Continuing the story of Alvin Maker and his quest to build the Crystal City, Heartfire has Alvin thrown in jail and on trial again--this time for witchcraft--after he and his companions meet a knackishly talented young woman whose futures threaten to end with her execution for witchcraft and they decide to help her avoid that fate. At the same time, in New England, Peggy Larner continues her quest to abolish slavery and Alvin's brother Calvin seeks a way to free the slaves' heartfires after Peggy discovers that they have somehow, in part, been taken from them.

Alvin's story and the whole trial thing was very ho-hum, considering the last book (Alvin Journeyman) was entirely occupied with Alvin's trial. And I didn't find the young woman, Purity, to be very likeable or interesting. I enjoyed Calvin's story much more, and how his character (finally) changes a bit from beginning to end.

All in all, not the best. But I feel compelled to keep reading out of nostalgia and curiosity both.

Technically I have not "read" this book. I tried to. But it was so boring and predictable that I had to stop. Each of the books in this Alvin Maker series are worse than the last. And that's too bad, because the first was excellent. Five books in and I can't take the preaching anymore.

I liked this one better than "Alvin Journeyman" by far. We had interesting characters and perspectives. The plot line was enjoyable and it felt like the thing with Calvin might resolve itself. It made me want to read the next book immediately.

Heartfire is the kind of Orson Scott Card book I wish I could like. It's got tons of vintage Card touches that he pulls off well. There's the new character of Purity, a New Englander who should remind Xenocide fans (yes, there are some, and I'm one of them) of Gloriously Bright. There's the disquieting scene where an unscrupulous Maker-- a magician, essentially-- seduces (rapes, really) a stranger by altering her hormones and brain chemistry. And there's the best alternate-history cameo yet in the Alvin Maker series: John Adams as a crotchety old judge with an axe to grind. In these and other moments I felt like Card was up to the relentless, innovative, challenging standard of the first few books of the series. Unfortunately, most of the way through the book I didn't have the same feeling.

Really, the problem with the series since Alvin Journeyman can be summed up in terms of Alvin's power. As a trained Maker he has the ability to do essentially anything, but he spends most of books 4 and 5 doing practically nothing, and there are no serious conflicts to challenge him. His adventures in Philadelphia and New England are noticeably lacking in excitement and originality. The plot in Charleston-- featuring Alvin's second-sighted wife Peggy and good-for-nothing brother Calvin-- is much more interesting for not having Alvin around and delivers most of the book's strong moments, but it gets bogged down in a story of slave revolt that Card doesn't make especially believable or relatable. Overall, the plot just doesn't manage to come together in either location.

Having read book 6, The Crystal City, I see Heartfire's failures in an especially harsh light-- not because The Crystal City is significantly better (stay tuned), but because it resumes the main theme of Alvin's quest with barely any mention of Heartfire's plot points. For all that it matters to the main arc of characters and plot, Heartfire might as well not have happened. If you're invested in the series by this point, you'll probably want to read it anyway, and you probably won't mind-- like I said, Card is still doing good stuff. But my appetite for this kind of Card book is starting to decrease.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Card's perspective on slavery ranges from facile righteousness to offensive caricature. what a guy.

Aaaand it's another courtroom drama. Can we get back to the part where a Messiah is on his hero's journey, please?

Enjoyable read. Certainly not as well written as the previous 4 novels in the Alvin Maker series. I never felt any sort of danger to Alvin. Even while in jail, he knew he would be fine. He does not seem worried or afraid. It makes for an entertaining yet nearly conflict-less story. Even the people around him are saved by his “making.” I really like the character of Verily. I also thought it was neat to see a positive depiction of John Adams.

I love the Alvin Maker series. I think it is especially rich in many ways – good characters, excellent plotting that effectively complicate our expectations, rich themes, all the good stuff. Card is especially good at thinking about his characters and what they want so that they generate the plot rather than the plot dragging the characters along. The stories feel natural and exciting.

However, this is the weakest in the series so far. There are a few things that I think cause this to happen.

To Card’s credit, this book only has two plot lines. Many fantasy series on their fifth volume will have eight or nine threads going simultaneously and will dedicate a portion of a volume to each of those threads. And it’s impressive how much Card can get out of just a few hundred pages, rather than needing close to a thousand.

And yet, I felt that one of these threads (the one with Margaret and Calvin in the Crown Colonies) was extremely frustrating. Last time I read the series I really enjoyed Calvin’s banter with Balzac, but this time it just annoyed me. I feel like Card didn’t go deep enough into Calvin to really convince me that he’s nuanced rather than petulant. But I had a really hard time getting invested in that part of the story until the ending of that storyline.

I did enjoy the stuff with Alvin on trial for witchcraft in Massachusetts, which illuminated another part of the storyworld, namely New England, which is still under control of the British government. Drawing upon the mythos of American Puritan culture, Card has designed his New England to be completely anti-magic and so anyone with a discernible knack is instantly an outlaw. However, it turns out that the witch trial begins, not because Alvin is brash with his powers, but because he openly proclaims himself in a gambit to save a scared girl who is targeted by the overly eager witchers. I enjoy Alvin’s nobility and how unusual of a hero he is. Take something like the Wheel of Time, wherein the heroic progression is about applying endlessly mounting pressure upon the hero and hardening them. Alvin faces pressures from unusual angles, such as a witch trial that he doesn’t have to undergo, but must choose. And the whole time he’s at it, Alvin is relatively free of anxiety. The stakes are not about life or death, of even the plot, necessarily, but about being a Maker and thus making change.

