A review by beejai
1635: A Parcel of Rogues, Volume 20 by Andrew Dennis, Eric Flint

3.0

I would say this book was more "fun" than "good". It certainly wasn't bad. It just seemed... irrelevant. There is a major story thread that courses through this entire series but this book did not seem to contribute much of anything to that thread. It felt more like a setup novella than a true novel as far as influence and impact (not length) was concerned.

In this book, we have the "uptimers" Gayle Mason, Darryl McCarthy, Julie McKay (Sims) and notable "downtimers", Alex McKay (fictional), Oliver Cromwell (not) and some others traipsing about England and Scotland. The book begins shortly after they had escaped from the Tower of London (see 1634 The Baltic War) and carries them up to Edinburgh where some events transpire that I will not spoil for you. I guess you can say that this is the setup, or perhaps even the opening volleys of the English Civil War starting a few years early.

In all, this book was a fun read but I honestly felt that if someone were to skip it they would probably lose nothing when it comes to the Ring of Fire Universe.

PS. I would strongly recommend reading at least 1632, 1633, and 1634 The Baltic War before reading this one.