1635: The Cannon Law

Written by Andrew Dennis and Eric Flint

Narrated by George Guidall

Rome, 1635, and Grantville's diplomatic team, headed by Sharon Nichols, are making scant headway now it has become politically inexpedient for Pope Urban VIII to talk to them any more. Sharon doesn't mind, she has a wedding to plan. Frank Stone has moved to Rome and is attempting to bring about the revolution one pizza at a time. Cardinal Borja is gathering votes to bring the Church's reformers to a halt in their tracks, on the orders of the King of Spain. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing in the streets, shadowy agitators are stirring up trouble and Spain's armies are massed across the border in the Kingdom of Naples, Cardinal Barberini wants the pamphleteers to stop slandering him and it looks like it's going to be a long, hot summer. Except that Cardinal Borja has more ambitions than his masters in Madrid know about, and has the assistance of Spain's most notorious secret agent to bring about his sinister designs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490647432

Reviews for 1635

[jamespurcell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Ring of Fire misfit finds a new home. Bernie takes a job in Russia which turns out to be quite successful. Some interesting new characters but it will be stretching things to maintain the Eastern story line.

[dswaddell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bernie really isn't fitting in with the new plan in Grantville and accepts a consulting job with the Czar of Russia. There he finds a new home but troubles are coming. A good and interesting read.

[agingcow2345 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was a fun read after a nasty week and I do not regret the price of the ARC. That said, and even as compared to the rest of the series, it is a shallow poorly written dungeon crawl. The characters were straight out of central casting. You get no emotional investment in any of them. The plot was predictable and really goes nowhere. I have an investment in the series and enjoy watching the period research getting applied. So if you are a series fan this is not quite the point where you stop buying new books but the fat lady is doing vocal exercises. As a stand alone book with no prior series investment it is simply too poorly done to be worth reading. Pity. Adding Muscovy was a good idea.

[bgknighton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the better entries. Bernie Zeppi has some trouble fitting in the new reality, the first year was really rough on him. But a new job in Russia is what the doctor ordered. The new responsibilities, the new friends bring him into the new world and the ripples are spreading. Natasha and Vladimir are characters I would like to see more of. Czar Mikhail has some growing to do, too.

[barbgarcia1987 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed reading this book as I have enjoyed reading the rest of this extended & branching series. I am looking forward to seeing where they end up taking this storyline.

[readinggeek451 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Russia hires uptimer slacker auto mechanic Bernie Zeppi to aid in their modernization, with unpredictable results.Not one of the better novels in the series, but certainly readable.

[timothyl33 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In some ways, a better title for the book might have been, "1632-1636: Retconning Russia into the timeline now that the series is moving East", as 1636: The Kremlin Games actually encompasses events from the beginning of the Ring of Fire/1632 series.But in all seriousness, this turned out to be one of the better books from this series. Considering how quality has been varying throughout (especially the co-authored books), this one is like a diamond in the rough. Personally, I believe it benefited from the fact that it's set in a place where none of the other stories took place, that it gave this story room to primarily focus on its own story without having to contort around the canon of the solo-Eric Flint books. In addition, having a limited cast made reading less a chore. Not only does it gives the reader a better chance of keeping track of people (and avoiding the Cast of Characters glossary), you also have a better chance to relate, empathize, and familiarize the characters.Unfortunately, once you get closer to the end, events seem to accelerate out of hand. Once you reach the end, you're left realizing that everything that took place was just buildup to the real conflict that will take place in a sequel (probably a 1637 book).Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't read this, but you should have fair warning not to expect a conclusion once you finish the book.