The Crystal City
Book 6 of the Tales of Alvin Maker
By Orson Scott Card
Book on CD Read by Card, Stefan Rudnick and Gabrielle Decuir, among others.
I found this book to be a little more engaging that the last one, which I wanted to be over long before it was. The narrative was new and different, while still meandering somewhat, which is part of the charm of this series. The action was fairly constant, with a lot less exposition (in the form of court trials) and constant, if slow, change in the characters and the plot. With the location of the Crystal City finally established, the slaves (almost) free, and Alvin’s son born (and saved), it seems like they accomplished something in this volume.
Up to this point in this world’s history, it has very much resembled the expansion of America in the 1800s. With the events in these stories, however, the reader begins to see something very different taking shape. The power of knacks and Makers has begun to shape the new world into something very different from what we know in our reality. The establishment of Furrow Spring County, the future location of the Crystal City, promises major differences in a reality where magic is real. Alvin’s acknowledgment of the different but equally important Song of machines (the sound and feel of something’s magic) portends a more holistic Industrial Revolution, which will allow mankind to live in peace with nature AND technology. The potential for stories in that future reality is awesome, which makes it all the more disappointing that Card has not yet finished this series.
Again, I say, isn’t the Ender series all played out?!
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