panguitch's Full Review: Orson Scott Card - The Crystal City: The Tales of ...
Perhaps the most original and imaginative work of modern fantasy is Orson Scott Card’s slim novel Seventh Son, which kicked off the Tales of Alvin Maker series in 1987. In an alternate America of the 1800s, filled with folk magic and frontier spirit, Card told the story of Alvin, a boy of portentous birth, who would grow to shape history just as he had the power to shape the substance of everything around him. A year later, Red Prophet followed. An even stronger book, it saw Alvin’s childhood interrupted by the greater conflicts of his world. Another year brought Prentice Alvin, a coming of age that, in hindsight, held hints of the problems the following books would suffer.
It would be another six years before Card returned to the series with Alvin Journeyman. And though the setting retained its charm and the characters felt like old friends, some of the magic of the earlier books seemed missing. The sense of progress slowed. And by the time of Heartfire (1998) the series seemed to be floundering.
In 2003 Card took what may be the second-to-last step in the Tales of Alvin Maker with the sixth volume, The Crystal City. Here Alvin finds his way again, as does the series itself. While still not as strong as the original trilogy, this latest book never struck me as purposeless the way the preceding two sometimes did.
The Story
Appropriately for an installment in a large series, The Crystal City only offers the bare minimum of backstory for anyone new to Alvin Maker. The story actually picks up in medias res, and we only learn of several preceding events from the dialogue. It seems Alvin and Arthur Stuart, his half-brother-half-black-former-slave-sidekick have befriended a down-and-out Abraham Lincoln on their way to Nueva Barcelona (New Orleans). This friendship will later be important, but in these first scenes it serves to quickly reintroduce us to the mood of the Alvin Maker books. The banter is sharp, and filled with authentic-feeling idioms of the day.
Alvin isn’t sure why his seer-wife sent him to Nueva Barcelona, but suspects it’s part of her plan to prevent a civil war over slavery. Soon enough he meets some abolitionists, Papa Moose and Mama Squirrel (ah, the Saturday morning memories), who’ve collected a wide assortment of black children under suspicious circumstances. Alvin and Arthur decide it would be a good idea for them to help these folks escape to the free states in the north, but an outbreak of yellow fever quarantines the city. Coincidence? Let’s just say Alvin learns that good deeds can have bad consequences.
Hunkered down, using his power to battle the epidemic, Alvin next meets La Tia, a queen of sorts in the slums where blacks and the dispossessed French are relegated. She insists he use his power to help all the blacks and French to escape the city in a biblical exodus, and Alvin soon finds himself leading 5,000 people through the wilderness toward a promised land.
The Meta-Story
Alvin’s not alone in his mission. There’s of course Arthur Stuart, who becomes the most interesting character in the book as he comes of age. And the aid of Tenskwa-Tawa, the Red Prophet, is enlisted. Even Alvin’s wayward brother Calvin helps out, until a more vainglorious adventure captures his attention. Alvin’s wife Peggy gets some time, as does Verily Cooper. Mike Fink and Alvin’s supernatural enemy the Unmaker have cameos. And Alvin’s brother Measure gets to close the book on a foreboding note. It’s a veritable reunion for the characters in the series by the end, and why not? As the title implies, here at long last Alvin begins to build the crystal city of his visions. Here he overcomes the sense of unworthiness that’s kept him wandering for the past two books. Here he finally grasps his purpose in life, and lays the foundation for it.
This, along with the dominance of one central story, the exodus, gives The Crystal City a more unified feel, and a sense of direction that’s been lacking in the previous volumes. Although Card still can’t resist a little sight-seeing. Besides Abraham Lincoln there’s Jim Bowie, Steve Austin, and a side-trip to visit the bloodthirsty Mexica. But while the main purpose of the last two books seemed to be to explore the alternate world Card has created and meet interesting people, the exodus ensures that The Crystal City remains a novel instead of a travelogue.
Once again, the charm of this setting is a strong point, and it’s felt most keenly in the characters’ dialect. Card is a playwright before a novelist, and it shows in the crisp dialogue. But at times I was put off by this trademark of the series. While Card’s dialogue is a joy to read, and the character interactions greatly enrich this already wonderful story, at times it’s too much. Every character has been imbued with Card’s own wit. Everyone has the perfect comeback always at the ready. Everyone’s a black belt when it comes to verbal sparring. But in real life, not everyone is a Beatrice or Benedick. Most of us can only come up with the perfect comeback a day too late. The knack for banter that Card’s characters uniformly share is entertaining, but at times the homogeneity tastes bland.
Beyond that minor quibble with the characterization, I have to say I no longer find Calvin’s character believable. As hard as Card tries to explore Calvin’s rationalizations, his thoughts and actions exceed this justification and he is perpetually juvenile. Card’s characters are usually his strongest point. But somewhere along the way the only feeling I had for Calvin became annoyance. Perhaps it’s the very self-assuredness that defines Calvin that also makes him uninteresting. A main character with no internal conflicts may be doomed. At times in the series Calvin has been conflicted. But here he’s consistently flat.
There are opportunities Card misses. There was always a sense of danger or uncontrolled power about La Tia, but it never came to fruition. And without paralleling the biblical exodus too closely he could have spiced things up. There were rebellious elements among Alvin’s "Israelites," but never any golden calf. Never any Miriam. Once the show gets on the road, thing go almost too smoothly—and if there’s one thing we should be able to expect from Card it’s that nothing is ever easy.
Finally, a word must be said regarding Mormons. Because, while The Tales of Alvin Maker are an alternate history of America, they are also an alternate history of Joseph Smith. In The Crystal City this fact is perhaps more clear than at any other time in the series, as Alvin leads his people to a zion city on the Mississippi where they will build a temple. I could make a good guess at the outline of the final book now. Of course, this is an alternate history, not an allegory, so few things match up, and none of them exactly. Still, familiarity with the Mormon perspective can add another aspect of enjoyment to the book, though readers lacking that familiarity won’t suffer for it.
I’ll admit I wasn’t looking forward to reading The Crystal City. I took my time getting around to it. But I’ve been delightfully surprised. With each passing year Card proves there’s no more polished author, and still he twists his characters with excruciating moral dilemmas while they cause each other pain. Though the sharpness of the first books in the series may never be recovered, The Crystal City moves past the failings of the middle books and gives hope for a grand finale.
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