I had actually started reading this once before and never finished because it was too dull. (Critical Survey of Contemporary Fiction), Alvin is the seventh son of a seventh son, born when his six older brothers are still alive. The one negative thing is that I didn't get into the main character's skin like I did in the "Ender" series, but not because the characterization isn't good (it's actually one of the strongest points of Card's work). In the alternate America Orson Scott Card has imagined, this makes Alvin a person of special magic power, perhaps even a “maker.”. However, afterwards, he has a vision he dubs Shining Man, who makes him promise only to use his knack for good. It wasn't just different from The Speaker books and the others of Card's that I had read, it was different from everything that I had ever read. Mr. Miller tells Taleswapper a story about how a force is trying to use him to kill Alvin - revealing the reason why Mr. Miller was about to kill Alvin when Taleswapper first arrived. This is a book to be read aloud in the family. Volume II PUBLISHED BY L. B. SEELEY AND SON FLEET STREET, LONDON MDCCCXXVII THIS EDITION PUBLISHED BY... ...as it posesseth all the authority, jurisdiction, and spiritual power, which the Son of God himself constituted in his apostles, and, above all the re... ...h in the scriptures, relating to the times subsequent to the incarnation of the Son of God? So far, it has been really good. It just did not speak to me at all in a way that I could relate to it (which is irrelevant of my own thoughts). Good characters. This say they, (and they say it as it were with fea... ... to be eyed with suspicion, and avoided as dangerous; especially in an age when so many novelties are broached, and which has hardly a relish for an... Full Text Search Details...s time on an even more difficult quest -- that to become a man.