Book Review: The Fourth Nephite by Jeffrey S. Savage

I recently had the opportunity to review an advance copy of “The Fourth Nephite,” a brand new historical fiction series written by Jeffrey S. Savage.  At first, I wasn’t that excited about the opportunity.  I was never really into historical fiction.  It always seemed so serious or depressing to me.  The Fire of the Covenant is a good example.  It’s a great novel, it’s just that my heart was literally aching after reading it.  So, you can see where I’m coming from, but I digress.

The Fourth Nephite is a fantastic story dripping with clever usage of historical characters and locations, lovable characters, and fantastic plot points.  If this first book is any indication, this is definitely a series you’re going to want to keep an eye on.

This novel follows the adventure of Kaleo Steele, a teenage football star.  While the football star label seems like it would turn off us mere mortals, he’s actually a very likable character.  Kaleo is LDS and does his best to be a good guy, but he has serious problems with doubt.  He’s only followed through with the motions his entire life. He doesn’t have faith of his own and deep down, he doubts the gold plates ever existed. Everything changes though, when a very strange series of events plunges him into Palmyra, New York in the time of Joseph Smith.  He suddenly finds himself sandwiched between the prophet he’s heard so much about and the treasure hunters that want the gold plates for their own purposes.  Lessons are learned, inner battles are waged, and sacrifices are made to protect a book that Kaleo doubted ever existed.

The storyline is very engaging, but what I think gives this novel its edge is how well the author crafts Kaleo’s character.  In between every chapter, you get a look into Kaleo’s thoughts and feelings on recent events.  It’s touches like this, that make Kaleo feel like a real person.  You will understand his feelings and you will celebrate when he changes for the better.  He’s a character you want to see succeed and in my opinion that’s the best kind of character.

Kaleo isn’t the only good character though.  The historical characters used are well presented and are true to their personalities.  When Kaleo first met Hyrum at Alvin’s grave, I knew what I was reading was good stuff.  Savage also had the courtesy to give you a list of what’s fictional and what isn’t in his notes at the back of the book.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that the treasure hunters actually did hire a necromancer to steal the golden plates!

Unfortunately, like all good things, this novel has an ending and it just seems to come far too early.  Of course, if I had my way, every book in existence would be upwards of 500 pages long, so maybe that’s just me.

This is a fantastic novel that begs to be read.  Read it, love it, and check out Jeffrey S. Savage’s other novels such as The Far World Series, one of my personal favorites.

*Anticipated publication date:  August 2010. You can preorder your copy @ Deseret Book.

Michael is a recent homeschool graduate and will be attending college full-time on a Presidential Scholarship (based solely on his ACT score) in just a few weeks.    Until then his life will be a whirlwind as he has just over two weeks to fit in Youth Conference, EFY and help his family move to their new home.