This is a review I've wanted to write for a while ... Orson Scott Card has been one of my favourite authors for many many years, and this book has stood the test of time. It still reads as a fresh and original story. Written in 1987, this is Volume 1 of The Tales of Alvin Maker - to date there are six books in the series, and the last of these was published in 2003, so this is a series which has grown and matured as the author has taken time away to write other books, then returned to this epic. A brief backgound of the author, if you haven't come across him before - Orson Scott Card writes in the fantasy genre, but it is always fantasy with a ...  Read the complete review

In the dust cloud shrouded eighteenth century America, an alternate world not too unlike the one that we know, in the deep woods of the Northwest along the banks of the great river, is born a seventh son to the seventh son. He is special. He is born with the caul on his face. He is destined for greatness- perhaps even to be a Maker. But Alvin doesn't know he is the Maker. And for evey Maker born there is always an Unmaker elsewhere. Their paths drawn already, relentlessly aimed at each others. Orson Scott Card established himself as a premier SF writer with his 'Enders Game' saga. But it is 'The Tales of the Alvin Maker' ( of which ...  Read the complete review