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Assiti Shards #14
1635: The Tangled Web
Though the Thirty Years War continues to ravage 17th century Europe, history as it once happened has been strongly deflected by the new force which is rapidly gathering power and the United States 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 Ring of Fire. . The USE has the know-how of 20th century technology, but the American traditions of freedom and justice is having an even stronger impact on Europe, and the rulers of Europe are powerless to stuff the Grantville genie back into the bottle. Virginia DeMarce, a trained historian and co-author of the New York Times best seller, 1635: The Bavarian Crisis , continues the saga of the time-lost Americans as seen through the eyes of both Americans and Europeans, as the Americans try to make sense of the strange world into which they have been hurled, and the Europeans try to understand the abilities and behavior of the visitors from the future. The result is a volume that will be irresistible to the thousands of fans of the Ring of Fire series. Praise for 1634: The Bavarian Crisis by Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce : “. . . fascinating reading. . . . It is especially refreshing to read an alternate history that doesn't depend upon the clash of anachronistic arms, but rather on how modern ideas of human rights, education, sanitation and law might have affected the Europe of the 30 Years War.” — Publishers Weekly
355 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2009
66 people are currently reading
473 people want to read
About the author
Eric Flint
250 books874 followersEric 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
March 18, 2011
Another addition to the "Ring of Fire/1632" series of books that was first started by Eric Flint. With "1635: The Tangled Web", former RIng of Fire co-author, Virginia DeMarche, takes the pilot's seat in her first outright solo novel.
Sadly, her writing talents have not seemed to have improved much since her beginnings with "1634: The Ram Rebellion." As usual, books with her participation suffer from a severe lack of coherent plot or story. For the most part, the reader is thrown random characters and events in piecemeal fashion without any idea as to what the overall trajectory is. Basically, DeMarche is not as much as an author as really a chronicler of events. The fact that each scene or act begins with the time and place reinforces that belief.
Although it's not terrible per se, it's just not really something people would be able to just read to enjoy. Unless if they're very intimate with all the characters and events of the entire series, readers will end up struggling to figure out who these names are and why they matter.
What was equally disappointing was the fact of how misleading the cover was. It gives the impression that somewhere in the book, there'd be some minor plot in the book about downtimers viewing uptime items and events in an "Uptime Museum." For someone who's interested in meeting of cultures and the exchange of ideas, the fact that this scene did not occur, but was just something mentioned in passing was frustrating, to say the least.
Perhaps, the only interesting part of this entire book would probably be the two middle stories involving the character of Martin Wackernagel. It probably has to do with the fact that, in this case, the stories did have a singular protagonist with a loosely defined plot of sorts.
Overall, it's probably for the better to see if you can find one of the brief synopsizes that are littered throughout the user reviews in Amazon, than attempt to read this book.
Sadly, her writing talents have not seemed to have improved much since her beginnings with "1634: The Ram Rebellion." As usual, books with her participation suffer from a severe lack of coherent plot or story. For the most part, the reader is thrown random characters and events in piecemeal fashion without any idea as to what the overall trajectory is. Basically, DeMarche is not as much as an author as really a chronicler of events. The fact that each scene or act begins with the time and place reinforces that belief.
Although it's not terrible per se, it's just not really something people would be able to just read to enjoy. Unless if they're very intimate with all the characters and events of the entire series, readers will end up struggling to figure out who these names are and why they matter.
What was equally disappointing was the fact of how misleading the cover was. It gives the impression that somewhere in the book, there'd be some minor plot in the book about downtimers viewing uptime items and events in an "Uptime Museum." For someone who's interested in meeting of cultures and the exchange of ideas, the fact that this scene did not occur, but was just something mentioned in passing was frustrating, to say the least.
Perhaps, the only interesting part of this entire book would probably be the two middle stories involving the character of Martin Wackernagel. It probably has to do with the fact that, in this case, the stories did have a singular protagonist with a loosely defined plot of sorts.
