1637: The Polish Maelstrom

Ring of Fire Main Line Novels #7

by Eric Flint

NEW SOLO NOVEL BY ERIC FLINT IN THE BEST-SELLING RING OF FIRE SERIES! The Ottoman Empire has captured Vienna and is now laying siege to the Austrian government-in-exile established in the city of Linz. Both the United States of Europe and the Kingdom of Bohemia have come to Austria’s assistance, but everyone knows this is going to be a long and brutal struggle. In order to relieve the pressure on the Austrians, General Mike Stearns proposes to open a second front in the Levant. The USE’s emperor Gustavus Adolphus gives his approval to the plan, and Mike sets it in motion, with the very capable assistance of his wife Rebecca Abrabanel, now the USE’s Secretary of State. Meanwhile, Poland is coming to a boil. Gretchen Richter, the newly elected chancellor of Saxony, has seized control of Lower Silesia. Her small army is now approached to form an alliance with the Polish revolutionaries who have seized power in the Ruthenian province of Galicia—which, in the universe the time-displaced Americans of Grantville came from, would have constituted the western Ukraine. Now, the Bohemians send an army led by Morris Roth into Poland, ostensibly to aid the revolutionaries but also with the goal of expanding King Albrecht Wallenstein’s growing empire in eastern Europe. And—the icing on the cake—Mike Stearns sends the Hangman Regiment of his Third Division under the command of Jeff Higgins to reinforce Jeff’s wife Gretchen in Silesia. The maelstrom in Poland grows . . . and grows . . . and grows . . . Will it drag all its displaced Americans and their allies down with it? At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About 1635: A Parcel of "The 20th volume in this popular, fast-paced alternative history series follows close on the heels of the events in The Baltic War, picking up with the protagonists in London, including sharpshooter Julie Sims. This time the 20th-century transplants are determined to prevent the rise of Oliver Cromwell and even have the support of King Charles."—Library Journal About 1634: The Galileo "A rich, complex alternate history with great characters and vivid action. A great read and an excellent book."—David Drake "Gripping . . . depicted with power!"—Publishers Weekly About Eric Flint's Ring of Fire “This alternate history series is . . . a landmark…”—Booklist “[Eric] Flint's 1632 universe seems to be inspiring a whole new crop of gifted alternate historians.”—Booklist “ . . . reads like a technothriller set in the age of the Medicis . . . ”—Publishers Weekly Eric Flint is a modern master of alternate history fiction, with over three million books in print. He’s the author/creator of the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series starting with first novel 1632. With David Drake he has written six popular novels in the “Belisarius” alternate Roman history series, and with David Weber collaborated on 1633 and 1634: The Baltic War and latest Honorverse series entry Cauldron of Ghosts. Flint's latest Ring of Fire novel is 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught. Flint was for many years a labor union activist. He lives near Chicago, Illinois.

Genres: Alternate History, Fiction, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fantasy, Military Fiction, Historical Fiction

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2019

About the author

Eric Flint was a New York Times bestselling American author, editor, and e-publisher. The majority of his main works were alternate history science fiction, but he also wrote humorous fantasy adventures.

Reviews

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the . . . hmm, well, it depends. The seventh, or 30th, or 26th book in the series. Depending on how you count the series. The author’s website counts it as the seventh ‘main line’ novel – novels that follow the same characters from the first book to now. While the other series include the characters from the main series, don’t include them, marginally include them or . . . whatever. It’s confusing.

Right, so, a really long time ago an author put out a book about a West Virginia town, land people etc., from around 2000 was thrust back into time into the middle of the thirty years war in Europe. Specifically somewhere in the Germanies (Germany not being a single solid country yet (neither is Italy, which is actually important here or there in the series, including this book here)). And specifically in the year 1632. 19 years later this book here that I’m reviewing appeared (I think in April). So, naturally, that means that this book is set in 1651, right, since its 19 years after the first book appeared? But wait, I said that, in the ‘main line’ series, this is the seventh book. So this book is in 1639, right? I also said this book was the 30th in one particular series list, meaning it’s year 1662 or something.

But no. You can tell just by looking at the book title. The displaced people in time have advanced, over almost 20 years, to the year . . . . 1637. For fuck sake. And the next main line book? Is also supposed to be set in 1637. No wonder one of the main characters in this specific book plays around with her age, giving herself more years than she actually has lived (okay, just one extra year, I’ve not the foggiest idea why she did that, I forget).

Have I read the seven previous books in the main line series? Yes. Have I read the 30 or 26 or whatever number of previous books? Fuck no. Including the side books which aren’t listed as part of the series (like Time Spike, at least I don’t think it is listed as part of the series; or The Alexander Inheritance – both of which are in the same universe as the 1632 series, but both take place far from that series time point (one is in just after Alexander the Great’s death (cruise ship from 21st century gets sent back to Mediterranean Sea; other is in dinosaur time – prison sent back millions of years before humans existed)), and the side books which are listed as part of the series, I’ve read 22 books in this series (by the way, 1812: The Rivers of War & 1824: The Arkansas War have nothing to do with the 1632 series and are ‘just’ alternate history books (and both had previously been published without those dates tacked on the beginning)).

