1632

Rating:
Summary: A work in the making....
Review: I passed this book up for over a year; finally reading it last month. Yes, it is another alternative history story and not one of the best. 1632 is not one of the worse either. It has action, moves along nicely and the characters are interesting. There is also just enough sex to be fun without being a bore. But wait! Don't pass this book up because I only gave it three stars. 1632 is the lead off into what I feel will be a marvelous series. David Weber worked with Mr. Flint to produce 1633 which is a great sequel. I am now waiting for 1634. Go for it......

Rating:
Summary: Tasty, if not filling
Review: I've been aware of this book's existence for a bit now, and there is at least one follow-up book out there somewhere.

The premise is pretty straight-forward: What if an American town got transplanted into the middle of Europe during the 30 Years War? In this case, a West Virginian town. I expect that has something to do with the fact that a West Virginian town had a much higher chance of survival than a similarly sized town in upstate New York.

I will admit that I spent the first couple of chapters trying to get a firm grasp on who was who. The cast is fairly large and a lot of them get thrown at you very quickly. Also, characters I expected to be important at first turned out not to be. I hope they are more important in the second book.

But once it got going, it was a quick read and a lot of fun. I would definitely read 1633 if it fell in my lap.

The characters were a lot of fun, and I have to give Mr. Flint bonus points for giving me people I believed in. These are not the ignorant rednecks you think they might be: They may not have gone to college, but a lot of these folks are smart and resourceful.

I say not filling because it did have a few lacks. I felt okay about the portrayal of both the modern West Virginians and the historical Germans. But I finished the book with the feeling that I had been promised something more and I hadn't received it. This is not the feeling I get when I read a book and discover that it is entirely a device to get me to read the next book, just a feeling like I wanted something from the book that isn't there. Probably because I'm a literature snob.

So, I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for something light and fun to read. (And hopefully if Mr. Flint ever sees this he'll accept that as pretty high praise.)

Rating:
Summary: A Parody?
Review: I am an alternate history fan, and being fascinated with the era, eagerly picked this one off the shelf and rushed home to start reading. To my dissappointment 1632 pushes the envelope of horrible. It is as if somebody decided to write a parody of the alternate history genre with bad imitations of S.M. Stirling and a politically-correct Robert Heinlein thrown in. From cardboard characters spouting junior high platitudes to the march of Manifest Destiny across Germany, this book is a dumbed down stinker. Since I finished the book I considered giving it a two star rating, but then decided such a benchmark is far too generous.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: This book was just that, entertaining, nothing more. I enjoyed reading it, if for any other reason than the concept of trying to acclimatize to a world over four hundred years in the past. True, some of the characterizations were pretty stereotypical (evil CEO), and the dialog became cumbersome when the characters would chatter back and forth in complete understanding, only to clue the reader in at the end as to what is going on.

However I did like the concept of trade partnerships being the foundation of prosperity. That struck me as being quite innovative, from a fiction/novel perspective. That aspect is often overlooked.

And although the explanation as to how our intrepid West Virginians get to The Past, it should not be a point of contention. It is easier to digest (or ignore) than some of the other alternate-history stories' manner of introducing current technology into the past, the sort that use a deus ex machina to a much greater degree in the beginning.

Probably the best thing I got out of this book was learning about the 30 Years War. It provoked me to do a little research to see if any of this historical information was true. So, I learned something. Who would have thought?

Rating:
Summary: If you like irony, you'll like this book.
Review: Just from reading other people's reviews, I can tell this is one of those "you really love it or you don't" books. I am in the really love it category. It hands out enough historic detail to be interesting, without burying the average reader in minute details. It is also very tongue in cheek. Flint's oddball irony may not appeal to everyone, but I laughed my way from one end of the book to the other. Sure there's blood and gore, but that era in European history was bloody and gorey (especially for your average citizenry). However, there is also love, romance, hopefulness and a positive approach to the interaction of females with males which is all too lacking in much of our current literature. It also portrays the strengths and weaknesses of average people thrust into a very unaverage scenerio. I found this book to be fun, original and thought provoking...a very good read!

Rating:
Summary: Good, Old-Fashioned Sci-Fi
Review: A freak cosmic incident transports a small West Virginia coal mining town right smack in the middle of 17th-century Germany at the height of the Thirty Years War. With good leadership and a technological edge the town not only remains intact but starts to organize a chaotic Germany into a new United States, upsetting the balance of power in Europe and attracting such allies and enemies as Sweden's King Gustavus Adolphus and France's Cardinal Richelieu.

It's good, old-fashioned sci-fi. Not too technical and easy to read but also serious with its historical background and it makes you think. The action scenes are the best, as crude mercenaries face the might of modern weaponry. Things can get a little cheesy at times. And the book comes close to being too self-righteous. But overall it's a good book and I give it high marks just for making European history more accessible. You learn that the horror of war is not a modern invention. Which is worse? Being incenerated at sleep in your home by a bomb...or being dragged out of your house to be tortured, raped, enslaved and then killed by monsters?

Rating:
Summary: A hack potboiler
Review: It could have been fun reading if it were written better, but it's horrible, really. From the beginning, the Americans gleefully slaughter medieval bad guys while spewing out jingoistic garbage. These Americans make The Terminator look like a diplomat. This is not for fans of fantasy or even sci-fi; but given its graphic and gratuitous violence, maybe for fans of horror. However, the concept deserves two stars.

Rating:
Summary: Virtual United States
Review: Going further than the typical book about the impact of new technology in an ancient world, the book grasps the essence of what the United States have always been. The book reminds us that this essence remains not in the land neither in the technological edge that can convert them into an Empire but in a bill of rigths ensured to all their citizens and the truly belief of their people on the importance of democracy and tolerance.

I am from a very old nation and I can say its really refreshinfg to see a nationalism based on the diversity more than in the homogeneity of its people and an expansion strategy based more on the force of the ideas than on the force of the weapons.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Find and what I was looking for.
Review: I say it's hard to find and it's what I was looking for because even though 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 the most 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 potray the modern industrial/technological United States, and the people that 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.
Compare him 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. Compare him to William R. Forstchein and his Lost Regiment Series where Capitalism, neo-liberalism(free trade), and the motives for the Civil War were all just shining stars of the Great White American past. Compare him and Mr. Flint is a breath of fresh air.
If you just looked at the cover you might think 1632 is just Manifest Destiny only centuries later 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 21st century North American Nobleman.
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 but 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 him to one S.M. Stirling and his Island in the Sea of Time who tries to make me believe that 20th Century dojo martial artists 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 they came from Japan, China, or not. Somebody whose combat tested with swords, or his hands is not somebody to take lightly by somebody whose done it for a hobby in our own time.
I like the concept of the book. It's always fascinating to entertain the fantasy of changing history with what we know today. My only criticism so far would be that the book is too optimistic. Victories are just too easily taken by the new American Army. I can't believe that almost anything that goes wrong rebounds to favor the new American Republic. 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.
Read these books both 1632, and 1633. It's worth your while

Rating:
Summary: Uneven--but still a fun read!
Review: Although the basic mechanism of the time and distance transportation of a West Virginia town to 17th century Thuringia is pretty weak , once we get past that point the book improves a lot. On the plus side of this easy reading book is that the characters seem to be at least reasonably believable and likeable. On the negative side is the unlikely employment of the protagonist as a labor union organizer and the leader of the Americans attempting to establish a new style of government in Thuringia during the 30 years war!

I rated this book "4 stars" on the basis of a fairly good concept for a AH/Sci Fi novel but a very spotty job in execution. If the author were able to avoid some of the "politically correct" drivel it would have been alot better.