Overall, it's probably for the better to see if you can find one of the brief synopsizes that are littered throughout the user reviews in Amazon, than attempt to read this book.
October 1, 2019
De Marce is probably my least favorite author in the "Ring of Fire" shared universe. While she's solid on the history and creates some interesting plots, her writing seems needlessly pedantic: she apparently can't introduce a new (even minor) character without including a biography AND genealogy and is a proponent of the "tell, don't show" style of fiction-writing. However, even with the borderline historical lectures, the author has the irritating habit of having downtime characters casually using modern American slag, even ones who have little contact with the Uptimers. That being said, 1635: The Tangled Web, has an interesting arrangement. three short stories and a novella (mainly set in the small German town of Fulda - in the State of Thuringia-Franconia) which include many of the same characters but cover overlapping time periods (1632-1634, 1633-1635, 1634-1435, and 1634-1635) which works for the story even if it does eliminate a bit of suspense sometimes). 2.5 Stars: not terrible, but not too great, either.
June 1, 2017
Tangled is a good title
This volume is highly connected to The Dreeson Incident and follows minor ROF characters as they deal with Fulda politics.
It was my least favorite read of the series so far, but I am glad I slogged through until the end.
This volume is highly connected to The Dreeson Incident and follows minor ROF characters as they deal with Fulda politics.
It was my least favorite read of the series so far, but I am glad I slogged through until the end.
June 7, 2013
I clicked "Read" for this book, but perhaps I didn't. There wasn't a choice for "Started reading the book and after a few chapters I had to throw it down in disgust." I have really enjoyed the 1632 series, but I know full well when I get to a story written by DeMarce because they have the tendency to read like a badly written page from Ancestry.com. She seems so focused on A is married to B who is related to C who hates D who is A's brother...that the entire plot and flow of the book get completely lost. As I can attest, I so completely lost the plot of this book that I chose not to finish it at all.
February 24, 2018
1635: The Tangled Web is much like Virginia DeMarce's previous book, 1634: The Ram Rebellion, in that it's really a collection of interconnected stories that all deal with a common thread; in this case, the Up-Timer administration of the city of Fulda on the western fringes of the territory appointed to Grantville by Swedish/United States of Europe Emperor Gustavus Adolphus. The region is a hot-bed of religious strife and more conservative political elements as it is at a crossroads of German, French, and Dutch territory and as such it is a patchwork of religious affiliations and near to a Imperialist-Catholic stronghold known colloquially as Priests' Alley. The region is far less eager for 20th century American ideas of social transformation than Franconia and has little interest in the Ram Rebellion or the activities of the Committees of Correspondence and the Up-Timers thus face an up-hill struggle to introduce reforms and with minimal support out of Grantville, which has bigger problems to deal with, they are forced to take a more compromise-focused approach, accepting that it's not the sort of place that wants a dramatic democratic revolution. On the plus side, the story fills in some gaps in the 1632/Ring of Fire/Assiti Shards (take your pick) universe and unlike the Bavarian Crisis, I thought Virginia DeMarce did a much better job of limiting her POV's to a reasonable number. I will also say that the final story in the set, which follows the misadventures of the three Dukes of Wurttemburg (a Lutheran region of Swabia, a region of southwest Germany), attached to Swedish General Brahe's forces (and later to the Up-Timers' regiment) is quite interesting and has a dramatic ending that has a major impact on the broader story of the RoF (and is reference in main series books several times). On the other hand, because of the overlapping timelines of the stories, a lot of events take place repeatedly from slightly different perspectives and the result is that a lot of the book feels repetitive. I will also note that I read this book WAY out of order as it's probably between 1635: the Eastern Front and 1636: the Saxon Uprising in the reading order, parallel to DeMarce's 1635: The Dreeson Incident and the more recent 1635: the Wars of the Rhine is sort of a sideways sequel (expanding on the events in Cologne, Julich-Berg, and Essen that have a major impact on this story). Basically, if you're an obsessive reader of the series (like me), then it's a decent read, but it's by no means necessary to a casual fan of the series, particularly as it's one of the harder books to find at this point (neither my library nor our system nor our consortium of systems (basically every public library in Central Ohio) has it in stock, I actually got it from a library in Toledo (in fact, I got the book mostly just to try out a new interlibrary loan system our library has joined, which did work quite well)).
