Another book I read while the computer was messed up.


"1638:The Sovereign States" (Ring of Fire #36)
by Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett, Gorg Huff.

Quoting from <https://longfellowbooks.com/book/9781982192877>

" The fate of Russia hangs in the balance as up-timers and
down-timers battle for freedom!

The United Sovereign States of Russia struggles to set in
place the traditions and legal precedents that will let
it turn into a constitutional monarchy with freedom and
opportunity for all its citizens.

At the same time, they?re trying to balance the power of
the states and the federal government. And the USSR is
fighting a civil war with Muscovite Russia, defending
the new state of Kazakh from invasion by the Zunghars,
building a tech base and an economy that will allow
its money to be accepted in western Europe, establishing
a more solid claim to Siberia, and, in general, keeping
the wheels of civilization from coming off and dumping
Russia back into the Time of Troubles. Or, possibly even
worse, reinstalling the sort of repressive oligarchy
that they just got rid of."

End of quoting.

That is easier than typing this by myself and
is highly accurate. The USSR has steam-powered river
boats, a rail road, and aircraft. The factories are
doing very well and the rail road trains can be circled
to form a small but powerful fort. These may sound
like spoilers but wait until you get to the descriptions.
I enjoyed it as best I can with my diminished eyesight.
I read this in Hardcover from the SFPL but it
sells at $26.00. It is short among the Ring of Fire
volumes but seems very dense.

bliss


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