~This was the first book that I read by the author & I was totally blown away about the story,so many unbelievable happenings all the way through it right up to the end~ ") Looking forward to completing the other books that follow. ")

The second in the Alvin Maker series.
Similar to what Card did in the 'Ender' series, this book starts off covering a lot of the same time period and events as the previous book, but taken from a different character's perspective. It also ventures further into 'alternate history' territory (and boy is it alternate!)
It's about the well-known Native American leader Tecumseh, and his brother Tenskwatawa, who was known as a prophet. (all true).
I have to say that I think the book would have worked better as a pure fantasy story rather than alternate history. As it stands, it doesn't just venture into; it is ALL ABOUT the stereotypes of Native American culture. It's a very allegorical story, but if you want to have a culture be part of an allegory, it works better if it's a made-up culture, not peoples' real lives and history.
For example, an critical point in the story is the famous battle at Tippecanoe. In reality, this was a bloody but equally joined battle between Tecumseh's forces and those of to-be-President Harrison (who, in the book is more-evil-than-evil). In reality, Harrison did win, but there were an about-even number of casualties (less than 100) on each side.
In the book, "Tippy-Canoe" is a massacre: In revenge for the supposed killing of two white boys, white gunmen slaughter NINE THOUSAND Natives who, sworn to peace and non-violence, peacefully line up, unarmed, to be slaughtered.
Now, if Card wants to make a point about martyrdom, that's all well and good, but I have issues with completely rewriting reality like that. And I know I'm not the only one who gets tired of seeing Native Americans portrayed as mystically close to nature, blah, blah, blah.

I found it very interesting to re-read my review of Seventh Son, this book's predecessor, after reading this book. It seems like I was in love with the religious aspects of that book, but appreciated the characters and web of small-town drama. In the few months since I've read that and brought this one (in a fantastically textured mass market paperback - these books are in the running for best MMPs I own, and that's saying something), the characters have fermented in my head and I'm a lot more in love with their drama now than I was then. This book is very different, though; the plot is much grander, as I anticipated. For the most part, I enjoyed it. I actually liked this book more than Seventh Son, although it does have a couple flaws and forsakes the first book's best parts. I suppose that the fact that Card can shun those and still have us a good story is a testament to his writing prowess, which I am now starting to appreciate.

First of all, this book leans more heavily into its alternate history setting than Seventh Son (I'll be comparing them consistently throughout this review, so if that bugs you, I'm sorry). We open up with a likker dealer named Hooch being double-crossed by wannabe governor William Harrison (who, in our world, became the President). Harrison (the Big Bad of the book) has a liquored up Red slave in the form of Tenskwa-Tawa (another historical figure), and discusses his plans to likker up all the Reds to death with a young Andrew Jackson. There are some notable Frenchmen (La Feyette and good ol' Napoleon) to the North. I don't know a lot about these people, but I enjoyed how they were riffed upon for the story nonetheless. It brought a layer that was in the background of Seventh Son to the forefront. Harrison's plan to frame Ta-Kumsaw (older brother of Tenskwa-Tawa, who's now the Prophet since he had a religious experience in Alvin Maker's bedroom that we witnessed in Book One) for the torture and murder of white boys in order to drum up resistance goes according to plan when Alvin Maker and his brother Measure are on their way to drop Alvin off to be a blacksmith's apprentice.