March 20, 2018
I value how this book filled in some detail around the time of the Dreeson incident and how the Irish colonels were brought to justice.
The way that the Window of Opportunity starts and ends with Eberhard was especially enjoyable if poignant. The Württemberg boys stories were unexpectedly attention catching.
The way that the Window of Opportunity starts and ends with Eberhard was especially enjoyable if poignant. The Württemberg boys stories were unexpectedly attention catching.
July 15, 2018
This story was very repetitive but it did contain the back stories on Clara, Wes and Tata! No wonder Martin Wackernagel didn't want to settle down!
February 17, 2012
A solid entry into the 163x line of books, and one of the few that doesn't have Eric Flint co-writing, making it a bit remarkable. DeMarce is a first-rate historian, so the details are all there for these tales of one of the more "backwater" areas involved in this revised version of the 30 Years War (now with 10% more time travel!)
DeMarce is starting to find herself as a fiction writer, making this a stronger effort than say, her contributions to The Ram Rebellion, which while accurate and meticulous, was also dense as hell, confusing and often dull as dishwater. In this case she does better in focusing the stories around a core group of characters in what are essentially a series of interlinked short stories, almost like a WildCards mosaic novel, only in this case written by one author.
The volume holds up reasonably well, with some fairly interesting bits on the evolution of religious disputes, development of industry, etc. But it still struggles with some of the same issues that many of the 163x books have: without a Dramatis Personae in front of you, it gets bloody confusing as to who some of these people are, and more importantly there are so many characters that it's often difficult to care about any of them. The second part of this is done better than in other volumes: several of the recurring characters in this volume, while new to the reader are engaging and interesting enough that you're genuinely interested in their fate. Others are just lists of names, which makes these books harder to engage with.
The religious inter-relationships and political developments should be more interesting than they're presented. A few too many characters are so pragmatic about it that the reader won't care any more than the characters did. The few who are passionate about the issue are presented mostly as fanatics or unreasonable zealots who get no sympathy, so why should we care about their issue? Is it wrong that the stuff about the post office was far more compelling?
Still and all, a mostly enjoyable outing, and the mosaic style of the book makes it an excellent choice for a lunch-time reader. I read this almost entirely on my lunch hours at the office over the span of a couple of weeks and excepting for tracking names had no problems picking up where I had left off previously.
DeMarce is starting to find herself as a fiction writer, making this a stronger effort than say, her contributions to The Ram Rebellion, which while accurate and meticulous, was also dense as hell, confusing and often dull as dishwater. In this case she does better in focusing the stories around a core group of characters in what are essentially a series of interlinked short stories, almost like a WildCards mosaic novel, only in this case written by one author.
The volume holds up reasonably well, with some fairly interesting bits on the evolution of religious disputes, development of industry, etc. But it still struggles with some of the same issues that many of the 163x books have: without a Dramatis Personae in front of you, it gets bloody confusing as to who some of these people are, and more importantly there are so many characters that it's often difficult to care about any of them. The second part of this is done better than in other volumes: several of the recurring characters in this volume, while new to the reader are engaging and interesting enough that you're genuinely interested in their fate. Others are just lists of names, which makes these books harder to engage with.
The religious inter-relationships and political developments should be more interesting than they're presented. A few too many characters are so pragmatic about it that the reader won't care any more than the characters did. The few who are passionate about the issue are presented mostly as fanatics or unreasonable zealots who get no sympathy, so why should we care about their issue? Is it wrong that the stuff about the post office was far more compelling?
