Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites by Chris Heimerdinger

Jim has met the Savior before, but talks as if its his first time.

Its a small, petty gripe, but Jim and Jenny see the Savior hours before The Triumphal Entry. Like I said - its ambitious, buts its a bit much. No, this time the cast simultaniously fall into multiple time periods, and instead of returning to the present time at the end of the story, they fall into other periods, splitting even further apart from eachother while joining new characters along the way.

Unlike earlier books in the series, this isn't a case of traveling to one time, getting a good feel for it and learning something new about the period being explored before eventually returning home. Without that, keeping everyone's arcs straight was just frustrating. The chapter headings, while at least having the decency to tell you who is narrating, really could have used sub-headings to remind you where they were. It left left me feeling lost a couple of times. Too many people in too many places doing too many things at once.

Chris Heimerdinger sure can write one gripping, elaborate story. I love seeing valiant, righteous heroes from the Book of Mormon come to life. It’s so intricate and incredibly thought out and plotted. There is some romance, actually some great romance that I love and makes my heart melt, especially Apollus *swoon*, but the romance parts aren’t very often. I sometimes wish we could just stay with one character or group, and then move to the next group that’s in a completely different time and story. So you’re reading three or four different stories, that may connect in the end (or will just carry to the next book and connect somehow there), and it’s several chapters later that you get back to a certain story. There are several different groups of main characters and points of views. Pretty much every page has someone running from someone who wants to kill them, or they’re running to save someone they love, or there’s fighting and battles and lies and murders and attempted murders. One problem with these books though is that there’s just so much happening in the story. It is so incredible and well written and grips me utterly, but it’s more the knowledge of who the two people fighting are that captivates me and makes me flip the pages eagerly. And this book, Kingdoms and Conquerors, has probably the most epic fight scene I’ve ever read.

Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites by Chris Heimerdinger