Seventh Son

Orson Scott Card

When Alvin Jr. was born he was the seventh living son of a seventh son. The flooding creek tried to sweep away his mother while in childbirth, but they both lived. His family was heading west into the Wilds of Wobbish Country in the New World in the late 18th or early 19th century. They found a piece of land and settled. They named the surrounding area Vigor. A community grew up there.

Al seems to have odd powers watching over him. His father can count the times his life has been threatened due to some freak accident involving water. Yet he survives. When a new preacher moves to Vigor, the Vigor Church is built. During the construction, the roof beam comes loose and falls onto the 6-year-old child. It split before it could crush him, miraculously landing on either side of him, with Alvin unhurt. Alvin Sr. vows to keep his son away from the church during construction. The preacher is sure the devil is in both the father and the son. He vows to cast the devil out of Vigor.

This speculative fiction novel is a combination of the Alternate Earth storyline, supernatural, and fantasy. Is is an interesting weave. I was never sure I liked it, yet I could not put it down. Even after I was finished my feelings towards the story have been ambivolent. I don't care for the obvious Christian bashing. Yet the bashing is aimed at the overzealous, narrowminded, tunnel visioned Christian. The writing is seductive, although it does not seem all that powerful while reading. This appears to be the first of a series, although I didn't know that when I picked it up. Will I read another of the series? Probably, some day...