Right, so. Can a person leap into this book without having read anything else in this series? Fuck no. Can a person read this seventh after reading the other six ‘main line’ books? No. Too many of the important characters in this book are important characters in ‘side’ books. And so . . . um . . read this 30th after the 29 before it? Or something. I don’t know, as I said I’ve only read 22 books in this series (which includes two books not counted as being part of this series, so 20 of the ‘listed’ 30 books).

The rest of this review will not make any sense to anyone who has not read this series (heh, like the earlier part is crystal clear coherent?). So in this book . . . . the Ottoman Empire, the U.S.E. (what was that again? The United States of Europe, led by an Emperor), Bohemia, Austria-Hungry, and Poland-Lithuanian Empire and . . . um . . . others are all at war. Separately for the most part, though some are fighting more than one other foe.

There’s like, estimating here, 800 trillion main characters in this book (okay, really, more like . . . um, a much more serious answer would put the number of main characters (main, not side) at about . . . 20? 50?. Not 50 . . . I think. Probably closer to 20. Possibly 35 main characters. And there’s these small chucks, almost never a full chapter, of stuff occurring with these characters. You’d read someone being asked a question by some Emperor, a brief response, a few other words here or there, and . . . oh, now we are with a different bunch of people (if David Weber wrote this book, and he did co-write at least one of the other books (I know he co-wrote at least the second ‘main line’ novel), this book would be about . . . . 800 billion pages. No, seriously, with 20 to 50 main characters? This would be 800 billion page book).

Don’t read this if you’ve never read anything in this series before. Don’t read this if you’ve only touched, lightly, into the series. Read ‘Time Spike’ or ‘The Alexander Inheritance’ to get a glimpse of what this series is like without the ‘threat’ of having a massive number of possible books to read after (or alongside) them (seriously, some of the directions on Flint’s website seem to suggest reading several of the books at the same time). Why those two instead of say 1632, the first in this series? Because there’s nothing involving the Time Spike or Alexander Inheritance before or after those two books, and neither is related to the other (other than both being in the same universe as 1632 – I believe both even reference the West Virginia town that went missing when both groups find themselves deep in their own past). Like either one of those? Then try 1632. Then 1633. Then . . . fuck if I know where to go from there, though the author has several suggestions.

Rating: 4

October 10 2019

[Daniel Shellenbarger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, look at that, the main series finally got to 1637, took long enough, but hey, PROGRESS! Well... sort of. For me, The Polish Maelstrom felt like one step forward, two steps back. The step forward is that we get a continuation of several long-running plots, the steps back are... a mixture of stylistic criticisms and some serious plot contrivance issues. But we'll get to that later...

Fair warning, I'm going to drop some mild spoilers of story events in the following, but given that most of the events of this book are setup for "Real" plot events, I can't say as I'm really spoiling the book all that much. There's not much to spoil. I try not to talk about who lives and who dies, though there's really only one significant death in the book, but it's a big one (in terms of history, not necessarily in terms of characters we've come to know and love).

