David Gibbins - The Last Gospel

The next adventure for Jack and his crew of historical heroes has a lot of different paths but ultimately it boils down to a hunt for a Gospel written by none other than Jesus Christ. The trip takes them all around the world from ancient Rome, to California in search of where it’s been kept. As always with these things though, there are arbitrary dickheads who want to stand in the way of history but this time it’s not for money, but more just to keep the Gospel hidden – because there can be no change to religion.

The book itself is well written but goes a little further with the ongoing dialogue sections that explain the history behind everything that happens. There are a lot more flashbacks in this one which makes me think there isn’t enough modern-day information to keep the story going and we keep needing to dip back into the past to have more explained to us. Again, there is nothing majorly wrong with this, but I did feel like it broke the flow of the story as it always seemed to happen just when the modern-day parts were building up momentum.

Another criticism is that, just like in the last books, Jack’s power to recall knowledge at a moment’s notice to serve the story has gotten even stronger and this takes away a lot from the characters. I see that it serves the purpose of driving the story forward, but it feels too easy as it’s always at the exact moment the information is needed.

I found it a lot harder to keep on reading this one, probably because the continual dialogue explanations slowed down the story a lot more than in previous books. That said, there is a very good, and also historically plausible, story in the background here and it’s very enjoyable to see it unfold over the 542-page extravaganza.

There’s not really a lot else to say to be honest. The stories are written in a consistent and coherent way and stick to an established pattern. While I’ve enjoyed these first three books, it’s time for a break and to read something new, however, I’m sure that the next few books will follow the same blueprint when I do go back to them.

The Last Gospel by David Gibbins was published by Headline Publishing Group in 2008. RRP £8.99 (Paperback)

Joseph Smith - Book of Mormon

The way in which we sometimes come across certain books can be a mystery. I’ve picked up leftovers from trains; found some in coffee shops (I’m pretty sure they were left behind and didn’t belong to the shop;) Discovered ones under Mum’s bed; searched them out in obscure book shops and received them as gifts from estranged relatives. But very rarely do people come to my door and simply give me one - a book that is.

It was a Friday afternoon and I’m sure I was supposed to be doing something important somewhere else - working for instance - but for some reason I found myself at my computer drinking coffee. The doorbell rang. Now I’m not usually at home and wouldn’t normally have answered the door, but I must have been bored and feeling semi-adventurous so I went for it. Standing on the porch were two excellently dressed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They gave me the usual spiel about God but I was more interested in the book they were offering - for free. I’m not going to say no to a free book am I?

I was surprised to find that The Book of Mormon reads like a story recounting the ancient history of the founding fathers of the religion and there battles and struggles. The story was closer to Troy than the The Bible. The amount of blood shed over the 531 pages (I am aware there are more pages, but I’m not counting an index as part of the story) of the text makes Kill Bill look like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's violent to the point where so many people are killed that even the writer could not express the destruction numerically.

I was expecting to find a lot of preaching about believing in the Lord to be saved, how the Lord is the only way to salvation, or how we will all die if we don’t do EXACTLY what the Lord says. Okay, it does that last one a lot. Several people die just because the followers of Lord wish it and the Mormons seem to believe God has a take-no-prisoners approach to being omnipotent.

The highlights of this book for me were the characters. To name a few, ‘the great warrior Moroni, who slew many Lamanites with the sword’ and Helaman and his two-thousand strong seemingly invincible army.

If I’m going to mention weaknesses, it is the fact that the narrative constantly adds ‘All these things are written and they are true’ on the end of several passages. It makes the book feel like an unconvincing liar; a child caught stealing - ‘It wasn’t me, it was him.’

As far as recommendations go, it’s hard to recommend it to any specific group of people (other than Mormons but that’s too obvious.) If you are looking to branch out, and I mean way out, on the type of stuff you read then the book of Mormon is definitely for you.

The Book of Mormon was published and translated by Joseph Smith in 1830. RRP Free from your local door-to-door Mormon.

A Pilgrimage - My Face in the desert
(Disclaimer: It's actually Paignton Zoo. Don't tell anyone)