The West Virginia town of Grantville, torn from the twentieth century and hurled back into seventeenth century Europe has allied with Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, in the United States of Europe. So, when Gustavus invades Poland, managing to unite all the squabbling Polish factions into repelling the common enemy, the time-lost Americans have to worry about getting dragged into the fight along with the Swedish forces.
But Mike Stearns has another problem. He was Prime Minister of the USE until he lost an election, and now he’s one of Gustavus’s generals; and he has demonstrated that he’s very good at being a general. And he’s about to really need all his military aptitude. Gretchen , who never saw a revolution she didn’t like, has been arrested in Saxony, and is likely to be executed. The revolutionary groups which she has been working with are not about to let that happen, and suddenly there’s rioting in the streets. Saxony’s ruthless General Baner is determined to suppress the uprising by the time-honored “kill them all and let God sort them out” method, which only adds fuel to the fire. So Gustavus orders Mike Stearns to go to Saxony and restore order. But he makes one mistake.
He didn’t tell Mike to take his troops along on the mission. But he didn’t tell him not to, either . . .
About the Author
Eric Flint is the author of the New York Times best sellers 1634: The Galileo Affair (with Andrew Dennis), 1634: The Baltic War and 1634: The Bavarian Crisis—all novels in his top-selling “Ring of Fire” alternate history series. His first novel for Baen, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. His 1632, which launched the ring of Fire series, won widespread critical praise, as from Publishers Weekly, which called him “an SF author of particular note, one who can entertain and edify in equal, and major, measure.” A longtime labor union activist with a Master’s Degree in history, he currently resides in northwest Indiana with his wife Lucille.
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Good storytelling.
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Product ReviewI kept reading it all the way through, and didn't want to put it down.
Once finished, I felt replete.
The characters are still well written. Mike Stearns and his troupe are still a bit insufferable. But hey, why else would I be reading it if not for the inevitable 'happy' ending?Posted on
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Product ReviewA very enjoyable read, as this is a "main-line" novel in the 1632 series, so the main plot finally moved forward and it was thoroughly entertaining. I grabbed the eARC the day it appeared! If Eric Flint writes the book, or David Weber is the co-author, BUY it! If it's by anyone else, be prepared for disappointment, or at least a vast mishmash of characters who you won't care about and who don't do much but talk. Here's my plea to to ALL the authors in this series, please QUIT referring to the year something happened during conversations between characters, since it makes the dialog appear contrived and artificial. People just don't talk that way! Anyhow, in this book we finally get the battle we've waited 2 books for, and the outcome is more than satisfying, although I about died laughing when everyone kept asking "What moron had thought fighting a battle in a snowstorm was a good idea?"
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Product ReviewAfter the horrendous Ram Rebellion and Dreeson Incident which were so painfully unreadable I was ready to give up on this series. Then I realized that the common factor in those books was coauthor Virginia DeMarce who has to be hands down the worst author I've ever seen published.
Seeing this book did not have her involved I decided to give this one a try and enjoyed it very much. A good extension to the story arc and an exciting read that I raced through and could not put down.
I will keep buying into this series when new books come out with the exception of anything written by DeMarce which I will avoid like the plague. Please Mr Flint do NOT allow Viginia DeMarce to have anything further to do with Ring Of Fire books.Posted on
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Product ReviewThis is one of the worst books I've ever read by Flint, if not the very worst.
I am normally a huge fan of this series. However, this book was just terrible! Almost no character development, not much action, whole chapters that were cut and paste copies of each other with only minor changes. Even the character development that was there, was flat and boring. Mike Sterns is now portrayed as something close to God, nearly omniscient and certainly not subject to mistakes or miscalculation, even making the very greats of the age (such as Cardinal Richelieu) look foolish and and or timid. Worse, the enemies in the book are portrayed as flat, almost cartoonish villains, like something you might see in a Mighty Mouse cartoon cackling as he ties a poor innocent girl to train tracks.
This book was so far below the standards I had come to expect that I was simply appalled.Posted on
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