Though the Thirty Years Wars continues to ravage 17th century Europe, history as it once happened has been strongly deflected by the new force which is rapidly gathering power and influence: the United States of Europe, an alliance between Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, and the West Virginians from the 20th Century led by Mike Stearns who were hurled centuries into the past by a mysterious cosmic accident-the Ring of Fire.

The USE has know-how of 20th century technology, but the American traditions of freedom and justice is having an even stronger impact on Europe, and the rulers of Europe are powerless to stuff the Grantville genie back into the bottle.

Virginia DeMarce, a trained historian and co-author of the New York Times best seller, 1635: The Bavarian Crisis, continues the saga of the time-lost Americans as seen through the eyes of both Americans and Europeans, as the Americans try to make sense of the strange world into which they have been hurled, and the Europeans try to understand the abilities and behavior of the visitors from the future. The result is a volume that will be irresistible to the thousands of fans of the Ring of Fire series.

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  1. Product Review
    Quality
    40%
    I got this book from the library and am glad I didn't spend money on it. It jumps around so much and was difficult to keep a storyline straight. Maybe because I read mainly to fill time waiting for the bus, but it just seemed so disjointed. I usually enjoy the series but this title didn't seem to fit in for the most part. I got about half way through and returned it!! I never do that....

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  2. Product Review
    Quality
    20%
    Yet again another book in this series is a failure to be even remotely enjoyable. In fact, boring and inane are the words that come to mind. I think the majority of readers just aren't interested in hordes of minor characters and their boring doings and how they are related to each other. In fact, this book seems more a collection of weakly related short stories than a real integrated story. The main characters that most readers are interested in hardly get to make an apperance.

    It's not Eric Flint's writing that's the problem. None of the books done solely by him or in collaboration with other authors has been anything other than stellar. I really hate to point fingers, but it's time someone at Baen wakes up to the fact that Virgina DeMarce might be a crackerjack researcher, but she hasn't got the touch to write entertaining long fiction. It's time for the publisher to step in and save this series.

    I won't be buying any more books with her listed as an author, either prime or secondary, and I recommend others do the same if they dislike the trend that is showing in this series. If Baen wants anyone to be loyal to this series, Virgina DeMarce needs to be shown the door as an author and fast. She's already done enough damage. Stop her before she ruins even one more book.

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  3. Product Review
    Quality
    20%
    The sample chapters go from nowhere to nowhere. Demarce is a competent writer, but she needs some serious lessons in plotting.
    Hint: genealogy is boring.
    Hint: too many characters in a story is like to many spices in a plot, or too many colors in a garden. Despite good ingredients, the final product is without affect.
    Hint:...

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  4. Product Review
    Quality
    60%
    I LIKED IT.
    Having been to Germany it was interesting to see all the different places I grew up in mentioned along with the then political and cultural implications of the 1600 war.
    The book was a little hard to read at first, but then it started to make sence as you ralized that you were seeing simular events from different perspectives.
    I liked it and will continue to read the 1600 series. Thanks for letting others into the universe Eric.
    HTG

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  5. Product Review
    Quality
    80%
    Most of the comments seem to be saying that this isn't a good book because its about new or secondary characters that have mostly only been used in the Gazette. The main characters are always going to be mainly utilized in Eric Flints writing, not because other 1632 writers don't want to use them, but because there are a number of limits to character growth imposed by already established continuity. If this limitation is something that is going to be a problem for you then only read the mainline of the sequence as written by Eric. If you enjoy the Gazette and are interested in the expanded 1632 Universe then this seems to be a good start to a book based on the sample chapters. Is it as good as Eric Flint at his best? No, but it is it a fun read that expands your knowledge of the universe.

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    Quality
    20%

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  7. Product Review
    Quality
    20%
    This is the first book where I did not even reach half of chapter one before being utterly bored and disgusted. How is it possible that Flint lets his series reputation being tarnished by such a godawful bore and irrelevant chitter chatter? No story, no action, no characters worth remembering ... Somehow one gets the feeling that the only point of the book is for DeMacre to impress the world with het Profound Knowledge Of Church Politics (TM) ... not interested. Thank you Baen, for the sample chapters, saved me 15$.

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  8. Product Review
    Quality
    20%
    Ok, I'm rating a book I haven't read. This is because I refuse to buy it - ARC, final e-version, or paperback, even if I could get the latter via trade-in credit on a trip to Powell's. I struggled through about half the first sample chapter and gave up, as it was clearly more of the same from this author.

    Aside from the multiple problems mentioned by other negative reviewers - on which I heartily agree - I have more gripes. The characters are a boring lot. I shouldn't have to force myself to try to care about them; that's the author's job. While genealogy is interesting, I'm not *so* interested in it that I want the story stopping dead to go on about the minutiae of the ancestry and relations of these characters. Frankly, the only time I'd be interested in that much genealogical exposition would be in a non-fiction book about, say, the Medicis. There's nothing terribly distinctive about the characters to help you keep them straight; they start blending together. And did I mention boring? This is the author who managed to make a kidnapping in The Bavarian Crisis about as dramatic as a dead fish, once the women had been captured. Any subsequent action...wasn't. Zipped over with some flat description, until they escaped with others and we actually knew what they were thinking and feeling again. I figure the latter sections were written by Flint.

    A huge disappointment to have this be the next 1632 book I've been longing for. It's fine to feature ordinary people on occasion, but those aren't who pulled me into this series. Plus they have to be interesting to pull it off, which does not happen with DeMarce. Give us more Mike Stearns, Rebecca, Ruy and Sharon, Harry Lefferts, Julie, Melissa, and umpteen downtimers...characters whom I actually like and care about!

    Meanwhile, I'm off to Powell's to order S.M. Stirling's The Scourge of God, now that it's finally in paperback. *That* series isn't going dead in the water.

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  9. Product Review
    Quality
    80%
    Yeah, the plot switches from place to place but when you look at the subject (the impact of centuries of religious changes on 1630's traditions, beliefs, and practices) I believe that the storyline follows a realistic pattern. This isn't a simple subject that can be tied up in a neat bow.

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  10. Product Review
    Quality
    20%
    lack of consistent plot, writing nowhere nearly at the level of E. Flint and D. Weber

    This kind of disappointment has a major negative effect on 1632 series

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