Overall, it's a decent addition to the 1632 series, the plot picks up directly after 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught and can be thought of as a half-sequel to that book. "Why half?" you might ask; well, the book largely takes place between October 1636 and April 1637, which is basically the time of the year in the 17th century that everyone goes home and thinks about how they'd like to fight next year's campaign. It's not something that people nowadays really can relate to, but warfare was a very seasonal activity in the pre-modern era. Look at Valley Forge in our own history. Washington's army was pretty much at the end of its rope, but the British didn't bother chasing them down and finishing them off because that would've meant launching a campaign in winter and the cost of doing so was prohibitive (the Hessians in Trenton certainly weren't expecting it). Not only in terms of the expense of taking more provisions and goods with you on campaign, or the cost in terms of men dropping like flies from disease and cold, but the cost in turning the entire countryside against you as you starved people to death by seizing their stockpiles of food and lumber. Fighting in winter prior to the industrial era was simply not a worthwhile endeavor and was generally avoided as much as possible. Sure, sieges would go on, but I'm digressing. My point is, after the dramatic events of the Fall of Vienna and the 1st Battle of Linz, the Allied Army is camped around Linz and the Ottoman Army is camped around Vienna, and the for majority of the book, that's all either of them do. Rather, with regards to that storyline, both sides are maneuvering for future campaigns. The USE is busily introducing newer better firearms, finally standardizing a new bolt-action rifle that should give them the edge over anything else in Europe (with the possible exception of the Ak4.7's in Russia, but the Russians aren't exactly exporting at the moment with the Moscow Directorate and the U.S.S.R. locked in a Civil War) and trying to regain air superiority with the development of dedicated machine gun-armed combat aircraft and further improvements to its one-airship Army Air Corps. At the same time, the USE (along with its Bohemian and Austro-Hungarian allies) faces a numerical issue, the Ottoman Army is too freaking big to take out head-on with their available forces. Part of the problem is that most of the USE's army is still locked in the siege of Poznan in Poland, facing off with the Polish hetman's army while King Wladyslaw IV of Poland refuses to make peace. Likewise, until recently the USE was surrounded by strong enemies and was forced to keep large armies on all its borders. Moreover, during the recent constitutional crisis, the USE's military was kept in flux, as the last thing Oxenstierna wanted was a larger pro-democracy army. Now, the army is recruiting again, the Bavarian, Burgundian, Swiss, Netherlands, and Danish borders are all relatively safe and friendly (though with the unstable King Gaston on the throne in France, there's still danger of conflict in Lorraine (a weak semi-independent Duchy which is essentially a DMZ/mutual protectorate between Burgundy, France, the Netherlands, and the USE) with France). The real problem is Poland. As long as Wladyslaw refuses to make peace, the USE cannot risk pulling its forces out of Poznan, but the cost of taking Poznan against the Hetman's veteran troops is simply not worth the victory. Nor is Gustavus Adolphus so interested in replacing his despised cousin on the Polish throne as he is simply seeing a friendly (and functional) regime installed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and getting on with life. So somehow the Polish War must be resolved, and the greater part of this book is essentially laying the groundwork for that solution. Some of this is a continuation of Gretchen Richter's liberation/occupation of Silesia, of which she is the USE's designated Lady-Protector, some is also the evolution of Red Sybolt's oft-mentioned but rarely-described efforts to stoke democratic revolution among the Cossacks and Galician (basically Ukrainian, though the ethnic makeup of the region was very different than it is nowadays, given the post-WW1 nationalist wars and Imperial Russian, Nazi, and Soviet ethnic cleansing programs) subjects of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but the majority is the culmination of the Anaconda Plan, a long-simmering subplot in the series involving King Albrecht (aka Wallenstein) of Bohemia's desire to conquer a wide swath of the southern PLC, a goal in which he has the support of a good portion of Eastern Europe's Jewry, as his plan seems like a way to undermine the origins of the vicious Pogroms of the late 17th century, which were the worst Jewish genocides until the Holocaust. At the same time, while the USE lacks the Ottomans' numbers it does boast significant advantages in maneuverability, logistics, and individual fighting ability, not to mention that the Ottomans have a LOT of enemies, something that Murad, in his quest to become the greatest sultan since Suleiman, has exacerbated. Rebecca Abrabanel, newly promoted USE Secretary of State, proposes that the USE take a page from General Wellesley (aka Duke of Wellington) in the Napoleonic Wars and land troops (specifically, her husband Mike Stearns' veteran 3rd Division) in Lebanon in tandem with an uprising by the local population of Druze and Maronite Christians. Lebanon's mountain-ringed geography and the USE's naval superiority should make it relatively easy to hold against the Ottomans' regional forces and reserves and ought to force Murad to split up his Army in Vienna. Potentially, should the capture of Lebanon be successful, the USE is hopeful that the Persians may join the war (as co-belligerents rather than allies), hoping to regain Baghdad, and that the Egyptian Mamelukes, only barely under Ottoman rule, will take the opportunity to revolt, further weakening the Ottomans' ability to continue Murad's glamor campaign in Central Europe. This is a fascinating idea, but like everything else that happens in this book, it's waiting for Spring and the resumption of the campaign season. At the same time, while Wellesley's defense of Lisbon is certainly an excellent idea for a way to divide an opponent's forces on the cheap, one shouldn't forget the British disaster at Gallipoli was envisaged in much the same way (though admittedly, Gallipoli was practically next door to Istanbul so Lebanon does have the advantage of being much more remote and harder for the Ottomans to reinforce).

Phew, well, there you go, that's basically what this book is about, and there's some really interesting stuff in there, but so much of it feels like its just setting up for the next book in the series rather than telling a story of its own. Of the various plot arcs in this book, the only ones that really get to a conclusion are the fight between the USE and Ottoman air forces, an anticlimactic effort to rescue a number of dignitaries trapped in Ottoman-occupied Vienna, and the Anaconda Plan. None of which is really central to the ongoing story. Everything else is setup. Setup for the conclusion of the Polish War as Gustavus Adolphus seems to be preparing to bring a massive force to bear against Poznan (drawn from the USE's border guard armies and some of the better provincial forces), probably with the intent to overwhelm the garrison (already reeling from a shocking (and shockingly off-page) event in this book) and launch an invasion of Prussia to complete the unification of the German lands under the aegis of the U.S.E. (more to the point, there are a lot of Lutherans in Prussia and Gustavus Adolphus has become annoyed at how much of the USE's recent territorial gains (Tyrol, Julich-Berg, Silesia) have come with massive numbers of additional Catholic citizens (heck, he agreed to let Bavaria remain independent mostly because he didn't want such a staunchly Catholic province in the USE)) while the pseudo-tacitly-allied rebel government of Lesser Poland seeks to break the power of Poland's Magnates, introduce serious political and social reform, and replace Wladyslaw on the throne with someone more competent and less petty. Setup for the USE's Mediterranean/Lebanese offense. Setup for the Siege of Linz. You get the picture. This isn't a problem so much as it is a frustration. This is a book where a lot of things start to happen, but none of them really get to the point where you want them to get, and the result is that it feels half-formed. Part of me wishes that a lot of this had been streamlined and worked into a larger book that actually gets into the meat of the 1637 campaign season, but I admit that's rather selfish of me.

