I love this series. I'm old enough to have read 1632 when it was a stand alone book, and have loved it's growing into this weird re-write of history. I am also interested in the history of religion and how it relates to political history. This book continues the 1632 series tradition of including the history of people of all classes in the story. It is not just the history of "Great Men". Ruy would not have made it into such a history except as a footnote, but without him Europe would have been much poorer. Every character grows and shows throughout this wonderful novel.