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I had a thread about the Seventh Son, but I figured that one was dying off and I'm not talking too much about Seventh Son anymore, though that is a GREAT book..so why not start a new thread? lol!
I gotta say I really like the Alvin Maker series. Sure, I think I like the Ender series, especially Speaker and Xenocide, and Shadow books better. Well, MAYBE. Not sure really. All three series are pretty good!
I just got done reading Alvin Journeyman last night and I gotta say it was a really good novel. Maybe the best Alvin book so far, though I did like Seventh Son, Red Prophet, and Prentice Alvin quite a bit.
My favorite character in Seventh Son was Taleswapper. Now my favorite character is...gee..I'm not really sure. Alvin is a really good character, so is Arthur, so is Peggy, so is Verily Cooper, Taleswapper of course, Horance Guester, Armor-of-God and Mike Fink. Who would have guessed about Armor-of-God and especially Mike Fink?! I knew both were continuing characters, but I wouldn't have guessed that they would become two of Alvin's friends. I thought Armor-of-God was going to work with Revered Thrower, thats what was set up in Seventh Son, and I thought Mike Fink was going to be an recurring enemy of Alvins. Glad I was wrong though!
Favorite moment in Alvin Journeyman: Prob when Alvin and Peggy got married! About time!
Though the trial stuff was pretty good too! Verily is a great addition to the story imo. Maybe he's my favorite character in Alvin Journeyman..hmm. Not sure. So many great characters in these books!
As for the storyline I like the direction so far. I think Calvin is a interesting villian, though part of me would like to see Alvin bring him back from the darkside and then another part of me wants to see Alvin beat Calvin up! I wonder when/if Alvin and Calvin will meet again. Please don't tell me if you guys know. Also I wonder if Calvin's new french friend is the Unmaker or at least an ally of his. I think his either the Unmaker, most likely, or an ally, but again, please don't tell me. I'm just thinking out loud!
I still have two books to read of the Alvin Maker series. Heartfire and The Cyrstal City. Then I gotta wait till the last book comes out.
Anybody know when thats coming out?
Very good books!
Hmm. After Heartfire and Cyrstal City, I guess I'll go back and read more of the Homecoming series. I read the first book, but then I decided to continue reading the Alvin Maker series first!
Its been a great decision. Although, the wait for the last one might be long! lol!
DF2506 " Can't wait till next year! Shadow of the Giant!! "
I'm reading Heartfire now and I'm almost done with it. I was totally wrong about Calvin's friend. lol!
As for the rest, very interesting book. The whole witch trial/Purity stuff is very interesting and so is the salvery/Calvin stuff. Can't wait to see what happens!
I got Heartfire and Cyrstal City from library loan, so after I finish Heartfire I can go read Crystal City right after!
The Alvin Maker series is still really good!
I think Peggy and Verily are prob my favorite characters at the moment. Though I still like Alvin, Arthur, and the rest alot.
Not sure what to think of Calvin though..
DF2506 " Too bad the last book isn't out yet though. *wonders when it'll come out* "
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
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"Also I wonder if Calvin's new french friend is the Unmaker..."
*whispers* No. He's Honore de Balzac. Balzac was a real person. Really. You can Google him and everything. He wrote stuff.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I'm finally reading The Crystal City now. I read the part that was online last year, but only got a copy of the book last Wednesday. Now I'm reading again the part I already read online.
You should also read the two Alvin Maker short stories on Legends and Legends II.
Posts: 28 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I knew Card used real people in his book, like Willima Henry Harrison, John Adams, etc, but I had no idea about Balzac. lol. Shows what I know! Man. I better look him up! Thanks!
As for the Alvin short stories, ya, I gotta read those! I also want to read the poem that the Golden Plow comes from!
Anyway, I'm reading Cyrstal City now. Heartfire was a pretty good book! Cyrstal City is interesting so far, though I am missing Verily, Peggy, Mike, and etc. I hope we see them in Cyrstal City..
