The Transall Saga
The Transall Saga (also known as Blue Light[1][2]) is a 1998 novel by Gary Paulsen.[3] It is a survival story like most of his other books, but also involves the science fiction genre.
 Book cover of: The Transall Saga | |
| Author | Gary Paulsen |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jon Paul Ferrara, Chris Nurse |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Survival, post-apocalypse |
| Genre | Novel, science fiction |
| Publisher | Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for young readers a division of Random House Inc. |
Publication date | 1998 |
| Media type | Hardcover and Paperback |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 978-0-606-17349-0 |
Plot
The story begins with Mark Harrison, a 13-year-old survival enthusiast, hiking through the mountainous Magruder Missile Range. All of a sudden, he gets bitten by a snake and falls into the blue light. He wakes up in a strange world that he believes is an alien world with many similarities to Earth. He uses his survival skills to live off the land and while exploring the forest, he discovers a camp made up of short, human-like creatures with webbed feet and dark, olive-colored skin. Soon he finds them too warlike to bear interacting with. He also hears a creature called the howling thing. A tribe which Mark refers to as the Arrow People allow him to live with them. He meets a girl named Leeta, whom he befriends. Soon after, he is enslaved by the Tsook, a metal-weapon wielding race of hominids. Over the next three months, he learns their language and develops feelings for Megan, the chief's daughter he loves her more than anything. Mark attempts to flee the village, but as he is trying to escape, he learns of an imminent invasion of the village. Mark returns to warn the tribe about an impending attack, and as a gift, Mark is granted freedom and official entry into their tribe.
Mark then discovers that, despite his misconceptions earlier, this world is a ruined Earth, sometime in the future if we keep polluting it. Meagan's brother gives Mark a shard of a Coca-Cola bottle and the Merkon (leader of the world Transal) reveals the events between Mark's time and this future, also revealing that he too was sent there by the beam of light this means he is a human too. Sometime in the near future, a strange, highly contagious form of the Ebola virus wipes out most of the human race. Those remaining used nuclear armaments on each other, forcing civilization to start over. After severely wounding the Merkon in a sword fight, Mark asks Megan to marry him. However, the Merkon's son has sworn revenge and Mark flees the village to protect them he is even more ruthless that his father. He leads the Merkon's (his dads)army to the jungle, away from his new home. Once in the jungle, Mark systematically kills the army but forgets about a scouting party that attacks him. Mark hides behind a boulder for protection and suddenly the boulder is struck by lightning and sends off a charge which brings Mark into his normal time. Twenty years later he is a doctor finding a cure for the Ebola Virus •·•·•·•
References
- "Review: Blue Light - Gary Paulsen". 17 January 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
- "Blue Light by Gary Paulsen". 12 July 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
- "The Transall Saga". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 24 April 2015.