1632 Read-Through 02: Strategizing

If you’re going to tackle a read-through of a sprawling, convoluted, shared universe of novels and anthologies like the “1632” series (also known as the “Ring of Fire” series for the mysterious incident that sent the town of Grantville back in time), then you need a strategy. There’s no right, or wrong, way to consume the series…it’s more a matter of your preferences and, probably, time and patience, too.

Last month, I started off with the first book, 1632, which is the obvious and, really, the only effective place to start. In that novel, Eric Flint did a masterful job of setting the stage for everything else. I reviewed Flint’s initial volume in the previous episode of this read-through.

Trying to figure out how to navigate the series is daunting, even for me, and I was a fan years ago when the series first started. Fortunately, the 1632 community is fully aware of the problem and some really smart, dedicated folks have created two great recommendations for how to approach a read-through (both of which are available on the 1632 & Beyond website):

• Eric Flint’s Recommended Reading Order : Describes how to read the series in approximately chronological order.
• Small Bites Reading Order – Describes how to read the series in small chunks, based on your particular interest. It also takes care to describe prerequisites that should be read before taking on any particular “small bite.”

In case you want to chart your own path, a few awesome fans have also created some graphic aids that make charting a course a LOT easier.

So, to aid in the effort, here’s a 1632 Reading Order recommendation from “Bika” on the SF Chronicle website:

According to Bika, Dark Blue represents the Core Books of the series, Light Orange are non-essential books, Orange is the Russia sub-series, Light Green is the Papal sub-series, Purple is the Asian sub-series, and Light Blue are direct offshoots from the Core Books.

There is also a more complex and complete chart from Mike J. Nagle (also listed in the same SF Chronicles thread listed above). This one also includes the Grantville Gazette anthologies and publications from Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press. Nagle’s chart is also a little more up-to-date than Bika’s.

For both of these charts, click on them to view a larger version in a separate tab. Nagle’s chart was black and white; I added colors to at least somewhat match Bika’s chart. I also highlighted all of the Ring of Fire titles in yellow, so I could differentiate them more easily from the (potentially) more commercial offerings from Baen Books.

[Editorial Note: (12/19/24) Most of the books from Ring of Fire Press (RFP) are currently out-of-print because the press shut down shortly after Eric Flint died. Baen is in the process of re-releasing some of them as ebooks.]

One viable strategy would be to just read the core books:

• 1632
• 1633
• 1634: The Baltic War
• 1635: The Eastern Front
• 1636: The Saxon Uprising
• 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught
• 1637: The Polish Maelstrom
• 1637: The Transylvanian Decision
• 1637: The Adriatic Decision (Upcoming)

That’s nine books. You’d probably miss a lot of the side developments that impact the core story. But I suspect this path would still be pretty enjoyable.

For me, here’s what I’ve decided on for the First Phase of my Read-Through, covering 1631 – 1634:

• Episode 1
  — 1632
  — Essen Steel (RFP novella, now temporarily out of print with the RFP closure)
• Episode 3
  — 1633
  — Ring of Fire I (Anthology)
  — 1634: The Baltic War
• Episode 5
  — 1634: The Galileo Affair
  — 1634: The Ram Rebellion (Novel/Anthology)
  — Grantville Gazette I (Anthology)
• Episode 6
• — 1634: The Bavarian Crisis
  — Grantville Gazette II (Anthology)
  — Grantville Gazette III (Anthology)
• Episode 7
• — Ring of Fire II (Anthology)
• Episode 8: RECAP of 1631 – 1634 (12 Books)

[Editorial Note: (12/31/24) Sadly, my original plan of reading one Baen Book and one RFP book per month went out the window. Accordingly, after a long hiatus, when I re-started my Read-Through in September 2024, my plans had to be totally revised.]

Basically, my plan is to do a strategically expansive read-through so I get the “full 1632 experience.” This doesn’t really correspond to either of the primary approach recommendations, but there it is. My strategy concentrates more on breadth because of the way that I want to immerse myself in the universe. One of my goals is to eventually write some stories in this milieu, so I need to understand not just the main books, but also the nooks and crannies that have already been explored by other writers.

So, now I have a strategy. Wish me luck. And, if you’re reading along in any form at all, I hope that some of my reviews and experiences may prove useful to you.