Ring of Fire

In general I don’t plan to do full a review of any anthology. To do an actual review would essentially require a short review of every story, and that’s not my cup of tea. If I enjoy the anthology or, as in this case, it is fairly focused I will endeavor to provide a short overview review of the entire anthology.

Ring of Fire, edited by Eric Flint, is the first collection of short stories set in Flint’s 1632 universe. At this point there are four anthologies (two under the Ring of Fire moniker) and something like 27 Grantville Gazette’s (which are essentially Flint approved fan fiction anthologies). The stories in Ring of Fire range from beginning concurrently with 1632 to beginning more or less at the same time as 1633.

There are several notable authors involved in Ring of Fire. David Weber’s entry is important to the 1633 storyline, and Flint, Virginia Easley DeMarce, and Mercedes Lackey each have stories that spark later books in the main story arc. These four stories are the strongest entries in the anthology. The other stories are written by fans and approved by Flint as essentially canonical.

All in all Ring of Fire is a very enjoyable read. If you like the 1632 setting as much as I do Ring of Fire is definitely worth picking up. In Ring of Fire we get a lot of seeds for later plot lines, and also a good deal of background about characters that are not necessarily the ones that Flint likes to write about. I give it 3.5/5.