Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card

Gasp, I actually managed a post! I guess in the whole hubbub of the holidays I lost the rythm, and since we'll be moving back to Texas in about a month, I'll probably lose it again soon. So, no promises as to regular posting, but I'll try!

I first read this book about ten years ago, before I was an Orson Scott Card fan. At the time I was slightly uneasy with the book's apparent religion = bad, magic = good conflict and not quite sure where it was going in that vein, so I didn't go out of my way to pursue the series any further. Now that I'm a big fan of Card and more familiar with his personal philosophy, I'm not at all worried that it'll turn into something like His Dark Materials.

Overview
Seventh Son is the first book in the Alvin Maker series, which takes place in an alternate-universe colonial America. In this world a large number of colonists possess 'knacks' or minor magical skills that earned them heavy prosecution in a puritan England. These include everything from the inborn ability to dowse or start fires to a skillful use of hexes and charms. The time is roughly equivalent to 5-10 years after the Revolutionary War, and anyone with a basic knowledge of American history will run into plenty of vaugely familar names, places and events.

Into the mostly-untamed wilderness of the Susquehanna valley comes Alvin Miller, his pregnant wife and their thirteen, very-soon-to-be fourteen children. We learn that if the coming child is a boy he will not only be the family's fourteenth child, but the seventh son of a seventh son and destined to be a Maker (whatever that is).

I hope it's no spoiler to point out that he is indeed born, and throughout the rest of the book we learn more about this strange alternate world and watch young Alvin as he begins to discover his power, potential, and the great dangers that threaten him.

Recommended for: Fantasy fans of all ages.

Parental worries: One violent death and one very serious injury, along with the aforementioned religious tension (which is less based on theology and more on the personalities involved).

Audiobook comments: Read by a cast, with a different narrator for each character's point of view. The reading is beautiful, and it really helps set the tone for each character. My only complaint is that one character who hails from Scotland only picks up his accent when the point is actually brought up in the story.

Ramblings:
In the book's afterward, Card explains that his original motivation to write the story of Alvin Maker was jealousy of the rich tapestry of myth and legend that England and Europe have inherited over the centuries. In this series he attempts to build a similar backdrop for America, and with the obvious admission that no one man or one work could come close to rivaling centuries worth of legend and mythos, it's off to a pretty impressive start. He paints a vivid, exciting picture of early pioneer life and builds his alternate-history America in tantalizing bits and pieces. (or maybe it just seems that way without the maps that I'm assuming accompany the actual book)

There's something about the phrase "The sword that cut off George Washington's head" that sends a chill down the spine, and Card uses it to great effect. The twisted history has a haunting, bittersweet feeling--there are several changes that we could wish had been part of our real history, and several that we're glad never took place.

Card also has an amazing ability to bring characters to life, and since my early American history is slightly fuzzy, it felt like every other character I met could turn into someone straight out of a history book (either one of our history books or one belonging to the alternate world). Which I guess is another way of saying it manages to pull off the feel of an epic very well :-p