Still and all, a mostly enjoyable outing, and the mosaic style of the book makes it an excellent choice for a lunch-time reader. I read this almost entirely on my lunch hours at the office over the span of a couple of weeks and excepting for tracking names had no problems picking up where I had left off previously.
October 6, 2021
I ended up having to skim to make it through this book. It just seems like every plot, every scene, every conversation is interrupted with a need to expound on every character's third cousin's marital prospects or other genealogical trivia; none of which is relevant to the story in the least.
At this point I want to recommend that you only read if you absolutely feel a need to read every book in the series proper.
At this point I want to recommend that you only read if you absolutely feel a need to read every book in the series proper.
July 10, 2017
Whew.
Small quick burst of information.
Fun story telling.
So much is happening in the same region at the same time.
Noelle [Murphy] Stull's story is important and fun..What kept me going is the always interesting independent courier Martin Wackernagel. In a way this feels like his book.
Good work.
Better the second time around.
Small quick burst of information.
Fun story telling.
So much is happening in the same region at the same time.
Noelle [Murphy] Stull's story is important and fun..What kept me going is the always interesting independent courier Martin Wackernagel. In a way this feels like his book.
Good work.
Better the second time around.
July 22, 2014
The low reviews on this book scared me, however read it as a bunch of short storys of everyday life in the new world and it works. You must be current in the series or a lot of it will make no since. Thanks Virginia for a good read.
February 9, 2024
This is a collection of "stories" that only loosely form a somewhat coherent narrative. VD writes as though this were a book of history about a very niche topic within a broader event. In this case, the impact of the 30 years war on the residents of Fulda between the years of 1632-1635.
Sadly, however, this history is entirely made up. There is very little action. There is very little plot. There is very little character development. What we do have a lot of is: "Person x who is related to person y heard that person a did such and such and so he decided to convince people b and c to do this and that." Since it is all fictional, nobody has any clue who these people are. And since this novel only tangentially fits into the broader narrative of the Ring of Fire universe, even those familiar with that universe will not know most of these people.
Demarce should stick to history... and leave fiction to more talented authors
Sadly, however, this history is entirely made up. There is very little action. There is very little plot. There is very little character development. What we do have a lot of is: "Person x who is related to person y heard that person a did such and such and so he decided to convince people b and c to do this and that." Since it is all fictional, nobody has any clue who these people are. And since this novel only tangentially fits into the broader narrative of the Ring of Fire universe, even those familiar with that universe will not know most of these people.
Demarce should stick to history... and leave fiction to more talented authors
August 21, 2017
Tangled Plots
I like this author's characters. If I didn't , I've stopped reading her books at least a year ago. She tries to deal with too many subplots and too many of those great characters simultaneously. It doesn't help that whoever posts the ebook versions doesn't seem to have a template to show either passage of time, POV change or change of setting. This leaves the reader at literal loose ends. This last isn't an issue in the print books, which are far too heavy for carpal tunneled/diabetic neuropathied hands. I know this can be remedied. Please do so.
I like this author's characters. If I didn't , I've stopped reading her books at least a year ago. She tries to deal with too many subplots and too many of those great characters simultaneously. It doesn't help that whoever posts the ebook versions doesn't seem to have a template to show either passage of time, POV change or change of setting. This leaves the reader at literal loose ends. This last isn't an issue in the print books, which are far too heavy for carpal tunneled/diabetic neuropathied hands. I know this can be remedied. Please do so.
May 30, 2020
I bought this book a long time ago but just finally got around to reading it. It is a companion book in the 1632 universe/series of books and includes a couple short stories and new work fitted together in novel format. Some of it I had read before but the revised and extended text adds a lot of details to the back ground setting of the series as a while. Most of the characters here are minor in the main novels but their adventures as such give the whole series a depth and breadth that are missing in most extensive collections.
November 22, 2019
While the series is still a fun read, this one by was a jumbled mess for me. So many plot lines, so much backtracking to introduce new characters - it was hard to keep up.
