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Title: 1634 : The Galileo Affair by Andrew Dennis, Eric Flint ISBN: 0-7434-8815-6 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.35 (17 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Maybe just 3 1/2 Stars...
Comment: 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: 3
Summary: A mixed bag
Comment: 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: 1
Summary: Boring beyond belief
Comment: 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.
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Title: Ring of Fire by Eric Flint ISBN: 074347175X Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Crown Of Slaves by David Weber, Eric Flint ISBN: 0743471482 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Road to Damascus by John Ringo, Linda Evans ISBN: 0743471873 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Course of Empire by Eric Flint, K. D. Wentworth ISBN: 0743471547 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Wind Rider's Oath by David Weber ISBN: 0743488210 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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