I thought this was a novel. It looks kind of like a novel and it read kind of like a novel but it is an anthology of closely related stories from the 1632 universe.

Something incredible has happened. The authors have taken a decidedly dull subject, land and electoral reform in Central Europe, and have made it readable and interesting. That would be worth some kudos all by itself.

Any reader would do well to first read 1632 and get the background. Once that highly convoluted framework is in place, this work should be accessible by anyone who wants to read it. It is worth the reading.

This collection of stories seems at first to be related only by virtue of taking place in the same framework. It is not until the end that the various threads of the stories seem to come together in a unified whole and that whole is well done.

The problem, in the stories, is imposing a modern electoral system and system of land ownership upon the patchwork of Germany in the midst of the 30 Years War. It is a complex problem. What is even more difficult is promoting the revolution without unleashing a bloodbath.

I suspect that solving this problem by writing a book about it would be exceedingly difficult and probably uninteresting. Instead, a series of short stories were written. Each builds upon the previous ones and the problem works itself out. It still has a share of mayhem needed for any decent revolution but it is controlled.

Well Done.

I liked this book as a series of related short stories. I liked how it provieds some additional background about what's going on in this new time line. It was nice to see how things are chaning in the area around Grantville. I emjoyed reading this, even though most of the writers aren't at the same level as Flint. However, I think the next book in the series from Flint is long over do.

This novel has a novel stucture, not a novel event in this expanding series. Ram Rebellion is not part of the original plan for the "1634: xx" series of parallel novels, but a serendipitous product of stories submitted by avid online fans of the Alternate History initiated by Flint with his novel "1632." So, it is unevenly written, it jumps around, has an many characters as War and Peace (just kidding, I think), but isn't that a great and confident idea on editor Flint's part? Still, one gets a rare fictional look into the makings of a revolution, a concatenation of preconditions, accidents, happenstance, mis-planning, bold individuals, stupid opponents (really, obviously, evil ones), a good slogan, and luck. Up-timers like the modern West Virginians dropped back into a past world of 17th century war can't expect such success. Do you remember Pohl Andersson's story, I think it was, about a modern sailor thinking he can tell good ole Vikings how to build their long boats...? Here one has to keep straight a thoroughly multi-pronged nation building effort in Franconia, just south of Grantville, by the new "United States" working through peasants, principalities, cities, castle lords, religious-freedom commission, committe of correspondence, embassies, military advisors, garrisons, another state, and Noelle Murray (who knows nothing about pistols but is super at subversion). If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you need to go back and first read Flint's very satisfying "1632" and "1633" novels.

This "novel" gradually comes into focus through a series of short stories and jokes revolving around an ugly short-haired ram who has designs on modern long-haired ewes, against the modern breeder's wishes. Only after numerous stories illustrating the pre-existing political and economic situation in Franconia, does the main story of how Franconia will be democratized really get under way. I have no objection to this device, the "gathering storm" technique, since I prefer the short stories to the the concluding novel written by Flint and Judith DeMarce. Its sprawling episodic structure detracts from its suspense, drama, and climax.

While some may object to the combinations of short stories, broadsheets, sophomoric humor, novela, and novel here, I don't. Can you imagine what having to slog through a pedestrian novel like Flint and DeMarce's concluding section would be like, if it expanded to 400 pages to include the matters touched on in the shorter, prefactory pieces? Tired feet! I had a frustrating time tracking characters variously identified by their first or last name or title, and it took me a while to put "three" characters into, oh!, just one. Still and all, this "novel" is marking time as we await the return to a "real" novel that will use the principal series characters (hardly seen here) to advance the main story. Consider this one a parallel story of "1634" that documents one of the alternative ways of coping with the fractious European neighbors confronted by the "alien" Americans. (That also means there are some unexplained cross-references to other stories, even ones that haven't been written yet.) The other "1634:xx" books will surely have other structures, places, people, procedures, and prospects. Hopefully, a few will be less insistently upbeat and have some flashes of adult ambiguity, grimness, and desperate moments in them. It should be fun.