Join fifteen-year-old Harry Hawkins and Megan Sorenson as they face the awesome challenges of courage and survival in the hostile world of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Now in the grasp of the evil sorcerer, Simon Magus, Meagan must conquer her greatest fears to free herself and the young Jewish orphan, Jesse. In the meantime, Harry must make an impossible journey to Jerusalem with Gidgiddonihah, the Nephite warrior, as the thundering armies of Rome seek to bring about the city's destruction. Harry's object: to recover a sacred scroll that may contain the ultimate power and mysteries of the universe — the very key to saving his friends, and perhaps even to saving himself.
Journey with our young heroes as they face flames, swords, desperate villains, and perhaps the greatest loves of both of their lives in this, the sixth volume of the award-winning Tennis Shoes Adventure Series.
Tropes:
- Anywhere but Their Lips: At the peak of their budding romance, Apollus has a chance for a Big Damn Kiss and instead kisses Megan on the forehead. She's a little disappointed, but still finds it very sweet.
- Armor Is Useless: Averted. Apollus's helmet saves him from getting killed from a blow to the head. And in a more mundane fashion, his armor protects him when he and Megan jump into a thorn thicket to avoid detection.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Megan and Apollus have lots. They're attracted to each otehr, but have a lot of differences''. The two spend a lot of time discussing topics Apollus doesn't get well.
- Big Damn Heroes: Gidgiddonihah saves Harry several times over the story's course.
- The Romans also come in to help during the finale.
- Big Sister Instinct: Megan spends a lot of time worrying about nine-year-old Jesse's safety, and Magus deliberately targets him because he knows it'll hurt her more.
- Blank Book: The Book of Matthew the Sons of the Elect are convinced will let them ascend into Heaven contains nothing more than the teachings of Jesus Christ and some temple teachings. The Sons of the Elect fundamentally misunderstood the point of the scriptures by ascribing supernatural power to them.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The Romans are engaging in a lot of this, as part of their campaign to terrify the Jews into surrender. Most notably, they've crucified hundreds of men outside of Jerusalem, so defenders can see their people dying in agony when they man the walls.
- Collapsing Lair: Harry and co. make their escape from Jerusalem just as it's being sacked and burned by the Romans, creating this effect.
- Cool Sword: Gidgiddonihah keeps the sword he stole from a gladiator at the end of the last book, and the jewels on its handle prove paramount to their survival, allowing them to barter for supplies.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Apollus and Megan jump into a thicket of thorns when being pursued, since no one would think they'd be crazy enough to do so.
- Cunning Linguist: Garth is a Christian scholar, and thus knows enough Hebrew that he can get the gist of writing. This comes up when he sees the Scroll of Matthew's teachings during the finale.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Gidgiddonihah reveals his here, after seeing a refugee woman with a facial scar. When he was a young man, his wife and child died in childbirth and he threw the midwife out and threatened to prosecute her. With his position in the army at the time, he was very capable of this. By the time he changed his ways and sought her out to apologize, she'd passed away. The midwife had a similar facial scar to the refugee.
- Apollus and his father turn out to have one too. Apollus's mother and baby sister were killed in a carriage accident years ago, and his two older brothers were killed fighting in the wars. His father keeps him close because he doesn't want to lose his last child.
- Death of a Child: Jesse is threatened with death and human sacrifice by the Sons multiple times. He's even wounded, although he makes a quick recovery.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Mostly from Apollus. Being entrusted with Megan's safety, he mentions a lot of things that are terrifying to modern sensibilities, such as the Roman's tendency to Rape, Pillage, and Burn in response to even a single Roman casualty.
- He also walks in on Megan while she's bathing to see if she'll get upset like a slave wouldn't.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Apollus gets a strike on the head that leaves him unconscious or incoherent for three days. This means that he can't risk descending the hill to get help when he and Megan are trapped on it.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The Sons believe the Scroll of Matthew contains a ritual that will allow them to ascend into heaven regardless of what deeds they've committed, ignoring that Christian doctrine teaches that one's actions do count.
- The Evil Prince: Magus turns out to have a ward being groomed for command named Gracchus. He's blond, oily, and gross. She ends up slashing his face with her fingernails.
- Fish out of Water: Just like in Ancient America, Harry's pale skin makes him an immediate anomaly. Moreover, since the Jews are being besieged by the more ethnically diverse and European Romans, it gets him immediately suspected as a spy and captured.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: Megan has to spend three days hiding out in a cave with Apollus and tending to his injury while he recovers.
- Giving Radio to the Romans: Not quite. One character gives some Advil to a Jewish soldier who is having headaches. It works, but also gets him accused of witchcraft.
- Megan also does a verbal version of this when she starts telling the Sons future historical events, like the date of Jerusalem's fall (three days), the date of Masada's fall (three years), and the date of Mount Vesuvius's volcanic eruption (nine years).