So the first third-or-so of the book, before Alvin was back in the story, was only okay for me. I liked it, but wasn't horribly engaged. It was partly because of how different these passages were and, I believe, the fact that Daylight Savings Time was two days before... my body needed time to adjust. Or maybe that's just crap. My body definitely felt adjusted when I reached the Alvin Maker portions. While I would've liked to see more Maker family interactions (including Townshed and Armor-of-God Weaver) sprinkled throughout the rest of the book, I enjoyed what I got, since (as I stated), these dynamics are wonderful and highlights Card's skill at writing moving character scenes. Alvin and Measure are almost killed by Harrison's Reds, but are rescued by Ta-Kumsaw's. Not that he's a friend of the White Man; he only lets Measure go when the Prophet (who has his own mysterious manipulative agenda) tells him that Alvin must travel with him as he gathers up the Red Men for war, and to let Measure warn his people to avert said war. That's all I'll say about the plot except for this, for my future self:  The scene where the White men gun down the 10,000 (well, 9,000) Red men, women, and children while standing in a line was... horribly brutal. The whole blood-pours-out-of-your hands thing was chilling and I wish we could've seen the aftermath with the Makers. I think this whole scene was a little contrived and unrealistic in setup, but that could be explained by the Prophet's unknown goals and acts of prophecy, so I won't get real upset about it. .

As I've said before, Card excels at characters. This is one of those books where I wanted to rant about these characters and the situations they found themselves rather than the world, which is usually my focus since I'm such a science fiction reader. Except for our Red leads, who I felt were harder to pin down and more thematical vessels than individuals. I think that Card handled the racial politics very well and gave each side good and bad elements; Red philosophy was a driving force of the book. I also think that Card writes pretty good prose that feels like first person while firmly being third-person. It's quite good. Lastly, this book is considerably more brutal than the first - there are a couple viscous deaths and a lot of killing, especially at the end. Card never shows more than he has to, but it does make me rethink my statement that these books could be comfortably read by children of Alvin's age; I enjoyed the entire tonal spectrum, but your fourth grader may not.

Overall, although the popular opinion is that the Alvin Maker series goes downhill as it progresses, I enjoyed this even more than the first, so it gets an 8 out of 10. If it hadn't been Daylight Savings Time last weekend it may have gotten an 8.5, but I suppose we'll never know. I may drag my feet on purchasing the third book because it's not nearly as pretty and stylized as the first two books, and I do expect this series' quality to go downhill... but maybe not. I'll be rereading Speaker for the Dead very soon, so that will be interesting, and I may be reading Card's standalone Treason soon. We'll see. For now, it's time for some 'classic literature,' so goodbye for now, Orson; I'll be thinking of you.

Parts of this I really enjoyed, other times I put it down and left it for a while. I have a harder time with alternative history fiction. I also wonder how Native Americans would react to it.

Originally posted at FanLit:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

Red Prophet is the second book in Orson Scott Card’s THE TALES OF ALVIN MAKER, an alternate history set in a frontier America in which folk magic is real. In the first book, Seventh Son, we were introduced to the main protagonist of the series, Alvin Miller who, because he’s the seventh son of a seventh son, is a gifted healer. We meet Alvin as a baby and follow him into boyhood. At the end of the story he has a vision of a shining man who gives him moral guidance.

In Red Prophet we learn that the shining man is Lolla-Wossiky, an alternate version of Tenskwatawa, spiritual leader of the Native American Shawnee tribe. His brother Tecumseh is their chief. While Card focused on the religious implications of a magical American frontier in the first book, the focus here is on the interaction between the “Whites” and the “Reds” and culminates with The Battle of Tippecanoe.

At the beginning of the story, William Henry Harrison, governor of Carthage City, is dealing with the Native Americans his own way — with poison. He purchases huge quantities of whiskey and sells it to the “Whiskey Reds.” Because they have a low tolerance for alcohol (it’s genetic), they become alcoholics and many die. Andrew Jackson is disgusted with Harrison’s sneaky tactics; he wants to do the more honorable thing and just shoot them all.

Tecumseh, who realizes that alcohol is killing his people and knows of Jackson’s plans, decides to lead his people against the Whites. He allies with the French in Canada, led by the effete Marquis de Lafayette and Napoleon Bonaparte (yes, Napoleon’s in America). Lafayette, however, has his own agenda. He secretly loves the idea of democracy and he admires the American spirit. He wants to use Bonaparte to bring democracy to France. (This storyline is amusing, especially when read by the narrators I listened to in Blackstone Audio’s version.)