Okay, so that's all fine and RoF. I'm used to stories not really getting to where they're going, a lot of the side novels have been doing that for years now, and I can live with that, frustrating as it is as long as there's payoff, and admittedly, a lot of this groundwork needed to be laid before the next major set of events, but it does keep this book feeling more like a side novel and less like a main story novel. There's also the fact that this volume feels less polished than the last couple main series books (hence, my dropping it to 4 stars, though 7/10 would probably be more accurate). One of my main complaints is that the book shoe-horns a small number of main characters into pretty much EVERYTHING. Rather than expanding the cast or letting some minor characters step up, a handful of characters are continuously popping in to basically every subplot in the story, which makes SOME sense given that there's reliable air transportation available (somebody copied the DeHaviland Dragonfly, good call), but also just feels kind of forced (and means that we spend an inordinate amount of the book with Denise Beasley who is, quite bluntly, an extremely annoying character). Worse is that some of my favorite characters (particularly Thorsten Engler) drop out of the story almost entirely (he has maybe 2 chapters, though one is a super-spoilery chapter where Gustavus Adolphus lays out his troop movement plans which is what I'm basing my guesses as to his plan to force the Polish War to a conclusion). Speaking of forced, the bloody 2nd air battle of Linz was the most poorly conceived, obviously contrived, and frankly ridiculous event in the entire series to date. Let me elucidate... First off, nobody ever explains why the USE's airship, the Magdeburg, can only carry ONE shooter. Sure Julie Sims-Mackay is in a class by herself, but we're not talking about shooting clay pigeons and they even mention that they've got 6 different prepared shooting positions on the Magdeburg, so WHY NOT HAVE TWO OR THREE SHOOTERS INSTEAD OF ONE!?! The Magdeburg can't be THAT close to carrying capacity and even if they're not half the sniper that Julie is, they should still be able to at least knock some holes in the Ottoman air fleet. Second, WHY DOESN'T JULIE USE THE BLOODY ANTI-MATERIAL RIFLES!?!!? We have like three separate chapters in this book and the previous one that set up the addition of a pair of higher caliber armor-piercing rifles to the Magdeburg's arsenal, but instead of using these weapons to punch through the Ottoman airships' light armor and target their steam engines, Julie instead settles for using her old Remington sniper rifle to target the gunners. The problem with this is two-fold. First, that's a needlessly over-complicated way of dealing with the Ottoman air threat and second, IT DOESN'T DEAL WITH THE AIR THREAT. She literally has weapons at her disposal that should be able to shoot down the Ottoman airships, removing them from the equation and instead she decides to shoot the janissary gunners who are frankly, a dime a dozen? That makes no sense. She literally never even bothers to try to use the anti-materiel rifles, it's mind-boggling and feels like Eric Flint forgot what he'd already written. Third, the handling of the Magdeburg is moronic. We've established that the Magdeburg has decent performance for an airship and that the Ottoman airships are incredibly slow and even slower with their armor additions. However, at the height of the airship battle, the Ottomans close on the Magdeburg, crowding it with their entire air fleet, with the intent of turning the battle into a close-range melee. However, given the fact that the Magdeburg is faster and more maneuverable with a longer-range weapon, this should not have been possible particularly as its commander is the son of the USE's navy's commander, and should know the basics of fighting what is essentially a naval battle where you have the superior firepower: keep your distance and keep your maneuvering options open, getting in close serves no purpose if it doesn't allow you to bring more firepower to bear. Ok, so that handles the first half of the battle. Then things get worse. FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER, the USE's first prototype fighter, the Vasa, is piloted by a complete rookie who just happens to have an adversarial history with Julie AND has no training at air combat. The reason the book gives is that he's the only pilot checked out on the Vasa (and that Jesse Wood doesn't know anything about air combat and thus was unable to train a pilot for it) but this makes no sense. The Air Force is in high demand, but its actual combat function is fairly low-key, serving largely as a scouting element, thus there's no real reason why one of the Air Force's veteran pilots wouldn't be pulled off that duty to serve as the Vasa's pilot. Nor does it make sense that the Air Force is low on pilots. Previous books have established that while it has its own unique culture, that volunteers for piloting slots are plentiful and like the