Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Tor Books (1989), Edition: 1st, 342 pages
Description
The saga of Alvin Maker, set in an alternative version of the American frontier country, continues, in a tale full of folklore and magic. Young Alvin returns to the town of his birth and begins his apprenticeship with Makepeace Smith, committing seven years of his life in exchange for the skills and knowledge of a blacksmith. But Alvin must also learn to control and use his own talent, that of a Maker, else his destiny will be unfulfilled.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Grumpus
Continuing with the fine tale of a man imbued with the power of tying together all the worlds things -- people and things. A powerful mythology of the early Americans.
LibraryThing member HippieLunatic
Card returns to the style of Seventh Son writing in Prentice Alvin, the third of the Alvin Miller series. I was able to become more connected to the primary characters, even though the time span of this book is seven years. Card does a fantastic job of choosing the moments to depict in order to
I don't believe this is a book that can be read independently of the others, however. It is a strong link in a series of books, but cannot stand on its own.
Show More
give a full view of who each of his characters are.I don't believe this is a book that can be read independently of the others, however. It is a strong link in a series of books, but cannot stand on its own.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bethlea
I really enjoy this series. This book looks at the history of slavery and race relations. There are evil characters who are blatantly racist - believing that slavery is the correct condition for the black people. And there are many good people willing to risk life and limb to help free them.
LibraryThing member willowcove
My personal feelings about the author aside. The first book was a fun read. Unfortunately, each successive book in the series got more and more disappointing.
LibraryThing member aethercowboy
Prentice Alvin is the third book of Orson Scott Card's imaginative Alvin Maker series. The premise of this series takes place in an America that never got its independence. Added to this, the old wives tales and lore, particularly the magic associated with it, seems to work. Most of the white men
In the third Chapter, Alvin, the seventh son of a seventh son, apprentices himself to a blacksmith. It is here that he learns a trade, all the while, coming to terms with his own unique power as a Maker. Matters are made more interesting by the presence of a half-black boy who takes a great interest in Alvin's work.
If you are a fan of alternate history, particular alternate American history, especially that which contains a hint or so of magic, then the Alvin Maker series is for you. You may even like it if you have an affinity to indigenous American lore.
Show More
embrace Christianity and shun the magic ways as evil, particularly those in appointed religious positions, and slavery is still admissible in the South.In the third Chapter, Alvin, the seventh son of a seventh son, apprentices himself to a blacksmith. It is here that he learns a trade, all the while, coming to terms with his own unique power as a Maker. Matters are made more interesting by the presence of a half-black boy who takes a great interest in Alvin's work.
If you are a fan of alternate history, particular alternate American history, especially that which contains a hint or so of magic, then the Alvin Maker series is for you. You may even like it if you have an affinity to indigenous American lore.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Prolagus
I can hardly remember a book that caught me half as much as Alvin's saga. You can see the characters change in the way they talk, and think, and act, throughout their life; and – whatever, I'm not a good writer, but he is. And this is the kind of book that gives you a sense of loss when you have
Show More
read the last page. Show Less
LibraryThing member laileana
Come live in an America that might have been. Where everyday people used hexes and charms in their homes and lives. Where a slave turned into a bird and flew to freedom with infant in her arms. Where Red men created a powerful magic with the sacrifice of their lives and in doing so created a
Show More
barrier no white man could ever cross. Where a Weaver sits in her cabin weaving our lives-as her ancestress did in the old country-as her cousins in the old country do even now-and as her daughter in the Red mans land does as well. Where Ben Franklin was a Wizard and a Maker and George Washington was beheaded. Where the Iroquis-in the books the Irawaka are one of the original states that sign the constitution-known in the books as The Compact. A Compact that makes Red men-Native Americans- citizens as well as black men-no slaves. The books tell the tale of Alvin, who is the seventh son of a seventh son and a very powerful Maker-almost like a wizard. He fights against the Unmaker. The books also feature a very prominent Torch-or psychic. In these novels Card weaves a wonderful Continent full of powerful characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member DaleVanWyhe
Alvin Maker stories are really keeping my interest. Especially the good guys overcoming the bad guys.
