Book Review: Prism by Faye Kellerman and Aliza Kellerman

3 stars

Author Faye Kellerman teams up for the first time with her teenage daughter, Aliza, to co-write Prism.

In the Kellermans’ debut teen novel, three teenagers named Kaida, Zeke and Joy accidentally fall into a parallel universe when a school field trip goes horribly wrong. In this world, everything is exactly as it was back home… except that medicine does not exist! When people get sick, they are allowed to die without any help, until they are picked up and disposed of by the clean-up crew.

The storyline is definitely unique, but not very believable. It’s hard to imagine a world without medicine, because it goes against everything we believe in, as healing wounds is human nature.

Vivid descriptions of the parallel universe does help create some sense of connection to our present reality though. For example, the descriptions of sick or dying humans, all of whom are trying to hold on to life a little longer and avoid the clean-up crew, are very disturbing because it seems a lot like cities in real life: pretty on the outside, but always hiding some terrible ugliness on the inside.

All in all, Prism is a pretty good read, although the ending seems incomplete. For those who are into science fiction, this book is for you.