Customer Reviews

1634: The Bavarian Crisis (Ring of Fire)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

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.

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.

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

Let preface this by saying that I enjoyed The Ram Rebellion. I have enjoyed the other short stroies that Ms. DeMarce has written in this universe. And, natch, I have enjoyed Mr. Flint's work.

This book was a tedious, turgid slog with a few bright points. When Maria Anna and the rest of the characters are doing things, this book is engaging and exciting, as I have come to expect from a 163x work.

When the narrator is describing Hapsburg lineage, the book is tedious and textbook-like. However, it is easy to find these sections and skip over them. Worse is when characters take it upon themselves to narrate cultural or historical circumstances in paragraphs of text that sound exactly as if they were lifted from scholarly works.

Ms. DeMarce, please stick to short stories and novellas and save the extraneous exposition for scholarly work. (Or disguise them better.)

Mr. Flint, please do not be afraid to remind your co-authors that the story must come before everything else.

Baen editors, please use red pen.

The arrival of the modern (uptime) West Virginia town of Grantville in the midst of the 30 Year War in Germany has changed everything. Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus is still alive, the Habsburgs have been rolled back, and a degree of religious freedom has begun to break out. Even better, from the standpoint of the West Virginians, Cardinal Infante Fernando is teetering toward declaring himself--and the Spanish Netherlands, independent of his Spanish brother. Meanwhile, beautiful and large-busted Austrian Arch-Duchess Maria Anna is to be married off to her much-older uncle, the Duke of Bavaria--a man who is a constant supporter of the Catholic Counter-reformation, but who is also mad.

Add a search for iron, a couple of uptime women being accidentally kidnapped, and Maria Anna's decision that maybe a marriage to her young and attractive cousin might be preferable to a marriage (or perhaps execution) by her insane fiance, and you've got all the makings of a top-notch alternate history story--or perhaps a historical romance.

And that is the major problem with this story. Authors Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce can't quite decide what kind of story they are writing and, as a result, fail to deliver either a top-notch romance or a first-class alternate history. 1634: THE BAVARIAN CRISIS makes mention of the need for iron to drive the early industrial revolution that Grantville has created, uses airplanes as a sort of deux ex machina, and flutters with modern drugs, but we don't really get a look at how technology is changing, or what difference it makes. From a romance standpoint, even setting aside the excessive fixation on Marie Anna's bosom, we really don't get any sense of conflict or, truly, anything more than physical attraction between the characters.

Eric Flint's 1632 series is important in that it emphasizes the social nature of change. Rather than adopting the 'one unique man' approach to alternate history (see Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen for an excellent example of this approach), Flint recognized that an every-man could do the job, if supported by the proper social environment. Watching how small technological changes percolate through the 1632 universe is interesting and good SF. In 1634: THE BAVARIAN CRISIS, we have a couple of middle-aged Grantville women in barrels--and it's hard to really care.

Arch-Duchess Anna Maria is really the high point of this story. Of all the characters, she has a driving goal--a goal that changes with circumstances. She makes the brave decisions and faces the consequences of her actions. It's almost a shame to see her playing the role of the quivering bride at the end of the story. I would have liked to see her set Don Fernando straight and get right to helping him carve out more of his kingdom. Bernhard is clearly being set up for something important, but all of his marching and maneuvering doesn't really add much to this particular story.

At almost seven hundred pages, this book is too long for its contents, has long dragging sections of dialogue, and way too much repetition of the not particularly interesting 'who is related to whom,' 'who can marry whom,' and 'don't these women have nice chests.' I've been a fan of this series and am a fan of Eric Flint, but I don't like the direction it's taken lately and 1634: THE BAVARIAN CRISIS definitely does not get things back on track.

This is the continuing saga in the 1632 Universe that was started (not surprisingly) with a book entitled 1632.

Now it is 1634 and there is a Crisis in Bavaria (hence, the current title).

If you aren't familiar with this series, it has a number of unusual characteristics. Quite notably, there are now about four books that take place in 1634. And there is a book that takes place in 1635. To keep fans on their toes, that book came out BEFORE the last two books that take place in 1634.