- The Hedge of Thorns: Apollus and Megan jump into one.
- Hidden Weapons: In the first chapter, Gid has Harry sew a three-inch blade into the lining of his tunic so he can have a hidden blade if he's taken prisoner. Harry promptly forgets about it until the finale, when he cuts himself free from the Sons of the Elect and frees his friends too.
- Historical Domain Character:
- The Jewish historian-turned-Roman Flavius Josephus appears as Symeon's connection in the Roman camp. He gets them into Jerusalem but makes it clear he's not optimistic about their chances.
- Future Roman Emperor Titus and Jewish princess Berenice appear in the camp as well.
- On a subtler note, one of the old soldiers in Apollus's camp reveals he was there when Christ was crucified and was one of the soldiers that gambled for his clothing (Matthew 27:35). He doesn't seem to have been affected by it, though.
- Hot-Blooded: Harry nearly gets killed when he comes across Mary about to be accosted by bandits and rushes in to save her. If Gid hadn't been there, he would've died.
- Human Sacrifice: Following their incoherent mishmash of beliefs, the Sons of the Elect plan to sacrifice Jesse at one point.
- Intimate Hair Brushing: Inverted. Mary asks Harry to cut her hair as part of her Sweet Polly Oliver disguise. Although it's a serious occasion, it still ends up being a bonding moment for the two.
- It Amused Me: Besides having a fatherly soft spot for her, Apollus's dad believes Megan because there's not much to do in this patch of Judea. Taking her claims of local terrorists seriously and making her safety a priority gives the men of his garrison something to fill their hours.
- Jerkass: Apollus is this. Being the son of the commander, handsome, and a proud Roman makes him pretty insufferable.
- Jerkass Has a Point: On the other hand, he's right to think Megan's story of being a captured Roman citizen is bogus.
- Kill It with Fire: The Romans elect to beat the Sons of the Elect by simply setting Mount Gerizim on fire in the finale.
- This is also how Simon Magus goes out, as part of his Rasputinian Death.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Apollus makes his first appearance in a version of this, riding up on Megan while clad in shiny armor astride a pale horse. Megan is covered in mud at the time, and notes how short-of-perfect this outcome is.
- Narnia Time: It's revealed that while Harry's only been gone a month or so, in the present day it's been six months. This is why Uncle Garth decided to come after him.
-
Paranoia Fuel: Megan and Jesse end up having to swim through an underwater tunnel in complete darkness, with no knowledge of when or if it will end. Then one of them doesn't come back when they take turns... - Puppy Love: Both Harry and Megan.
- Harry and Mary are both attracted to each other, but know that Harry has to go back to his own people once this over and don't let it progress...
- Apollus and Megan, meanwhile, have a more serious courtship punctuated by Belligerent Sexual Tension.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Apollus reveals that the Romans engage in this for relatively minor offenses, as part of maintaining dominance over a region. We also see the aftermath of a lot of it.
- Rasputinian Death: Simon Magus gets shot with an arrow, rocked by a head-sized boulder, and then survives being on fire for something like a minute before finally dying.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Apollus's father is very generous, giving Megan and Jesse a place to stay, medical treatment, a 20-man military escort, and several sets of clothes.
- The Reveal:
- Garth Plimpton is in this time too, having followed after Harry to get him back.
- Shout-Out: Megan's is a fountain of these:
- During her presentation to the Sons, she claims a flashlight is a lightsaber, and that her Aeons (the Sons' word for prophets) are James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard.
- She nicknames two of her guards Ren & Stimpy.
- While singing in their prison, she teaches Jesse several cartoon theme songs, including the ''Underdog theme song.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: They try to disguise Mary as a boy while traveling to avoid unwanted attention, cutting her hair and dirtying up her cheeks. It works terribly, but they note that a little disguise is better than none.
- War Is Hell: My goodness, isn’t it. Murders, crucifixions, savage discipline, disease, starvation, stampedes, desperation, the abandonment of all principle in the face of a crisis:
- Guard: I'd be careful. The Jews have taken to throwing their dead into the ditch around the city.Symeon: Impossible - the Jews would never treat a dead body so disrespectfully.Guard: I've seen the Jews do lots of things they said they'd never do.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- Gracchus is not present at Mount Gerizim in the finale, and is still unaccounted for by book's end...
- The Worf Effect: After getting the run-around from Megan and Jesse, and after Megan has spent days being guarded by a twenty-men Roman escort, the Sons of the Elect ambush them on the mountain and kill them all. Besides restoring their status, it also reflects how desperate the Sons are getting.
- You Remind Me of X: Besides It Amused Me, Apollus's father treats Megan well because his deceased baby daughter would've been around her age if she'd lived.
