Ring of Fire, Book 1
By: Eric Flint
Narrated by: George Guidall
Series: 1632: Ring of Fire, Book 1
Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins

Oh, now this was fun! This book had been crossing my path for years, and I’m glad I finally picked it up. As it happened, I had just read about the Thirty Years’ War last year, and waiting until after that made the historical backdrop even more engaging. It also fits in the vein of another series I’ve enjoyed, the Destiny’s Crucible books—while there are significant differences, there are also enough similarities that I found myself appreciating both in much the same way.

It’s a reasonable and intriguing thought experiment—what would happen if a modern American town were dropped into the middle of seventeenth-century Europe? Flint builds on that idea with compelling characters and a lively story, creating a book that is both entertaining and surprisingly thought-provoking. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read.