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A review by apostrophen
Alvin Journeyman by Orson Scott Card
3.0
Note: I won't be finishing this series, given the author's homophobic stance - I'm not going to fill his pockets. But these were my thoughts on the book before I knew how horrible a man the author was:
Quite happily, this book had quite a bit of Calvin (Alvin's younger brother, who, since Alvin's eldest brother died just after Alvin was born, is also a seventh son of a seventh son). Calvin Maker is extremely jealous of Alvin's abilities (and is poisoned to the thought of trying to even match Alvin or learn from Alvin), and when Alvin returns to his home town, Calvin takes off, to learn to be Alvin's better, at any cost. Calvin is a real scoundrel, and written so well it's enjoyable to read.
You also meet a new character in this tale, Verily Cooper, child of a barrel-maker who becomes a barrister, who also has a similar Making knack, and who, by chance encounter with Calvin in Europe, comes to the Americas to meet Alvin. That Alvin has by this point got himself in jail is no coincidence, and I think Verily quite stole the show in this book.
Also - finally we see Alvin and Peggy speaking to each other a bit more in this book, and the outcome satisfied me. Peggy is fast becoming my favourite character in the tale.
I'm still getting annoyed at the various references to places like Hio and Mizzipy. There's a lot in this novel, and it reads denser and with than the others so far. I'll have to hold off on reading book five for a while, as I'm fast running to the end of this series!
Best Line: "...You have achieved, in life, that infinite power which is usually reserved to the novelist." / "The power to use up enormous amounts of paper and ink to no avail?"
Quite happily, this book had quite a bit of Calvin (Alvin's younger brother, who, since Alvin's eldest brother died just after Alvin was born, is also a seventh son of a seventh son). Calvin Maker is extremely jealous of Alvin's abilities (and is poisoned to the thought of trying to even match Alvin or learn from Alvin), and when Alvin returns to his home town, Calvin takes off, to learn to be Alvin's better, at any cost. Calvin is a real scoundrel, and written so well it's enjoyable to read.
You also meet a new character in this tale, Verily Cooper, child of a barrel-maker who becomes a barrister, who also has a similar Making knack, and who, by chance encounter with Calvin in Europe, comes to the Americas to meet Alvin. That Alvin has by this point got himself in jail is no coincidence, and I think Verily quite stole the show in this book.
Also - finally we see Alvin and Peggy speaking to each other a bit more in this book, and the outcome satisfied me. Peggy is fast becoming my favourite character in the tale.
I'm still getting annoyed at the various references to places like Hio and Mizzipy. There's a lot in this novel, and it reads denser and with than the others so far. I'll have to hold off on reading book five for a while, as I'm fast running to the end of this series!
Best Line: "...You have achieved, in life, that infinite power which is usually reserved to the novelist." / "The power to use up enormous amounts of paper and ink to no avail?"