posted
Nope. It never goes back. There is a distinct difference in...well, I can't put my finger on it. Style? Maybe. Storytelling? I'm not sure.
Anyway, it never goes back to the way that the first three felt. I haven't read Crystal City yet, but I did read the sample chapters...and it didn't seem to be veering from it's course.
I'm not a writer in any sense of the word, nor am I a literary critic. I just judge based on the feelings and thoughts I have while reading...and I must say that in my humble and uneducated opinion, the first three of the Alvin books were 3 of the best books that OSC has EVER written. There is a difference in the next ones. IanO explains it really well in this thread. And the subsequent discussion is also really enlightening and intelligent.
So ignore what I just wrote, and go read that. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Back when Alvin Journeyman first came out, I posted a thread -- and it was my first thread on this forum, even before this forum was in fact this forum -- expressing my displeasure. In particular, I objected to the change in voice, the poorly written legal scenes, and the fact that the story now seemed driven by the allegory instead of the characters; people seemed to behaving in ways demanded by the story that Card planned to tell, instead of in ways that seemed natural for the characters he had already established.
A surprising number of people agreed with me, especially after Hearfire came out and suffered from the same problems. It's always a bad sign when the most interesting parts of your book deal with the hero's nemesis (Calvin). Crystal City's a considerable improvement, though.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Prentice was 1989. Journeyman was 1995. So for starters you are looking at a six year gap. I wonder too if Card's idealism didn't take a battering when his party actually gained power, but little changed. Not that I am admitting that the books are deeply flawed or anything.
I am also not familiar with the chronology of events in his personal life that may have consumed some of his edge. I am willing to concede that the edge is lessened, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Well, I see Lost Boys came in that gap. I just feel like some of these threads fail to acknowledge that this is a person we are talking about and not a prized racehorse. I guess I feel strongly enough about this to copy it to the other thread.
P.S. I don't want to delve into the personal life of OSC, about when he dropped out of grad school etc. ad nauseum I see every book as a gift, as the hatrack forum is itself a gift.
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