Azt hiszem, kb. itt van, hogy ezt a sorozatot is feladom. Mert úgy tűnik nem tart sehova. Legalábbis én nem látom hogy lenne valami cél. Ha egy kötet szól arról, Alvinnak ismét lesz egy új követője, akkor elég sokáig fog tartani, mire annyi embert összegyűjt, hogy megépítse az álmaiban látott Kristályvárost. Nem mondom, Card stílusa továbbra is jó, bár most kicsit sok volt a felesleges moralizálás, az akciók meg gyorsan lezajlottak, s nem is teljesen kielégítően történtek meg. A rabszolgaság kérdése nem lett megoldva, a boszorkányper 3 oldal alatt véget ért, a felvezetések alapján pedig sokkal nagyobb durranásra számítottam.

Részletesen: http://olvasonaplo.net/olvasonaplo/20...

Liked it enough to read the next one. :)

Two stories in one, that end up coming together. On the one hand Alvin has formed a little gang with Mike, Verily and Arthur Stuart. Wandering around trying to work out how Alvin is going to build his Crystal City - or even what the Crystal City really is. In the process, Alvin gets accused of being a witch and Verily suddenly decides to take on the whole principle of witch trials and fight them through the courts.

The other story is of Peggy, now Alvin's wife, who is trying to get an audience with the exiled King in order to avert the coming war. Mixing her story up a little is the appearance of Calvin, Alvin's brother, who is still jealous of Alvin's powers. Add into this story a more detailed explanation of the magical powers of the black slaves and we now have three distinct magic systems - the knacks of the white people, the nature affinity of the native Americans and now the knots and dolls of the African slaves. Think useful functional magic for white folks, noble savage tree hugging for the red folks, and voodoo for the black folks and you won't be far off. Obviously, not a hint of any implied racism here...

Peggy and Calvin's story is arguably the more interesting here - although both stories feature way too much talking (therefore telling) rather than action and plot development (showing). As a whole it does feel bit too much like a filling story. An attempt to build a journey for Alvin rather than having him just rush off and build his city. And, Card does get a little bogged down in the side stories again. But, while they're fun and well told, we're still no closer to having a crystal city than we were all those books ago... Hopefully the final book - helpfully titled The Crystal City - will actually finish the story out.

Slow going but good ending.