Alvin Maker, who is on his way to his apprenticeship, meets Tecumseh and becomes involved with the war. Not only is he instrumental in affecting the outcome of The Battle of Tippecanoe but, with the help of Lolla-Wossiky, the Red Prophet, he sees visions of possible futures and learns more about his powers.

Orson Scott Card is a great storyteller and he’s got a big imagination. This alternate history is exciting, entertaining, thoughtful, and occasionally humorous. I thought Card’s depiction of the Native Americans’ magical connection with the land was beautiful and makes for a lovely American mythology. Many “Whites” who read Red Prophet will feel ashamed at how the Native Americans were treated by our ancestors. Some readers have accused Card of being racist (anti-European), but I didn’t feel this way and I noted that Card gives us many Caucasians to admire and shows us that not all “Red-White” interactions where destructive.

Orson Scott Card is particularly good at voice, dialogue, and character nuance. His heroes are capable of doing evil and his villains can have good motives. Characters don’t always do what we expect them to and there are times when we might even change our minds about how we feel about them. I look forward to seeing these characters grow throughout the series.

I’m listening to Blackstone Audio’s productions of THE TALES OF ALVIN MAKER which is performed, in alternating chapters, by Stefan Rudnicki, Scott Brick, and Stephen Hoye. All three of them are excellent readers. I’ve already purchased book three, Prentice Alvin, and book four, Alvin Journeyman, on audio.

Red Prophet, first published in 1988, was nominated for a Nebula and Hugo award. It won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

Recommendation: Well-crafted with a lot of supernatural world-building that is almost not connected to the first book, Red Prophet will appeal to fans of the supernatural or alternative history in general or Stephen King fans in particular.

Critique: One of the more interesting and also frustrating things about this book is how little it continues the themes of the first book. While Alvin Maker appears in this book and plays a pivotal role, the book is not ABOUT him, nor is it about the primary tension established in Seventh Son: the conflict between creation and destruction, the Maker and the Unmaker. Instead, it is a chronicle of the struggle of Native Americans and the land itself against the foreign (mostly white) invaders, who have no connection to the land and who deaden the land by their very presence. This is interesting in that it is a bold move by the author to effectively abandon the primary conflict and make us care about another, separate supernatural struggle, but of course it's irritating if you as a reader were invested in that first conflict. It's really a strange choice.

It's engagingly written, and by the end I certainly cared about the characters and exulted at the comeuppance of the villainous William Harrison character. It has some cool ideas regarding magic - that there is power in blood that connects natives to the land, and that settlers who have no connection to the land perforce cannot help but destroy the land by their very presence - and it's cool to see more of the alternative version of our world presented. We find out more about the colonies and free lands, and a bunch of alternative French historical figures also appear: Napoleon and Lafayette among them. Card's concern that we might get offended at portraying Harrison as a villain - the book begins with an "Author's Note" to explicitly make clear to us that the real-world William Harrison was not the blackguard he is in this novel - is a little weird, given that we're reading a book so clearly not actual history. Maybe some descendant of the real-world analog of one of Card's fictional characters got very publicly offended in the past, so he felt the need to explicitly state that "Hey, this is NOT your great-great-great-great-great-great grandpa," perhaps? It only occurs to me now that he doesn't provide such a disclaimer about Andrew Jackson. I wonder why that is...?

The book is a celebration of Native Americans as well as early US history, and presents the indigenous people as completely sympathetic, in opposition to various groups of foreign settlers with varying degrees of villainy. But it also presents Tenskwa-Tawa, the Red Prophet of the title, foretelling the major events of the book. Prophecy is always difficult in fiction, particularly when it is presented so clearly and explicitly as it is here. We know what is going to happen because Tenskwa-Tawa foretells it. So a lot of the tension is removed for us as the reader: we never feel like "Oh, how is it going to turn out in the end?" Instead, it is like a Shakespearean or Sophoclean play that tells us what is going to happen in the very beginning, and our tension as viewers is watching the characters tragically play out what we know will occur, despite all their efforts to change or avert their fate.

