" Good, but melodramatic. Alvin completes his apprenticeship with Makepiece Smith the smith at Hatrack River where Alvin was born. The torch Peggy arranges a path toward her and Alvin's futures. There is a lot about slavery and evil whites. A big flaw is the character of Peggy, idealized almost out of existence. The Peggy narrator, with a mawkish presentation, made it worse. "
— Beverly, 1/23/2014