1633 – Grantsville’s Adventure Continues

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

1633 – Grantsville’s Adventure Continues

The Thirty Years war was one of the worst wars ever to hit Europe. Men were killed, women were raped, and whole nations were devastated as France, Sweden, and Austria fought over worthless scraps of land. In his first book, 1632, Eric Flint introduced into this time Grantsville, led by Mike Stearns, a small American town from the twentieth century. The leaders of the nations however, autocrats to a man, don’t want ideas like freedom and equality touching the commoners. Naturally, they set out to attack Grantsville.

Eric Flint introduces an international element to the second novel in the series. The characters introduced to us from 1632 are scattered around Europe with many faces that history saw long dead and buried. One set of characters ends up in the tower of London, while others arrive in the Dutch Republics. Further, we are introduced to new viewpoint characters from our history, including the scheming Richelieu, architect of the war, and the Dutch admiral Van Der Tromp.

Any book like this needs an evil mastermind who’s not well understood. Turtledove had Atvar, Weber had Theisman and Flint has Richelieu. The French ruler, in fact if not in name, comes across as a man with boundless intelligence and understanding. Deducing the future shape of the world power structure, Richelieu makes a deal with Charles of England, offering support in exchange for the English colonies in America. As an example of his cunning:

"Have you considered the history of the world which created your Americans?" asked Richelieu. "As I'm sure you also know, I've obtained"—here came another dismissive wiggle of the finger—"through various means, several of the historical accounts which your Americans brought with them. And I've studied them all, very thoroughly."

That's a given, thought Rebecca. - Any ruler or political figure in the world, in the summer of the year 1633, would eagerly want to see what lay in store for them in the immediate years to come.

As she ruminated, Richelieu had been studying her. The intelligent dark brown eyes brought their own glum feeling. And do not think for a moment that the cardinal is too foolish not to understand that. He, too, understands that the history which was will now never be—but also understands that he can still discern broad patterns in those events. And guide France accordingly.

His next words confirmed it. "Of course, the exact events will be different. But the basic framework of that future world is clear enough. I believe we can summarize it with that term you favor so much: democracy. Or, as I would put it, rule by the masses. Because, to be frank, all the various political structures which that future world exhibits show the same basic characteristic. The authority of an established aristocracy and royalty discarded; all power vested in the 'people'; whether that people be called 'citizens' or 'the proletariat' or 'the Volk.' No rein, no check, no limits of any kind placed upon their desires and ambitions."

The wiggling fingers, this time, were not so much dismissive as demonstrative. "All the rest follows. The massacre of six million of your own fellow Jews, to name just one instance. The atrocities committed by such obvious monsters as Stalin and those Asian fellows. Mao and Pol Pot, if I recall the names correctly. And—let us not forget—the destruction of entire cities and regions by regimes which, though perhaps not as despotic, were no less prepared to wreak havoc upon the world. I will remind you, madame, that the United States of America which you seem determined to emulate in this universe did not shrink for an instant from incinerating the cities of Japan—or cities in Germany, for that matter, who are now your neighbors. Half a million people—more likely a million, all told—exterminated like so many insects." (chapter one)

Flint’s 1633 is also radically different from ours in many ways, Flints research has been through and the effects well sorted out. For example, a few textbooks have fallen into the hands of Charles I of England and here are the effects:

“Melissa rose hurriedly and came to the window. Looking out and down, she saw a man being frog-marched past on the street below. Each of his arms was firmly held by a guard, with more guards marching ahead and behind. The precautions seemed a bit ludicrous. As Tom said, the man's wrists and ankles were manacled, with chains connecting to a heavy leather belt cinched around his waist.

For a moment, his eye perhaps caught by the motion in the window, the man looked up at her. There was no expression on his face, beyond stolidity. It was the face of a man who was determined to show neither fear nor favor to fortune. Come what may, 'tis all God's will. I am who I am.

Then he looked away, giving her a view of his profile.

"Oh, Jesus," she whispered. The face was younger, of course. But she recognized it easily enough. It was a distinctive face. The same one she'd seen on portraits, in every book in Grantville which discussed the English Revolution of 1640.”

Guess who?

There has been other major character development. Simpson, who was a general pain in the ass in book 1, comes into his own. Many other characters get improvements, although a few slip backwards and one character meets an untimely death.

Few odd points. Flint slams the 1633 Irish quite badly, while he is quite sympathetic to the Scots. While I agree with him that its time to forget legends like the green paradise Ireland was before the coming of the English, its also easy to go over the top. Flint comes quite close to that point. That said, Flint makes it clear that Cromwell’s actions were based on international necessarily, rather than Irish-hating/bashing.

This is one of the best ISOT stories I’ve yet read. Read the sample chapters then go buy it.

Those of you following the adventures of Grantsville, the American town ISOTed back to 16th century Germany, will be glad to know that you can download a free and legal copy of 1632 here, get sample chapters of 1633 here and three complete short stories here.

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