Tag Archives: Orson Scott Card

Three Long Tales

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Seems I’ve gotten myself into several long series of books all by the same author. It started one day when I was just looking for something interesting and the book cover and back cover description made me pick up Orson Scott Card‘s Seventh Son.

It’s the first of The Tales of Alvin Maker series, which I’m several books into. It’s set in an alternate history of early America and centers around the life of a boy/man who will make a difference in the outcome of that continent.

Then I became aware of the Homecoming Saga, so picked up the first book in that series: The Memory of Earth. This series is about humans escaping the savage past of Earth, with some guiding assistance, now having to guide themselves when that experiment is breaking down. Interesting in that some of the characters and main plot points are borrowed from the Book of Mormon. Not so much that it’s worn on its sleeve.

And now I’ve added the first book from his best known series, and one that’s won some awards. The Ender’s Game series I haven’t yet started, only just now getting the first book. It was not written and released in chronological order, and apparently fans are torn over in which order they should be read.

4 down, 16 to go…

  1. Seventh Son
  2. Red Prophet
  3. Prentice Alvin
  4. Alvin Journeyman
  5. Heartfire
  6. The Crystal City
  7. Master Alvin (forthcoming)
  1. The Memory of Earth
  2. The Call of Earth
  3. The Ships of Earth
  4. Earthfall
  5. Earthborn
  1. Ender’s Game
  2. Speaker for the Dead
  3. Xenocide
  4. Children of the Mind
  5. Ender’s Shadow
  6. Shadow of the Hegemon
  7. Shadow Puppets
  8. Shadow of the Giant

[Edit: I’m crossing them off as I go, italicizing as I procure. -Aug 08]

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The Witch & The Unmaker

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So, I finally took the time to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (2005). I reread it when it was about to be released as a movie and enjoyed it. I remember recalling that the battle “scenes” only lasted a few paragraphs and thinking they would certainly take many minutes of the finale of the movie. They did.

Seventh SonA lot of the effects were nice, but what really distracted me was the obvious green screen in many scenes. Many that could have been done on location or with nice sets or props. It took away from what could have been. Or Lord of the Rings has raised my expectations.

I also finished Seventh Son (1987) by Orson Scott Card. The first of a series of books centering on Alvin Maker and set in a different post-Colonial America. One that includes magic (though I’m not sure the word is ever used) and a different peace with natives (or so it seems – this gets expressed more in the next book that I haven’t read).

In the intro he is a young boy and his family are struggling pioneers. There are interesting back-stories with actual historical figures who are a bit different in this world. Not to mention the 7 colonies. It was a quite enjoyable read and with summer time coming I may have to get a few more in the series.

As the title of this post hints, The Witch is the antagonist in the first book/movie and The Unmaker is the antagonist in the second.