Sean Bala reviewed Grantville Gazette IV by Eric Flint
Review of 'Grantville Gazette IV' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I've been making my way through the Ring of Fire series. In general, I like the short story collections better than the novels with a few exceptions. The short stories show the promise of the series and the creativity of the larger community of authors constructing a complex, messy world. But "Grantville Gazette IV" was the first short story collection I was really disappointed in. I just didn't really like most of the short stories in this collection. This volume more than any of them felt like set up for the next round of novels and stories. None of the stories really stuck with me at all. The only one's I really liked were "The Anatomy Lesson" by Eric Flint and "Heavy Metal Music" by David Carrisco. I liked the technical essays but they were quite long in this volume. Maybe I will re-read this collection at a different point …
I've been making my way through the Ring of Fire series. In general, I like the short story collections better than the novels with a few exceptions. The short stories show the promise of the series and the creativity of the larger community of authors constructing a complex, messy world. But "Grantville Gazette IV" was the first short story collection I was really disappointed in. I just didn't really like most of the short stories in this collection. This volume more than any of them felt like set up for the next round of novels and stories. None of the stories really stuck with me at all. The only one's I really liked were "The Anatomy Lesson" by Eric Flint and "Heavy Metal Music" by David Carrisco. I liked the technical essays but they were quite long in this volume. Maybe I will re-read this collection at a different point as I get further along in the series or perhaps I will be surprised that the hidden seeds planted in this volume that blossom in later works. My advice is to get through it and move onto the next ones.