I really liked the sympathy for the natives in this book and the ultimate resolution was satisfyingly cathartic despite the horror, but I didn't care for how it abandoned the conflict of the first book. I was really engaged with the characters of Tenskwa-Tawa and his brother Ta-Kumsaw, and so for most of the book I wasn't bothered by this divesting of the first book's conflict, but Card is not content to just have Alvin present as an observer (I expect - and hope! - that what Alvin witnesses in this book will show up later as a foundational aspect of his character), but jars us with an occasional reference to the previous conflict, without developing it at all. He's almost rubbing our noses in the fact that he's not doing anything with the first conflict. The way he mentions the Unmaker without it having any effect or role to play in the entire novel is thus more irritating than satisfying. It would've been far more preferable for Card to omit any mention of the first book's supernatural antagonist than to name-drop off-hand references like he did. It's one of the few sour notes in the novel for me.

La Fayette is an amazing character with a fascinatingly cunning mind and an inspiringly tragic sacrifice. His is a really compelling side-plot, which reminded me of most of the plots from A Song of Ice and Fire, where the reader is horrified and enthralled at the struggles of the characters in schemes and machinations that ultimately don't matter because they ignore the giant problem that somehow they've overlooked. With his intentional sacrifice for his higher goal, I expect that we will not see La Fayette again, though we *might* see Napoleon again.

A final note: the massacre at Tippi-Canoe feels like the climactic event of the main plot to me. In writing the review summarizing the events, I initially got the order wrong, because it felt right to have the massacres at Tippi-Canoe and the battle for Detroit happening at roughly the same time. The massacre and the curse at the Mizzipy feels like the emotional peak of the story, so I was surprised to realize I was remembering it wrong: the massacre and the curse happens months before the other battle. I think a big part of that is that Harrison is built up throughout the novel as a traditional, almost melodramatic, villain in direct opposition to the main characters. So his defeat feels like the climax; the other conflicts, though they are important and engaging, don't have the same emotional weight for me.

Review: There's a lot here. Don't click if you don't want to read the book's plot. William Harrison is a rat bastard who oppresses the native americans he despises by forcing whisky addiction upon them. We meet two brothers, Ta-Kumsaw, who has a strong connection with the land and impresses everyone with his fierce nobility, and Lolla-Wossiky, whose connection with the land is off the charts but who experienced such hideous trauma when his father was murdered in front of his eyes that he forever attempts to dull his senses with alcohol. But when Alvin is born, Lolla-Wossiky begins to feel a call to head north. Eventually he steals a tun of liquor and heads north to Vigor. He has a spiritual experience and is reborn as Tenskwa-Tawa, and it is Tenskwa-Tawa who visits Alvin when he uses his power to entice roaches to torment his siblings (a foundational scene in Seventh Son). Tenskwa-Tawa begins to preach to an ever-growing number of natives who gain a mystical sobriety from alcohol and settle just across the river from Vigor. Harrison gets more and more furious, because his native workforce has dwindled and he has to make up for it by hiring white thugs, vagabonds, criminals, and other lowlifes. He schemes and schemes how to get his slaves back and/or exterminate the natives to appease his bruised ego. Most of his ire is directed at Ta-Kumsaw, an uppity Red who has been seen to escort natives out of their slums and north toward Vigor (that he's doing this as Tenskwa-Tawa's lieutenant is lost on Harrison).

Meanwhile, in Canada, the famous general Napoleon Bonaparte has been sent from France, both to lead the Canadian forces as the army commander fop De Maurepas' second-in-command and to get him out of France where his popularity was starting to scare the powers-that-be. The governor of Detroit, La Fayette, sees in Napoleon two things: a brilliant strategist who has a knack for making people love him, and a hope for the democratic future of France free from the tyranny of Kings. La Fayette has a talisman that was sent to him by the Cardinal of France that blocks Napoleon's power. While the unprotected De Maurepas falls under Napoleon's spell, La Fayette hatches a plan for the best hope for France.