Confused?

The reason is that Eric Flint has delegated the writing of these latest books to other authors. Or perhaps he is collaborating with them. It is a little hard to tell.

Anyhow, the latest book is entertaining but is seriously flawed in that it requires a scorecard to keep all of the characters and political situations in the right order.

Quick history lesson for you: in the 17th Century, Germany was a crazy quilt of kingdoms, principalities, duchies,etc.

This book is about the political intrigue that is taking place among this crazy quilt of political entities.

The sheer mass of characters that are introduced in this book is staggering. Aside from the royalty, there are the servants, the soldiers, the diplomats, etc.

It doesn't help that many of the places have similar names. Nurnburg is not the same as Neuburg. (But they aren't too far away.) Amburg is different from Hamburg and Bamburg.

And just when you think that you are getting on top of things, the authors throw in an aside explaining the role of guild membership in Basel, Switzerland. Mind you, that never actually gets used for anything, but there is this explanation.

Frankly, it seemed that the authors would find something interesting in their research and then would go out of their way to weave it in.

The main plot revolves around a group of people moving across the countryside getting chased by bad guys. And then they get to safety. And then they leave the safety and get chased by bad guys again. It gets quite tiresome.

On the positive side, I feel like I learned something by reading this book, because I have a better feel for the intricacies of the relationship of the Holy Roman Empire (aka Austria/Hungary) with its immediate neighbors.

The writing is crisp and clear. The prose is not overly busy and most of the main characters in the book were interesting.

I just wish that I hadn't had to have my head spin as much as it did when I tried to follow the plot.

I'm a great fan of the 16xx universe, but these "filler novels" written with Ms. DeMarce are beginning to get on my nerves. They are filled with a lot of promise--but generally degenerate into geneological expositions on the German and Austrian nobility. I had pretty high hopes for this one, but was again disappointed. Almost a "non-finisher," which is rare for me. The ending helped as the pace of action speeded up, so I gave it 3 stars.

The Bavarian Crisis lacks the essential elements that have made the other books in the 1632 series highly successful and entertaining. I was eagerly awaiting this current novel. But, instead of telling a compelling story, the reader is treated throughout most of the book to an interminable series of history lectures given mostly by characters we have not met before and with whom we have little empathy. In short, this current novel is boring.

In fact, I typically LIKE novels that present plenty of factual historical content and context. Turtledove's Fort Pillow: A Novel of the Civil War is an excellent example of a historically-based novel which teaches a great deal about history without lecturing to the reader.

Sadly, when the primary characters we've come to love from the 1632 series are introduced on occasion in this novel, they deliver wooden dialogue that seems to have been inserted after the rest of the novel was written, making the entire collaborative work seem contrived rather than an integrated whole. I can't recommend this edition, but I have VERY high hopes for the next novel in this series.

A number of people I've noticed dislike the book because of the detail both in terms of history and in terms of political events. I happen to like the book as a interesting departure from a number of books that barely skim on politics, and barely bother to look past wikipedia in terms of history. I would question a number of series if they even bothered to research but at least with this serious they take research seriously and put quite a bit of work in it. It is the advantage i think of having two serious historians working on the novel.

It is not as fast paced as many people like but I think it is a welcome change from the same old same old.

Take 17th century history, throw in some serious romance, add some derring-do, some fine upstanding skullduggery, and throw in a bunch of West Virginia hillbillies for flavor. Mix well, and what you have is the butterfly effect (stolen straight from chaos theory) as applied to the "new" history of Europe since the Ring of Fire deposited the village of Grantville in Thuringia in the middle of the Thirty Years' War.

What happens if the most successful ruling family in all of recorded history (yup, those Habsburgs) decide to take a hand in changing the future they know from reading all those stolen books from Grantville?

What happens if a Habsburg princess decides she's a liberated woman? What happens if a young Habsburg Cardinal decides he'd rather not be a priest? What happens if they fall in love by radio?

What happens to these star-crossed lovers?

And will the artillery drag their huge guns overland fast enough to matter, or will everything be decided by air power?

If you want to know, read 1634:The Bavarian Crisis.