. While there are certainly other opponents, Richelieu is by far the most formidable single enemy the Americans of Grantville and their allies face. It's true that a great deal of time is spent with the various factions' reaction to the "other" histories, but I find this more interesting than boring, overall. What's interesting about it is that the various people are reacting TO the histories as PROPHECY -- "Lo, and this shall come to pass if..." -- and trying to "fight the future" (to borrow a quote) by taking preemptive action against it. One has to wonder, though, when they'll realize that the very EXISTENCE of Grantville already changed dynamics sufficiently that their history books were pretty much useless. After this book, they might as well chuck the history books except for whatever strategic and so on material they contain -- there won't be much left to worry about in them. I won't give many spoilers here -- this is a brand-new book -- but I will say that I find the writing easy and engaging, the main characters fun to follow, and the action enjoyable, while the logic of the reconstruction doesn't overly strain my suspension of disbelief. Buy this one, it's well worth the price.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing - more than half boring filler
Review: A whole lot has happened between 1632 and 1633 - improving the army (making new weapons) plus starting a navy and airforce; Mike and Rebecca had their child as did Julie and Mackay; also Jeff and Gretchen. The book starts with two diplomatic missions one to England headed by Mellisa and Rita and the second to France with a continuation on to Holland headed by Rebecca. Julie and Mackay goes to Sweden visiting Mackay's dad and spend the whole story dealing with their sick kid and the dad's medical conditions. Mellisa and her group spend the whole time in England discussing history and killing fleas. Almost all of the book then is setting up the ending with Cardinal Richelieu plotting and the Americans getting prepared. I did enjoy reading about the main characters again, the people of 1632 interacting with them and the modern equipment, and the new stuff happening. But what I found terribly disappointing about 1633 is that it wastes so much of the book contriving for characters to explain the current and future regular history and explaining how having the Americans back in that time and having access to history books changes things (GEE, MAYBE) - we hear it from the French, the English, the Spanish, the Dutch, the Swedish and even more history explained by the American's again -- painfully BORING, that should have all been covered by 2 or 3 pages of prologue and then almost all of the book slowly setting up the expected big conclusion which turns out to be a fairly small ending because most of the big conclusion is in the next sequel(s) - plus a whole lot of excessive pages on extra detailed flying info. All these boring chapters should have been used on giving us the big ending, more action, more on the main characters, and some expansion on interesting lesser characters and subplots that were started and never pursued (I did enjoy the extra pages spent on developing the characters of Mr. Simpson and his wife; but I wanted more on Gustav's daughter, Quentin's dissension, on the treason and subsequent new intelligence and counter-intelligence service, etc., etc. - there was so much good stuff to write about - why all the junk filler). It seems like; Mr. Flint wrote way less than half of the book - as only some portions had the action, zest, humor, and enjoyment that was seen throughout 1632. It seems like 9 writer got together and tried to deliver this baby in 1 month even though it has been over two years since 1632 came out. The majority of the book must have been written by others who had not even read 1632 and only knew the history of the time and the main characters names and how to pilot a plane because in many chapters the people seemed bland and out of character and some chapters seemed not to fit (probably something to do with futures sequels)-- plus the author(s) watered the story down to get a 1634, 1635, 1636, etc out of it. But all in all, I still enjoyed reading the book - particularly the last part -- but mostly, I was very disappointed, it should have been so much better. 1632 earned four stars, I had a hard time giving 1633 one star (after finishing the first 75%, I was wondering how to assign negative stars). 1633 has the serious fault that most alternative history stories make in that they waste so many pages first contriving conversations on telling the regular history, then more explaning how their timeline switch will cause a difference, then they tell a short story of the different timeline, and then go on to explain how it is different -- so the reader ends up with a book with a short story intermixed with a majority of boring filler talk. 1632 had little filler and did not waste time with diseases either while 1633 was way more than half filler and had a bit on illness and diseases; implying that future sequels will even waste more pages on illness, misery and suffering besides boring contrived historical conversations, so we will get even less action and plot advancement - very disappointing. This book does not stand alone, nor tries to - it does not have a true ending, it just gives a convoluted narrative history lesson and sets up the next sequel; plus you need to have read 1632 before to understand it (but do NOT reread 1632 just before reading 1633 as I did - you may be less disappointed not remembering all the joy of reading 1632). If you really loved 1632 and its characters then I would recommend you read this book. If you didn't care much for 1632 - do not bother with this one. 1633 should be awarded the non-honor of Sequel with the Least Action and Least Plot Advancement of the year but I could have put up with that if 1633 was at least close to the fun romp that 1632 was.
