Up-time Pride and Down-time Prejudice (Ring of Fire Book 7) Kindle Edition

While of course I was expecting a pastiche of "Pride and Prejudice", it turns out that other than one or two entertaining quotes this is really a different story of a how a young woman's opinion of her status changes as she moves from pre-Ring-of-Fire Grantville to post-Ring-of-Fire Austria. At one point a character points out just how valuable what an up-time knows can be.There were a few too many perils to be quite reasonable, but the plot moves along and there were no "balk" points at which I said to myself, "it couldn't have happened that way", though she should have been a bit less trusting.In the universe of Non-Flint, Ring-of-Fire fiction this is one of the better ones.

I read everything I can that comes out of the ROF universe. This story by Mark Huston is every bit as good as the stories the Flint has written. Often enough I have trouble with spin-off stories that do not have the mainline characters, the characters that we know so well and enjoy so much. No so here. Huston has created a compelling protagonist and has given her interesting things to do, goals to accomplish and troubles to overcome. She does not actually have the full skill set to do everything she must do, which makes for one of her problems. She has graduated from Grantville High school. We find her in her post-school army stint. She gets an offer to go to the Tyrol and work for one of the richest families in the world as a teacher of math and chemistry and as a general factor for all things up-time, especially technical stuff. All while keeping her army rank, active duty status and pay. She is also to be a spy. The story holds our interest. So, good story. Somehow he has penetrated the thought patterns of his female main character and her female companions in an accurate way. This does not happen often with male authors in describing the interior lives of female characters. Maybe haveing a household filled with women has given him a special ability to devine the motives, thoughts, and reasoning of his female characters. Frankly, most male authors draw their female characters only deeply enough to have them act and react to the male characters. Huston has a rare touch. He has also drawn his other characters quite well. He even has well-drawn third-tier characters, characters who seem round and real. So, very good character creation. Good. His writing style is stellar. My goodness, what a pleasure we readers have in reading his words. He is so good that I intend to go back and re-read the two stories he has written, one in an issue of the Grantville Gazette and another in ROF III. I am a wannabe writer and pay very close attention to writing style, flaws, inconsistencies and so on. In Huston's novel, I found myself totally absorbed, just living in the story for long stretches at a time. Just as if this was a work of literature! Oh! He also gives even long term fans like me a new, deeper insight into the relationship between up-timers as a group and down-timers as a group. He takes time, and it does take time, to work through just exactly how down-timers view up-timers in terms of class, cosmic status, and even utility. It helped me a lot to sort of jell concepts that have floated around the edges of this vast fictional universe that the genius of Eric Flint has created. Perhaps best of all from the reading fan point of view, this work by Mark Huston is so very good, so satisfying, interesting and enjoyable that the other off the mainline authors in the future will have to up their game. Goody.

This is the story of a minor character applying her talents to gain a career while major characters from other novels are living out their events in the background. I am glad I bought this. It's very well done, and I'll be looking for future books by Mark H. Huston.A Grantville high school graduate with a major talent for mathematics finds herself hired by a Count to introduce uptime technology into his businesses. Her job is to educate his children, and analyze his questions and turn them into research requests back to sources in Grantville.She's a good Catholic girl in an age that regards her version of Catholicism with deep suspicion. She even has a clause in her employment contract requiring the Count to protect her from the Inquisition. Alas that one of the Count's children regards her as a tool of the Devil!I was afraid this would be too much a pastiche from Jane Austin. Never fear, the title is clickbait--other than that, yes, there is a smart woman who finds the Count's son impossibly dull and prejudiced to even consider marriage material. And from that there are many plot developments that stem from the 1632 series in the Germanies rather than Austin's English society. Recommended.

This novel, with Moscow Rules and the Barbie collection, connects with the impact ordinary Americans have in the 17th century mainly because of who they are culturally. The advanced nature their ordinary knowledge matters too, of course. I find this to be one of the most compelling aspect of the series, and had trouble putting the book down.I also found this author's writing to be quite compelling. Better than some of the Gazette authors.Finding a couple editing notes in the Kindle version was less satisfying, but not the author's fault.

While saying that this book should have never been written would probably be going too far, it's certainly tempting to write it anyway.Of all of the Ring of Fire books, this one might have the stupidest, least save protagonist. There are up-timers who refuse to kowtow to the haughty down-time aristocracy and seem admirable and cunning while doing so. Mary Russo isn't one of them.The supporting cast is a lot hollower than normal, the very hatable antagonists get off fairly lightly, and the world-building is limited (if not non-existent).It's possible (although by no means certain) that people who've actually read Jane Austen might see some brilliant symbolisms or shot outs in here, but I'm not one of them, and if you're not, then I wouldn't recommend this to anyone I consider a friend.

The overall story was interesting, it was a fun take on Pride and Prejudice, and fits alright with the rest of the Ring of Fire. I liked most of it. The flow, especially of dialogue, was really choppy at the beginning, and there were a number of jarring typos and grammar choices. Some sections were a chore to read, and there was a very weird, out of place, flashback in the middle where perspective and narrator changed without warning. That needs to be fixed. I think this needs to undergo a couple of editing cycles before it can really be called good.

No spoilers:First off to say that this stands alone as well as any in the series of 1632/ Ring of Fire books. This book will, nevertheless, be better appreciated if read after '1632'-'1633'-'1634: The Baltic War' (and optionally, the 'Grantville Gazette', '1634: The Ram rebellion' and '1634: The Bavarian Crisis'). Next, I should say it is written as skillfully and entertainingly as any in the series. It is well paced, nicely detailed, fully engaged in the 1632 themes and brings an entertaining twist or two of it's own to the series.The VERY intelligent social, scientific, human, military, moral, religious and practical 'study' that this series makes of it's subject, is so deep and so thorough, than you can not appreciate fully its intelligence and depths without proper context. I have found reading this in order to be richly rewarding. Other books of the series can be dense at times, an issue relieved by understanding why, which the correct order offers. That is less a problem here as the pacing and entertainment value is good. It is lighter than some of the series. The impact of 20th Century views on all things on the early 17th century is a fantastic premise. It is done deftly with fabulous effect. This book takes a Jane Austin recipe and weaves it in seamlessly (but not faithfully) to the series and this world. The underlying nobility of effort in matching a meritocracy to an aristocracy is full of ironic opportunity, and the author takes full advantage. And in case anyone is worried this might have fallen prey to the temptation of over sentimental regency romance, or gone too far into 1632 complexity, rest assured this achieves a deft balance.Not great classic literature, it is fine for honest amusement and I was greatly entertained and well engaged. I had a thoroughly lovely time with this book. This is no simple Jane Austen rip off.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I enjoyed this story but at times I read notes made by the editor. That was a bit odd and it affected the flow of the story. Otherwise it’s a good addition to the Ring of Fire stories.

I picked up Up-time Pride and Down-time Prejudice because unlike some it had not been given a roasting. It was not a decision that I have regretted. There was a good plot and whilst the ending was not quite what I expected, it was still satisfying. In spite of that I have a few beefs about it. There were a couple of editing links in my Kindle version, a section where uptime and downtime appeared to be mixed up and a reference to fauna that did not live in the area. However, the novel was well written enough that I decided to overlook them and give it five stars.

One of the best recent ROF tales. Plenty of action and drama but also filled with thoughtful insights into uptime and downtime cultural points of view and how much they would differ and clash.Recommended.

One of the best ring of fire press books i have read. Well written. Exciting. It shows the uptimer impact well. Terrible title.