I just finished "Crystal City", and had a bunch of questions. I found this forum through OSC's reference in CC's forward, and got most of my questions answered, except two:
1) What is the picture on the cover of the book? I have the paperback, and it shows a man (Alvin, I presume, from the musculature), jumping off of a building. There's a large cathedral in the background (Notre Dame?). I can't relate that picture to anything I remember from the book.
2) What happened with Verily and Purity? At the end of Heartfire, it seemed that they were set for couplehood. Now Purity has all but disappeared. Is this covered in one of the short stories in Legends{1,2}? I didn't see any reference to this in the forum here.
Thanks!
- Dave
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
The cover is a picture of the guy who runs the boardinghouse, and the background is the house itself. No, really!
Ok, it's Alvin. And the background is ostensibly the "tabernacle"/temple/cathedral/whatever-you-want-to-call-it in Crystal City.
There are two short stories thus far (in Legends I and II), but there was to be a third, in which Alvin and Arthur travel to Crystal City, Tennizy (sp?) and meet the "White Prophet." Whether or not the Verily/Purity relationship will be covered in that, or if that will wait for Master Alvin (seventh and final novel), we don't know for sure.
Welcome to Hatrack!
--Pop
Posted by MagusFire (Member # 6780) on :
The seventh novel.. It really doesn't seem like there's that many Alvin books. There needs to be more, Alvin still has too much to do.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
The illustration, alas, did not follow the book. Disappointing, because the other Alvin covers have been pretty faithful to what the book says, or stayed within the realm of artistic interpretation. In this case, I don't think the artist had a chance to read the relevant passages before doing the painting - I think it was described to him. So it illustrates nothing.
There wasn't room for Purity in Crystal City - but she'll resurface, you can be sure.
Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :
Pretty faithful, maybe, but they were kind of scary looking.
Posted by Dave T (Member # 7895) on :
Thanks for all the replies! I had thought this was a forum that automatically emailed you when you got replies, so was surprised when I checked over lunch, and found that my questions were answered.
And Mr. Card - thanks for your reply, and good to hear that we'll be seeing Purity again. While I have you, I'd also like to thank you for your awesome body of work. I had thought I was fairly well read in the classics in SF/Fantasy, but somehow your books had slipped under my radar - until a friend turned me onto "Ender's Game" a couple of years ago. Since then, I've devoured most of your books. Still a few to go,though!
Regarding the cover - I'm glad I hadn't missed anything. With the other books, there was always an epiphany when reading when I reached the section that the cover described. Actually, I don't think the cover of Heartfire is in the book either. But the rest are!