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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Product ReviewI give it 2 stars for the effort and for the glimpses of a good writer. I couldn't finish this book because it was just too painful to read. Even her short stories in the Ring of Fire books were not worth the effort. A new historical or fictional charachter seems to be introduced every other paragraph only to be forgotten at the end of the page when we shoot to a different time/place/group of charachters. Few authors can jump around well and she is not one of them. Some of the blame must be placed with Eric Flint for not encouraging her to flesh things out and stick to just a few charchters. Have her read his writing and see how it is done. Instead we have what appears to be the Cliff Notes of a poorly written history book. Have her write 5 pages with just two charachters and work up from there. I would scream for my money back if it weren't for all of the free books available here. Do better please!
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Product Reviewterrible, terrible, terrible! looks like the author didn't bother to check if she was sending out her notes or an actual novel...
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Product ReviewYet 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. 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 woke up to the fact that Virgina DeMarce might be a crackerjack researcher, but she hasn't got the touch to write entertaining 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.Posted on