LibraryThing member cargocontainer
This was better than the previous book, but still fell short of where I thought it needed to be. This series is still amazingly racist, and does more to justify racism than to go against it. There are genuinely good parts to this book, and a lot of it was enjoyable, but there were parts that just
Show More
made me wonder what Card was thinking leaving these parts and elements in a finished book. They really detracted from the whole. Show Less
LibraryThing member Snukes
An interesting installment in the series. This book felt more like it was telling the tale than the second book. It also felt like it was being told as part of the oral tradition, with a bit of excessive repetition of ideas and themes. All the same, the story is getting more interesting, and I look
Show More
forward to seeing what happens next. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
I really liked the first two Alvin Maker books, even though from the beginning there were some niggling things that were bothering me. It's a fantasy set in an alternate history America--which is a lot of what had made it so fun. Things seem to have split off from our Timeline at least by the time
Still, despite the sympathy for the Native American plight in Red Prophet there was much in Card's vision of America that rubbed me wrong. It became obvious that Card didn't see the integration of the Iroquois and Cherokee into America in his Alternate History as this good thing. I felt instead he saw them as having become "White" through technology and literacy and he saw instead as ideal this separation of the races with the Whites East of the Mississippi and the Reds West of that river embodied in Red Prophet. And in Prentice Alvin, it finally dawned on me that his hero Alvin Maker was a stand in for Joseph Smith; this is the Mormon Narnia. I had thought in the first book, Seventh Son, I could see the Mormon influence in making a villain of a Methodist preacher who wouldn't believe there could be prophets in the present day. But in this novel this whole thing about Alvin being a "Maker" took on more of a messianic tinge that grated on me. Especially with Peggy devoting herself to him as the fulfillment of her destiny. So this is where I got off the ride--mid-book. That's why the rating is so low.
Show More
of the English Civil War. There's a Lord Protector in 1800--but also a (much truncated) United States, without slavery and with Native Americans who are full citizens. (There is still slavery in a rival nation, Apalachee, and in the still existing "Crown Colonies.") Benjamin Franklin was reputed a wizard, George Washington was beheaded for treason and Thomas Jefferson was a guerrilla fighter. The poet William Blake and the legendary Native American leader Tecumseh (Ta-Kumsaw) are prominently featured as characters in the first two books. Oh, and there's magic. One with a definite American folk magic feel. It's a world oh so different than the usual faux Medieval European fantasies that you so commonly find. And this read I noted how natural Card's dialogue is--it doesn't use elisions or strange spellings, but syntax and word choice to give a flavor of how people spoke. He's a wonderful storyteller.Still, despite the sympathy for the Native American plight in Red Prophet there was much in Card's vision of America that rubbed me wrong. It became obvious that Card didn't see the integration of the Iroquois and Cherokee into America in his Alternate History as this good thing. I felt instead he saw them as having become "White" through technology and literacy and he saw instead as ideal this separation of the races with the Whites East of the Mississippi and the Reds West of that river embodied in Red Prophet. And in Prentice Alvin, it finally dawned on me that his hero Alvin Maker was a stand in for Joseph Smith; this is the Mormon Narnia. I had thought in the first book, Seventh Son, I could see the Mormon influence in making a villain of a Methodist preacher who wouldn't believe there could be prophets in the present day. But in this novel this whole thing about Alvin being a "Maker" took on more of a messianic tinge that grated on me. Especially with Peggy devoting herself to him as the fulfillment of her destiny. So this is where I got off the ride--mid-book. That's why the rating is so low.
Show Less
LibraryThing member darushawehm
I've also read Seventh Son, and the main complaint I have is that it's tough reading series books out of order or incompletely. I suspect the series is quite good, but I'll probably never get to read it all.
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
Card is an extremely good writer, and his books are always a pleasure to read, but at times I did feel that the stories here occasionally suffered for being too allegorical, and too much about Card's ideas of morality.
With the 3rd book in this series, 'Prentice Alvin' the focus shifts to an
With the 3rd book in this series, 'Prentice Alvin' the focus shifts to an
Show More
anti-slavery topic. (The second dealt more with the treatment of Native Americans by colonists). Here, we meet Arthur Stuart, an orphaned black slave whose mother dies magically getting him to freedom. Slave hunters come seeking the boy, and Alvin must use his 'knack' to help him escape. Also, a new school teacher arrives in town, disguised, because she is the future-seeing 'torch' who saved Alvin's life when he was born, and is afraid of the destinies she sees for herself with him. Show Less
LibraryThing member symcbean
I'd not read the first in the series - started with this one. Its OK.
LibraryThing member kslade
Good third in series.
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1990)
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 1989)
Locus Award (Finalist — Fantasy Novel — 1990)
Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — 1990)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1989
Physical description
342 p.; 6.45 inches
ISBN
0312931417 / 9780312931414