Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - 1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1)

1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1)
1632 - Assiti Shards, Bk 1
Author: Eric Flint
FREEDOM AND JUSTICE -- AMERICAN STYLE — 1632 -- And in northern Germany things couldn't get much worse. Famine. Disease. Religious war laying waste the cities. Only the aristocrats remained relatively unscathed; for the peasants, death was a mercy. — 2000 -- Things are going OK in Grantville, West Virginia, and everybody atten...  more »
PBS Market Price: $8.09 or $4.19+1 credit
ISBN-13: 9780671319724
ISBN-10: 0671319728
Publication Date: 2/2001
Pages: 597
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 133

4 stars, based on 133 ratings
Publisher: Baen
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

jscrappy avatar reviewed 1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1) on + 59 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
A fun time-travel book, wherein a contemporary West Virginia town is transported to 17th-century Germany, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War. I enjoyed finding out more about this period of history, and the author comes up with some very entertaining ideas about how this clash of cultures might play out. The rest of the series is less entertaining, but this first book is really enjoyable.
reviewed 1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1) on + 20 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I read the free electronic version (from Baen's Free Library) of this, and it's a fun read. There is some death, mayhem, and destruction, so if that'd ruin your fun, don't read it. Warning: due to the slim price I paid for this, I may be biased in favor of it.

A nice riff on what might happen if nearly an entire town with reasonably modern weapons got thrown into the civil wars and such that ravaged much of the Old World. It occasionally breaks off for a quick history lesson, which I liked. If you've read Tolkien, which is very violent in places, you'll probably like this one, or at least, I did.
reviewed 1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1) on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This book is a fantastic alternate history of Germany- or what happens when the small town of Grantville, West VA, of the 20th Century, suddenly appears smack in the middle of the history of Germany in the 1600s.
goddesslovingbookworm avatar reviewed 1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1) on + 170 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book is AWESOME! Having never read alternate history, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it opened my eyes to a whole new genre! My family history includes West Virginia coal miners so that aspect had me picking up the book--the thoroughly researched history of the Thirty Years' War kept me reading until I was finished. Now I collect the series. Eric Flint is a genius and all his co-authors as the series expands are well-known with sci-fi of their own. At least the first three books benefit from being read in order so the characters develop properly; the books then splinter those characters into situations of their own. Mr. Flint, please keep them coming!
reviewed 1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1) on + 37 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Creative and well written. An interesting alternate history scenario.
Read All 21 Book Reviews of "1632 Assiti Shards Bk 1"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

WhidbeyIslander avatar reviewed 1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1) on + 713 more book reviews
I was sort of dreading picking this up, and half expected to not finish it given its length of 500+ pages. But the writing drew me in immediately as the main characters are introduced. The âeventâ occurs pretty quickly and follows the townsmen as they discover they â⦠don't think we're in West Virginia anymore, Toto.â (which is a quote from the book.)

Then we are given a brief but somewhat confusing history lesson about Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the war ravaging Germany at the time. (I looked up this period on Wikipedia for more background, and portraits of some of the historical characters, although this hit me with what I thought was a sort of spoiler, so take care.) Then we return to the modern town and follow how they adapt to the whole mess.

There is a little too much of the romance involved between modern and 1632 characters as we follow along on how the âAmericansâ plan to survive in their new world. I skimmed over some pages telling us about the July 4th parade and the first wedding in the new world â neither of which moved the plot along, but helped pad the book. I also skipped over the long and tedious descriptions of battles, and came to the realization that my initial feeling was in fact correct and this was way too long and filled with unimportant details and romantic couplings, and did I mention battles?

If you are familiar with the Butterfly Affect, you might wonder, as I did, how killing hundreds of men who might have been great, great, great, great, great grandfathers of 20th century people would change the world that the Americans came from. Maybe even cause many of them of German ancestry to not exist. I kept expecting some of the modern characters to simply disappear as their ancestors were obliterated.

Since there are many sequels available I assume readers find out how this new United States impacts history, but I don't plan to find out.

Again, if you are into the 30 Years War, go for it; but Wikipedia will get you quicker to reading the next book on your list.
reviewed 1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1) on + 3 more book reviews
Not exactly a literary masterpiece but very entertaining. Better than I expected.
SherryKaraoke avatar reviewed 1632 (Assiti Shards, Bk 1) on + 36 more book reviews
An interesting, little-known time illuminated in this alternate history. Not the greatest writing, but held my interest in terms of plot.


Genres: