1632: Ring of Fire, Book 1 - A Review

 

Last year, a few months before Chicon 8 took place, a literary giant passed away. His name was Eric Flint, the man responsible for the 1632 "Ring of Fire" series.

I first learned about Eric Flint from a panel which took place at Chicon 8, which covered the life and works of Eric Flint. One of his friends, who was on that panel, was none other than Orange Mike Lowery, a man who has come to be a friend of mine.

I was utterly unfamiliar with Eric Flint at the time. But I purposed to read some of his works and get familiar with him.

I'm so very glad I did.

The 1632 series is historical alternate universe fiction. Its premise is simple. In the year 2000, the West Virginia town of Grantsville gets magically transported to Thuringia, Germany in the year 1632 - right in the middle of the Thirty Years' War. The transported Americans quickly make their presence felt with their advanced technology and weaponry. But they face many challenges, too. For starters, they have no means of maintaining their technological advantages for very long. Sooner or later, their power plants will run down, their bullets will run out, and their vehicles will run out of gasoline. What can they do to prevent total collapse and be overrun by the Croatian army?

As it turns out, they can do a great deal - and do. Choosing their allies carefully, they parley their advanced weaponry into an alliance with the King of Bavaria. Calling themselves the United States of Europe, they build their community and take in refugees. Many romances develop, as American sensibilities appeal to European people, and vice-versa.

There are many issues to be had with this wonderful tale, as there are in any time-travel story. For starters, the transport of Grantsville seems to happen because some future technological civilization decides to do so as a form of artistic prank - a form of free expression which does not take into account the many lives it would disrupt, to say nothing of the timeline. Also, there is little to no consideration for any damage the sudden presence of Americans does to history. Part of this is simple pragmatism - the Americans know that they were powerless when they were transported, and are therefore powerless to do anything to get transported back. Also, they know that they need to interact with the world around them if they are to survive, which means any timeline concerns get pushed aside in favor of simply choosing to live. But once those concerns are addressed (and dropped) the story goes on masterfully.

Eric Flint really puts on a masterclass on how to weave a story. He doesn't just dive in. He builds the setting painstakingly. Then, he establishes each character slowly, carefully, letting the reader know their personalities, their back story, and their tendencies. As these characters interact with more characters, they too have their back stories told. There are no cardboard characters or "placeholder people" in Eric Flint's stories. Everyone has a story. Everyone has a goal.

Flint won the Writers of the Future Contest in 1993. Often, this sort of thing does not truly launch a great career, but not so in Eric Flint's case. He established a franchise with this story that other people wanted to contribute to. Many fans wrote their own stories in the 1632 universe, and still do! Flint compiled many of the best of them in semi-regular anthologies.

In short, this is not just a historical novel, nor is it merely an alternate history. It's a wonderful mixture of both, and those who partake of it will find much more than just a wonderous romp filled with rifles vs. muskets, and pistols vs. halberds. Highly recommended!

Eric

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