Reviews for Daniel and Nephi

The average rating for Daniel and Nephi based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-04-23 00:00:00 Richard Baumgartner (I dug up this review I wrote in 1996 from the AML archives). Daniel and Nephi falls outside of the "Tennis Shoes" series, this is just historical fiction, no time-travel involved. Heimerdinger creates a chain of events which thrusts together Nephi (son of Lehi) and Daniel (of the Lion Den fame) together for a series of adventures around 609 BC (nine years before the opening of the BofM, and three years before Daniel is taken to Babylon). Daniel, the nephew of the (mostly) righteous King Josiah of Judah, is caught up in a palace coup, and is left in the desert for dead. He is discovered and rescued by Ishmael, winds up at Lehi's estate, and goes with Laman and young Nephi to Egypt for his own safety. The two boys, after a rocky start, become strong friends. The climax is Josiah's disastrous defeat at Meggido at the hands of the Egyptians (2 Chronicles 35), which the boys witness and participate in. This book succeeds where Poulson's "Samuel: Moroni's Young Warrior" failed, characterizations. Heimerdinger is no literary master, but his characters are at lest interesting, and we are allowed to see what motives drive both the good and the bad. Lehi develops from being simply an observing Israelite to an acting servant of the Lord. Laman, who is in charge of Lehi's caravans to Egypt, becomes enchanted with the variety of religions and philosophies existing along the caravan route, becomes a moral relativist, and ignores the laws of God. Lemuel is a religious zealot and patriot, but after Judah is defeated at Meggido he becomes bitter against the Lord. The boys are rescued at one point by a pair of Greeks, with whom they discuss the roles of science and religion. The leaders of the coup against Josiah act in order to preserve their trade relations with Egypt. The boys themselves are able to overcome their own pride and fears to accomplish important tasks. Heimerdinger's presentation of the politics of the period is especially interesting. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it at least lines up with the accounts in the Old Testament. I hadn't noticed before that the defeat at Meggido occurred only 9 years before the opening of the BoM, and its inclusion in a book about the pre-BofM years of Lehi's family makes for a fascinating "how might it have been?" experience. King Josiah is presented as a righteous person, but one who ultimately fails because he tries to get the Lord to submit to his will, rather than the other way around. We also get cameos by Jeremiah, Laban, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I found myself going to the Old Testament and checking how much of what he presents is actually there, which certainly was one of his aims. Heimerdinger's dialogue is fresh and believable, and managed to keep my interest throughout. I liked that he didn't try to create a completely happy ending. Daniel is placed under house arrest, and the boys are never able to meet again. But we are reminded of the great future both have ahead of them. I have only a few criticisms. As with "Samuel", girls play little to no role. He includes a couple of what I would consider "cheap" miracles, particularly a scene where, during a parade of the Egyptian army, a sacred bull stops in front of the boys and collapses, a sign that Jehovah is stronger than the gods of the Egyptians. Even for future prophets, I doubt that the Lord ever makes things so obvious. Also, the amount of wisdom and the strength of character that two 11/12 year old boys display is a bit much to believe, even conceding that people grew up quicker in those days. But in order to fit it into the chronology, they couldn't be much older (could we imagine Nephi being any older than 20 in 600BC?). None of these things do much harm to the book, however. It isn't going to overwhelm too people above 16, but as a work of juvenile historical fiction, it is quite satisfying. Thumbs up.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-05-02 00:00:00 Eric Carroll ok so the boy on the left is my neighbor... he is like 18 now. when they painted this he was like 9