Bartley's Man

By: Gorg Huff, Paula Goodlett

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Not every hero stands at the forefront of battle, chopping up, or gunning down the foe. Johan Kipper, an old and worn mercenary who had done more than his share of chopping up and gunning down, finally found his hero, his liege lord, not in a great captain, but in David Bartley, a fourteen year old boy who was just trying to make sure his family could get by. A lad who was trying to protect his family by making rather than taking, by building rather than destroying. And, more, a lad who didn't need to knock Johan down to feel tall or make Johan afraid to feel brave.
Never in his long life of war and hate had Johan met someone courageous enough to be kind.
This is the story of Johan Kipper, known across the Germanies as Bartley's Man. How he went from down-and-out mercenary to, well, you know what he became. Everyone knows what he became. Bartley's Man.
Bartley's Man Started out as several stories in The Grantville Gazette. We, Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff, were filling in the gaps just for the fun of it. Later, we were asked to rewrite and add to it so that it could stand alone as a novel. This expanded edition of Bartley's Man is written expressly for Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press which sadly passed with Eric. But it’s still a good read and introduction to Eric’s 1632 universe.

Tying together many elements while expanding on really interesting ideas and characters.

The above and just more story. But the AI reader was less than enjoyable. And distracting. I understand, though, there is economy to be considered. I really loved the story and the reading however poorly read.

very good.

it was great to learn more about David Bartley. the character of Johann was also entertaining.bit was also good to see what happened to a few more grantvillers

The ai narrator

You guys need to market it better. I had the title on my wishlist for a long time but I didn't buy it because of the ai narrator. it is not as good as the best narrators but neither is it anywhere as bad as I feared. 4 out of 5 stars. Story is good enough to bring the overall score up to 5 stars

Surprisingly good auto generated narration for highly enjoyable entry in the 1632 universe

If you're familiar with the 1632 universe, you may have read much of this, but I really enjoyed David Bartley's history, and those whose lives are entwined with his, set out as a meaningful, enjoyable narrative. I was leery of the autogenerated voice, and there *were* several mispronunciations and mistaken inflections, but my mind edited as I went along, and they in no way interfered with my enjoyment.

okay to kill time with

The virtual voice was bland, but acceptable. it did have some mispronounced words that someone should have edited.
I have some level of suspicion that this was not only voiced by AI but also written with it. The end was jarringly abrupt.
it does provide a fair overview of people and events for someone who has not read the earlier novels.