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Title: Non-Alvin buffs proceed with caution.
Review: Card's not doing much exposition at this point: either you know what Alvin's about or you don't. Not much knackery going on either, compared to some of the other books in this series. Alvin brings Calvin back from the dead: nothing new there. Wonderful character development, as usual, both fictional and historical (John Adams, John C. Calhoun, John-James Audubon). Lots of loose ends, of course, given that this is a series. At this point I suspect Card hasn't any more of a clue as to the final form the Crystal City will take than Alvin does. I, for one, will enjoy the discovery process over the next few installments. A warning to those who are picking this up midstream: if American history is not your strong point, you might want to either look elsewhere or commit to a fair amount of catching up, 'cause at least 50% of the enjoyment of this series is already knowing what REALLY happened and comparing it to the "Alvin" version.
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