While this one tied in some plot lines, and introduced others, the whole book was a little to metaphysical and preachy for my taste. Reviews, I had read and previous experience with the author warned me about this book. Seems that after this one it gets back on the path of discovery that the first one had.... we'll give it at least one more try

I read this two-book volume (Seventh Son and Red Prophet) together so I will review them together. Card gets a free pass from me normally because I loved the Ender universe books so much. And this book too uses many of Card's usual ways of setting up conflict and depictions of the bad guys. His writing flows very easily. This story is also loosely based on historical events taking place in the USA around 1800, so that is interesting too.

Disappointing is Carr's adoring depiction of the American Indians as mystical beings in perfect harmony with nature, as contrasted with the evil white men who just slash and burn their way from coast to coast. It's a bit trite and simplistic.

Recommended if you like: alternate history AND magic, multiple POVs, moral drama, psychological drama
Triggers: Symbolic blood (and lots of it), massacres (it's definitely the frontier people), racial tension, torture, descriptions of violence and cruelty

I read something by Orson Scott Card every year. This year it's the Alvin Maker series. If you missed Seventh Son, you can easily step into this book and may even enjoy Seventh Son at a later date, as a prequel. Some people don't find the series' segregation of magic by race to be palatable--there's something to be learned from those perspectives. For my reading, I found the segregation only unfortunate for the world itself. It's a broken world; Card isn't afraid to write about broken systems and broken people. If you're sensitive to 'Noble Savage,' stuff, you might find something to offend you. But Card can (literally) write from the following POVs and help you SEE if not AGREE from their perspectives: a racist with scruples, a devoted husband turned rapist, a Scottish minister blinded by an 'angel of light,' a precocious 5-year-old girl, a fictionalized William Tell, a recovering alcoholic Native American, a gifted 11-year-old boy, and a league of cockroaches. Yep. This is why I read Orson Scott Card. His vision is grand and wide-sweeping, and despite recent controversy surrounding his personal beliefs (and they are just that--personal beliefs, as sacred as yours or mine), one's heart has to be very big to write stories like these.

Quizás si me hubiera leído este libro de jovenzuelo, me hubiera resultado por decirlo de alguna manera "poco interesante", ¿Una historia de indios? Buah que aburrido y cansino. Pero a día de hoy, me ha resultado curioso, atrayente y cautivador, pese a que el comienzo del libro te deja un poco desconcertado a medida que avanza la lectura te vas metiendo "de cabeza" en la historia, una historia que mezcla muchos elementos muy diferentes entre si, ya sean mágicos, reales, supersticiosos, espirituales, y los funde de manera sensacional. Seguramente la valoración personal de este libro varíe según haya sido la lectura previa, si has leído algo genial antes, la valoración de este libro sea inferior.

I really enjoyed this one, even more so than the last. I find critics of Card’s writing of the Native Americans seem to forget its a work of fantasy. Sure, it exaggerates their connection to the land and focuses on the basic struggle with the domineering core of white or western colonialism. Yet, it’s nothing if not respectful. And if it exaggerates certain aspects, we must remember it is a book about magic. Beyond that, I found the characters in this to be far more nuanced than some of his other writing. Good men do bad things. Bad men do good things. Men and women simply do things, and they may turn out good or bad. Characters like Reverend Thrower and armour of God feel like yet another example of Cards ability to convey the complexity and potential of human nature. This one also had a humorous tint to it. As ever, Card writes children in a way I find engaging, and Alvins contact with organised religion had me laughing out loud. Beyond that though, this book writes tragedy, guilt, and redemption (or at least the hope of redemption) into the heart of the reader. Card knows better than most how to bring the reader into the world he has made.

This is the second book in the Maker series. It is an alternate history of American History. It is very well done and the action moves. The villain is General Harrison. Tecumseh plays a major role, but his Brother and Maker are the main characters. The land is living and the Indians generally work with the land. Tecumseh sways from the path and is defeated as are the French. This is part of the plot butI will leave this line before I spoil the book for you.

I finally got around to reading this, the second book, in the Alvin Maker series. I continue to be fascinated by the concept (alternate US history with magic), and I continue to be left wondering at the basis for the historical changes the author makes.

This book has stayed with me more than the first one, although I enjoyed the first one more. I really like some of the ideas around the difference between White/European culture and "knacks" and the Native American culture and their magic. I'm giving an extra star for the interesting concepts and making me think.

I'm giving less stars because again it's hard to find a historical or logical basis for the alterations to history, and since the author has involved real people from history I find it off putting. I like reading alternate takes, but I also like them to be based on something or it just seems random and not well though out.

I love alternative histories, and Card's work here is majestic. This is the sequel to Seventh Son, and in it, the protagonist, Alvin the Maker, better understands the spirit of the land and the cultural legacy of Indigenous Americans. He has also unearthed his latent 'making' powers, and uses his powers and skills to attempt to prevent war between the white colonial settlers and the Indigenous peoples.

Card's work is descriptive, and has that wonderful combination of narrative drive with superb characterisation.

The second book of the Tales of Alvin Maker series, Red Prophet improves upon its predecessor by stepping up the pacing and introducing a slew of historical figures in new and novel settings, deftly illustrating the fun alternative history components of the world Card is building.

Nevertheless, the work continues to suffer from the fact that the main characters are not very interesting, and one is constantly hoping that the historical, secondary characters will feature more prominently. Card's own political musings are also often intrusively inserted directly into the work in a rather abrasive way.

I would recommend Red Prophet to those who enjoyed the world and stories started in Seventh Son.

Red Prophet struggles much in the way Speaker for the Dead struggles. Card gets off into strange and mostly unwelcome tangents the series he crafts and it's to the detriment of the overall storyline. Much of what made Seventh Son appealing is absent here, and it takes a long time for the story with Alvin to begin. It's not all bad it is just that much felt unnecessary, and I was left disappointed.

El inicio del libro se me hizo un poco lento, más aún porque tenía personajes a los que no conocía y con historias no tan relevantes. Pero a partir de cierto punto recuperó toda la gracia y me acabó encantando, me gusta ver cómo se van sumando nuevos aspectos a la vida de Alvin, preparándolo para lo que viene.

The second book in the Alvin Maker story takes quite a while to connect to the first one, and when it does, I’m not entirely convinced the timeline matches 100% to that established in the first book. This is momentarily disorienting. The story is excellent and strange, and I’m increasingly a fan of this bizarre alternate history of America. And it’s possible I’m just wrong about how the order of events lines up, or that—trying to create an American Epic Mythology—card was willing to allow some contradictions, as often appear in classic mythologies.
Honestly, my least favorite part about this series so far is the seemingly random changes to history that took place prior to the story’s beginning that have no apparent root in the differences. They SEEM like changes for changes’ sake, or possibly to ram more historical personages into the narrative, rather than following the necessary logic of the world.

For all that, I recommend that you go and read Seventh Son first, then come read this one.