10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Should Appeal to Teens Who Like to Ponder "What If?", July 22, 2009
Kaida Hutchenson doesn't like the dark, bats, rabies, or caves. She's also not thrilled at the prospect of spending 14 hours in a van traveling to a class trip with two students with whom she has nothing in common. To Kaida, overachiever Zeke Anderson is "proof positive that a person can be too perfect." She finds 14-year-old, cigarette-smoking loner Joy Tallon "pretty, but faded pretty, like her edges had been rubbed away."
The only bright spot in the trip is Mr. Addison, one of Kaida's favorite teachers, who is driving the van. As the hours stretch on, Kaida and the others fall asleep to pass the time. When they are jolted awake by a crash, the students scramble for safety. Terrified and surrounded by darkness and smoke, they flee the fire-engulfed van, not knowing if Mr. Addison has survived.
Alone in the desert, with their cell phones burned up, the trio tries to come up with a rescue plan. While they consider their options, the desert winds turn fierce, and a torrential downpour forces them to seek shelter in a cave. As the rain cascades down harder and harder, they back up farther into darkness. When a light appears in the distance, they race towards it, believing they have found an exit. The light becomes blinding, and a deafening buzzing starts before they are plunged into an abyss.
Kaida awakes in her bedroom, sore and disoriented. Her room seems the same, but her medicine is missing from the bathroom cabinet. Somehow, time has gone backwards. Her field trip is weeks away, yet memories about it, the fiery crash and the cave begin to surface. Confused and wanting answers, Kaida seeks out Zeke and Joy, who share memories of the trip and the accident. Somehow, the three students have stumbled into a parallel universe and must figure out a way to get back to the reality they knew before their trip.
New York Times bestselling mystery author Faye Kellerman has teamed up with her daughter, Aliza, to co-write a creative novel that stretches the imagination. In PRISM, three teenagers are trapped in a nightmarish alternate world, where medicine and health care do not exist and sick people are left to die. This is an interesting and thought-provoking book that should appeal to teens who like to ponder "What if?"
--- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, September 5, 2009
I am not normally a fan of sci-fi/fantasy, but I do like (most) of Faye Kellerman's books and I do enjoy a good YA so I thought I would give Prism a try.
I really liked the premise of this book. We find three lost souls (aka as Zeke, Joy and Kaida are all going on a school trip, but as luck (or fate) would have it, they will be stuck together on this field trip - and end up in a cave.
That is all Kaida remembers when she wakes up in her own bed - yet, the world around her has completely changed and she can't quite get a grip on what is happening. Western medicine is now taboo and even mentioning 9-1-1 gets her in deep trouble, Kaida hooks up with Joy and Zeke and they realize that they are in a world that has completely changed in an instant - a world where only "natural" medicine is acceptable and that death is all around them. They must find a way back to their own world - but how?
The authors do a nice job of fleshing out the main characters and we get an idea, early on, of each of their strengths and weaknesses.
However, its the basic storyline that actually delivered quite a lot of suspense, especially since this is somewhat of a hot topic - "natural vs western medicines" and the growing interest in a more natural, simpler way of life. This subject is of personal interest to me actually and I thought it interesting that this type of issue would be addressed in a YA novel.
What removed from the enjoyment for me a little bit (and that is where the 3 stars come in) is that I find the set up was not really all that well done. I am not clear as to why western medicines could not be incorporated into the storyline as a secondary means of treating the illness. There is such a hatred directed towards this philosophy, but yet the authors did not do a great job, in my opinion, of explaining or even convincing me of their arguments against the whole western medicine thing - especially as people are dying.
It felt to me as though there was a piece of storyline or informatin missing and I felt it as a thread throughout most of the book.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Alternate Universe Visitation!, July 14, 2009
This is an imaginative and captivating story, written for a young audience, but much enjoyed by my (older) self, as well. An amazingly mature first venture for Kellerman daughter, Aliza - obviously with a little help from the family. At times funny, scary, and inspirational, the novel has messages for us all!
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