by Orson Scott Card
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Product Description
Peggy is a Torch, able to see the fire burning in each person's heart. She can follow the paths of each person's future, and know each person's most intimate secrets. From the moment of Alvin Maker's birth, when the Unmaker first strove to kill him, she has protected him.
Now they are married, and Peggy is a part of Alvin's heart as well as his life.
But Alvin's destiny has taken them on separate journeys. Alvin has gone north into New England, where knacks are considered witchcraft, and their use is punished with death.
Peggy has been drawn south, to the British Crown Colonies and the court of King Arthur Stuart in exile. For she has seen a terrible future bloom in the heartfires of every person in America, a future of war and destruction. One slender path exists that leads through the bloodshed, and it is Peggy's quest to set the world on the path to peace.
Amazon.com
This is the fifth novel in Orson Scott Card's popular Alvin the Maker series, based on an alternate America where some people are born with knacks, which resemble magical abilities. The protagonist of the series, Alvin, is a maker who not only can fix things (such as restoring a wounded bird to health with his doodlebug) but is also something of a natural leader. Alvin and his small band of followers are on a quest to build the Crystal City, a place where those who have knacks can live in safety from the people who sometimes burn them as witches. While Alvin visits the nearly holy province of New England to find out just how cities work, his wife Margaret, traveling under the name Peggy, journeys to the kingdom of Camelot, which was formerly known as Charleston, South Carolina. There she hopes to persuade the exiled King Arthur to help her abolish the practice of slavery. Heartfire is an excellent midseries novel that's sure to delight fans of Alvin. --Craig E. Engler
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 No better than Journeyman, but we're still hoping..., 2008-06-18
Card's `Alvin Maker' series takes us down an alternate timeline to a pre-industrial America where magic, religion, and science compete for ascendancy. If you haven't read the first two volumes: `Seventh Son' and `Red Prophet' leave this page now and go check them out. Not only will further installments make little sense without that background, but they're nowhere near as good, and `Heartfire' is certainly no exception. The bottom line on the series is this - if you liked `Alvin Journeyman' you'll probably like `Heartfire', too. It features the same characters, and yet another courtroom drama, and no particular progress towards any specific goal. If you were disappointed enough by `Journeyman' that you're considering abandoning the series altogether, there's nothing in this book that you just have to come back for.
This reviewer has to admit to still being hooked despite the serious drop-off in quality since the series' inception. Card's "knack" lies in keeping us interested even when the plot doesn't seem to be gong anywhere. One still wants to know what comes next, perhaps optimistically thinking that he'll take us somewhere worthwhile if we just stick with him long enough. As of this writing, the series is still incomplete, so perhaps there's still hope. But the hope lies with Card's talent, and not in this scattered installment.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Great Book, 2007-04-05
It's getting colse to the end and I don't want it to end. Great book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Alvin has lost his way, 2006-12-13
Card spends two thirds of the book exchanging banter between characters, none of which advance plot or advance character development. We then end up with Alvin waiting around in jail (again) and an impending courtcase (again). Oh woe the day Verily Cooper was introduced so Card could stick his books into a court case to explain what he wants to tell us.
I loved the 1st 3 books, was okay with the 4th book (but only okay), and this book made me angry. And this book did little, if anything, to advance the overall story arc of The Tales Of Alvin Maker.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Incomprehensible and I am a fan!, 2005-07-12
Incomprehensible. I am an absolute fan of Orson Scott Card, anything he writes I will pick up to read. But this book stopped me cold. Based on the premise of the book, knack's that are almost magical, I should have loved it. But the quality of the prose plummeted in this book. I just didn't' get it
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Not as good as the previous books in the series, 2004-02-18
I originally read this when it first came out, then re-read the series when I got the new book (The Crystal City) for Christmas. This one was not as good as the other books in this series.The story started off very slow, with a lot of nonsense about Arthur Staurt and Audobon (who could have been left out of the book completely) and birds. While this was explained somwhat at the end of the book, it was still too much and too slow. The book does get better near the end, but by that time, there has been too much junk preceeding it to make it seem worthwhile. The dialogue between Denmark and Gullah Joe is particularly boring and painful to read. I give this book three stars only because of the characters, which are still great, and the ongoing story of Alvin's quest to build the Crystal City, but it wasn't a great story on its own. If you've read the other books in the series, this one is worth reading just to continue the story, but just barely. I hope the next book can return to the great stories from the previous books, if not, then I hope it will at least be the last in this series.
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