Join Jim Hawkins and family as they stand face-to face with the ultimate forces of good and evil in this, the forth volume of the best-selling Tennis Shoes Adventure Series. Hearts will pound and adrenaline will rush as this spectacular Book of Mormon epic races to it's breathtaking climax.
The Journey...
“As we separated from the rest of the refugees of Zarahemla, a terrible vision haunted my thought. By abandoning my two younger children to search for Melody, might I lose my entire family?”
The Destruction...
"“It was coming from the north, a wall of rolling, tumbling, churning clouds the color of charcoal, the sweeping palm of God.”
The Glory...
“The man's eyes moved across the gathering at Bountiful's Temple. They were the bluest I have ever seen, and as clear and bright as the limitless universe.”
Tropes:
- The Atoner: At the end, Marcos remains in Nephite times to serve them, as atonement for his many crimes with the Gadiantons.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Defied. Melody likes Marcos because he’s charming and handsome, but any hint of evil repels her.
- Break Them by Talking: Jacob tries to destroy Melody’s faith in God and make her embrace the power of the Divine Jaguar.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Melody rebuffs him pretty well.
- Child of Two Worlds: Marcos has grown up in both the ancient and modern worlds, which means he’s acquainted with Gadianton brutality, but not much of a practitioner himself.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Jacob is a fan of this, although mercifully, the one he gives to Melody is non-spiky in nature.
- Collapsing Lair: Not by intention. Jacob’s island prison (and indeed his city) are torn apart by natural disasters unleashed by Christ’s death, which creates this effect as Jim and co are escaping it.
- Cult Defector: Lamachi. It's shown in detail that though he's converted to Christianity, he still has a lot of hang-ups to be addressed and is still thinking the Gadiantons way. The least harmful example is praying in the rain for an hour in the belief that it'll make it end faster.
- Marcos also ends up being one too, breaking free of his abusive father.
- Deus ex Machina: One invoked by Christ himself, which makes it excusable.
- Disney Villain Death: How Jacob is killed.
- Earthquakes Cause Fissures: The ones in the climax do.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Jim ends up with one of the spike-studded clubs the Nephites use, which is the closest he can get to this. He specifically chooses to wield it when rescuing Melody, if only for the look.
- Healing Hands: As it is in Mormon theology, men with the Holy Priesthood can give healing blessings to the injured, although the effectiveness varies.
- Heroic Suicide: Melody threatens this to save some men due to be executed. If Jacob kills them, she’ll find a way to kill herself before they reach their destination, ruining his plan. It works.
- Honorable Elephant: A curelom encountered in the mountains (an animal mentioned in the Book of Mormon's Ether section) turns out to be a sub-species of woolly mammoth that's survived to the Christian era. Her name is Rachel.
- I'm a Humanitarian: It's mentioned that Jacob Moon's priests routinely eat human remains as part of their rituals and sacrifices.
- I Owe You My Life: Jonas ends up owing Jim one, setting up the Stable Time Loop.
- The Load: Lamachi is an unstable, reckless, paranoid, insecure fool. But he's also the only one who knows the way to Jacobugath, and most everyone in the party knows he's Just a Kid.
- Love Redeems: Love Encourages Redemption, maybe. Marcos’s attraction to Melody makes him realize how far off the path he is and makes him switch sides.
- Messianic Archetype: The trope namer is present.
- The Mole: Naaman turns out to be a Gadianton spy sent to scope out the Christians and kill Lamachi if he won't return to the fold.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Jacob Moon turns out to be this, as his regime is built around physical perfection, the sick and infirm being either killed or imprisoned.
- Pals with Jesus: Personal acquaintances, at least. Jim and his family are all present to watch Christ descend from Heaven and minister to the Nephites. They even get to touch the wounds in his hands and feet and see their youngest be ministered to by angels.
- Pragmatic Evil: Marcos is this at first as Jacob’s advisor, but this ends up deconstructed, as his failure to truly object revolts Melody.
- Properly Paranoid: Lamachi is consumed by the fear that the Gadiantons are going to come after him, or that their gods will strike him dead. He's chastised for this many times, but turns out to be 100% right about the former.
- Rescue Arc: This concludes the arc from the previous book of rescuing Melody from the Gadiantons.
- Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Jim’s mission. He even mounts up on the mammoth, sword in hand, at the very end to provide an appropriate image of this.
- Rescue Romance: Marcos’ and Melody’s feelings are brought to the surface when she falls in a river tied up and he rescues her.
- Rules Lawyer: Lamachi says he can show the way to Jacobugath by walking the route he knows without explicitly saying where he's going.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Lamachi comes on the journey, gets flak from everyone, gets wrongfully accused of murdering his peers, is beaten and abused by The Mole (confirming all his worst fears of being punished), makes a huge act of courage to kill him and break free of his brainwashing, and then gets wounded in a fight, neglects to see to it out of machismo, and passes away shortly after.
- Shown Their Work:
- Besides trying to portray the era accurately, there’s also a lot of work done to match with the scriptural account. Readers may be surprised to see Jacob Moon and Jacobugath called out by name in Christ’s denunciation, but that really is in there! Similarly, Christ doesn’t arrive until several months after the disasters, instead of soon afterward like Church films present it as.
- Garth also calculates the time of Christ’s death in the timeline, but compensates for the time difference, since Christ’s timezone is several hours ahead.
- Stable Time Loop: Jim meets the man who freed him from prison in the previous book who said he was doing it because “he owed him.” He thus spends his time freaking out over him, since he has no idea when the life-saving incident will occur.