up-time Air Force, it makes sense for the USE Air Force to have significantly more pilots than planes. It makes no sense to assign literally the most important mission in the history of your Air Force to a pilot who barely got his wings and has apparently had no combat experience. None. Not to mention that the excuse is that he trained on the Vasa. You don't train new pilots on VITAL EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT (especially one that is described as nose-heavy), particularly after the only other fighter crashed. WORSE, we're supposed to believe that despite the fact that this has been a major undertaking for the past 6 months, NO ONE HAS BOTHERED TO THINK ABOUT THE MECHANICS OF ACTUALLY USING THE FIGHTER IN COMBAT. This is doubly insane, he should at least know to attack from above where the Ottomans have no guns and where he can control the fight, but somehow no one bothered to instruct him in how to actually fight an airship, something about which we DO have a great deal of historical records. The pilot blithely flies straight into the sun, blinding himself (another thing that even rookies are taught to avoid, as if anyone needed to be told to avoid that) and giving the Ottomans an "easy shot" at him. This is debatable, even if he's blinded, the Vasa should still be a much smaller and faster target than the Magdeburg was and the Ottomans had only middling success attacking it (this is particularly confusing since Eddie Junker spends half the book buzzing sizeable armies at low altitude and somehow manages to not get shot down), yet BAM, golden BB shot and both the pilot AND the gunner are severely injured. Miraculously, the pilot, who is bleeding heavily manages to land the Vasa despite being a mediocre at best pilot up until that moment (seriously, what kind of amateur is able to land a plane after being gut-shot) and despite the fact that the plane took a shot that somehow hit BOTH crew, it's fine to fly again within minutes. Even more ridiculous is that randomly Julie Sims was given a tour of the plane's armament for no other reason than to set up her decision to grab the Air Force's only female pilot and run to the field and jump into battle where they proceed to immediately know the correct way to fight airships in a fighter despite neither of them being trained for it. Do I even need to explain how ridiculous this is? There's zero chance that a plane that has just been shot up and crash-landed will be fit to fly for days (at least), and yet somehow it works just fine. The pilot assigned to the fighter isn't trained for his own mission but some random passersby are able to figure it out in 5 seconds? Come on, Eric, you usually write so much better than this. This whole section is just stupidly obsessed with making Julie Sims the lone hero to a ridiculous degree when it just doesn't make any sense for so much to ride on her alone. For instance, WHY HASN'T ANYONE COPIED (or hired, they were mercenaries after all, Austro-Hungarian/USE money is as good as anybody's and better than most) THE BAVARIAN ANTI-AIR ARTILLERY?!!? Given the low/slow capabilities of the Ottoman airships that ought to be able to provide a very effective close-in defense for Linz. Instead, EVERYTHING depends on Julie Sims to a ridiculous degree and there's just NO REASON FOR IT. That's just stupid, Gustavus Adolphus is a good general and good generals make contingency plans. They don't rely on silver bullet solutions. Not to mention, if Julie had actually done her job correctly (with the anti-tank gun) THEY WOULDN'T HAVE NEEDED THE FIGHTER IN THE FIRST PLACE. And why did all of this ridiculous nonsense happen? Just to create a painfully embarrassing "girl-power" moment for Melissa Mailey. This feels like a bad first draft that the author never got around to rewriting because he forgot about it. Frankly, this battle should've been the most one-sided event in the entire story, instead through EVERY PERSON INVOLVED USING THEIR MINDS AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, this is the one battle in this book where the protagonists come close to losing. It made me so upset I had a hard time sleeping the night after I read it and then typed up the majority of this diatribe the next morning just to let it out . Something else that bothered me (to a much lesser degree) was that the 3rd Division, after training/equipping for and employing winter combat techniques, doesn't make any use of them in this book. Why not make a raid against an Ottoman supply depot or Sarajevo? Force Murad to redeploy more of his forces to protect his logistics lines. I was rather stunned about that as it seemed to me to be a major allied advantage over the Ottomans and no one made use of it (seriously, General Winter was beating the Ottomans long before it took out the French or Nazis). Ok, so there it is, the upshot is that generally I enjoyed this book and when the next one comes out, I'll undoubtedly forgive its short-comings and reread it, but it's easily my least favorite of the Eric Flint solo volumes.

