1635: The Papal Stakes
1635: The Papal Stakes is a novel in the 1632 series written by Charles Gannon and Eric Flint. It was published in 2012, and is the direct sequel to 1635: The Cannon Law, published in 2006. This book is the third in the South European fork to the main 1632 series storyline. The story follows the exploits of younger members of the Stone family in Italy and describes the impact of Grantville on the Roman Catholic church and on the patchwork of independent countries in the Italian peninsula.
Literary significance and reception
The reviewer for SFRevu writes that "Charles Gannon takes the helm in this installment" and that "Gannon hits all the right notes." The Midwest Book Review calls the book "a fabulous thriller as Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon prove a deft pairing." The reviewer for the Mixed Book Bag agrees that Flint and Gannon make a good writing team and adds, "This is a story that flows smoothly and is focused on the problems the characters face" and "the action is great and keeps the story arc moving along".1635: The Papal Stakes is the first book in the 1632 series to be listed on The Wall Street Journals Best-Selling Books list for Hardcover Science Fiction, which gets its data from NPD BookScan. The book stayed on this list for two weeks in October 2012, peaking at number 6.