Pillar of Light No. 1 in the The Work and the Glory series By Gerald N. Lund Deseret Book. Hardcover. ISBN: 0-88494-770-X Suggested retail price: $21.95 (US)
Reviewed by: D. Michael Martindale

I finally broke down and started reading "The Work and the Glory" by Lund. I had to, my wife got me the first three books for Father's Day.

I approached the task with fear and trembling. I have not been very thrilled with what little LDS literature I have read, and considering how popular this series is, I expected some hack level quality stuff. I had also read Lund's Alliance years ago which, though passable for an early attempt at LDS science fiction, up against mainstream SF could only be categorized as mediocre.

Sure enough, I barely made it through the first chapter and a half, waiting impatiently for Something To Happen. And I had nearly forgotten about the semi-amateurish technique of spending a whole lengthy paragraph with the debut of each character describing in fussy detail what that character looks like, thinking you had accomplished "characterization," that books in my tender youth had utilized.

But much to my chagrine, after that trying chapter and a half, a terrible thing happened. When a discernible plot actually started taking over the historical travelogue, I got hooked. Gosh darn it, the story was actually engrossing! And what do you know, Lund actually did do real characterizing along with the superficial first paragraph per character. I ended up finishing book one in 24 hours and have to confess, with great effort against my pride, that the series may deserve the popularity it has achieved after all.

I also had an unexpected deja vu feeling that brought back the mood I had while reading Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series. When one enters the made up world of a fine SF or fantasy book, one feels a strong sense of loss when that book or series is over, because there's no going back to that cherished world except to reiterate what you have already read. Lund gave me a chance to pop back into that frontier world of early nineteenth century America with new tales. Certainly there were a number of differences, since Work & Glory is historical fiction and Alvin Maker is fantasy. But the times and the places and even the background historical basis of the two series are the same, so the similarities were enough to make me feel I had come back home again.

This really puts a damper on my haughty elitist attitude toward popular LDS fiction, but I'd have to say the price was worth it to find something in that genre that was pleasurable to read.

D. Michael Martindale