[Debrac2014 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good! I enjoyed it! Loose ends were tied up with a familiar cast of characters!

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent installment of the "main line" of Ring of Fire alternate history, taking place immediately after the events of "1636: The Ottoman Onslaught.: While the main action takes place in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (a large and powerful "nation" in both "our" 17th Century, as well as the one described in this series), events in the war between the Ottoman Empire and the Austria-Hungary-USE-Greater Bohemia alliance continue as well. While there is a lot happening here, nothing major really gets resolved, although there is a LOT of set up for the sequel(s). Like Flint's other RoF books, focus is mainly on military/political issues, with a healthy side of technology, religion, and character development. This one did start out with a somewhat lengthy historical lecture (not as bad as DeMarce's genealogical monstrosities, but still pretty dry) which seemed a bit heavy-handed by Flint's standards - he's usually a bit more subtle about working the setups into the story - but things picked up after the first 45 pages. Solid addition to the series. NB; The ridiculous-looking cover art is actually not that inaccurate for the story, which is kind of scary. 3.5 stars.

Warning: The Ring of Fire series is complicated, more so the further you get along this alternate timeline, and not big on going back and explaining things dealt with in previous books, so don't for the love of god jump in at this book. You don't have to read ALL previous novels, but at the very least read the first 2-3 and 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught before starting this. Mr. Flint has a good writeup for folks new to the series: https://www.ericflint.net/index.php/1...

[William Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a good place to start the series.

That said, this book wove several main characters’ stories back together so we could see some interaction. Mike and Rebecca, Jeff and Gretchen, Julie and Alex, and many others make appearances both together and apart. There are three different battlefields with perhaps eight different armies!!

...and that becomes part of the problem with reading the later 1632 series novels. The cast list goes for pages. You need to take notes if you seriously want to know who is where, when.

I enjoyed this more than some of the other novels in the series. It’s a bit less finicky and technical with “who’s who” than previous.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun read in the Ring of Fire series, the uptimer Morris Roth, one of the Jewish characters in the series is tasked with taking over Poland. Both for United States of Europe and for the very personal reason of preventing one of the worst pogroms against the Jews that would take place in twenty years if history wasn't altered. This is a fun series but this book is probably not the best place to start.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebellion and agitation in long-forgotten lands of the middle ages: Saxony, Silesia, Galicia, Moravia, Bohemia, and Ruthenia. These will become parts of modern Poland, the Czech republic, Austria, Hungary and farther east into the Ukraine. Many factions from Cossacks, Jews from the many Stetls, Moravian brethren, Ottoman Turks and others.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 What can I say I really enjoy these books

[Francisco De Borja · Rating 5 out of 5]

English review (Reseña en Español al final)
I really enjoy the novels of this saga written in "solo" by its creator (Eric Flint) -I will give myself the time to review the saga one by one-, I mention this because his collaborations with other writers have not always turned out well.
Flint has a dynamic style but at the same time cheerful, with an excellent good mood. As if it were little his attention to detail in the historical aspects of the period as well as the technical references in reference not only to the technology of the period but also to the tech brought through the "ring of fire" by the Americans, as well as the way they usually adapt it according to the materials and systems existing in the seventeenth century ("retrofitting") is always very accurate and well explained.
In 1637 "The Polish Storm" we witnessed the growth of the characters as well as their influence on this new timeline. In particular of the "up timers" General Mike Sterns, the jeweler Morris Roth and Colonel Jeff Higgins, but very particularly of the latter’s own wife, Gretchen Richter, changing the map of Eastern Europe.
I highly recommend it!!!

Reseña en Español:
Disfruto mucho las novelas de esta saga escritas en "solo" por su creador (Eric Flint) -ya me daré el tiempo de reseñar la saga uno por uno-, menciono esto por que sus colaboraciones con otros escritores no siempre han resultado bien. Flint tiene un estilo dinámico pero a la vez alegre, con un excelente buen humor. Por si fuera poco su atención al detalle en los aspectos históricos del periodo así como las referencias técnicas en lo referente no solo a la tecnología del periodo sino a la traída a través del "anillo de fuego" por los norteamericanos, así como la forma en que suelen adaptarla de acuerdo a los materiales y sistemas existentes en el siglo XVII ("retrofitting") siempre suele ser muy exacta y bien explicada.
En 1637 "La Tormenta Polaca" somos testigos del crecimiento de los personajes así como de su influencia en esta nueva línea temporal. En particular de los "up timers" General Mike Sterns, el joyero Morris Roth y el Coronel Jeff Higgins, pero muy particularmente de la propia esposa de este ultimo, Gretchen Richter, cambiando el mapa de Europa del este.
Lo recomiendo ampliamente!!!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, 3.5 stars.

[Juho Salo · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Polish Maelstrom is apparently one of the "main story" -books that concentrate on the the wider political ramifications of Grantville's arrival to Europe, with Mike Sterns, Gustav Wasa and other "leaders" as main characters.

I remember loving the "main story" very much. The pace was fast, the events interesting. However, the last few books have been cutting down on speed and this one seems to have stalled to almost complete halt. This book concentrates almost solely on side-theatre in Poland, with the big events (such as solving the 30-year war, diplomatic relationships with neighbouring countries, the cabinet coup d’état, war with Ottoman Empire) being eclipsed by thousand side-plots with the main plot - Turkish threat - being nigh completely forgotten.

In this book we are touched upon saving the jews in the Eastern Europe (introduced as the main plot, forgotten nearly instantly until remembered in the last chapter), saving some nobles from Vienna (basically, people get to the Vienna and drive away), negotiating with a diplomat in Italy (goes nowhere), invading and protecting Krakow (some army manœuvriers and that's it), driving a car from one city to another with children in tow (no surprises during the journey), protecting a city from being bombed by air balloons (some events transpire, but the stalemate continues), using plane to bomb the enemy in another city (apparently it's great fun). All this while we're introduced to new characters that never seem to get that much personality. Everything in this book could have been covered in one or two info-dumps after a time-skip. Instead we got this book that's basically clipboard of failed story-ideas mixed together in hope of creating a complete work of fiction.

