I was rather favorably impressed (read, "I enjoyed parts of it") by the first Alvin The Maker book, but some aspects caused me to neglect (if not actually avoid) picking up the sequels. Notably, ermm... no, Journeyman Blacksmiths would _not_ produce cast-iron plows. Cast-iron is brittle, and plows often encounter large rocks. I seem to be unable to accept even a Fantasy in which reality is so distorted. (And that's despite an ability to accept the idea that Alvin can cuddle up with a plowshare (or was it an anvil?) and turn it into gold.)