The story? Interesting enough and they won in the end, but the losses weren't great.
I've read this so now time to move on to the next!
The story? Interesting enough and they won in the end, but the losses weren't great.
I've read this so now time to move on to the next!
May 16, 2021
This is one of the books in the series developed by another author but supported by and thus cannon in the developing series. It is very detailed and can be difficult to follow. I would consider it a collection of short stories with a common theme and characters (mainly) rather than a novel. I enjoyed reading it for the second time.
June 18, 2017
Some of the characters were interesting and it was fun to read the Wes and Clara backstory. However this book was set up like Ram Rebellion so it's important to the series but not much of a fun read.
June 12, 2019
Back Stories Fall 1632 to May 1635. Lots of new characters along with some old favorites. This book's story is centered around the Mainz, Fulda areas and covers the political change along with filling in a lot of back stories.
Read
February 27, 2023Interconnected stories of the Ring of Fire Series after Grantville, West Virginia gets transported to 17th century Germany. These stories aren't in Grantville. The afterword to this book has some recommended reading order of the books. Read some others first, starting with "1632".
May 29, 2018
very interesting book, it is very interesting to learn about europe in the 1630's as not something I had read about until I started with the ring of fire series
October 10, 2018
Gotta pay attention but the tangled web became a unified whole by the end. Always enjoy this series in the audio version.
Read
October 3, 2019Not one of my favorites in the series but it follows the storyline and introduced some interesting characters.
April 21, 2021
This "novel" is actually composed of four interrelated stories which involve, to one degree or another, the time-displaced inhabitants of 1999 Grantville, West Virginia, stationed in Fulda.
May 19, 2024
This is the worst book in the series so far. A series of little notes on something that happened that makes no sense and can barely be tracked by character.
July 7, 2024
Sadly, this book is more disjointed and uneven. The minutiae slow the story down. It's not unreadable.
June 29, 2025
Not my favorite in the series, but helps to connect events between other books in the series.
October 2, 2016
Fill for the periods covered by previous works in series.
September 18, 2024
If you liked 1634: The Ram Rebellion then you will like this book a little less, but it will be OK. This is a book for fans of the series. It is not for the casual reader. Also note that this book contains BIG SPOILERS for 1635: The Dreeson Incident, so read that book first.
This book appears to be a series of short stories about minor characters. There are stories about Jews and our problems during that time. (FYI, I am Jewish.) There are sweet stories. There are exciting stories, but there doesn't seem to be a central theme other than establishing government and normalizing lives around the appearance of Grantville by means of the Ring of Fire.
Note that the author is a professor of history and her doctoral thesis covered peasant revolts. Thus The Ram Rebellion (which is mostly her work) and this book.
Any problems? Yes. As I said before, there is big a spoiler in this book, so read 1635: The Dreeson Incident first. Also some terms used in the series are not explained in this book, so you should have at least read 1632 before tackling this book. I would also read 1634: The Ram Rebellion.
Any modesty issues? As I recall the F-word was used although less frequently than other books in the series. Sex is implied although there is a marriage ceremony performed first by the two participants between each other. This would have been considered adequate in the 1600s for the majority of people, but would be considered laughable today except in Texas. I live in Texas and I know that if you present yourselves as married here, then you are married (common law) and need a real divorce. So be careful.
I doubt I will read this book again. I generally don't like short stories.
Update (2024-Sep-2024): I did re-read this book as part of re-reading the series. I gave it an extra star. I think I must have been overreacting before.
This book appears to be a series of short stories about minor characters. There are stories about Jews and our problems during that time. (FYI, I am Jewish.) There are sweet stories. There are exciting stories, but there doesn't seem to be a central theme other than establishing government and normalizing lives around the appearance of Grantville by means of the Ring of Fire.
Note that the author is a professor of history and her doctoral thesis covered peasant revolts. Thus The Ram Rebellion (which is mostly her work) and this book.
