To be honest everything about the cover and blurb put me off reading 1632, but I've learnt that American fantasy/SF books require applying the maxim "don't judg

To be honest everything about the cover and blurb put me off reading 1632, but I've learnt that American fantasy/SF books require applying the maxim "don't judge a book by its cover" quite literally due to the fashion for overblown or just bad cover art and blurb, plus I'd read and enjoyed Eric Flint's _Belisarius_ series, which also dealt with cross-time technology introduction. Lastly, 1632 was free on Amazon, so I figured it was worth a punt! I'm very glad I did because the books are actually incredibly broad in scope and nuance, not at all "America Fuck Yeah!"