Ultimately, this section is not as good as earlier parts of the series, and it is a bit odd that Alvin goes on trial two books in a row. And, if I’m being honest, the witch trial isn’t as interesting as the one in Alvin Journeyman. It felt like Card was mostly trying to make an argument about how Puritanism is still very much a part of American culture and exposing the weaponized rhetoric that Puritanism employs. This book was published during the time of Bill Clinton’s impeachment and the height of Newt Gingrich’s time as Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the Religious Right continued to rage in the United States, and I feel like Card is trying to respond to that in his own way. (Card has become increasingly reactionary in recent years, but as I understand it, he was more progressive in the 1980s and 90s; this novel certainly is, relatively speaking.) This is all worthwhile material, but it lacks the same degree of inner propulsion that the earlier books demonstrated. This felt a lot more didactic, the character’s words and actions barely concealing the essay Card wanted to argue. And, in fairness, one way to understand stories is as narrative-based arguments playing out through the characters. This just felt less natural than the preceding books.

Perhaps the weirdest thing for me to notice is that the series really is stronger when Card is reimagining and subverting and channeling the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The past novels have done an amazing job intertwining, reworking, revising, and in other ways making use of Church history and folklore and American history and folklore to create a truly amazing alternate history. Church history is pretty much absent from this volume and it’s all USA history, including a cameo by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and a key appearance by John Adams. But for some reason, the mythic undertones of this book just weren’t as compelling, and the lack of Mormon lore did seem to actually work against the book and that surprises me.

Also, I have to ask: Why is there so much nudity and body humor in this book? Card has often used these. Sometimes he takes a Lewis Carroll/Williams Blake approach to bespeak a sense of innocence. When it works it’s ok, but this book made me cringe more than once. It just seemed really juvenile. I just don’t understand why it’s there in such quantity and discussed so much. It’s just so silly.

Still, the stuff that works does well enough, and the weaknesses, while present, stand out most because they hobble this book whereas the previous ones could freewheel. Now on to a reread of Crystal City.

I found that these Alvin stories are really good at taking up moral dilemmas of early America and show then for what they where. The story telling is quite good as well.

The Alvin Maker series just gets better. This episode we get witch trials, the struggle to end slavery, new intriguing characters that sort of dovetail with the Ender book I just read, A War of Gifts, and some movement toward a resolution, better or worse, with Alvin's brother Calvin, his seeming opposite so much of the time. I also get many giggles out of the alternate history aspects. When "Tom Jefferson" and John and John Quincy Adams and  Audobon  appear or get mentioned, it's a riot, and I'm not even a very good student of history. Probably one of the better books in the series so far. Now I have the dilemma of going back to Ender or continuing with Alvin for my next read...decisions, decisions.

The audio versions of these books are great.

First I'd like to concur with many of the other reviewers here on Amazon.. the cover of this book is absolutely horrific. Besides being way to romance novel-like for any man to bring out in public, it also has no bearing on the story. Whatever is happening on the cover certainly doesn't portray any scene from the book, so my only question is "What the hell were the producers thinking, and how did OSC let this happen??"

But whatever, on to the book itself. Without a doubt this is the least inspiring and enjoyable book of the series so far. Mostly unimportant-seeming, the events chronicled here come off as being filler for the series. I'm not sure if Card just wasn't certain about where he needed to go with this story and had to publish something, or if he really believed a whole novel would be required to introduce a couple more characters and add detail to a bit more of his fantasy realm. Either way, this novel comes off as being short and inconsequential. The story as a whole doesn't seem moved forward very much from where it was after the third book in the series.

All that being said, I still give this book a generous rating because of Card's wonderful writing. The characters and their banter are still remarkably enjoyable, with Calvin, Arthur Stuart, Verily Cooper, and Honore Balzac providing most of the entertainment. You really find yourself caring for these fictional characters in this series, and that is no different in this book. Card obviously loves the characters he's created here, its just too bad he can't seem to determine what will happen to them.

You'll finish this book in just a couple of days, so its well worth your time, just don't expect it to bring too much progress to the story.

2/5 Would not read again.

The suddenly slow pace of Alvin Journeyman continues in this novel. Alvin continues to be a complete and utter martyr whenever the opportunity presents itself and spends a lot of time being resigned about the fact that he HAS TO build the Crystal City because it's a thing to do and not because it's something he really WANTS to do. He is unrecognizable from the Alvin of the first two books and not in a remotely good way.

Peggy continues her single woman crusade against slavery and muses a lot about heartfires. And And she has a baby girl in her womb. Don't forget, her and Alvin's daughter in her WOMB. She's got a baby in her womb. Seriously, almost every damn time Card mentions the baby it is "the baby in Peggy's womb." As opposed to the one she's growing Zeus-like in her thigh?? Honestly.

Purity is useless and brings about useless digressions.

Verily is wonderful and lawyer-y and gets thwarted in his attempt of being generally awesome by Alvin who stops him because someone's feelings might get hurt. Just like last time Verily was about to use his awesome lawyering powers to save Alvin's stupid hide.

And Calvin has a stick up his butt. But not literally.

I liked Seventh Son and Red Prophet (blatant romanticization of First Nations People aside) but ugh. This series has gone way downhill.