Gorg Huff

Quick but interesting story that blends magic and the Age of Fighting Sail. Interesting main characters that need some development to carry a series.

Lively, sometimes a little too bouncy but the story keeps your interest. Tech versus religious bigotry: an oft-told tale but worthy of being explored again. The saddle pigs add an interesting diversion.

Positioned nicely to create a successful 1632 spinoff.

Stereotypical start and quite predictable. However, the integration of modern technology with the matrilineal model of local societies and incipient political processes are beginning to drive the storyline nicely. It should have enough staying power to enable this 1632 sub-series to evolve nicely.

It was a fun read after a nasty week and I do not regret the price of the ARC. That said, and even as compared to the rest of the series, it is a shallow poorly written dungeon crawl. The characters were straight out of central casting. You get no emotional investment in any of them. The plot was predictable and really goes nowhere. I have an investment in the series and enjoy watching the period research getting applied. So if you are a series fan this is not quite the point where you stop show more buying new books but the fat lady is doing vocal exercises. As a stand alone book with no prior series investment it is simply too poorly done to be worth reading. Pity. Adding Muscovy was a good idea. show less