Audible Book Review - 1633 by Eric Flint and David Weber, The Ring of Fire book 2

I was a little torn on what to get this last month. I was considering another C.S. Forester, maybe the third Honor Harrington, possibly a non-fiction on Stonewall Jackson, or Cmd. Chris Hadfield's book. So many options, so few credits. On a whim I picked up 1633 and almost instantly regretted it. You know how it is when you make a decision and then wish you had mad it another way. Regardless, I decided to stick with my decision and didn't return the book. I am glad to say that I enjoyed it a lot. When starting the series I was worried about character creep - the habit that large series have with a huge cast of characters that you have to keep track of. I was impressed that while there were lots of characters it was pretty easy to keep track of the important ones and the characters that we were introduced to in the first book as "main" characters continued to be important. Here is a link to the Audible page for the book. It was narrated by George Guidall who did a good job with the characters.

Plot: The Uptimers, the citizens of the West Virginian town of Grantsville that found themselves in the midst of the 30 years' War, are facing new challenges. Upon the shock of discovering that they were vulnerable to attack, they have teamed up with the King of Sweden and formed a pseudo-republic. They have disease to combat, increasing diversity in their boarders, and war. Rebecca Stern and Rita Stimpson have been dispatched to foreign powers to seek allies in the struggle against Cardinal Richelieu and his inexhaustible resources and ire. The difficulty is that Europe has found access to the history books that Granstville brought with them. So what happens when your enemy already knows who achieved greatness and who left their country in need? Predestination is a tenant of many protestant faiths in the 1600s, now we'll see how many truly believe.

My personal favorites: I liked how there were very, very few characters that I didn't care about, even characters that are antagonistic in some ways. The Stimpsons, for example, were the pricks and idiots of the first book, but they really gain a face and a mind in this one. I also like the twisting of history that starts to happen in this book. The questions raised by foreknowledge and the idea of a literal predestination were fun to explore. The action, and tragedies, were well down and I cheered and despaired with the characters. Eric Flint is known for his historical facts and it doesn't go to waste here.

Considerations: Unlike the first book there was no sensual scenes in this book and like the first there were no graphic descriptions. There was a fair amount of language which prompt the largest consideration.

I am really glad that I picked up this book. It didn't have the amount of action that the first one had and was more of a social thriller with brief periods of action I found it very satisfying and really enjoyed the interplay between the Uptimers and the local populace. The total length was 22 and a quarter hours.