Rating: 
Summary: Diplomatic Relations on the Italian Front
Review: 1634: The Galileo Affair is the third novel in the Grantville series, following 1633. It also follows The Wallenstein Gambit and several other stories in the shared world anthology Ring of Fire. The displaced Americans of Grantville have weathered everything thrown at them, welcomed refugees from the Thirty Year War into their community, and have thrived as a people, despite (and due to) their common losses. Working together, Gustavus Aldophus and Mike Stearns have created the United States of Europe, finessing various princes of Germany into obscurity. Democracy has gained a foothold within seventeenth century Europe.Their military successes have saved them from occupation by their neighbors, but their library has even more effectively changed history. Texts on the uptime histories of the seventeenth century have became very popular among the powerful personages of Europe ... and very disturbing to many of them. General von Wallenstein allied himself with the Americans after reading of his betrayal and death under the Habsburgs in the original timeline. Richelieu changed his tactics and personnel, if not his goals, after reading his own history. Charles I of England sent Oliver Cromwell to the Tower to save his own head (and thereby put him right into the hands of Melissa Mailey). And the rabbis of Amsterdam condemned a year old child named Baruch de Espinoza -- better known as Benedict Spinoza -- as a heretic and relinquished him directly into the hands of Rebecca Stearns. The library also caused considerable turmoil within the Holy Roman Catholic Church with their religious holdings. Father Mazzare started the controversy by allowing Father Fredrich von Spee to read his own entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia, thereby stiffening the Jesuit's resistance to the Inquisition. Then Mazzare provided copies of the Papers of the Second Vatican Council and other documents to Monsignor Giulio Mazarini, which led the Pope to request a summary of Catholic theological reforms over the following centuries in the original timeline. In this novel, the newly formed USE acts to open a trade corridor with the Middle East via Venice. Stearns selects Larry Mazzare to lead the delegation to Venice because of his current fame (or notoriety) among Catholics. Mazzare asks Simon Jones, the Methodist minister, to accompany him as a sign of religious tolerance and Father Augustus Heinzerling, SJ, goes along as Mazzare's assistant. Stearns also sends Tom Stone and family to assist with the production of pharmaceuticals, Sharon Nichols to aid in medical education (and to give her something useful to do while she is grieving), and Ernst Mauer to advise on public sanitation. Lieutenant Conrad Ursinus is sent as the Naval Attaché and advisor on shipbuilding and Captain Lennox is assigned as the Military Attaché and commander of the Marine Guard. Lieutenant Billy Trumble is sent as XO of the Marine escort as well as sports advisor (Billy and Conrad represent the baseball players and the Stone boys are pushing soccer). An agent of the local Committee of Correspondence quickly establishes contact with the Stone brothers. Giovanna agrees to arrange a meet with the head of the local CoC and, after some confusion over the term "date" within this context, gives the boys some hope of a little socializing in addition to business. Of course, her youth and beauty has something to do with that aspect of the arrangements. Larry Mazzare welcomes Benjamin Luzzatto to the new USE embassy and introduces him to the staff. Luzzatto is a Venetian Jew who has been selected as their local advisor by the USE spymaster Don Francisco Nasi. Although briefly disconcerted by the presence of a Methodist minister in the delegation, Luzzatto quickly recovers and, after a period of socialization, presents Mazzare and his senior staff with detailed briefing on the local situation. Unfortunately, the official delegation is not the only party from the USE to arrive in Venice. Joe Buckley, investigative reporter extraordinaire, moves into the building next door. And, unknown to the USE delegation, Claude de Mesmes, comte d'Avaux and agent of Cardinal Richelieu, has moved into the French embassy and is beginning to implement his orders to disrupt trade negotiations between the USE and Venice. In this story, the USE has several goals in Venice. First, they need trade partners within the Mediterranean and the Middle East to insure supplies of materials unavailable within Western Europe. Second, they need political allies within these regions. Third, they need religious allies to spread the doctrines of religious tolerance and the separation of church and state. Venice has the most potential as an ally within the Mediterranean and is also the best available conduit to the Middle East. Richelieu, however, is fully aware of the possibilities and the stakes, so his agents are going to work against the USE. Other enemies have been weakened by prior military and political successes by the USE, but haven't given up the fight; after all, assassins are relatively cheap compared to armies. And then there is the Galileo affair. The Roman Catholic hierarchy has been severely disturbed by the religious concepts brought by the uptimers. Now the leadership is aware of the consequences of Church attempts to suppress scientific discoveries in the other timeline. So what is the Church going to do about Galileo this time? -Arthur W. Jordin
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: As a huge fan of alternate history I've been a fan of Flint's 16x series. And in some ways 1634: The Galileo Affair stands up just as well as the three previous entries. It's obvious that the authors have done a great deal of research and, for the most part, the politics and ramifications of cross-temporal intermixing are believable. However, there's something that REALLY bothered me about this book. When reading fantasy I need to be able to believe in the characters... to understand them within their context. In this book there was a glaring and repeated error in the dialogue and inner dialogue of the American up-timers. They repeatedly thought, spoke and acted as if they were English. Mr. Dennis is English and it was painfully obvious in many parts of the book that he had a strong influence throughout. Many times the American characters spoke with English slang, used English turns of phrase and interacted with other characters as if both were English. The contrast between the way the characters were written in the first three books was so dramatic that it became extremely distracting. That said, I still think it's worth reading. There are some very funny passages in the book that make slogging through the distractions worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Another winner
Review: Eric Flint has created an amazing alternate-history with his Ring of Fire stories, and this is another worthy entrant. My only quibble is the one I have with all time-travel stories, which is that once you change the past, everyone who came from the future ought to go "poof". For the rest, this is another page-turner.
