Book Review: Alma the Younger

Alma the Younger is the newest book in H.B. Moore's Book of Mormon prophets novels, and I do have to say I really enjoyed it. Of course, that's not so surprising given the fact that I've always loved Moore's books. 

Taking three and a half verses from the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 27:8-11) and turning it into 250 or some odd pages of a book has got to be a serious challenge, and all the harder because not everyone is going to be happy with how you portray one of their favorite prophets.

I really enjoyed seeing how Moore developed Alma's character. She didn't make him evil - she made him rebellious, but she gave him motivation. I love how Moore's books always make the characters come to life for me. Even though I know that most of the book is fiction, I also know that Moore does a lot of research into the culture and climate of the time, so it feels real.


Some of these books are based on much larger passages of scripture with many more details than others. In a case like this one, the scriptures only tell us that Alma the Younger was going about seeking to destroy the church of God, basically. All the details of how he went about that needed to come from Moore's imagination. My only caution in reading a book like this is for the reader to take it as a piece of fiction, and to read the chapter notes for fascinating insights into the parts of the story that are, in fact, based on the truth.