1634: The Baltic War

This is the third book in this alternate history series where a small town in West Virginia finds itself transported to Germany in the middle of the Thirty Years War. Although the idea of the story is fantastical, the stories themselves are well down and very entertaining. Even better, they provide a nice perspective on the history of the Thirty Years War including people that were alive during that period.

This volume in the series sees the good guys creating modern ironclad warships that they can use to conquer the forces fighting against them. The action takes place in the Baltic sea, Germany, Denmark, Amsterdam and London. The numerous threads and plentiful characters makes the book sometimes difficult to follow. The book also show more includes a great deal of detail about the naval and aeronautical aspects of the battles being fought. show less

It is an impressive alternative history universe Eric Flint and his colleagues are building in this and the other books. This is more or less the direct successor of 1633 and it follows up on a lot of story threads, but it's here that the story grows too big.

With a few thousand Americans and their books and other possessions all impacting the world around them everything changes. Every kind or noble person has by now read the histories and know what will happen, or could happen or is likely to happen, and they are all plotting to change the outcome.

People are prisoned for things they would have done in the future, others are promoted for the same reason, and we get to follow Denmark, England and to a degree France and the Netherlands show more all trying to grab a position in the world shaped by the ring of fire and the United States of Europe.

It's all a bit much. I see why the upcoming books split into different threads because this is not the way to tell a story. Still, it's a fascinating world, and it's equally fascinating how we could all be the most educated people in the world 400 years ago. Everything is relative.

I think I will continue reading the series, but for the world building and the scenes where humanity makes major leaps, not for the history lessons which are either already well known to me, or not known because they are not that interesting. show less

This is the 3rd in the series and I actually connected better with this one than the 1st 2; excellent development of plot and characters; drawn together nicley as well as good set up for future books. good good story.

The Baltic War is pretty much straight military-historical fiction, with of course the "up-time" twist. There are some fun characters (Prince Ulrik is quite the charmer) and I think the comparative focus helped it avoid some of the tediousness of Weber and Flint's prior effort in the series. (That being said, this is not a series to pick up if infodumps bug you. There's at least one staid history textbook wedged between the pages of the series as a whole.)

I didn't really care for the England stuff, and felt it wrapped up a little too neatly to be believable, but Weber overwhelming naval superiority is definitely a good time.

A very light hearted and entertaining book. The characters are fun and interesting as is the storyline.

Another disappointment in this series. If I didn't think it had so much promise, I wouldn't complain so much. That said, favorite characters devolve into caricatures of themselves (all of the tower inhabitants and longstanding plot lines are tied up too quickly. I think the authors are getting bored, but there are too many suckers like me paying full price for new hardbacks.

The third novel in the 1632 series started by Eric Flint. The series has become a collaborative effect with a number of people writing stories set in Flint's alternate universe. The novels are very long, detailed, and contain large doses of history although, with each novel, the Europe here diverges more and more from the one we know. This one has a great deal of flying in it as the "up-timers" continue to build an air force. There are battles on land and sea as well. Not for everyone but I'm on the lookout for the next one in the series.