Sunday, August 28, 2011

The Devil Colony by James Rollins






Well, this was a very interesting book. It's a Sigma Force Novel, if that means anything to you. It's one of those "National Treasure" type books. An ancient secret, powerful warring groups, treasure, cataclysmic events, battles, a little romance... this book has it all. It was pretty much a series of crises--flowing adrenaline throughout the whole novel.

The most interesting thing about this book to me was its speculation on the Nephites and Lamanites, the peoples in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is approached in this novel as a historical record and the ancient secrets sought after by the opposing forces in this book originate with the Nephites, the "pale Indians". Very interesting. I worried that the author would fill his story with clever slams against the Mormon church, but he didn't. There were some events and references in the book that seemed to indicate general ignorance of Mormon practices and history, but there were no derogatory passages. That was nice (for a change).

Warning: there are some very foul words sprinkled throughout the book. There is no sex. I'm glad I read it, despite the dozen or so jarring and ugly words. It was interesting to see an outsider's possible interpretation of the Book of Mormon. Of course, to him it was purely a story or maybe even a history--not the spiritual record that members of the LDS church value it as. Still, it was enlightening to see things from a different (and friendly) perspective, and all the adventure and excitement was fun too.

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