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The Epic Struggle of Freedom and Justice Against the Tyrannies of the 17th Century Continues, as European Cunning Meets American Courage. The Thirty Years War continues to ravage 17th century Europe, but a new force is gathering power and influence: the Confederated Principalities of Europe, an alliance between Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, and the West Virginians from the 20th century led by Mike Stearns who were hurled centuries into the past by a mysterious cosmic accident. The democratic ideals of the CPE have aroused the implacable hostility of Cardinal Richelieu, effective ruler of France, who has moved behind the scenes, making common cause with old enemies to stop this new threat to the privileged and powerful. But the CPE is also working in secret. A group of West Virginians have secretly traveled to Venice where their advanced medical knowledge may prevent the recurrence of the terrible plague which recently killed a third of the city-state's population. At the same time, the group hopes to establish commercial ties with Turkey's Ottoman Empire, then at the height of its power. And, most important, they hope to establish private diplomatic ties with the Vatican, exploiting Pope Urban VIII's misgivings about the actions of Richelieu and the Hapsburgs. But a Venetian artisan involved with the West Virginians may cause all their plans to come to naught. Having read 20th century history books of the period, he has become determined to rescue Galileo from his trial for heresy. The Americans are divided on whether to help him or stop him-and whether he succeeds or fails, the results may be catastrophic for the CPE.… (more)
User reviews
At the beginning of "1634: The Galileo Affair," the new United States of Europe is not in the best strategic situation. Simultaneously at war with England, France, Spain, Denmark, Austria and various other polities, it is running short of allies - the Dutch Republic is in dire straights, while Bohemia has its hands full trying to break away from Austria. To try to break out of this encirclement and tap into Mediterranean trade, an embassy is sent to the Venetian Republic.
At the head of the embassy are Father Mazzare and Reverend Jones, along with Sharon Nichols and Tom 'Stoner' Stone, a nurse and chemist (respectively), who will be sharing their medical knowledge with the Italians as a demonstration of good faith. Accompanying Stone are his three teenage sons, who (following their hormones and the lovely Giovanna) quickly fall in with a group of incompetent but enthusiastic revolutionaries hoping to Americanize Italy. They are sucked into a wacky, hare-brained scheme to free Galileo from the Inquisition and take him north to Grantville and Freedom. This plot would probably be harmless were it not receiving expert assistance from a French agent provocateur under orders to discredit the USE. Meanwhile, the copies of the Papers of the Second Vatican Council and related twentieth century Catholic theology that were sent to the Pope Urban VIII in "Ring of Fire" have been creating quite a stir in the highest ranks of the Church. The Pope is carefully considering what to do about Galileo, as well as the USE and its curious religious toleration.
"1634: The Galileo Affair" is quite a bit different from the other novels that have so far been published in the 163x series (and probably from those yet to be published, as well). This seems to be Flint's intention, and the reason he's writing the series with a large number of coauthors. In this volume, he is joined by English lawyer Andrew Dennis, with the result that military and political aspects of the story decrease dramatically, while more time is spent on romance and lawyerly discussion. Although I enjoyed the book overall, this is not my favorite approach.
Another notable feature of this volume in the series is that it ignores all of the plot threads developed in "1633," focusing entirely on Italy. According to Flint, "The Galileo Affair" is only the first of several books that will take place in 1634, each pursuing only one story line at a time, though all still tying in with each other. Currently five volumes are planned for this "1634: ..." 'story explosion' - "The Baltic War" (with David Weber), "Escape from the Tower" (Eric Flint solo), "The Austrian Princess" (with Virginia DeMarce) and "Bohemia" (a tentative title, with Mike Spehar) in addition to "The Galileo Affair." While some may be frustrated by the lack of connection to "1633," I personally feel that this approach is much preferable to the 'Robert Jordan method' of trying to cover every plot line at once and ending up not advancing any of them.
At any rate, if you enjoyed "1633" and "Ring of Fire," "1634: The Galileo Affair" should be worth checking out. If you're a fan of the series primarily because of Flint's military writing, the library may be the best choice.
Well, that's another series hitting the circular file.
On that note, the fact that the Stones were created by Mercedes Lackey for a short story and then rolled into this novel (as well as the use of scenes written by an experienced pilot in some of the other books in this family) is just a fascinating use of intellectual resources. This series wins a lot of goodwill from me by being collaboratively-if-not-communally written in a way that I believe is unprecedented in modern fiction.