Refining Fire is the second volume in a series that began with Prodigal Journey, reviewed by me in April 2003. I went back and re-read that review; my recollection of the storyline was rather weak given the passing of time.

As with the first volume, the heroine is Alyssa Stark, a young college student forced to flee as a dictatorial U.S. government outlaws the practice of religion amid the rampant spread of American Toxic Flu -- ATF -- a disease resistant to all known treatment. Utah has been allowed to secede from the Union; other Mormon outposts have emerged as Latter-day Saints establish safe places for family and worship. Alyssa is not a member of the Church, but her life is affected by LDS friends, and circumstances push her more deeply into the LDS fold.

While growing up, her family was very close to the Richardsons, converts to the Church. Alyssa's mother, abusive and irreligious, forbade Alyssa from consorting with the Richardson family, despite a budding love affair between Alyssa and Peter Richardson.

As the previous book closes, Alyssa has had some remarkable experiences, including a healing event involving Jesus Himself. Circumstances bring her back into contact with the Richardsons, where she settles in as a permanent guest, all the while being influenced by the love and acceptance offered by the family.

On another front, her friend Jonathan Pike is a budding physician. Debra, Alyssa's college roommate, is dating Jon. The national situation separates Alyssa and Debra. Jon and Debra finally marry, although Jon has not had time to finish medical school. Nonetheless, he is called into duty when ATF arrives at their LDS outpost in the form of Margret DeVray, also a friend of Alyssa. Margret, dying and weak, arrives at Pike's complex. He gets to work trying to find a cure for the disease.

If this all sounds a bit contrived, it really is. But when writing speculative fiction, ostensibly based on a Mormon-like vision of the time just before the Second Coming of Christ -- and when you're intertwining a finite number of characters, and writing a love story at the same time -- I suppose contrivance is unavoidable. You have to work in the characters somehow.

There are several instances where the story goes off track, into what some would consider the "lunatic fringe" of the belief spectrum. The Prologue was almost unreadable. Hired thugs holding a Temple-worthy Saint hostage. He hears words from God and sends the thugs into a flurry of confusion. It was almost laughable, written as if it were spoof, rather than a serious consideration of Divine power. I fervently hoped the rest of the book would not follow this pattern.

Happily it didn't. Once Adams gets started, she brings the story back to earth and continues the story begun in the previous volume. In this book, we get a better feel for these people. They emerge as genuine, with real lives and loves, with beliefs and doubts. Near the end, Adams briefly reverts to this comic-book type of writing, but it's only a bit, tolerable until the beginning of the next chapter.

The issue of sexuality weighs heavily in this book. One segment is especially reflective of LDS belief in this area: the Richardson house has been blessed and set aside by one with proper priesthood authority. This, presumably, prevents Satan from directly entering the house. But one night, Satan appears to Alyssa. She screams, Peter dashes into the room, and drives the devil out. Peter is confused -- how did Satan get into the house? Later, he learns that his brother Andrew had been viewing pornography on his computer. This sin, in effect, opens a door for Satan to enter the house and attack Alyssa. Yes, a bit preachy, but then again preachiness is a big part of this story.

As the book closes, many issues remain unresolved. This surely means a third volume is coming. In my previous review of the first volume, I mentioned some holes in the story that I thought should be filled in. The second volume does just this, and I was happy to see it. The unresolved issues in this volume are consistent with a plan to round out the series with a third, perhaps final, volume.

This book will be enjoyed by the casual reader of LDS fiction. It has something for everyone -- a real love story, really bad people doing really bad things, family tensions, governmental persecution, the display of priesthood power -- it's all there. And, in fact, this second volume is better than the first. I'll look forward to the third volume. If Adams can decide which venue she wishes to write about -- the real problems of real people, or the comic cut-out world of Mormon speculation -- this next volume can be a winner.

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Jeff Needle
January 1, 2005