Rating: 
Summary: 'Card blows it again'
Review: Well, he's done it again. Orson Scott Card blows off yet another series. As he's previously done to the Ender series and the 'Earth' novels, he turns in an utterly horrible novel in the middle of his series. 'Heartfire' has none of the charm of the first books in the series. The main plot lines consist of slaves voluntarily trapping their 'spirits' (for lack of a better term), and Alvin's quest to help a girl with special powers. As if that's not enough Card does nothing to advance his 'Crystal City' storyline. He saddles the reader with incredibly annoying characters..Mike Fink (I believe his name is) who swears and serves no purpose I can fathom..the frenchman-philosopher (whose name I can't recall)..ditto Fink..and Arthur Stuart, who becomes more and more annoying with each passing page. If I were Alvin I'd leave the annoying child behind. If Card weren't so good at creating interesting fiction I'd stop reading him in a heartbeat. I don't know whether he gets bored with his series, or there are no new stories to tell, but just as with books 3&4 in the Ender series (awful), and books 4&5 (especially 5) in the Earthfall series, Card apparently quits on another series.
Rating: 
Summary: The series is officially unsustainable at this point
Review: Wow, that went downhill quick. Alvin is no longer a vaguely interesting character in a well-drawn world, but a blatant Christ figure with nothing at all for the reader to relate to, a figure of such saccharine goodness that all obstacles just collapse at his approach. It's a shame Card felt it necessary to inflict this on people who enjoyed the first two books and put up with the next two. For good Christian allegory (if that's your cup of tea), get CS Lewis' Narnia books -- the story stands all by itself.
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