YMMV / Tennis Shoes Adventure Series

• Abandon Shipping: Anyone who shipped Jim and Menochin in book 1...well, hopefully the next book won't quash it too hard.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Lamanai ever really on the side of the main characters? By the end of Warriors Of Cumorah, he seems fairly tolerant of Apollus, Meagan, Ryan, and the Nephites' beliefs in God and Jesus Christ. But his betrayal two books later seems to indicate that he always hated them. It doesn't help that he is shown to possess deep hatred for both the Nephites and the Lamanites led by Spearthrower Owl and Fireborn, making it unclear whose side he's really on.
• Angst? What Angst?: In book 3, Jenny is unusually cheerful for someone whose husband was kidnapped and hasn't been heard from in a year.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Amalickiah, the Lamanite king in Tennis Shoes Among The Nehpites, is said to be one of the few men Jim meets that epitomizes evil. How is he killed? By Teancum sneaking into his tent and stabbing a spear through his body while he's still asleep.
• Arc Fatigue: Books 11 and onward have been hit with this HARD. While the ending of 10 seemed like it was building to a conclusion in the next book or two, 11 introduced two sudden new plots that took up lots of pages, and 13, while apparently the first of a final two-parter, ends with characters roughly where they were before and sometimes even more diverted from the main plot. How or if the author will end things inside of one book remains a mystery.
• Ass Pull: The entire premise of book 7. Harry, Meagan, and their friends have saved the Scroll of Knowledge and defeated the Sons of the Elect, so they should be ready to return home. But a gladiator comes back seeking revenge on Gidgiddonihah and starts a chain reaction that ends with Harry stuck in 70 A. D, meaning that Meagan has to save him.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Midway through book 9, Harry encounters a Mosasaurus in an underground cave. There is a tiny bit of foreshadowing in a prior chapter, but after it happens, the incident is only brought up once or twice, if that.
• Even Better Sequel: Many people seem to think that Gadiantons And The Silver Sword is superior to Tennis Shoes Among The Nephites. For that matter, both parts of The Feathered Serpent are sometimes considered to be the best in the series, period.
• First Installment Wins: Though the later books in the series have gotten their share of flak, most people seem to agree that the first 4 were the highlight of the series.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The backstory of Renae's death from cancer is sad enough on its own. But when her daughter Melody goes through the same dilemma, it makes it even worse.
• Like You Would Really Do It: In book 10, Apollus and Meagan are betrayed by Lamanai and sent to be competitors in a gladiatoral battle. The Lacandones tell Apollus that the fighting champion from the Chamulans has killed Meagan, knowing that this will enrage him enough to make him fight the Chamulan champion in the arena. It is revealed that Meagan is actually still alive, and the Lacandones were lying to get a rise out of Apollus.
• Multiple Demographic Appeal:
  • The first book was marketed to Mormon kids, but the series as a whole has wide appeal to adults, since they’re solid adventures with great humor and good messages.
• Nightmare Fuel: Since the series has evolved from a YA tone to a more adult tone, this has became more and more noticeable.
  • Jacob Moon torturing Melody in The Feathered Serpent, Part Two. First he encases her fists inside a thuck gum-like substance, turning them into useless stumps, then he does the same to her head, preventing her from breathing.
  • Simon Magus demonstrating some form of control over hyenas, and later a poisonous snake. It makes you wonder just how much of his sorcery is fake.
  • The Gadianton Ghosts. Good glory, the Gadianton Ghosts. They are shown to possess the ability to materialize anywhere they like, and to slip past even the strongest defenses. What's more, they are out to kill anyone who uncovers even a hint of their existence.
• Obscure Popularity: Even though it's sold over a million copies, you'd be hard-pressed to find any non-Mormons that know what this series is. Even within the Mormon church, not everyone is aware of the series' existence.
• Periphery Demographic: It’s popular among Mormon scholars since it painstakingly tries to recreate scriptural eras.
• Seasonal Rot: Starting with book 8, the series began to get really convoluted, with multiple plotlines going on at the same time and on several different continents in several different time periods. Even Chris Heimerdinger seems to realize how hard it is to follow, as he has began including character dossiers at the beginning of his books.
• Squick: You can almost sympathize with Harry when he finds out that his stepsister-to-be has had a crush on him for years.
• Trapped by Mountain Lions: The Jaredite plot in the later books. After being entrusted with a simple task that seemed like it was leading to a finale in the next book or so, Josh and co are suddenly ambushed by teleporting elephant-riding Jaredites and relieved of their MacGuffin, causing a Fetch Quest that diverts them from the main plot for the next two books. Similarly, Jim's plot with Jesus suddenly turns into a weird political drama. It's beginning to feel like the writer is just doing this to explore any era he hasn't portrayed yet, no matter how much convoluted writing it requires.
• Tear Jerker: There's a fair number of these.
  • In book 2, when Mehrukenah leaves Jim a note saying that he and his fellow Gadiantons have kidnapped Garth, Jenny, and Renae, saying that they have kept two of his companions and killed the third. It's hard not to worry along with Jim, even though it turns out that all of his companions are alive and well.
  • The opening of book 3, going in detail about how Renae died of ovarian cancer.
  • Melody suffering from ovarian cancer in book 5 as well. If anything, it hurts even more than when Renae went through the same thing. Marcos' reaction to the terrible news really caps it off.
  • Gidgiddonihah's death in book 7. Though he does come back to life, courtesy of Harry altering the timeline in book 9.