Sean Bala reviewed 1635: A Parcel of Rogues by Eric Flint (Ring of Fire)
Review of '1635' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
"1635: A Parcel of Rogues" is not as strong as other novels in the Ring of Fire series. It is a shame because there are many things I really love about this book. I really loved the portrayal of Oliver Cromwell. On paper, the real historical Cromwell had many redeeming qualities. But the one we have in our timeline that ruled over Great Britain as Lord Protector was about 15 years older with pretty different life experiences. What might happen if he has to come into his political future at an earlier point in his life - perhaps one where his more inflexible attitude has not hardened. I really liked his romance with Gayle Mason (though as a side note: does every attractive woman in the Ring of Fire need to be "well-endowed"?). Cromwell is one historical figure I hope that pops up again in the series. I also liked …
"1635: A Parcel of Rogues" is not as strong as other novels in the Ring of Fire series. It is a shame because there are many things I really love about this book. I really loved the portrayal of Oliver Cromwell. On paper, the real historical Cromwell had many redeeming qualities. But the one we have in our timeline that ruled over Great Britain as Lord Protector was about 15 years older with pretty different life experiences. What might happen if he has to come into his political future at an earlier point in his life - perhaps one where his more inflexible attitude has not hardened. I really liked his romance with Gayle Mason (though as a side note: does every attractive woman in the Ring of Fire need to be "well-endowed"?). Cromwell is one historical figure I hope that pops up again in the series. I also liked the education and maturing of Darryl McCarthy. One of the themes I've really enjoyed in the Ring of Fire is the idea that many young people from West Virginia who would not have expected to amount to much in our world are thriving in this new, rough-and-tumble time, and how ordinary people might rise to the occasion.
A few secondary things that I found interesting in this book:
- The spread of modern down-time weapons to people in Scotland. I am curious how this is going to play out going foward;
- The use of radio (though I wonder how long the series will make use of radio ex machina before enemies discover it and learn how to use it);
- The return of Ducos and the development of the Party of God - it was interesting to see the development of additional opposition to the USE beyond the elites. The Party of God seems to me to be a bit of a wild-card in the series that I look forward to seeing pop up again;
- I found Chapter 36 to be the very interesting because we see (what I think is for the first time) Mike Sterns and Gustav Adolf reacting to a situation differently and at cross purposes. We don't often get Gustav Adolf's perspective. In this chapter we do see the limits of Stern's vision for the USE, and get a taste of Gustav Adolf's ambition from his own lips.
But there are a lot of negatives for this volume. It felt like it was a lot of set up for a longer plot line for the English Civil War (which I am not sure has been picked up by later volumes). It requires an understanding of the nuances of the English Civil War, which could be quite convoluted. Character accents can be really wonky and hard to read and sometimes feel stagey. It was not as funny as a volume like [b:1634: The Galileo Affair|57371|1634 The Galileo Affair (Assiti Shards, #3)|Eric Flint|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390260776l/57371.SY75.jpg|55898]. And I feel like the narrative was stretched way too much and probably could have been one long novella. It is essentially one long chase from England to Scotland. It had a lot of good ideas but the narrative was pretty thin.
