1634: The Bavarian Crisis (Ring of Fire) [Hardcover]

Eric Flint (Author), Virginia DeMarce (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ring of Fire | Publication Date: October 2, 2007

The Thirty Years War continues to ravage 17th century Europe, but a new force is gathering power and influence: the Confederated Principalities of Europe, an alliance between Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, and the West Virginians from the 20th century led by Mike Stearns who were hurled centuries into the past by a mysterious cosmic accident.

The CPE has the know-how of 20th century technology, but needs iron and steel to make the machines. The iron mines of the upper Palatinate were rendered inoperable by wartime damage, and American know-how is needed on the spot to pump them out and get the metal flowing again—a mission that will prove more complicated than anyone expects. In the maelstrom that is Europe, even a 20th century copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica can precipitate a crisis, when readers learn of the 1640 Portuguese revolt, a crisis that will involve Naples as well. Another factor: Albanian exiles in Naples, inspired by the Americans, are plotting to recover lost Albanian turf, which will precipitate yet another crisis in the Balkans.

This troubled century was full of revolutions and plans for more revolutions before the Americans arrived, and gave every would-be revolutionary an example of a revolution that succeeded. Europe is a pot coming to a boil, and Mike Stearns will have his hands full seeing that it doesn’t boil over on to Grantville and the CPE.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The intricacies of Habsburg family relations make surprisingly fascinating reading in the latest episode in Flint's saga of a 20th-century West Virginia town transported mysteriously to 17th-century Europe. The recently widowed Duke Maximilian of Bavaria reluctantly assents to a dynastic marriage with his niece, Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, but her recent reading of an uptime encyclopedia and the American Constitution leads her to consider other, previously unimaginable options. Meanwhile, Don Fernando, the Spanish Cardinal-Infante, moves toward peace with the fledgling United States of Europe while laying siege to Amsterdam and searching for a suitable bride. Flint teams up once again with historian DeMarce (1634: The Ram Rebellion) to tell a complicated but coherent story. It is especially refreshing to read an alternate history that doesn't depend upon the clash of anachronistic arms, but rather on how modern ideas of human rights, education, sanitation and law might have affected the Europe of the 30 Years War. (Oct.)
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About the Author

Eric Flint is the author of the New York Times best seller 1634: The Galileo Affair (with Andrew Dennis)—a novel in his top-selling “Ring of Fire” alternate history series. His first novel for Baen, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. His 1632, which launched the ring of Fire series, won widespread critical praise, as from Publishers Weekly, which called him “an SF author of particular note, one who can entertain and edify in equal, and major, measure.” A longtime labor union activist with a Master’s Degree in history, he currently resides in northwest Indiana with his wife Lucille.

Virginia DeMarce, after jobs as peculiar as counting raisins for the Calif. Dept. of Agriculture, received her Ph.D. in Early Modern European History from Stanford University. She has published a book on German military settlers in Canada after the American Revolution and has served as president of the National Genealogical Society. She taught at Northwest Missouri State University and at George Mason University. She has had stories in the Ring of Fire anthology and Grantville Gazette (#1), and more stories in the online Grantville Gazettes. She has three grown children and five grandchildren, and lives in Arlington, VA, with her husband.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: Baen (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416542531
• ISBN-13: 978-1416542537
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More of the Context, December 29, 2007

By 

tertius3 (MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1634: The Bavarian Crisis (Ring of Fire) (Hardcover)

Bavarian Crisis is another novel about diplomacy in "1634", actually avoiding discussion of local military conflict. The main action of that year is covered in "The Baltic War," which could be read first (and, thankfully, has now been belatedly published). If newcomers start here (or with any of the "1634" books), they will miss too much of deeper import, and may find the story both incomprehensible and boring. This new volume takes us back to 1634, to one of the four crucial side-theaters for which longtime readers of this series have been waiting. The story develops in Thuringia, Bavaria, and Vienna, month by month, with chapter headings in Latin for no discernible reason. (You can play a little game, to find the phrase translated somewhere in the text.) Duke Maximilian of Bavaria is a study in religious madness as he loses control of his realm and makes others the scapegoats. He, and other potentates on the edges of the young United States of Europe, are under constant pressure and intrigue from its agents.

The book opens with three maps, showing places and contemporary political borders one won't find on a modern map. DeMare provides four genealogies so we can follow the intricate relations among characters and the ruling Hapsburg dynasty (the longest and therefore most complicated in all known history). There's much humor in these big books--not in dialogue so much as characters' thoughts, wordplay, anachronistic up-time jargon, manly jokes; nothing elaborate. Most everyone is very reasonable, that is, they make their reasons perfectly clear. In general, everybody acts so reasonably, with such little emotion, such wry humor, that the result is flat. One manifest flub--having a lead undercover character blurt out her identity when nobody had asked--is actually a setup for the final suspense. The pace has to be slowed by long digressions on historical and strategical matters (vital to alternative HISTORY, after all), while immediate tactics are concealed in the commanders' heads and cleverly sprung on the enemy (and the reader). That's about the only suspense, as the Adolf/Stearns USE juggernaut rolls on from success to success.

