1635: The Wars for the Rhine

By: Anette Pedersen

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

An exciting addition to the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire alternate-history series created by Eric Flint. Time travelers from our modern age are thrown into the deadly straits of the Thirty Years' War in Europe of the 1600s.

In the year 1635, the Rhineland is in turmoil. The impact of the Ring of Fire, the cosmic accident which transported the small modern West Virginia town of Grantville to Europe in the early 17th century, has only aggravated a situation that was already chaotic. Perhaps nowhere in central Europe did the Thirty Years' War produce so much upheaval as it did in the borderlands between France and Germany. Archbishop Ferdinand of Cologne shares the religious fanaticism of his older brother, Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. He is determined to restore the power of the Catholic Church over the middle Rhine, the so-called "Bishop's Alley", and has unleashed a plot for that purpose.

But that same middle Rhine is territory which Landgrave William V of Hesse-Kassel is determined to seize for himself, under the guise of expanding the influence of the United States of Europe. Add to the witch's brew the deaths in battle of Duke Wolfgang of Julich-Berg and his son, which leaves his young widow Katharina Charlotte as the heir to those much-prized territories. She is now on the run, in disguise - and pregnant. Add the unexpected arrival of Austria's most capable general, Melchior von Hatzfeldt, along with the most ruthless spy and torturer in the Rhineland, Felix Gruyard. The wars for the Rhine have erupted, and only the devil knows how they will end.

©2021 Anette Pedersen (P)2021 Recorded Books Inc.

Too many names and characters

The book was good and some of the plot lines I interesting. But there was a lot of rattlingly off similar names and too many. Few of the characters were deeply developed.

pretty good

wished it had been fleshed out more, some parts felt rushed or glossed over but this was still excellent loved it

Worst waste of time of the entire 1632 Saga yet!!

What a waste of time!! The events that move the 1632 saga forward could have been outlined in one, maybe two chapters in another book. The endless prattling of female characters, the countless Franzs, Ferdinands or Franz-Ferdiands that confuse the story, Explanations of familial relations that are forgotten as soon as you hit a period in a sentence. The performance of the narrator is, of course, familiar and excellent. But that is not enough to make this worth wasting your time with it.