Rating: 
Summary: Caution: this book may cause sleeplessness
Review: I started this series with 1632 about a week ago, had trouble putting it down and went out to get this one four days ago. I stayed up until 3am finishing it. I love this series! The basic premise is: a modern day West Virginia mining town is transported through time and space to 17th century Germany. The Americans come to grips with their problem and reach some basic decisions about how to cope in 1632. 1633 continues the story. The European powers have gotten over their initial shock at the Americans arrival and their amazing technology. Some, particularly the French, are looking for ways to defeat these newcomers. Meanwhile the Americans are scrambling to adapt to their current situation, which technologies to concentrate on first, where limited resources should be allocated, how best to integrate the stream of refugees into their society and how to integrate with the societies around them. Most of the characters that appeared in the first novel return for this one, others are introduced which leads to a problem. There are a lot of characters and story lines to keep track of. Also it can be frustrating to not get enough information on particular favorites. This is a problem common to any 'epic' length novel or series of books (the PERN stories for example). One can only hope that their favorites will appear in later books, and that the books keep coming and soon!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Alternatives Around
Review: Flint & Weber write an engrossing story with convincingly real characters and surprising plot twists. This book is more of an incomplete series than the first book, and purposely so. It really is incomplete without the next chapter, 1634. There are a lot of characters to follow, but Flint & Weber manage to keep track of everyone, and keep the readers' interest. Happily, there is not only military action in this edition, but also character discussion on the nature of predestination and Arminianism, raising intriguing possibilities on the nature of God's work with the world, especially in a multiverse. This philosophical quandary is often ignored in fiction works that deal with multiverses. While it would be nice if more time were spent on the differences between the groups and the difficulties Americans would have in adjusting to the 16th century, the brief look at cultural differences between 20th century Americans and 16th century Europeans helps to create more rounded characters. Still one of the best alternative history series I've yet read.
Rating:
Summary: Warning
Review: Ok, I have read alot of the good and bad reviews for this book. To me the additition of Weber to the writing improved on Flint's 1632. I am a political junky as well as a scifi-fantasy buff. What made this book better was the right wing balance that Weber provides to Flint's left wing beliefs. Heck Weber's Liberals of the German persuasion offer some real help to the uninionist radicals of Flint's WV to create a real nation. It is this creation of a nation that makes 1633 better than 1632. This is also a transition book because the battles of 1632 can't be sustained in 1633; however it looks like 1634 will involve an intensity of battles that 1632 had. Don't buy this book if you want high action. Do buy this book if you want a more realistic view of war, nation building, and a real apreciation for the movers and shakers involved in the 30 years wars.
Rating:
Summary: Not Great, not good, (...)very dull.
Review: The Good (not this book):
I really enjoyed 1632 (I would give it 4 stars). It had lots of action and suspense. Not too much talk and 'splaining. I couldn't wait to read the next one!
(...)
See that nice gigantic battleship on the cover of 1633? IT DOESN'T EXIST in the story (not even any plans or talk talk talk about it). Yes, they are building two small ironclads (have been since the fist book), and one armored sailing ship, but they are not really discussed much in this book, and aren't even launched! (...) GRR!
The Dull:
1633 was a great disappointment. NOTHING important happens. There are less than 50 interesting pages in there. Several main characters are sent to foreign embassies where they just sit around. There is page after page after page of talk talk talk about the political situation. I found myself skimming and flipping pages. It's hard to believe that they actually had an outline for this turkey. I guess paper is cheap, but my time isn't. These guys should be forced to hand write these books, to learn the value of the reader's time.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not *Great* but still a good read ...
Review: 1633 is a bit more ponderous and detailed when compared to its more fast-moving successor, 1632, however I still found it an enjoyable read. This series has done something which was quite unexpected. I want to learn more about the actual history of this era. An era which it turns out, I know extremely little about.
Again, previous reviewers have reviewed the various merits of this book more eloquently than I. I feel compelled to mention that while I appreciate the solid research and technical details which the authors have put into this book, it can be quite laborious and ponderous for the reader to work through. I feel that some of this details could be incorporated into an appendix following the actual story.
I find the political discussions quite interesting while I tend to disagree with some of the points. I wonder if it was the same points that Flint & Weber might disagree on?
I am looking forward to future additions to this series.
Rating:
Summary: Caution: this book may cause sleeplessness
Review: I started this series with 1632 about a week ago, had trouble putting it down and went out to get this one four days ago. I stayed up until 3am finishing it. I love this series! The basic premise is: a modern day West Virginia mining town is transported through time and space to 17th century Germany. The Americans come to grips with their problem and reach some basic decisions about how to cope in 1632. 1633 continues the story. The European powers have gotten over their initial shock at the Americans arrival and their amazing technology. Some, particularly the French, are looking for ways to defeat these newcomers. Meanwhile the Americans are scrambling to adapt to their current situation, which technologies to concentrate on first, where limited resources should be allocated, how best to integrate the stream of refugees into their society and how to integrate with the societies around them. Most of the characters that appeared in the first novel return for this one, others are introduced which leads to a problem. There are a lot of characters and story lines to keep track of. Also it can be frustrating to not get enough information on particular favorites. This is a problem common to any 'epic' length novel or series of books (the PERN stories for example). One can only hope that their favorites will appear in later books, and that the books keep coming and soon!
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