Rating:
Summary: A BIT DULL
Review: First off lets start with what 1634TGA is about. For the most part it's about a trade mission from the USE (United States of Europe) to the city-state of Venice. Oh yeah there is a very minor subplot about a small group of uptime kids and Venetian revolutionaries attempting to break Galileo out of the clutches of the Inquisition. It's such a minor part of the story that you wonder why the book was called THE GALILEO AFFAIR, don't sweat it, you'll be wondering about the point of so much of this book that the almost total lack of Galileo in it will seem like a minor quandary in comparison. Some of those other problems? Well let's list a few: Anyone expecting any resolution to the incredible blunders Pres. Mike Sterns made in sending almost all of his top advisors, including his wife, into the hands of his enemies, will be disappointed. This is a completely separate story. Nothing from 1633 is resolved, they still have a group stuck in the Tower of London and another in Amsterdam. There are a number of new characters introduced but to know their background you need to have read RING OF FIRE, which is worth reading in and of itself. But if you haven't you will be wondering just who some of these people are. Back to the plot of 1634, it's about a trade mission and that's about as much action as you get except for the ridiculous farce of the attempted Galileo rescue. The only semi-interesting subplot involves the romance of one of the Stoner boys to a young Venetian girl and her very strange family. If your interested in the fictionalized internal struggle of the Catholic church of the 17th century when confronted with the teachings and beliefs of the 'modern' church then maybe you can find something of interest here. I didn't. The only other plot of note is the hooking up of Sharon Nichols, excuse me while I gag, to a sixty year old Spanish spy. This is probably one of the most disgusting and despicable plots yet to come out of this storyline. It left me with a foul taste in my mouth that I admit tainted the entire book for me. While I agree that an author may do with characters what they will the hooking up of a twenty-four year old women in grief with a sixty-year-old geezer from the enemy camp could only be the work of a testosterone depleted, aged old man trying to regain his virility vicariously through his characters. Being sent back in time through the Ring of Fire was more believable then this one. Get this one out of the library; no need to pay for it. I am NEUTRAL on this one. It's not anywhere near the best in the series and to be honest you won't miss much if you skip it.
Rating: 
Summary: Cure for Insomnia
Review: For huge fans of "1632" as I am, "1634 - The Galileo Affair" drifts far from the orignal flavor of "1632". Dry political, religious, and economic dialogues about philosophies and strategies of the period caused by the influence of Grantville, replace action and adventure. Absent from most of the book are the themes of 20th Century technology overcoming the 17th century villains. Sorry Mr. Flint. You had a great thing going, but you sure drifted away from it.
Rating:
Summary: Stop reading at once.
Review: I can't believe it, but I stopped reading this book at about the halfway point. I can't remember the last time I did that, but it was either stop reading or lose my mind. What a boring waste of time. It was like torture to read each page. Nothing happened, except discussion of religious theory and worthless dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: Stop reading at once.
Review: I can't believe it, but I stopped reading this book at about the halfway point. I can't remember the last time I did that, but it was either stop reading or lose my mind. What a boring waste of time. It was like torture to read each page. Nothing happened, except discussion of religious theory and worthless dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: Okay but not terrific
Review: I like the 1632 series. But as other reviewers have said, this is one of the weaker books of the series. It's still fun, but politics are taking priority over battles. If you are into the social consequences of the series, you'll probably like it.
This book does create more loose ends than it ties up.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book if you love political history
Review: I loved 1632 -- an interesting premise, good characters, lots of action and excellent plot. I also enjoyed 1633 but the focus of the series began to shift in this book from a quick-paced storyline to political discourse. In 1634, there is precious little plot and too much politics. I am a historian by profession, but not a political historian ... and this bored me to death. I gave up part-way through.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to the previous two. Don't buy it.
Review: I loved the previous two books in the series, 1632 and 1634. This one is like it was written by a totally different person. It is really dry, slow, unexciting etc....
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