In parallel, Tenskwa-Tawa and Ta-Kumsaw develop plans of their own to restore the land from the depredations of the mostly white invaders, and have a falling out because they cannot agree on which is the correct course. Ta-Kumsaw believes in uniting all the tribes into one nation that can crush the collected military might of the settlers, after which they can force all the aliens to leave the continent. Tenskwa-Tawa doesn't think this will work; he has had visions of all the different ways the conflict between natives and settlers can play out, and he prophesies that the best possible outcome - which will be very difficult to accomplish - will be to split the continent between them, with the natives all moving across the Mizzipy River to the West, leaving all of the East to the invaders. Most other outcomes lead to the extinction of the native tribes, through war, disease, and relegation to reservations.

Livid and more than a little fearful that the natives are going to destroy him, Harrison hatches a plan of his own. He hires some alcoholic native mercenary criminals to frame Ta-Kumsaw to stoke settler paranoia/xenophobia against their neighbors, which will give him an excuse to move in his troops in the name of "protection" but really to preemptively massacre the nascent native nation. It is unclear how much of this Tenskwa-Tawa has actually planned, and how much he has just foreseen. This is where the narrative of this book arrives at the end of Seventh Son: Alvin, escorted by his brother Measure, is leaving for his apprenticeship when they are the ones captured by the mercenaries. The mercs plant a bunch of evidence that wouldn't stand up to any scrutiny or skepticism, but is enough to enflame the prejudices of the Vigor populace. They are convinced that Ta-Kumsaw has stolen the boys to torture and/or kill them. A huge search party is formed.

Miles and miles away, the mercenaries are preparing to torture and vivisect Alvin and Measure, but Alvin uses his powers to dull their captors' blades and also to loosen the ropes binding them. This delays their captors long enough that they are found by Ta-Kumsaw. Tenskwa-Tawa charges Ta-Kumsaw with looking after Alvin, which Ta-Kumsaw really doesn't want to do. But he begrudgingly acknowledges Tenskwa-Tawa's wisdom and accepts his authority. Tenskwa-Tawa knows that the boys need to be not found so that Harrison's forces will be called, which will result in tragedy, but it needs to happen so that the least terrible of all the possible futures will come to pass. Ta-Kumsaw takes Alvin with him as his sidekick. Alvin gradually learns some of Ta-Kumsaw's native lore, and begins to experience the union of man and land that comes naturally to nearly all of the natives.

In their distress to find the boys and frustration that their leader Armor of God isn't doing more (he urges caution and consideration but is ignored), Alvin's family and their neighbors in Vigor send to Harrison for help. Harrison arrives and quickly turns Vigor into a military camp. They make a show of searching for the boys while actually searching for Ta-Kumsaw and stoking the xenophobia and anti-native feelings. The longer Harrison remains in Vigor, the more he asserts martial law in the region.

Far away, Tenskwa-Tawa joins Ta-Kumsaw and Alvin at the Great Lakes, and the prophet uses his blood to still the waters so that he and Alvin can walk out on the waters and summon a twister that bears them aloft. There, suspended in the sky, Tenskwa-Tawa shows Alvin how he sees his visions. They each have their own visions, and then return to earth. Tenskwa-Tawa follows his vision back to Prophet Town for the completion of his plan.

Harrison, having raised all the settlers and his mercenaries to a fever pitch of hatred, mobilizes everyone in Vigor to massacre all the peaceful natives in Prophet Town. Measure, who has been racing across country to testify that Ta-Kumsaw didn't kidnap them and hopefully thus prevent the massacre, arrives just too late. The mercenaries - with the help of almost all the men of Vigor - have already turned their cannon on the thousands of native families who stand defenseless on the shores of the Mizzipy River at Tippi-Canoe. The natives are mown down like wheat, and Tenskwa-Tawa works a great curse using all their blood: everyone who participated in the slaughter will permanently have blood leaking from their hands until they tell honestly how they murdered tens of thousands of innocent, unresisting people to anyone in the vicinity who has not already heard the story from their mouths. Harrison has a further geas: every day he must find someone who has not heard the story of his murderous obsession and its eventual outcome, and then he must tell it to them completely and truthfully. Then Tenskwa-Tawa uses the blood to turn the water solid. The few hundred survivors are joined by all the corpses who animate and all walk across the river. Forevermore, the power of their blood will prevent any non-natives from crossing the Mizzipy.