It doesn't work. It doesn't work as a story and it doesn't defend its place as part of the series. You could probably skip this completely and not miss anything in the next book.

Can't recommend.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most of the main-spine 163[x] novels that Eric Flint writes by himself, this is *more* eventful than many of the branch novels but still pretty slow. As in, here's an example pulled from the cover copy to minimize any spoiler-type issues. The copy reads:

"General Mike Stearns proposes to open a second front in the Levant. The USE’s emperor Gustavus Adolphus gives his approval to the plan, and Mike sets it in motion"

Well, "sets it in motion" is a wild overstatement. If you thought that indicated that plan might actually *start* in this book, you would be incorrect. "Sets it in motion" in this context appears to mean "conducts a bit more prefatory scheming and diplomacy, but doesn't even appear to wrap up all the prerequisites needed before actually starting to do what was described as happening". Thrilling!

The whole book is kind of like that, honestly. It's not a coincidence that Flint has taken twenty-six books and eighteen real-world years to advance the timeline in the books by a whole five years. I'll probably continue to pick up the main-spine books (and possibly an intriguing-looking branch novel here or there if I continue to be gullible enough to be periodically lured into that), but I doubt very much I'll purchase another physical copy of anything in this series. It's Kindle only from here on out for me.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, the original cast! It is such a treat to read about the latest doings of Mike Stearns, Rebecca Abrabanel, Jeff Higgins, Melissa Mailey, James Nichols, Gretchen Richter, Julie McKay, Denise Beasley, etc. etc.!

The best thing about the 1632 series is that each book is well-written enough that I don't mind if most all of the characters are various down-timers created by the various authors and I enjoy each book. But reading about the original denizens of Grantville (and their down-timer spouses) is such a special joy!

1637: the Polish Maelstrom picks up where the last 1632 book left off, with the Ottomans firmly in possession of Vienna. Mike Stearns now proposes to open a second front in the East, primarily what in our day is the Poland/ Ukraine area.

Morris Roth, as a Jew, is very interested in trying to re-write the history of European Jews, avoiding the worst pogroms of our uptimer history. A very bad one is due in 1648 so anything Roth can do to head this off would be very good, even if he has to lead the mongrel Grand Army of the Sunrise to do it!

Highly recommended to all fans of alternate history and of series with many independent plot strands – too many plot lines to address in just one book!

[BJ Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Polish Maelstrom is the last European Mainline novel published before Eric Flint's death.

There are other novels that carry the universe forward in North America (Atlantic Encounter, No Peace Beyond the Line), China (The China Venture), Russia (The Sovereign States) and India (The Peacock Throne) as well as one more novel published after his death covering Europe (The Transylvanian Decision).

I doubt this will be the end. Flint's Shards is a company created with Eric Flint's widow and many of the other authors of the series. But at this point it looks like this will be only a (new) collection of short stories that will continue to push the universe forward. We will see.

Anyways, the Polish Maelstrom is an immediate follow up of The Ottoman Onslaught. Gustaf Adolph has the Polish Army pinned down and tries to keep them there so that he can focus on countering the Ottoman conquest of Vienna. Meanwhile Gretchen and Jeff lead a coalition to take Krakow on behalf of a democratic rebellion against the Polish King. Mike Stearns is in Italy covertly trying to gather more allies against the Sultan. But then there's an assassination attempt...

[Maurynne Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still giving it a 4, up to usual standards, but what threw me out of the book was a very bad analogy...usually Flint doesn't go for the absurd, but maybe he meant it. I understand the stereotype that makes sense of: most if not all West Virginians are interested in guns. I don't understand how that pairs with people from LA being interested in cars. In my experience, people in LA are obsessed with fame, Hollywood or music stars, fashion, food. Maybe it was a typo? Maybe it was Louisiana? Maybe it was stars? It's halfway through the book...is there a big car show in LA that people who are interested in cars know about? Does Mr. Flint think all Angelenos are represented by Jay Leno?

I approve of all that's happened so far in 1637 and what the devious Americans are planning to foster and engineer, and I'll try to let go of wondering about the clunky analogy...

[Michael Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series shows the ups and downs of events unlike many alternate history stories. The good guys are not always right and they do not always win. The bad guys are not that stupid and can plan a good plot.
That said, the Ottomans took Vienna by aerial bombardment previously. Now their air force is not doing that good. The Americans and the Austrians have had some success forestalling their opponents at the next target but have also had some bad mishaps. Poland is falling apart and who knows how that will turn out.
While this has centered on the east, events in France and England are not covered as the efforts in North America and the Caribbean are not updated. This series just keeps plodding along as a few more authors get to join the fun and take over various theatres of action.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good to catch up on the crew from 1632. The series has gone off in so many directions I had taken a break waiting for the mainline story to develop. For the first half, this book is all over the place. There is still a lot going on in several theaters all across Europe. The second half pulls thing together in Lesser Poland and an interesting twist develops. I felt that there was a great deal that was just "summed up" in the Afterword that could have used a lot more development. I think that if Flint used his 'summary' abilities in the Forward and saved detail for the Afterword it would have been a better book. I don't think this could stand alone by any means in the manner that it's presented.

