Estados Unidos, inicios del siglo XIX. En un mundo dominado por la magia y los conjuros del folclore, Alvin, séptimo hijo varón de un séptimo hijo varón, posee el don poco común de ser un Hacedor. Alvin intenta enseñar dicho don a su hermano Calvin, pero éste, corroído por la envidia, huye a la Europa de Napoleón. Alvin crecerá entonces como Hacedor y se enfrentará al Deshacedor, que ha adoptado la forma de una salamandra.

Alvin Miller, a gifted seventh son of a seventh son, utilizes his skills as a Maker to help create a brighter future for America, but his task is further challenged by his ancient enemy, the Unmaker, who plots to end Alvin's life.

This time around Alvin is on trial. Not even kidding. Most of the book is taken up by Alvin going back to stand trial for 'stealing' the golden plow from Makepeace. It's actually a surprisingly decently plot and we get a lot more worldbuilding, including two different viewpoints in Europe. In one, we have a lawyer with a knack of his own who wants to learn from Alvin and looks to be a new main character. In the other, Alvin's brother Calvin's adventures in France, meeting Napoleon.

Unfortunately, it seems like we've spent yet another book just spinning in place. Alvin continues to plan on building his Crystal City and training new Makers... but he's not getting to either any time soon. At the very end, he does manage to marry Peggy and meet up with the Prophet again, but it feels only to set up the next sequel.

Characterwise, I do like Verily. It's interesting to see how someone with a powerful knack akin to Alvin's, but that grew up in a land where such a thing is supposed to be a death sentence. Likewise, I think Calvin's story is interesting. He has such a completely different view of the world from Alvin and doesn't even seem to realize it. He's not a particularly good person and seems to be okay with that. It makes him feel a little more real than Alvin ever did.

All together, I think I'm done with the series for the time being. It's not flat out a bad series, but I feel like there are better books I could be reading first. ( )

Alvin is well on his way to creating the Crystal City. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop though. ( )

Card is an extremely good writer, and his books are always a pleasure to read, but at times I did feel that the stories here occasionally suffered for being too allegorical, and too much about Card's ideas of morality.

In the 4th book, 'Alvin Journeyman' Alvin tries to strike out on his own, with his visions of creating a 'Crystal City' (kinda like Augustine's City of God?) before him... however, he is accused, falsely, of theft, and his concepts of justice impel him to sit in jail and face charges, even though his powers mean that he doesn't have to. Too much of the book is really spent in courtroom drama, and Alvin begins to really just seem annoyingly 'moral.' As a foil, the character of his younger brother Calvin is drawn - Calvin also has quite a lot of magic powers, but none of Alvin's desire to use them only for good - he kinda rides a line between being amoral and actively malicious. ( )