Ta-Kumsaw, filled with even more righteous wrath at the news of Tippi-Canoe, roves the continent with Alvin at his side, recruiting different tribes for a vast army with his inspiring vision of a land completely free of any foreigners. The dove did not work, so time for the sword! The various nations of settlers catch wind of this, and they, wary of any threat to their homelands, begin to build up a huge army of their own, led by Andrew Jackson. The plan Ta-Kumsaw has hatched is to build up the native tribes into such a vast force that they must be matched in kind by a vast army of settlers. Then he will use the united tribes in a climactic battle against the white men, breaking the strength and thus the will of the white settlers: showing them that they can be defeated, so that they, demoralized, undefended, will pull up their roots and leave for other lands, recognizing that they're not welcome here and that it would mean death to stay. Instumental to that plan is an alliance with Napoleon, the brilliant strategist, whose French forces will serve as the anvil upon which Ta-Kumsaw's vast native army will hammer the American army into nothingness.

Alvin's vision draws him to the Eight-Sided Mound, an ancient sacred site for the natives that is a gate to a space between worlds. Ta-Kumsaw reluctantly takes Alvin there, where they are met by Talespinner, the sort of mountain man character from the first book whose job is to chronicle all the stories. Alvin easily climbs the Eight-Sided Mound, but the way is impassable for Ta-Kumsaw until he hugs Talespinner and they walk three-legged up the Mound. Alvin has a vision of the imminent betrayal and bloodbath that the native army will suffer at the hands of the American army, and he and Ta-Kumsaw rush off to prevent it.

Finally it is time for La Fayette to complete his plan. He must have Napoleon return to France in disgrace, so that Napoleon's patriotism will reject the authority of the King and he can lead a popular rebellion to overthrow the monarchy. But for that to happen, Napoleon must be sabotaged. La Fayette prays, and then forges a number of letters to De Maurepas, including the magic talisman. La Fayette, no longer protected, falls under Napoleon's charm, but De Maurepas in his vanity is filled with wrathful spite that he was manipulated by Napoleon - a commoner! - and so he relieves Napoleon of his command and ships him (and La Fayette) back to France as traitors. When the battle comes, the French troops, without Napoleon's leadership, fail to hold their ground against Jackson's American army, which breaks through their lines and sacks Detroit. When Ta-Kumsaw's native army arrives, they find a strong fortress manned by their enemies armed with many cannon. The native army is massacred. Ta-Kumsaw survives only because Alvin is using all his power to instantly heal all of his mortal wounds, and in the end they escape capture by dint of Alvin concealing the two of them from detection. They leave once Alvin recovers enough strength to heal Ta-Kumsaw completely, and they part ways.

So the book ends with the continent divided and Alvin returning home to Vigor, the only male free of the curse.

I rated Seventh Son five stars because it satisfied many of my personal interests, however I feel that with the Red Prophet we can bring the score down closer to what I feel it ought to objectively reflect. There are many characters that kind of shine in this book (ironically, not the Shining Man), and other characters that are disappointingly simple to the point where they feel manipulated simply to serve the plot. Keeping to a spoiler free review, there are some characters I felt were rational and calculating in book one, but end up acting like troglodytes and are driven by passion (emotion) to do things uncharacteristically in book 2. It seems like the newer characters were fun and nuanced, cleverly written, and surprising, while the old characters, even the protagonist, seemed to be tossed around like plot dolls with no real growth and very little nuance.