Any problems? Yes. As I said before, there is big a spoiler in this book, so read 1635: The Dreeson Incident first. Also some terms used in the series are not explained in this book, so you should have at least read 1632 before tackling this book. I would also read 1634: The Ram Rebellion.
Any modesty issues? As I recall the F-word was used although less frequently than other books in the series. Sex is implied although there is a marriage ceremony performed first by the two participants between each other. This would have been considered adequate in the 1600s for the majority of people, but would be considered laughable today except in Texas. I live in Texas and I know that if you present yourselves as married here, then you are married (common law) and need a real divorce. So be careful.
I doubt I will read this book again. I generally don't like short stories.
Update (2024-Sep-2024): I did re-read this book as part of re-reading the series. I gave it an extra star. I think I must have been overreacting before.
March 2, 2014
Product Description
Though the Thirty Years War continues to ravage 17th century Europe, history as it once happened has been strongly deflected by the new force which is rapidly gathering power and influence: the United States 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 Ring of Fire. .
The USE has the know-how of 20th century technology, but the American traditions of freedom and justice is having an even stronger impact on Europe, and the rulers of Europe are powerless to stuff the Grantville genie back into the bottle.
Virginia DeMarce, a trained historian and co-author of the New York Times best seller, 1635: The Bavarian Crisis, continues the saga of the time-lost Americans as seen through the eyes of both Americans and Europeans, as the Americans try to make sense of the strange world into which they have been hurled, and the Europeans try to understand the abilities and behavior of the visitors from the future. The result is a volume that will be irresistible to the thousands of fans of the Ring of Fire series.
Praise for 1634: The Bavarian Crisis by Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce_:_
“. . . fascinating reading. . . . It is especially refreshing to read an alternate history that doesn't depend upon the clash of anachronistic arms, but rather on how modern ideas of human rights, education, sanitation and law might have affected the Europe of the 30 Years War.” —_Publishers Weekly_
About the AuthorVirginia DeMarce, after jobs as peculiar as counting raisins for the Calif. Dept. of Agriculture, received her Ph.D. in Early Modern European History from Stanford University. She has published a book on German military settlers in Canada after the American Revolution and has served as president of the National Genealogical Society. She taught at Northwest Missouri State University and at George Mason University. She has had stories in the Ring of Fire anthology and Grantville Gazette (#1), and more stories in the online Grantville Gazettes. She has three grown children and five grandchildren, and lives in Arlington, VA, with her husband.
May 12, 2019
This review is written after the THIRD reading. The first time I read it, I was honestly brought to tears of boredom. I'm not kidding! There were times where I had the feeling I was reading a dry scholarly Genealogy paper of obscure and non-relevant people. I put it down, not even half way through. I wouldn't have bothered to give it even one lousy star. I made another attempt a couple of weeks later and managed to get through it. I was not much more impressed with it, but I could appreciate it being well written even though the style was "a bit dry" at times. I did not see any reason to slaughter the not so impressive rating it had, so I went to greener pastures (next books in the series).
However. After reading the series to it's current endpoint, I decided to give it another go. I was already expecting the desert like condition in the prose, but the book made so much more sense in hindsight. It is crucial to the upcoming plot developments and became more of a pleasure reads shedding light on some obscurities I came across later in the series. I became a bit generous with the rating - giving it four stars - but I justify that with the level of build up for the general plot of the series. As a pleasure read... it's now hovering between 2 and 3 stars, but its importance kicks it up a notch.
However. After reading the series to it's current endpoint, I decided to give it another go. I was already expecting the desert like condition in the prose, but the book made so much more sense in hindsight. It is crucial to the upcoming plot developments and became more of a pleasure reads shedding light on some obscurities I came across later in the series. I became a bit generous with the rating - giving it four stars - but I justify that with the level of build up for the general plot of the series. As a pleasure read... it's now hovering between 2 and 3 stars, but its importance kicks it up a notch.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews