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Title details for The Crystal City by Orson Scott Card - Available

The Crystal City

#6 in series

by Orson Scott Card
Stefan Rudnicki
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available

This full-cast production of Orson Scott Card's newest title is finally available on audio
From the end of the 18th century, Americans travelled west to find new homes and new lands. They brought with them the magics of plain people. It is from these roots of the American dream that award-winning writer Orson Scott Card has crafted what the Charlotte Observer called "a uniquely American fantasy." Using the lore and the folk magic of the men and women who settled a continent, and the beliefs of the tribes who were here before them, Card has created an alternate frontier America. Charms, beseechings, hexes, and potions all have a place in the lives of the people of this world.
Alvin Miller is the seventh son of a seventh son, born while his six brothers all still lived. Such a birth is a powerful magic; such a boy is destined to perhaps become a Maker. Rejoin the tale of Alvin and his wife Peggy as they work to create the Crystal City of Alvin's vision, where all people can live together in peace.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Tales of Alvin Maker

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 7, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781593974879
      • File size: 331827 KB
      • Duration: 11:31:18

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 930
    • Text Difficulty: 4-6

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 27, 2003
      If not the best in the series, Card's latest Alvin Maker novel (after 1998's Heartfire: Tales of Alvin Maker V
      ) still enchants. In the author's alternative American frontier world, Indians work the magics of nature, Africans transform themselves with trinkets and whites have knacks—magical talents that allow them to shape metal, find water, win the hearts of followers and more. Alvin, the powerful seventh son of a seventh son, can create things that cannot be destroyed. He also has more than his fair share of knacks as well as some Indian magic. Determined to stop suffering where he finds it, he dreams of building the Crystal City, which will help mankind live in peace. A large part of the appeal lies in the book's homegrown characters using their powers for ordinary purposes. A blacksmith's knack shapes axes that never dull, while a midwife can sense the health of her patients. Even as Alvin performs miracles to lead thousands of slaves out of bondage, he is filled with uncertainty about what to do with his life and self-doubt because he couldn't save his stillborn child. Alvin's fans will be relieved to know that the City is indeed begun in this volume, but those who were expecting the start of the civil war, previously billed as forthcoming, will have longer to wait.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Set in a fantasy version of nineteenth-century America, the sixth novel of the Alvin Maker series follows the magical leader as he leads a massive band of slaves, Cajuns, and displaced persons on an exodus to freedom. Like the hero of this novel, Stefan Rudnicki, in his exotic baritone, leads a team of readers including Scott Brick, David Birney, Gabrielle de Cuir, and M.E. Willis through an alternate American landscape in which the United States, New England, Appalachia, and the Crown Colonies (Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia) are separate nations. With the action beginning in Nueva Barcelona (Spanish-held Louisiana), Alvin and his half-brother, Arthur Stuart, meet up with Abe Lincoln, William Blake, Jim Bowie, and Tecumseh along their way. Just as Alvin is able to make bridges and buildings through his mystical "knack," Rudnicki and team bring Card's fantastic tapestry to life with their own narrative knacks. S.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:930
  • Text Difficulty:4-6

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