REVIEW: Orson Scott Card's Red Prophet

Orson Scott Card’s Red Prophet (1988) continues the story of young Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son, as he leaves home and takes his first steps toward manhood. But this second installment in the series, The Tales of Alvin Maker, is a step backward in time, as Card explains the significance of a seemingly peripheral character in Seventh Son (1987): Lolla-Wossiky, a whisky-Red turned prophet.

But whereas Seventh Son was slow, Red Prophet speeds through the telling of Lolla-Wossiky’s history, beginning when the young and gifted Red witnesses his father’s murder at the hands of Gov. Bill Harrison and ending when Lolla-Wossiky visits his dream beast — Alvin Junior — bedside in the form of the Shining Man and is healed of the unbearable pain he suffered since his father’s death. No longer driven to the bottle, Lolla-Wossiky takes a new name, Tenskwa-Tawa, and begins to gather a following of Reds who believe in finding a peaceful coexistence with the White man. But from there forward, Card reintroduces young Alvin as the central character and describes the tensions and evil that can never allow such a peace to last.

Like in Seventh Son, the story of Red Prophet is told from multiple perspectives, giving the reader knowledge of events even before they occur. While many of these characters — such as Lolla-Wossiky, Alvin Junior and Alvin’s brother Measure — remain fundamental throughout the book, others — like Mike Fink, the river rat whom Harrison hires as an assassin — are introduced in detail then discarded once their purposes are fulfilled. Card’s willy-nilly use of disposable characters may serve to advance the plot but also becomes a distraction that could have been avoided.

Still, it would not be unprecedented for one of Card’s apparent blunders to later reveal itself as an undeniable strength. While at the time it felt as though Card was struggling to find a direction in Seventh Son, with Red Prophet, is has become clear Card’s first work in this series provided valuable character and plot development that allowed Prophet — and likely all subsequent books — to flow much more quickly and smoothly. With the groundwork already laid, an unhindered Card could look ahead in the series and give readers their first taste of what’s to come in Alvin Junior’s journey: the Crystal City, a peaceful place of “light without dark, clean without dirty, … life without death” (165). With that knowledge, the action- and intrigue-filled Red Prophet will leave readers salivating for more of The Tales of Alvin Maker.