A bloody, decades-consuming religious war in 17th century Europe, a quiet country wedding in 21st century West Virginia, a bit of interstellar tampering with a few things Time and Space, and you have the makings for one of the more inventive and enveloping alternate-histories to appear in recent years.
The story of a modern American mining community transplanted into the forests of Thuringia and the heart of the Thirty Years’ War, Eric Flint’s 1632 follows the exploits of Mine Workers of America local chapter-head Mike Stearns, as he attempts to rally his fellow Grantvillites after the entire town undergoes its inexplicable geographic and temporal relocation. With naught but a bit of fire in the sky to signal the transition and with the trampling armies, looting mercenary bands, devastating plagues and widespread famine of one of Europe’s darkest periods surrounding them on all sides, the people of Grantville must use 21st century know-how and what modern means and tools that remain available to defend themselves, attract local allies and ultimately find their footing in this new home from hell.
The Details Worked-Out, the Story Worked-In
There is much that can be said for the basic components of Flint’s book – his heroes are likeable, his villains believable and his storyline addictively readable, yet 1632’s strongest and most defining quality is its ongoing theme of Adapt or Die. If dropped into an utterly alien, regularly threatening situation with a random assortment of people, tools and supplies, what do you do? A good half the fun of reading 1632 lies in following Flint’s wayward Virginians as they find ways of applying common means to uncommon circumstances. With telephone and radio communication almost nonexistant, the local teenage dirt-biker crowd is soon pressed into service as the town's new high-speed mail service, while a few of the miners, having grown tired of getting shot at by roving mercenaries, decide that an old coal truck would make a great armoured personnel carrier . . .
While Flint’s inventive yet level-headed approach to technology will keep fans of both the survivor-story and alternate-history satisfied, he also proves capable of tackling the phenomenal challenge that comes with attempting to fit a truly inventive story into the complex historic landscape of Europe during the Thirty Years’ War. Given a time and setting wherein Catholic and Protestant allegiances have turned nearly every corner of the continent’s interior upon its neighbour, Flint proves capable of expertly weaving a fictional storyline in among the tangled strands of Europe’s political, religious and military past. Gustav II Adolf, the Golden King of Sweden, emerges from historical records as an enlivened hero and potential ally for Mike Stearns, while Cardinal Richelieu, that quintessential historic antagonist, pulls at the strings of European power in his single-minded quest for French domination.
Stars and Stripes, Seemingly Forever
With regard to cons, the only one truly worth mentioning and which may hamper a reader’s experience – particularly that of one reading outside the U.S. – is the book’s strong and oft-emergent Yankee Doodle factor. It soon becomes clear that this is in-part a book about American ingenuity, ideals and spirit triumphing when set among tyrannical conditions reminiscent of those that shadowed the pre-Revolution thirteen colonies. One cannot help wondering though, why an American town, with several hundred years of technological superiority, would do any better in the forests of Thuringia than a similar modern town of any other nationality (particularly a 21st century German community).
That having been said, a bit of flag-waving by an American author writing mainly for American readers is no reason to dismiss what is ultimately an entertaining work (though I did have to set the sequel, 1633, aside for a few hours, after a German aristocrat started praising the American sport of boxing for its sophistication and complexity). Further, Flint should not be accused of banging his foreign readership over the head with a flagpole, as a significant portion of his storyline revolves around the melding of West Virginian and Germanic cultures into a truly unique nation – and he is more than willing to poke fun at a few distinctly American quirks along the way. At the very least and in a most realistic turn, the people of Grantville bow to their new Thuringian neighbours’ cultural superiority in the field of brewing beer.
Overall, whether you’ve an interest in the history of the Thirty Years’ War, or if it’s merely the idea of mercenary Scots-cavalrymen charging alongside Ford pick-ups and into the face of advancing Spanish tercios that catches your fancy, 1632 (not to mention its numerous sequels) is a book that will prove as satisfying and ensnaring a story as you’re likely to find on the fantasy/sci-fi shelves today.
 |
