Customer Reviews

Prentice Alvin (Tales of Alvin Maker)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

PRENTICE ALVIN is the third volume of "The Tales of Alvin Maker", Orson Scott Card's alternate history of an America which looks quite different from our own and in which fol magic is real. After his travels with Ta-Kumsaw in RED PROPHET, the young protagonist finally reaches his birthplace Hatrack River, where he is to become an apprentice smith.

As with RED PROPHET, the first 40 or so pages introduces the reader to faraway events that nonetheless are to have great effects on Alvin's life. Having shown the turmoil of the Native Americans under the westward migration of White settlers, Card now turns to America's other suffering people, the Black slaves in the Crown Colonies and Appalachee, and a slave owner who receives terrible instructions from Alvin's archenemy, the Unmaker. Alvin may have caught a glimpse of his destiny as a Maker from Tenskwa-Tawa in RED PROPHET, but in PRENTICE ALVIN he comes to learn exactly how to harness his knack and how he will eventually build the Crystal City.

While I enjoy this series, I found PRENTICE ALVIN to be a low point. Alvin arrives in Hatrack River seeming like a normal 11 year-old boy, but you'd think his year-long adventure with Ta-Kumsaw in RED PROPHET, who took him from Lake Superior to Florida and everywhere in between, would have made more of a mark. And while the novel can be read speedily, it still seems too long and full of awkward meditations. The violent ending and unveiling of Peggy also seems unbelievable.

Nonetheless, these form no reason for me to not recommend The Tales of Alvin Maker, I find this an immensely entertaining series and PRENTICE ALVIN has its place.

Card can hold his own with America's best fiction writers, and this series proves it. A reader below compares the Alvin Maker series to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. That's a good starting point, but Card's work is much more humane, and relies much more on human interaction as opposed to magic or fantasy.

Underneath all of Card's works is a complex philosophy of individualism, self-determination, and humanism You see it in his creations of Jane in Ender's Game, Peggy here in the Maker series, and Patience in Wyrms. This is, at its core, a philosophy that captures the essence of the American world-view. It's also one that I and many others share, and it's a pleasure to see these themes gently woven into the fabric of all his stories. Card, you are the best. Keep going!

These books are some of Card's best work. In my opinion they are better books than his more famous Ender series. They do for North America what The Lord of the Rings did for England - they create a new mythology for a geographical area (although in this case the mythology is also an alternate history). Card weaves an invented fantasy universe with American folklore of all kinds, from native tribal religion to European and American folk superstition and sorcery. Alvin, a young immigrant, is born under a host of omens and signs. He is the seventh son of a seventh son, and becomes intertwined with the destiny of the American frontier. He finds that he is the most important figure in the battle against that which he calls the Unmaker. Throughout the course of the book he attempts to quell the tide of entropy by "making" things. He unites people of many races, and tries to bind humanity together as he becomes increasingly aware of the spirit around him that ties everything - the land, the people, and the unfolding of history - together

Alvin has begun his "prenticeship" and though he comes to Hattrack river mostly to speak to the girl, Peggy, who, as a torch, had the ability to show him his futures and is likely the only person who can help him figure out how to be a real Maker, she flees before he even arrives.

This is a split story for most of the duration, flickering from Alvin on one side, to Peggy on the other, and converging near the end. Alvin's apprenticeship is very interesting, but it is Peggy's story I'm really starting to enjoy more. Peggy is a torch - someone with the knack to see futures in the heartfires of folk, and her own future is intertwined with Alvin's. But when she sees that her own future is a loveless one if she waits for Alvin to arrive, she does the unthinkable - she runs away, to find a way to at least have love for Alvin, if not love from him. Her determination to thwart her own gifts of futuresight is a joy to read, and her strength of character - somewhat rare for female characters in a lot of fantasy works - is a nice change. Very enjoyable.

So is where the tale ends, with a bit more magic than usual, and a set-up for the next story that I'm glad I didn't have to wait years for - like all the other folk who've been reading this series since book one.

'Nathan

After the interruption andAlvin's kidnapping in the Red Prophet, this book picks up with Alvin learning his trade and turning into the man he is destined to be. We follow Alvin as he grows up and befriends the people of Hatrock.

Again he battles the Unmaker and fights to build the world that he saw in with the Red Prophet. Peggy continues to watch Alvin from a far and she herself grows into the woman that Alvin will turn to in and love.

This book starts the story of Alvin the Maker. This is where the boy turns into the man he will be and brushes the soot from his face to see the future he will be creating.

This third book to the "Maker" series gets back on track with the tale of Alvin Miller/Smith/Maker. New characters, such as Calvin Planter and Arthur Stuart, are introduced and utilized to good effect, unlike some characters introduced later in the series (such as the annoying Balzac in "Alvin Journeyman"). Each chapter contains an interesting development, and the book has several nice twists.

The only note of caution I have is for the series in general. Card has a way of turning his protagonists into supermen. Think, for example, of Lanik Mueller in "Treason," Bean in "Ender's Shadow" or Jane in "Children of the Mind." I don't know whether this is a way for him to wriggle out of plot problems or whether it's his own predilections. Regardless, he begins to do it here as well, and it becomes more pronounced in "Alvin Journeyman" and "Heartfire." That detracts from both the humanity and the believability of the story.

In this third book of the Alvin Maker series, we see Alvin grow into a man. Comparatively, the first two books took place over a shorter time span and put more effort into developing the fascinating world Card has created. In PRENTICE ALVIN, there is much more emphasis on character development and maturation. Characters really come into their own in this book as well as develop some very intriguing relationships among themselves. Interactions between Alvin, Peggy, Arthur Stuart, Makepeace Smith, and others make this book a joy to read and gives you a depth of understanding of those characters that make them come to life.

The bulk of the book describes events that happen during Alvin's apprenticeship to the blacksmith of Hatrack River. The Unmaker returns to hound and molest Alvin, and a few characters from the first two books are brought back and built up. Cavil Planter is a new a very interesting character that has disillusioned himself into thinking that he is doing to work of the Lord while committing heinous crimes. Central to the story is the introduction of the pickanniny mimic Arthur Stuart, who will undoubtedly have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the series.

The book is fast and entertaining, with the same great characters you love and a couple more that are sure to please. I can't wait to read the next installment!

This is Card at his best holding audiences spellbound with his Alvin Maker series. Card has created seemingly down to earth normal characters, that readers can relate to, and still managed to tie in folklore of magic and fantasy.

I am SO into this series! It could make a good movie someday if done well! I collected all five books! What fun!!

I enjoyed the whole Alvin Maker fantasy series. Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite writers!