When I read this book as a high school kid, I found the prophecy/fulfillment friction to be enjoyable, surprising, and even clever at times. As an adult the apparatus seems cheap and almost a lazy type of foreshadowing. This book does a powerful climactic scene but it is ruined by the "Prophecy" as you simply know already the characters are going to be successful in bringing about a certain ending. So I was reading and saying, how did the seemingly "random" actions before this fit together for a magically timely moment to bring the proper resolution. The prophecy element was too strong and so I genuinely felt unafraid for the characters involved and it was doubly disappointing when even the hinted nuance of steering the prophecy to fulfillment was as unsatisfying as driving down a street well-known to you.

For a first time reader of this book, the story is interesting, with some fun accompanying characters to interesting places and meeting interesting characters there. The reading is fairly simple and the events are entertaining, it is the logic in the guts of the "Magical" world that just seems synthetic. To be clear, the magic system is interesting, I want to learn more about it, but its practical rules just seem to bend towards helping the plot rather than standing as an objective tool.

If you liked Seventh Son, read this book, you'll probably like it as well. If you are willing to turn off your scrutiny of the magic/prophecy system, and just roll with the plot, the book is a good read. However, if you are looking for a rational consistency there, you are bound to be frustrated. Despite its shortcomings, I do like the Alvin Maker Series.

What it's about: In a very different Colonial America, magic is a part of the world. Those who are most in touch with it are the Native Americans, peoples who have been connected to the land since time immemorial. But as more and more white settlers move westward from the east coast, the Native Americans find themselves increasingly pressed away from their ancestral lands.

As more white people move west, some are making plans to wipe out the natives, thinking them savages who do not deserve to slow the spread of "civilization". One such many is William Henry Harrison, who has shot and killed many natives, including the leader of the tribe near his fortress town. Now Harrison has one of the slain chief's sons as a pet, a slave to the alcohol many whites are distributing to the natives as a way to slowly poison them.

Other whites consider the natives to be potential friends and trade partners. In the growing town of Vigor Church, Armor-of-God Weaver is one such man. As he works hard to bring peace and stability to the area, he wonders how he might thwart the moves of Harrison, as both men have designs on leadership of their growing territory.

While the white men pursue their schemes, two Native American brothers are destined to change the relationship between their people and the white invaders. One plans to raise an army and push the whites back to the ocean and out of their lands. The other sees a very different future for their people.

And when a young boy named Alvin and one of his brothers are kidnapped by natives, Alvin becomes entangled in the growing conflict.

When all is said and done, death will hang heavy on the land, and Alvin's life will be changed forever.

What I thought: This is my second or third read of this series, and while the idea of the world and the writing are very compelling, this volume of the series is particularly problematic. The depiction of Native Americans throughout this book plays on some stereotypes in a way that is meant to explain that they are not, in fact, stereotypes; it tries to explain the stereotypical characteristics in a way, I believe, that is supposed to make the reader understand that there is a reason behind some of these stereotypes, and that they do not apply to all Native Americans. While I appreciate the intent (if that's what it actually was), there's a feeling of racism looming over this book.

First, the Native Americans are called "Reds" throughout the book - and even in the title. That's not a great start, but an author might explain it away by saying it's the terminology of the time. Tasteless, but temporally correct. Then there's the way the natives are divided up into various camps. While it's an improvement over presenting them as a faceless mob of savages, the divisions themselves tend to fall into one of a few stereotypes. There are alcoholics, brave and stoic warriors, savages, and those who have become "white on the inside". That's pretty much it. All of them but the last group are more in touch with the land than any white person ever could be. That is what gives them the ability to live in harmony with the land, and to survive in ways that seem ancient and ridiculous to most of the white characters. To my mind, this undermines the reality of how the Native Americans lived, taking away much of the credit they deserve for how they were able to live their lives before white settlers killed, conquered, or forcibly relocated them.

