List Books Supposing Seventh Son (Tales of Alvin Maker #1)
| Original Title: | Seventh Son |
| ISBN: | 076534775X (ISBN13: 9780765347756) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Tales of Alvin Maker #1 |
| Characters: | Alvin Maker, Taleswapper, Reverend Thrower, Alvin Miller, Faith Miller |
| Setting: | United States of America |
| Literary Awards: | Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (1988), Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (1988), World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel (1988), Mythopoeic Fantasy Award (1988), Evergreen Teen Book Award (1991) |
Orson Scott Card
Mass Market Paperback | Pages: 241 pages Rating: 3.87 | 32831 Users | 1472 Reviews
Ilustration During Books Seventh Son (Tales of Alvin Maker #1)
Orson Scott Card described his novel Seventh Son as an American epic fantasy, contrasting with the uncompromisingly British Tolkeinesque genre of fantasy books. This reminded me a great deal of Larry McMurtry’s The Berrybender Narratives in its imaginative use of historic people and places to tale the story of the American Frontier in the 1840s. Card, telling a story perhaps set in the 1810-20s makes this even more interesting by slowly unraveling the American past into an alternative history fiction, remaking the American foundation into one more accessible for a fantasy writer. Agree or disagree with his politics, Card is a good writer and spins a good yarn. What bothered me about this was the deliberate goal of forming a series rather than as a stand-alone novel. No doubt about it, I liked this book a lot, but as I came near the end it became clear that a denouement was no where in sight and I would be expected to pick up a … (gulp) sequel! Card himself in an afterward conceded that the story spun out of control and he expanded the idea of a trilogy into six, then maybe seven books. A book should be contained between two covers. Having said that, I enjoy a good series, find distraction in an ongoing story and a seemingly endless parade of interesting characters, but winding up one chapter should not simply be a cliffhanging commercial break (pun intended) to get to the next installment. Having said all that, I (hopeless sappy hypocrite that I am) wasted no time in reading the next book Red Prophet.
Describe Regarding Books Seventh Son (Tales of Alvin Maker #1)
| Title | : | Seventh Son (Tales of Alvin Maker #1) |
| Author | : | Orson Scott Card |
| Book Format | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First mass market edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 241 pages |
| Published | : | April 1988 by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC (first published July 1st 1987) |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. Alternate History. Historical. Historical Fiction |
Rating Regarding Books Seventh Son (Tales of Alvin Maker #1)
Ratings: 3.87 From 32831 Users | 1472 ReviewsCritique Regarding Books Seventh Son (Tales of Alvin Maker #1)
4.5 stars. Fresh, original fantasy using the United States of the 19th century as its backdrop. This creation of a truly "American" fantasy novel was truly original and I thought made it a cut above a lot of cookie cutter fantasy stories. Winner: Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (1988)Winner: Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature (1988)Nominee: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1988)Nominee: World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (1988)I found this terribly boring. I had actually started reading this once before and never finished because it was too dull. Now I am dreading reading the next one because I think it will be painfully plodding.
I don't mind some Mormonism. I've read a lot of books I liked that were Mormon. But golly that was too much for me.
I flew through this. Immensely interesting, this is a brilliantly imagined piece of alternate history quasi-fantasy. Convoluted genre? Yes, but Card just keeps proving to me what a compelling storyteller he is. Don't expect unicorns and magical swords (thankfully), but try it and you'll find a realistic take on folk magic mixed with an alternate story of the birth of our nation that complement each other beautifully and seamlessly. Loved it.
I liked the story idea, the special characteristics passed on to the seventh son of the seventh son, but I could not quite get on board of the whole wholly religious environment. It just did not speak to me at all in a way that I could relate to it (which is irrelevant of my own thoughts)
Seventh Son was a revelation to me when I found it for the first time as a teenager just done with the Speaker Saga and hungry for more Card. It wasn't just different from The Speaker books and the others of Card's that I had read, it was different from everything that I had ever read. On the surface, Seventh Son is just Ender's Game revisited: a young boy on whose shoulders rests the fate of the world. That sentence could describe half of everything Card ever published. But young Alvin, the
I went into this as an ignoramus, not knowing much about Mormons and the influence that the religious ideology has on Card's work. In fact, my knowledge of the faith largely comes from a South Park episode, which had me in stitches. A lot of the negative reviews refer to Card's faith, but coming in cold, I can honestly say that I loved this novel, and had no idea of any overt religious aims. I'm not necessarily a fan of fate and the fact that Alvin is the seventh son of the seventh son and
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