Heartfire
core novel 1998 The Tales of Alvin Maker
Record
| First published | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.73 (13,663 ratings, collected 2026-08-27) |
| Page count | 336 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780812509243 |
| Internal chronology | 5 |
Synopsis
Heartfire continues the Tales of Alvin Maker, set partly during John Quincy Adams's tenure as Governor of Massachusetts, and follows Alvin as his travels carry him and his allies into New England, a region whose politics and Puritan-influenced suspicion of folk magic differ sharply from the frontier settlements of earlier volumes. As Alvin and Peggy, now more deeply bound together by their shared knowledge of the dangers he faces, navigate this unfamiliar social and political terrain, the series continues its exploration of how different regions of Alvin's alternate America regard magic, power, and outsiders. The novel extends the long-running conflict with the Unmaker's influence into a setting where accusations of witchcraft carry their own particular historical weight, deepening the series' blend of folk magic and reimagined American history.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Tales of Alvin Maker
- Series: Tales of Alvin Maker core; position 5 of 7 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Orson Scott Card
Notes
- From the series record (Tales of Alvin Maker): Complete 7-novel alternate-history fantasy saga, an alternate frontier America where folk magic works; concluded 2026 with Master Alvin.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Tales of Alvin Maker: position 5 of 7: previous Alvin Journeyman (1995) · next The Crystal City (2003)
Sources
← The Tales of Alvin Maker dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.