Book #21 in the multiple New York Times best‑selling Ring of Fire series. The uptimers and their allies take on the Ottoman Empire at its height of power.
The modern West Virginia town of Grantville has been displaced in time to continental Europe in 1632. Now four years have passed. The long‑feared attack on Austria by the Ottoman Empire has begun. Armed with new weapons inspired by the time‑displaced Americans of Grantville, the Turks are determined to do what they were unable to do in the universe the Americans came from: capture Vienna.
The Ottomans have the advantage of being able to study the failings and errors of their own campaigns in a future they can now avoid. They are led by the young, dynamic, and ruthless Murad IV, the most capable emperor the Ottomans have produced in a century. They are equipped with weapons that would have seemed fantastical to the Turks of that other universe: airships, breech‑loading rifles, rockets—even primitive tanks.
And this time they won’t have to face massive reinforcements from Austria’s allies. In fact, the only force Emperor Gustav Adolf can think of sending to Austria is the United States of Europe Third Division under the command of Mike Stearns. It’s an army currently engaged in a desperate struggle for Bavaria.
The emperors of the USE and Austria share the same problem. They have one too many enemies, one too few allies, and only one general to cover the gaps. Fortunately, that general is Mike Stearns, also known as the Prince of Germany.
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Worth the readNot as good as his best but close He keeps adding characters that hold our attention. It is only at best a half book because Mad Murad is only temporarily stopped in this start of this story. Wish for full books.
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Bait & SwitchThe first half of the book is dedicated to the Bavarian campaign with a lot of "cuteness" of hinting at something that you have to keep going to figure out. It also seems like a bunch of short stories strung together to get the first half of the book.
The second half does bring the Ottomans in but it seems thin, probably because this isn't the REAL book about the fight with the Ottomans, just a prequel
I was disappointed greatly and would ask for my money back if I wasn't such a fan of BaenPosted on
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It's great to be back on the main Ring of Fire story thread with Mike Stearns, Gustav Adolf, Gretchen Richter, Julie Sims, Rebecca Abrabanel, and assorted Austrian royals. Eric Flint at his best.
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Fun to read.Sometimes made me laugh. Some strong women in here. All the Otman terms got quite confusion when never heard of them before.
Overall fun to read.Posted on
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Don't know what is going ongoing on with this publisher they seem to have lost their moral compass with the death of Jim publishing repeats of honorverse and 1/2 books and selling them as new material and whole books respectively. I have bought well over 100 baen titles but not sure if this publishing house is worthy of my financial support any more which is sad as there is a lack of good sci-fi publishers
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Mr. Flint has provided better.An awful lot is happening in this book of a geo-political nature.
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where the other half?good but stops rather abruptly- half a book really, but will await the next installment like a true addict.
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