1637: The Polish Maelstrom (26) (Ring of Fire)

Even wondered what became of the Anaconda Project, the acquisitive notion of the King of Bohemia to snatch up as much of the Ukraine as he can? Well, he hasn't forgotten about it and now the political situation allows him to advance his plans. The Ottoman Sultan still sits in Vienna, looking greedily at Linz and further conquest. Eric Flint has given his readers a lot of plot to entertain them. 1637 will have just as much action as the other years since the Ring of Fire.
But we read and in my case re-read the now huge collection of material that makes up the Ring of Fire universe because of the characters. Flint has invented wonderful, interesting, living, breathing people to inhabit his stories. The big, complected plots he creates simply give the characters intriguing environments to live in.
Just to list some of the characters who have some involvement will give non fans an idea. Christian George, her daughter Denise Beasley and her future son in law Eddie Junker battle Polish forces near Krakow. Meanwhile outside of Linz sharp shooter Julie MacKay and pilot Laura Goss take on Ottoman air ships in air to air combat. In Ottoman occupied Vienna Judy the Younger Wendell remains trapped behind enemy lines with two Royal siblings and a one eyed lady spy. Lots of lesser characters cram the pages. Flint manages to make even third or fourth ranking characters vivid and human. I am tempted to say that Flint's characters are his chief achievement, so well crafted they are.
Except, the very complex political entanglements that he had created have such thought behind them that the events as they play out seem entirely plausible. The competing and conflicting machinations of three empires and assorted kingdoms give us a lot to absorb and think about. And frankly, to keep up with.
Perhaps best of all Flint has an underlying theme of historical decency, a grand human goal underneath everything else. His characters want to make a better world than the one they came from.
The book is fun to read too. We have the fate of kingdoms to consider as we marvel that Julie MacKay's daughter is already four years old. My how time flies.
I read The Polish Maelstrom as fast as I could. Over the weekend I expect to read it again, as I often do with Flint's books. Once for the rush and once again to savor the little bits.
Highly recommended.

As a fan of the Ring of Fire series I've been waiting for this release for a while. I have to say though as a followup to The Ottoman Onslaught The Polish Maelstrom fell a bit short. To me the book felt too much like the second movie in a trilogy trying to tie up all the loose ends before setting up the payoff in the final film. There were a few too many plot lines from previous books that got resolved just a bit too conveniently for my tastes. There's also quite a bit more hopping around from place to place than your typical RoF novel which could be confusing at times.

All that said though I still enjoyed the book and am really looking forward to where the story goes from here.

The title says it all. Maelstrom. The writing Advanced the story well laid down a good splinter sets for future. This book ties slash beats all the all the books in Central Europe together to advance the main storyline. I didn’t put it down but it was sometimes hard to follow. Please kick out the books more often! It’s been a while.

No kindle version? Seriously? Maybe it’s 2 stars. I really don’t know.

love this series

Honestly, the collaborations are usually fun and there have been a few solo authors I enjoyed, but Flint on his own is just *in general* a cut above.

Great continuation to a great series

Not filled with the usual suspects but very interesting and fun.

This story keeps you hooker.

You will not be disappointed. Read it.