1634: The Bavarian Crisis [Mass Market Paperback]

Bavarian Crisis is another novel about diplomacy in "1634", actually avoiding discussion of local military conflict. The main action of that year is covered in "The Baltic War," which could be read first (and, thankfully, has now been belatedly published). If newcomers start here (or with any of the "1634" books), they will miss too much of deeper import, and may find the story both incomprehensible and boring. This new volume takes us back to 1634, to one of the four crucial side-theaters for which longtime readers of this series have been waiting. The story develops in Thuringia, Bavaria, and Vienna, month by month, with chapter headings in Latin for no discernible reason. (You can play a little game, to find the phrase translated somewhere in the text.) Duke Maximilian of Bavaria is a study in religious madness as he loses control of his realm and makes others the scapegoats. He, and other potentates on the edges of the young United States of Europe, are under constant pressure and intrigue from its agents.

The book opens with three maps, showing places and contemporary political borders one won't find on a modern map. DeMare provides four genealogies so we can follow the intricate relations among characters and the ruling Hapsburg dynasty (the longest and therefore most complicated in all known history). There's much humor in these big books--not in dialogue so much as characters' thoughts, wordplay, anachronistic up-time jargon, manly jokes; nothing elaborate. Most everyone is very reasonable, that is, they make their reasons perfectly clear. In general, everybody acts so reasonably, with such little emotion, such wry humor, that the result is flat. One manifest flub--having a lead undercover character blurt out her identity when nobody had asked--is actually a setup for the final suspense. The pace has to be slowed by long digressions on historical and strategical matters (vital to alternative HISTORY, after all), while immediate tactics are concealed in the commanders' heads and cleverly sprung on the enemy (and the reader). That's about the only suspense, as the Adolf/Stearns USE juggernaut rolls on from success to success.

This West-Virginians-in-the-Thirty-Years-War saga is a thoroughly collaborative work in progress, with significant online input. Thus, the fact this book is "late" to the fray means little, because there is no single main line, many themes in parallel, and no single series "hero" (instead, many). That is what makes this alternative history series unique, yet frustrating to try to follow while it is being published. These later novels lack the shock and surprise of the first, truly novel. They also lack the sense of desperation that made "1632" and "1633" so powerful.

Till this book, I have thoroughly enjoyed the entire Ring of Fire series by Eric Flint and his various co-authors. However, this edition of the saga was a difficult slog - at least the first half of the novel.
Any potential reader must question whether a story with a 10 page "Cast of Characters" and 4 genealogy charts could possibly be fast moving and fun.
Although I am now a semi-expert on the families of Bavaria, Bohemia and nearby areas in the early 1600s, I could have done with a bit less history of the several Hapsburg families and a bit more action. Put another way: a bit less Virginia DeMarce and a bit more Eric Flint. Note to Baen editors: I think they still make red pencils.

Let preface this by saying that I enjoyed The Ram Rebellion. I have enjoyed the other short stroies that Ms. DeMarce has written in this universe. And, natch, I have enjoyed Mr. Flint's work.

This book was a tedious, turgid slog with a few bright points. When Maria Anna and the rest of the characters are doing things, this book is engaging and exciting, as I have come to expect from a 163x work.

When the narrator is describing Hapsburg lineage, the book is tedious and textbook-like. However, it is easy to find these sections and skip over them. Worse is when characters take it upon themselves to narrate cultural or historical circumstances in paragraphs of text that sound exactly as if they were lifted from scholarly works.

Ms. DeMarce, please stick to short stories and novellas and save the extraneous exposition for scholarly work. (Or disguise them better.)

Mr. Flint, please do not be afraid to remind your co-authors that the story must come before everything else.

Baen editors, please use red pen.

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