1635: The Tangled Web

To paraphrase Salieri in Amadeus, too many names, Virginia. Sorting the sects from the religions was difficult enough to make the book rather ponderous. But matching the names with their various apostasies, variations on a theme as well as who was related to whom was over the top. Localization should be used as a spice; by the pinch rather than by the shovelful. Interesting characters, some of which we lose later and enough of a storyline for a novella rather than a book

Virginia DeMarce contiues the "1632" story well in this book. You are plunged into a morass of political intrigue, urgency, ignorance and ingenious solutions. Hang on, that sounds like the 21st century ... except for the ingenious solutions. Find out why.

A pleasant, decently written addition to Eric Flint's "1632" universe (in which a West Virginia coal-mining town of the late twentieth century finds itself plunged into the middle of the Thirty-Years' War). DeMarce is a fine storyteller, and excellent at bringing the threads of post-Reformation history and late-twentieth-century America together. It's interesting to see how this set of tales (for this is really a collection of interlocked stories) fits into the larger, evolving narrative.

Another addition to the "Ring of Fire/1632" series of books that was first started by Eric Flint. With "1635: The Tangled Web", former RIng of Fire co-author, Virginia DeMarche, takes the pilot's seat in her first outright solo novel.

Sadly, her writing talents have not seemed to have improved much since her beginnings with "1634: The Ram Rebellion." As usual, books with her participation suffer from a severe lack of coherent plot or story. For the most part, the reader is thrown random characters and events in piecemeal fashion without any idea as to what the overall trajectory is. Basically, DeMarche is not as much as an author as really a chronicler of events. The fact that each scene or act begins with the time and place reinforces show more that belief.

Although it's not terrible per se, it's just not really something people would be able to just read to enjoy. Unless if they're very intimate with all the characters and events of the entire series, readers will end up struggling to figure out who these names are and why they matter.

What was equally disappointing was the fact of how misleading the cover was. It gives the impression that somewhere in the book, there'd be some minor plot in the book about downtimers viewing uptime items and events in an "Uptime Museum." For someone who's interested in meeting of cultures and the exchange of ideas, the fact that this scene did not occur, but was just something mentioned in passing was frustrating, to say the least.

Perhaps, the only interesting part of this entire book would probably be the two middle stories involving the character of Martin Wackernagel. It probably has to do with the fact that, in this case, the stories did have a singular protagonist with a loosely defined plot of sorts.

Overall, it's probably for the better to see if you can find one of the brief synopsizes that are littered throughout the user reviews in Amazon, than attempt to read this book. show less

A good selection of two short stories in the 1632 universe. an ok addition to the series.

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