What if a sphere, 6 miles in diameter, that included a small town in the hills of 21st century West Virginia was somehow transported to 17th Century Germany? How would modern American attitudes, technology, and values--especially the parts about all men are created equal, freedom of religion, and separation of Church and State--go over a 17th century Europe engulfed in the wars of the Reformation, the Holy Inquisition, and the Spanish Inquisition?

1632 is Eric Flint's answer to this question. And it's very hard to put down. Rich detail of both the 21st century and the 17th century are woven together to make a wonderful, optimistic story. The pace is fast and if the main characters are a little too good, a little too noble, they are richly drawn and hold the readers attention. The plot is (from my own American point of view) perfectly plausible, and the leader of the American community embodies what we think we should be.

It's not a perfect SF or Alt History novel, the good guys are a little too good, and the bad guys are a little too bad; the heroism is a little to heroic and the villainy is a little too villainous. In Bahktinian reads more like an epic than a novel. And there is one storytelling technique that Flint likes to use that gets on my nerves--often times the narrator and everyone in the story knows what a character is thinking or planning and the characters react to that knowledge while the reader is left in the dark. The first few times I encountered this, I had to go back and re-read a page or two to see if I missed something. Fortunately, Flint resolves the situation fairly quickly, but it makes at least this reader feel a little foolish.

Overall, I give the book 4.5 stars, and I'd recommend it to SF, Alt. History, and 17th century European History buffs. I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series. ( )

ZB9 ( )

When I signed up for this year's 9-9-9 challenge (committing to read 9 books in 2009 in each of 9 self-defined categories) I picked "alternative history" as one of my categories. Now, two-thirds into the year, I realized that I still haven't read a single book of the genre. So I checked on LibraryThing, who are the most popular authors in this realm and trotted down to the library to pick one up. Eric Flint's 1632 was the first one I could find (and haven't read yet); that's how I got to this book.

Boy, was it a page-turner. I almost forgot how much I love to curl up with a good fiction and forget the rest of the world. Unfortunately the book drawn me into its world so much, that I read till 2 AM in the night and next day , when my family was out of the house for the afternoon I finished it. I say unfortunately, because all this went against my sleep and work time. (Don't worry I work at home, flexible hours, so I didn't miss work: I just have to make it up some time.)

The setting is best explained by the official fansite's opening lines: "In April of the year 2000, a six-mile sphere centered on Grantville, West Virginia was displaced in space and time to Germany and May, 1631. The inhabitants of Grantville decided to start the American revolution early; the nobility of Europe were not amused." This situation is so rich in possibilities that by now the author wrote 12 books (and there are hundreds of other writings) set in this universe.

I just finished the one that started it all. I practically could not put it down, because I was interested where and how the story goes, what happens to the characters. Even though for my taste there was a bit too much description of politics and war in it, but I understand that it was necessary to make this fiction realistic. One reason it was hard to resist the book is the sense of historical accuracy. I am no historian, so I cannot judge how precise Flint really was, but ti certainly felt real and that was good enough for me. I am curious now, of course, about the real history of the people, kings, generals mentioned, but probably won't have time to follow up on that.

On the other hand I was surprised by the level of the happy ending. SPOILER alert: every main character survived; all the couples who got together throughout the book were still happily married and had their child if pregnant; all the battles were won by the good side without any significant loss on their side; they didn't run out of any single resource. In these regards the book seemed unrealistic to me. But these options taken by the author carried in them the seeds of the future book. It is kind of hard to expand the lives of heroes if you kill them off. While if you give them offsprings whole generations of people (and their stories) could pour out.

Due to lack of time and my focus on the 999 challenge I won't read more of this series this year. I know that I enjoy action driven books (and movies) so much that I could immerse myself reading nothing else. But I also want to make time to read other genres and keep learning through books in a more traditional manner. This book is almost all action, be it on the battlefields, mines, school grounds or bedrooms. The rollercoaster was fun while being on it, but after I got off from it I am ready to pace myself in other directions.

Just okay. Actually, maybe not very good. ( )

1632 is one of Flint's best works. His theme that a community in trouble must not let go of their values is inspiring. His concept of a down to earth, West Virginia town, transported back in time to Thuringia, Germany is entertaining, humorous and exciting. A few of his characters suffer from being two dimensional, but his collaboration with David Weber in 1633 corrects that. If you are into optimism, you will not be disappointed. ( )