[Ronald Spitzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book continues the Ottoman war from the previous book. The first half is political and military organization with the action in the second half of the book. The organizing is necessary and since I know the characters from previous books, that is not a problem. The book ends with it being necessary for yet another book since Ottoman war continues. Like real life there is usually final ending, because the next day life goes on. Read these latest books in order as they tie together. If you are new to the series start with 1632. Many in this alternate history universe can be read in in old order but the 1637: Ottoman Onslaught ought to be before this one. 1637: The Transylvanian Decision read after this one.

[Leigh Kimmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book for long-term fans of the Ring of Fire 'verse, but I can't recommend it for people starting out. There are a lot of characters and situations that you need to be aware of, since it's a followon to 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught, which itself converged the dangling threads of several other novels.

But it's certainly interesting to see how both uptimers and downtimers are using the historical information brought back in the books of Grantville to avoid the mistakes and disasters of the past -- and often have different ideas about what the problems are and how they're best avoided.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bohemians under Wallenstein have sent Gretchen Richter and Morris Roth with his Grand Army of the Sunrise east to try to make the Anaconda Project a reality and forestall future pogroms. They end up intervening in Poland when the Galiacian revolt started up. The plan was to seize Krakow and destroy any Polish-Lithuanian magnate army that came calling. Besides Richter's and Roth's forces, Jeff Higgins and the Hangman Regiment are sent to assist the revolt. Besides the main focus on Poland, there are various sideshows involving airship battles, a rescue out of Vienna, and Mike Stern getting to play Dirty Harry. A nice solid addition to the series.

[Ken Kugler · Rating 4 out of 5]

1637: The Polish Moelstrom, by Eric Flint and another fun story about the way the world and history is being changed forever because of the Ring of Fire. I love the series but sometimes, and this is one of the occasions, there is so much going on that I sometimes had to slow down and rethink that is going on and try to draw and connect all the dots.
That said, the world is changing and quicker than ever and I can't wait for the next installment. It is fun and sometimes hilarious but sometimes also sad.

[MAB LongBeach · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid entry in the long-running, wide-ranging Ring of Fire series. The focus this time is on the east, Poland and environs. There's a lot going on, and a lot of characters to keep track of, but Flint ably keeps all of the balls in the air. Some military action, and a lot of political and military maneuvering makes for a lively story.

Not a good place to start, but fans of the series will definitely want to read this.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read! The Ottomans have control of Vienna and are laying siege to Linz, the new capital of Austria-Hungary empire. Morris Roth has moved his army to Poland to add the Galicians along with the Hangman Regiment led by Jeff Higgins as well as Red Sybolt and various revolutionaries. The Polish magnates have banded together to take back Krakow. There is a rescue, a new romance, a couple of new babies, an upcoming campaign being contemplated, and so much more action.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like Eric Flint's books and this one met all my expectations.
It was well written, engaging and entertaining as usual.
I can say I loved everything and look forward to reading the next book by Mr Flint.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Kevin K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable, brings the Anaconda Project to a conclusion (I think?) and ties up a bunch of story lines. Also brings a bunch of characters together for the next "phase".

They at least mention my favorite character (Eddie Cantrell) so I'm hoping he pops up in the near future.

Would recommend!

[Jules Bertaut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly this book was a fun read pretty well in keeping with the others in the series. This book picked up a bunch of loose threads that I had forgotten about, like the APC that got captured some books ago, so that was nice. I find all the people being confused by Amideutch's use of figurative language a little unlikely, because surely most languages use it. I know French does, anyway.

[Allen McDonnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book

I have read and own nearly every novel and many anthology volumes set in Eric Flints 1632 universe setting. I enjoyed this novel and it did progress the overall story somewhat, but not nearly as much as I expected it to. A fast read, and necessary for anyone who is a completist.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

While holding off the Ottomans after the fall of Vienna, the USE is also fighting a war in Poland and fomenting revolution in what will be Ukraine. I kind of lost track of who was where now and again, because it jumps from Linz to Vienna to Krakow. It was tough to keep track of characters named Josef and Jakub and Jeremi. But it was worthwhile to pay attention. I liked it a lot.

[Kristine S. Hejna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read them in order

Enjoy the books and learn history. Of course, this is an alternate history, but you do learn the players. There is a
range of quality of the books, with so many writers, and some have several titles so there's variation even with the same author. But a big cast of characters become people who you want to know more about.

[Alex Patiño · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the 1632 Series

I read this book over a three day period and the plots keep expanding I have been a fan of the 1632 series since I discovered them over Ten years ago please keep them coming