DF2506 " Don't get me wrong, I like Alvin and Arthur, but I like the other characters alot too. Hoping to read more of them too! The book hasn't even mentioned any of them so far..expect for Peggy of course. "
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
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On a related note, Taleswapper is also a real person. I was fascinated with the character in the Alvin Maker books, so I picked up a copy of his "Songs of Innocence and of Experience". I'm sorry to say that I was quite disappointed in it. Mostly I just found it dull. I realize this makes me sound like a philistine, but it's a rare poet that can hold my attention for very long.
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nothing to say about Taleswapper (strange name : in french it's Mot-pour-Mot) but I wanted to say that I don't like so much last books of the serie (Heartfire and Crystal city) compare to the first ones (Seventh son and Red prophet). Alvin was nicer when a child like Peggy, Calvin and so on. Now they are bad (calvin) or sad. And I feel like if I miss something between Heartfire and The crystal city (but I really miss something because the story of Alvin and Arthur on The Yazoo Queen is not available in french, yet). PS : Yes, I have to say that Taleswapper is a great character!
Posts: 28 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Lille Mu, does "Mot-pour-Mot" translate? If so, what does it mean in English?
You aren't alone in preferring the earlier books in the series, by the way. The first three books I aboslutely adored, but in the latter books it feels to me as though the heart is gone, if you know what I mean. I generally prefer Card's older work though, I have to say. It just resonates more, and feels more true to me than does his more recent work.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Sorry, but this is a somewhat late reply to a post several posts above about reading Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. First of all, they are meant to be satirical. Secondly, they are not all that representative of Blake's work. If you go and read (and look at the color plates) of some of his masterworks, like the Book of Thel, or Urizen, or Jeruselam, you'll see why he is such a perfect Taleswapper. Blake believed that the imagination was as close to God as we could come. He made up his own mythology and was quite the iconoclast and anarchist. Unfortunately, most people are only familiar with the bland Songs of Innocence and Experience because those are the only poems that most teachers feel comfortable with (and are totally misunderstood by most teachers of first year college literature or high school teachers). I mean really, "little Lamb who made thee? Little lamb I'll tell thee."
Anyway there's my anti establishment English Lit rant for the day. Do try some of the tougher Blake. Obviously, OSC did.
posted
Well, Mot-pour-Mot means (I think) A Word for a Word, because he tales stories and listen others stories, do you understand ? Something else : yes Honoré de Balzac was a real people, he was a writer, lived in 19th century and wrote The human comedy (a serie of books not allways linked but where characters appears in several books). He's surely not the Unmaker! Although he's a little diabolic in OSC's books, he's much more like a Maker, I think. He created in his books millions of characters, and described places, historical characters, poilitical events and so on... (please truth a french litterature student) I don't know if Balzac's books are so good in english, in french they are even if lots of people don't like them because they are full of descriptions... And Audubon is also a real character (but maybe he's better known in America than Balzac...)
Posts: 28 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
Hey, Lille-Mu, La traduction est plutôt bonne - Taleswapper means "échangeur de contes", "Mot-pour-Mot" est une façon plus poétique de traduire cette notion Posts: 3526 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I finished Cyrstal City not to long ago. It was a good book. I think I liked Heartfire and the previous books better, but it was still a good book! I think it could have easily been the last book too, though I am happy that there is another book coming (does anybody know when?).
Well, now I'm taking a break from OSC books. I plan to read the Earthsea books next.
I figure the next time I'll read OSC will be Ultimate Iron Man and Shadow of the Giant when they come out next year!! Can't wait!!
DF2506 " The Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow series and the Alvin Maker series are both GREAT! I can't wait to read more of them! "
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Sorry for the mistakes ! Of course, tells and not tales, real person, and trust (not truth). It was morning (for me) and quiet difficult to speak english... In fact, several names change in the french translation : Verily is En-verité (which means the same),and names of Armour-of God and all Alvin's brothers are translated.
Posts: 28 | Registered: Dec 2004
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