I'm sure that at the time of its release, this book was seen as a major step in representation, focusing most of its pages on the experience of non-white characters. But considering the book from 2020, having a white author write about the colonial Native American experience is not great.

Why I rated it like I did: The story has interesting ideas, but the racist undertones make this a hard book to recommend to a modern audience.

I "read" this on audio, via hoopla.
OSC continues his magic-laden, alternate reality version of frontier America. In addition to those who left Europe fleeing religious persecution are those with a 'knack' of magical or mental powers. History also seems to have given Native American "Reds" a better understanding of their own strengths, including an attachment to the land.
A lot unfolds in this volume; a lot is stereotypical. I thought most of the stereotypes were used in a positive sense, although it's hard to describe so I may just be another privileged old white guy trying not to appear to be just another privileged old white guy while reading another privileged old white guy.
Anyway -- Alvin Miller, seventh son of a seventh son, encounters the one-eyed "whiskey Red" Tenskwatawa. The boy's powers rescue the man from his alcoholism, and the man's powers set the boy on a positive path.
Time passes, and we find this world's Benjamin Harrison scheming to win governorship of the territory by creating a fake provocation, and wiping out the Red settlement of Prophetstown -- which would end the efforts of Tenskwatawa and his brother Tecumseh to stop white advancement on the continent (among other things).
Alvin and his brother, on the way to the Hatrack River settle Alvin into his apprenticeship, are caught up in the plot. Alvin's abilities allow him to train in woodlore with Tecumseh, and he is able to soften the destruction of Prophetstown and help Tenskwatawa ensure justice against Harrison.
I was surprised -- I knew of Tecumseh, but was unaware that the existence of is brother, Prophetstown, and Harrison's battle of Tippecanoe were all part of historical record as well. Upping my satisfaction with this book to 4 stars. Mr. Card does get a bit heavy-handed at times, but this is a very good rewrite to the "way things might have been".

It's a strange thing, but I've owned a copy of this book since my university days, and I'd obviously assumed that I'd read the book having previously rated it. However, once I came to read it again I realised that I'd not read it before at all. Quite why I'd managed to own an entire trilogy for nearly twenty years without reading beyond the first one is a mystery.

n  Red Prophetn is the second in the original Alvin Maker trilogy – like Piers Anthony it seems that Card struggles to put a lid on a good series once he starts one. This story acts as a counterpoint to the first novel. While n  Seventh Sonn tells the tale of Alvin's birth and early life – including the vision of the Shining Man. This sequel covers much of the same time period, but following the tales of the 'Reds': the one-eyed drunk Lolla-Wossiky who of course turns out to be both the Shining Man, and the prophet of the book's title and the moody and silent Ta-Kumsaw. About half-way through, we catch up with the end of Seventh Son and Alvin meets up with our two Reds.

As other reviewers have noted this is fictional history rather than historical fiction. Heavy on the fiction, very light on the history. Card continues, though, to build his world; it just happens to overlay, very loosely, on the east side of the US. As we learnt about the 'knacks' and hexes of the white folk in the first book, this time we learn about the 'land sense' of the red man. This is where the book starts to stray into an awkward sort of racism in its style: the red man is the noble savage: a mystical, pagan, form of magic in touch with the land but a slave to his anger and vengeance; the white man is both the civilised creator of order and structure, and the selfish, greedy, destructor of the red man's land sense. The red man must separate from the white man in order to maintain his connection to the land.

I had a hard time at the beginning of this book. But once I really got into it a couple of chapters, I really liked it. It's very Fictional History, but has a great story to tell. And for all you LDS readers out there. It's got a lot of BOM stories going on. I thought some of that was funny (even though I don't think he intended it to be).

I'll probably go back and read Seventh Son again because it's been so long. If I'm going to read the series I want to make sure I'm clear on the story line.

Sequel to seventh son a modern fairytale of the early days of America . I really enjoyed this book in the way I enjoyed the Ender books. OSC has a gift for complex and dynamic characters who face issues that are less black and white but gray.