A 21th century cruise ship sent back to the time shortly after the death of Alexander the Great. (Maybe 3.5 stars). There was some interesting technological and political speculation, but also what seemed to be a grafted-on anti-slavery/pro-liberty message, which wasn’t particularly well motivated but was sort of a plot element. Overall decent but not amazing. ( )

Another romp by a miscellaneous group of moderns in an about to be even more war torn past, this time a couple of years after the death of Alexander the Great. The authors do seem to miss that slavery in that day and age was a mechanism for not killing off the entire populations of conquered territories, at least not for a couple of generations. As these books require that people from the modern world survive, prosper, and disseminate technology and values, suspension of belief must be employed at all times, but is certainly readable. ( )

Good premise for an alternate history saga. Too many quick transitions and too few solid characterizations leave it short of Flint's great other work 1632. These writers have the skills to turn this ugly duckling into a swan and expose a very interesting period of history for those of us who read but not write. ( )

A side book to Flint's long-running Ring of Fire series, of which the 1632 universe is the best-known portion. A modern cruise ship and its fuel tender are tranferred from the present day Caribbean to the Mediterranean a few years after Alexander the Great's death. Their presence promptly starts to change things, perhaps for the better.

The writing is smooth enough, it's an interesting premise, and the effects seem well-worked-out to this non-scholar. But most of the characterizations are pretty sketchy. The ending leaves a lot of room for a sequel; if so, I'll probably read it. Overall, it's not a bad book. But it isn't as good as it could be.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, it's worth picking up. ( )