Eric Flint (1947–2022)

A splendid addition to this excellent and sustaining series. Your vocabulary and sense of history about things Polish are about to expand. Europe at this time is a chessboard filled with Queens, King, knights, castles, and pawns plotting and making moves that will produce a different history than the one we know...The politics of empire, kingdom, and state-building provide Flint with the opportunity for a nudge here and a twitch there that will reverberate down the years. His knowledge of show more the history and its players enable him to produce a new symphony from its former notes. show less

1635: THE PAPAL STAKES by Eric Flint & Charles E. Gannon --

This is the third of four novels of Eric Flint's 1632 series' Southern European storyline, following 1634: THE GALILEO AFFAIR and 1635: THE CANON LAW. While much continues from the earlier novels, it is not, imho, essential to have read these first, for the authors aptly catches the reader up-to-date, and each novel has its own unique conflict.

The Southern Europe storyline is, for the most part, distinct from the "Main" storyline show more begun with the original novel "1632." Cardinal, now "Pope", Borja has usurped the papacy and the Vatican from the true Pope, Pope Urban VIII who has fled Rome with the United States of Europe Ambassador Sharon Nichols, her husband, and others, pursued by Borja’s assassins.

There is plenty of action (especially of the direct face-to-face type where tension is high amid the slash of swords and the volleys of firearms and artillery both on land and sea) and also political intrigues and betrayals, but what makes this Southern European storyline uniquely interesting -- at least to me -- are the ecclesiastical debates before Pope Urban performed in formal conclave fashion despite the participants being on the run and in hiding. Nothing less than the future of the Roman Catholic Church of the 17th-century is to be decided in light of the "Ring of Fire" transition of the 21st-century town of Grantville, West Virginia to the past -- with all its future knowledge, ideals and religious and ethical beliefs that conflict with those of the 17th-century.

(1) Was the time displacement of Grantville and its citizens an act of Satan or not?
(2) Are the decrees of the future ecumenical councils and future Popes, particularly those of Pope John Paul and Vatican II that, among other things, recognized religious freedom, and, in Nostra Aetate, "reveres the work of God in all the major faith traditions" (including Judaism and Islam) applicable to the Church and Christians of the 17th-century.

The debates regarding the meaning of the Ring of Fire and the Vatican II decrees for the Church’s future are, for this student of Judaism, nearly Talmudic in their formal, respectful discourse. The skill with which Flint and Gannon relate these "battles" of words and reasoning are intense and enthralling. These theological-philosophical discussions are relevant not only to the characters and the world of the story but also to the reader and our world today. That they are conducted under the threat of pursuit and murder, as the climactic action-filled battle at the novel's end engagingly depicts, elevates the import and infinite value of the discussions.

While the book started a bit slow, perhaps, by the end of the work, I was in awe in how Eric and Chuck brought all these elements of high stakes physical and theological-philosophical conflicts together. Well done. show less

This companion series to the mainline Honor Harrington series takes place on Erewhon which has become a gathering point for all sorts of political opinions. While the new High Ridge government seems to be trying to destroy their alliance with Erewhon, the Queen decides to send delegates of her own to the funeral of a noted politician. She chooses her niece Ruth and also sends Anton Zilwicki and his adopted daughter Berry.

To provide more security for Princess Ruth, she and Berry change show more places. It takes some nanotech intervention which just makes Berry and Ruth closer. The girls are quite different. Ruth has been raised in the isolation of the Mantacoran Royal Family but as the adopted daughter of the Queen's brother, she is not in the line of succession. In fact, Ruth really wants to be a spy. Traveling with the Zilwickis gives her a great opportunity since Anton is likely one of the best spies Manticore has. Berry doesn't have the same goals. She is good at all sorts of things but doesn't have a focus for her future yet since she's only seventeen. She does think her talents would make her a good queen but there aren't any openings for queens right now.

Also converging on Erewhon to attend the funeral are Victor Cachat who is a very talented intelligence agent for the new Republic of Haven and Ginny Usher who is the wife of Kevin Usher who is Haven's best spy. They are sent to try to convince Erewhon that Haven would be interested in an alliance with them since the government of Manticore doesn't seem to value them at all.

Throw in a Solarian Captain with a plot to gain power in the Solarian League, some Masadan terrorists who want to capture Princess Ruth, and a wide variety of anti-slavery terrorists and you have a complex and engaging adventure.

I liked the focus on these new characters. I liked the political wrangling and dealing and liked the different look at Haven we get. This was a great beginning to a new series. show less

1637: THE TRANSYLVANIA DECISION [2022] by Eric Flint & Robert Waters --This most recent book in the "main" Eastern Europe storyline is one of the best I have read in the series. Admittedly, I've read but a third of all the novels, but, as with 1636: CALABAR'S WAR, Robert Water's contributions on how great events impact common folk compose some of my favorite passages. Uptime Reform Jew Morris Roth continues his quest to fulfil the late King of Bohemia's Anaconda Project, expanding the show more territory of Bohemia eastward into Transylvania which seeks to throw off their Ottoman Empire yoke. All hopefully helping to effect the changes Morris seeks that will prevent the Chmielnicki massacres of ~100,000 eastern European Jews nine years in their future (in our timeline). Morris' Grand Army of the Sunrise includes the Joshua Corps, "green" soldiers composed of multitudes of Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews -- something unheard of in the 17th-century where many realms forbid Jews from bearing any arms. In this novel, they are tested, and, it is hoped, begin to earn the respect of their Gentile comrades-in-arms as well as their self-respect. The novel recounts a set of battles as Morris' Grand Army, and its chutzpah-driven vanguard traverse mountains, valleys, and steppes to the climactic battle against the more numerous Ottoman forces and its vainglory vassal state allies for the Transylvanian capital. Adapted future technology is utilized by both sides, but it is the characters in the story that determine the outcomes, for good and for ill, and give this story its strength and its heart.

A young Jewish army doctor, a young rabbi, a badly wounded and indomitable Christian calvary man, young women reconnaissance pilots, Ottoman Jewish dirigible pilots, lovers at risk and risking all, the tension and experience of the horrors of battle -- up-close and personal, stand out in this story by demonstrating all that such necessary struggles draw out of them as people. Moreso than the action scenes and the inventiveness of adapted future technologies, it is the experiences felt by the characters and so deftly relayed by the authors that make this an entertaining read.

There were a couple described medical events depicted that were slightly off (but few other than physicians would pick up on this). A passage from Deuteronomy was mistakenly attributed to the Talmud, but, overall, the depictions of Jewish characters and Judaism was mostly accurate, which I appreciated.

THE TRANSYLVANIAN DECISION is, sadly, the last novel in the eastern campaign written with Eric Flint. Where does Morris Roth and the Grand Army of the Sunrise venture next into Ruthenian lands? How will Morris prevent the future massacres of eastern European Jewry? How will the Ottoman Empire to this additional front in its battle for the European continent? The good news is that more is to come under the shepherdship of new 1632verse "showrunner" Charles E. Gannon. : ) show less