Rating: 
Summary: epic - in a best sence of the word
Review: It is arguably the best (or one of the very best) alternative histories. Poetic, non-didactic - and very touching at the same time. A great saga!
Rating:
Summary: epic - in a best sence of the word
Review: Many times while reading this book I felt the urge to just toss it into the trash. I read this book just for the simple fact that I am two books into it and have enjoyed the previous ones enough to continue. Slow moving and slow reading. Sad part is I will continue to read this series to the end because it does show some promise. We shall see.
Rating: 
Summary: Let down
Review: Many times while reading this book I felt the urge to just toss it into the trash. I read this book just for the simple fact that I am two books into it and have enjoyed the previous ones enough to continue. Slow moving and slow reading. Sad part is I will continue to read this series to the end because it does show some promise. We shall see.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Orson scott card is up there whith ben bova i would say, all of his books are the best! Enders game, and the Tales of Alvin Maker are some of my favorite books. Card is such a good writer that a 12 year old,like myself, can tell the diffrence between Card and ben bova and i will tell you that there is only a little diffrence between the two best authers of fantastic books!
Rating:
Summary: A low point of a nonetheless excellent series
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A low point of a nonetheless excellent series
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: The whole Alvin Maker series comprises Card's best work
Review: 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
Rating: 
Summary: Much better than its predecessor
Review: This book has all the trademarks of a good Orson Scott Card book. The story is fast-paced and interesting. Card's pacing, tone, and voice, as always, is faultless. The characters are well developed and wholly believable. They live in the 1800's (well sort of, its an alternate reality) and unlike many modern-day novels, they don't talk or act as if they grew up in the 1980's. They seem genuine. This book is much better than its predecessor, RED PROPHET. There's less hocus-pocus Indian magic and more character development. For the first time in the Alvin Maker series, you feel the saga unfolding over the span of several years. However, ALVIN PRENTICE cannot stand on its own, and one of the biggest drawbacks of the book is that you have to read both SEVENTH SON and RED PROPHET in order to understand it (the first one was good, but the second one stunk). And, despite the excellent storytelling, this book is still a fantasy novel with a nameless, faceless villain (the UNmaker - it sounds like a bad 7-Up commercial) that hardly inspires fear or anxiety. I guess I'm not much of a fan of science fantasy and that's why I can't rank this series at the top of my list.
Rating:
Summary: Alvin Maker series combines fantasy and American history.
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: The Maker series drops the ball
Review: This is where the series gets bad. The first half of the book is going along fine, but I cringed every time the plow was mentioned. This was the same feeling I got with the Xenocide ending. The characters come up with something that they can conceive of in their minds, and so the laws of phyisics bend to their conception. So it is with Alvin, who theorizes a ridiculous way to become a real Maker. And because he can conceive of it in his poorly educated mind, this somehow makes it possible. I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, but this one just left a bad aftertaste.
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