MASTER ALVIN

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

In 1987, Orson Scott Card introduced the world to Alvin Maker in Seventh Son, the first novel of the Alvin Maker series. He chronicled Alvin's life in five additional novels published through 2003 when Crystal City, the penultimate novel in the series appeared. With the exception of a couple of short stories, Card focused on other projects over the past twenty-three years before offering his readers the final novel, Master Alvin, in 2026. The long span between The Crystal City and Alvin Makers means the novel must not only continue (and finish) the long running saga, but must also provide an introduction and reminder of what came before for any readers who do not re-read the previous novels.

The novel opens with Alvin and Arthur Stuart meeting up with a group in the wilderness. Made up of multiple men and a woman, it becomes clear to Alvin that the woman, Eliza Nutbutter, is the most powerful member of the group, which is generally up to no good. Nevertheless, he guides them to the Crystal City, understanding that those who belong will stay and those who don't will find their way elsewhere. This is typical for the novel, the Crystal City is Alvin's utopian society, and throughout the novel it is only described as a land without any real strife and a place where Alvin, his wife, Peggy Lerner, and his various friends, ensure the peace, despite potential upheaval from Alvin's jealous brother, Calvin, or interlopers like Eliza, who finds a kindred spirit in Calvin.

However, Alvin spends little time in the Crystal City, spending a good portion of the novel in Ireland attempting to rescue those with knacks from an inquisition being conducted by the British. This section of the novel doesn't feel as if it flows from the rest of the novel, with Alvin and his nemesis, Reverend Philadelphia Thrower, both suddenly appearing in Ireland to continue their battle, although why Alvin must rescue the Irish rather than those with knacks in any other country isn't entirely clear.

The introduction of Eliza into the story gives Alvin an potential antagonist to work with to offer the suggestion that Calvin can find redemption. Although Eliza's past is only hinted at, Card makes her character clear and even when Alvin places her in charge of getting the Irish immigrants from Philadelphia to the Crystal City, her ability to succeed and put her past behind her is not a sure thing, just as Calvin's ability to overcome his jealousy of Alvin can't be taken for granted.

However, while the entire series has been loosely based on Joseph Smith, the parallels between Smith and Alvin become more pronounced in Master Alvin, which means there is a sense of fatalism as the novel moves inexorably towards its conclusion with Alvin allowing himself to be placed in the same situation as Smith. Although Card attempts to create a tension around Alvin's ultimate fate, as well as the future of the people of Crystal City, the jeopardy never really feels real. Instead, it feels as if whatever happens to Alvin and his followers, whether it is their destruction at the hands of Philadelphia Thrower or the Unmaker, their success in building the Crystal City, or their attempts to settle the far west in the Salt Lake basin with the permission of the Prophet, is all playing out as God wills it and it will be accepted by everyone involved, which undermines any sense of loss of bereavement.

EArlier novels in the series dealt more firmly with the greater world and the division of Alvin's North America. Despite his foray to Ireland and the length of the novel (nearly 100 pages longer than The Crystal City), Master Alvin feels like a smaller, more focused novel. Alvin's fate takes precedence over anything else and the rest of the world only exists to ensure that Alvin and his people follow their destiny.

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