Book Review: 1632

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

1632     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Eric Flint
Class/Genre:   Science Fiction   Time Travel
Series: The Assiti Shards # 1
Baen, Feb 2000, $24.00, 504 pp.

In 2000 Grantville, West Virginia, every card-carrying member of the local United Mine Workers of America chapter is attending the wedding of Sharon Stearns and Tom Simpson. Sharon’s brother Mike is the local union president and very popular with the rank and file. The groom, the son of wealthy parents who object to this wedding, plays football at West Virginia. In spite of the elitist, scornful behavior of Tom’s parents, the ceremony appears to be a success until a Ring of Fire erupts.

When the air clears, Mike, the other guests, and much of the townsfolk realize they are no longer in West Virginia. They soon learn that somehow the Ring of Fire transported them to 1632 in the Northern Germanic States. The new world that Mike and his cohorts have entered is a devastated place filled with famine and the death of peasants caused by the unending religious wars. Yet, for the aristocrat, the world remains untouched until Mike and company form the local chapter of the UMWA.

1632 is a clever time travel tale that should provide much acclaim to author Eric Flint for his imaginative and speculative story line. The entertaining tale is crisp and fun to read as the twentieth century union members clash with a class system outside anything they ever imagined. Science Fiction readers who enjoy novels like Crichton’s Timeline and Hoyle’s Professor Q books will fully relish the impact of this wild displacement book.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner