Seventh Son - Orson Scott Card

A friend recently leant me Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card. To date, I have read Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead, and I have enjoyed them both. Seventh Son is about an alternate America where magic is practiced. The setting is in the late 1700’s / early 1800’s in the Frontier. Apparently, this is the first of six books, and from what I have read about them, they are pretty good. This first book did start somewhat slowly, but it did keep my attention. I have read some comments saying that it would have been better if Card had written fewer but longer books in this series. I have to disagree. I like being able to complete a book without a huge commitment. When I have time, I will read the next. I do not think I will buy this series, but I will borrow it from friends or the library.

An interesting thing I encountered in this book is Card’s perspective on religion. Actually, I cannot really say it is his perspective, because I have not yet seen where he will take it. However, it does appear that he portrays western style religion as stupidly closed minded while witches and people with special powers are really good. Is this something like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s view on spirituality sneaking into his fiction?