Review
======
Title: Alma
Author: H. B. Moore
Publisher: Covenant Communications Inc.
Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2009
Number of Pages: 308
Binding: Quality Paperback
ISBN-10: 1-59811-864-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-59811-864-3
Price: $16.95
Reviewed by Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury
In the subculture of science fiction and fantasy fans and readers, there are those who like to write stories with no intention of professional publication, which they call "fan fiction." Included in fan fiction is a vast collection of stories written by those who want to "fill in the blanks" of their favorite books and movies, and these include works by viewers of STAR WARS and STAR TREK as well as readers of such fiction as the Darkover (Marion Zimmer Bradley) and Pern (Anne McCaffrey) books and LORD OF THE RINGS (J. R. R. Tolkien). Such fiction can be problematic for the original creators because of the risk of copyright infringement and plagarism, but as long as the "fans" respect the wishes of the originators, a lot of interesting "what if" stories can result.
I bring this up, because H. B. Moore's ALMA seems to qualify as a "fill in the blanks" story of what has already been given to us in the Book of Mormon. This is a sequel to ABINADI and uses several characters created for that novel to fill in blanks in the Book of Mosiah, and Moore uses them very well.
While Alma (the elder) serves as one point of view character, most of the point of view characters who tell his story are people Moore has created herself, such as Abinadi's widow and a wife, and later widow, of King Noah. Moore also gives relationships and personalities to people like Amulon and Helam who, with their perspectives, richen and deepen the events told in the Book of Mosiah. All of these characters are used to good effect, and the motivations and actions as the story progresses provide explanations for incidents only glossed over in the Book of Mormon, such as how and why the daughters of the Lamanites could plead for their kidnappers' lives when their people finally found them.
This book is an exciting and interesting exploration of the followers and enemies of Alma and how they might have been involved in and affected by what happened. Not only do they struggle to survive, but the characters love and mourn and laugh and misunderstand and grow together, or apart, as the case may be. Moore is true to what is known about that time and place, and this book offers worthy speculations of what surrounded those events.
I suppose that the next book might be about the sons of Alma and Mosiah, but I hope that Moore will consider calling one of the sequels LIMHI. There is a lot of potential for filling in the blanks of that story as well, and Moore could do it justice.
Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury
Dalton-Woodbury@sff.net
