 Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
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| Author | Orson Scott Card |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Tales of Alvin Maker |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Publication date | 1987 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 241 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-312-93019-4 |
| Followed by | Red Prophet |
Seventh Son (1987) is an alternate history/fantasy novel by Orson Scott Card. It is the first book in Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker series and is about Alvin Miller, the Seventh son of a seventh son. Seventh Son was nominated for both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1988.
Contents |
Plot summary
Seventh sons have strong "knacks" (specific magical abilities), and seventh sons of seventh sons are both extraordinarily rare and powerful. In fact, young Alvin appears to be the only one in the world. His abilities make him the target of the Unmaker, who recognizes Alvin's powers as those of a Maker only the second ever and it had been a long time since the first had walked on water and turned water to wine. The Unmaker works largely through water, trying to kill Alvin in his early years, before he can master his abilities. Alvin's family is migrating west. When they try to cross the Hatrack River, the Unmaker tries to stop the as-yet-unborn Alvin from becoming a Maker, sending a tree down the river to crush the wagon the pregnant Mrs. Miller is riding in. Her son Vigor diverts the tree, but is mortally wounded in the act. Because a seventh son must be born while the other six are alive, Vigor desperately clings to life until Alvin is born. Help is dispatched at the insistence of five-year-old "torch" (a person who, among other things, can see the life forces of people and under certain conditions, their myriad alternate futures) Peggy Guester, who sees Alvin and Alvin's possible future as a Maker. As the years pass, Alvin avoids numerous attempts by the Unmaker to kill him, often helped by the intervention of Peggy, who continues to watch over him and help him use his power with her "torch" powers. When he is ten years old, Alvin encounters "Taleswapper" (William Blake) a travelling storyteller who arrives in the town his parents have founded. Meanwhile, the Reverend Philadelphia Thrower becomes a tool of the Unmaker. When the Unmaker manages to injure Alvin, Taleswapper encourages him to heal himself, and Thrower (acting as a surgeon) attempts to kill him, but finds himself unable to by a mysterious force. Alvin heals himself (with the aid of his brother Measure) and is contracted as an apprentice to a blacksmith in the town on the Hatrack River where he was born. The book's sequel, second in the tales of Alvin's life, is Red Prophet.
In popular culture
The heavy metal band Iron Maiden's seventh album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, a conceptalbum, was based on the story of Seventh Son. Referred to by Detroit Blues Rock Duo The White Stripes in "Ball and Biscuit," Track 8 of 14 on their 2003 album Elephant.
