I really enjoyed this book but thought it had a few too many characters.

From the Publisher
1632
And in northern Germany things couldn't get much worse. Famine. Disease. Religous 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 attending the wedding of Mike Stearn's sister (including the entire local chapter of the United Mine Workers of America, which Mike leads) is having a good time.

THEN, EVERYTHING CHANGED....

When the dust settles, Mike leads a group of armed miners to find out what happened and finds the road into town is cut, as with a sword. On the other side, a scene out of Hell: a man nailed to a farmhouse door, his wife and daughter attacked by men in steel vests. Faced with this, Mike and his friends don't have to ask who to shoot. At that moment Freedom and Justice, American style, are introduced to the middle of the Thirty Years' War.

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Excellent book. The only complaint I would have is the 'Part 3' which is 3 chapters, around 35 pages. It is a historical version of a battle, not of the Grantville characters but of the Swedish King vs. Tilly, very boring reading. The King's abilities, and prowess in battle could have been summed up in 5 pages or less.
The rest of the book is excellent. The interaction of the old residents with the new residents, the battle scenes, the defining of their new laws and politics, all great. The story is not so much a story as stories, that interact. The over all being how this town takes over a little section of Germany and allies itself with both the people of the land and a powerful King. Then there are the character stories. The President of the union, who becomes the head of this new nation; the Jewish family saved and then adopted in ranks for their knowledge of the century and intelligence altogether; the Cheerleader who almost went to the Olympics as a biathlon entry, now sharpshooter; the Scottish mercenary loyal to the king and supportive of the town; the Computer, DnD playing, dirt bike riding, geek, turned soldier; and a few more. All great characters. A very fun, action packed book. Definitely worth reading. I am glad it was suggested to me by another David Weber / John Ringo fan.

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Very good book

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