This West-Virginians-in-the-Thirty-Years-War saga is a thoroughly collaborative work in progress, with significant online input. Thus, the fact this book is "late" to the fray means little, because there is no single main line, many themes in parallel, and no single series "hero" (instead, many). That is what makes this alternative history series unique, yet frustrating to try to follow while it is being published. These later novels lack the shock and surprise of the first, truly novel. They also lack the sense of desperation that made "1632" and "1633" so powerful.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Genealogy first, novel second, January 28, 2008

By 

Ron Hallberg (Springfield, Il USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1634: The Bavarian Crisis (Ring of Fire) (Hardcover)

Till this book, I have thoroughly enjoyed the entire Ring of Fire series by Eric Flint and his various co-authors. However, this edition of the saga was a difficult slog - at least the first half of the novel.
Any potential reader must question whether a story with a 10 page "Cast of Characters" and 4 genealogy charts could possibly be fast moving and fun.
Although I am now a semi-expert on the families of Bavaria, Bohemia and nearby areas in the early 1600s, I could have done with a bit less history of the several Hapsburg families and a bit more action. Put another way: a bit less Virginia DeMarce and a bit more Eric Flint. Note to Baen editors: I think they still make red pencils.

32 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Nuptials of Maria Anna, March 24, 2008

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 1634: The Bavarian Crisis (Ring of Fire) (Hardcover)

1634: The Bavarian Crisis (2007) is the eighth work in the Assiti Shards series, following 1634: The Baltic War. In the previous volume, the United States of Europe sent warships and troops to relieve the siege of Luebeck. Then the warships sailed to Copenhagen and bombarded certain works.

In this novel, Duke Maximilian of Bavaria loses his beloved wife, yet his advisors recommend that he remarry. They point out his duty as the head of the Catholic League. At first he firmly disagrees, but his advisors wear him down. They decide that he will marry Maria Anna of Austria.

Maria Anna is a Hapsburg woman, trained to rule if only in a regency. She would prefer to marry an old man and become the regent for her son, but one has to take what comes. She would settle for becoming the bride of Don Fernando, the Cardinal-Infante and younger brother of the Spanish king.

Don Fernando has chosen Maria Anna as his best choice for marriage. Of course, certain plans would have to mature in the Netherlands before he could make an offer. Besides, he has other candidates to consider.

Mary Ward is the head of the "English Ladies" or "Jesuitesses" in Munich. The women of the former Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary have set out to establish a new type of female religious order, working in the ordinary world to serve their God. The Vatican has not been acceptive of their goals and has ordered them to cease and desist.

Veronica Dreeson -- formerly Veronica Richter -- has some family business to undertake in the Upper Palatinate. Mary Simpson decides to travel with her. They get a big sendoff in Grantville, but the rest of Europe is wondering what is their real mission.

In this story, Ferdinand II -- Holy Roman Emperor -- consents to the marriage of his eldest daughter to Duke Maximilian. A great procession takes Maria Anna to Munich, where she is to wed the Duke. But she has a few reservations.

Veronica makes some progress in straightening out family affairs in Amberg. Her brother-in-law, Kilian Richter, had arranged for his brother's family to be declared legally dead and then gained possession of much of their property. However, Veronica and family -- except for Hans -- are obviously not dead and a good lawyer could overturn the previous declarations. But what is she going to do about the Jesuit Collegium build around the location of her husband's shop?

Meanwhile, Mike Stearns is thoroughly enjoying the confusion that the Richter/Simpson journey is causing within the capitals of Europe. He hopes that the ladies have a successful trip.

This story tells of the consequences of the USE victory at Luebeck. The League of Ostend is definitely weakened by the loss of Denmark and the turmoil in France. Now attention is turned eastward toward Bavaria and the political marriage of the Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria.

This novel continues the new history of Europe after the transfer of Grantville to seventeenth century Germany. The common folk have been responding strongly to the message of the Committees of Correspondence. Recently, however, the American ideals and histories have been exerting an even greater influence on the customs, traditions and planning of European royalty. Some are responsive to the new ideas and others are strongly repelled by such thoughts.

Naturally, the storyline does not end with this novel. More is to come. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Flint & DeMarce fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of political intrigue, social institutions and marital customs in the seventeenth century German states.

-Arthur W. Jordin