The Age of Light: Book
One: in the Vision Quest
Deborah Pratt
Reviewed by Mary Aycock
Author, Writer, Director, Producer, Deborah Pratt, brings to the first
novel in this series, a life full of experiences that have colored her
palette for storytelling. Yes, she is an artist, and the depth of her
early experiences brings an edge to her writing that would not be there
had she had gentler experiences to draw upon. She has seen the gritty
side of life; when she was in college, she took a job in Chicago’s
difficult Cabrini Green projects, teaching preschoolers. I think the
preschoolers taught her what it is to have strength of character and
nerves of steel as they learned to cope in a difficult and deadly
world. These children learned, early on, that sometimes the very people
that were supposed to be protecting them from the big, bad world
outside, were the largest dangers of all, as sometimes happens in the
underbelly of the world.
From Chicago, Ms Pratt moved to California to embark on a career as an
actress, then leap-frogged to the top of the heap where she helped
conceive the Award-Winning Sci-Fi series Quantum Leap. She went on to
become co-executive-Producer and head writer of that award winning
series.
Deborah Pratt is no stranger to this genre, and she knows how to bring
the characters to us, full blown and ready for action. She does not
disappoint in this new book, which is expected to become the next great
Serial.
I love Deborah’s ability to coin the new future, using existing
technologies and events. She brings into play the natural disasters and
super-storms that are a part of our daily world and expands on the
theme to create cataclysmic Great Quakes that shift the world on it’s
axis and transform our planet, the oceans swallowing whole continents
and spitting up new landmasses. But the landmasses are discovered to
actually be OLD landmasses with deep, hidden treasures to decipher.
Then she stirs the pot of our fears of deadly diseases and genetic
engineering, taking mankind to the brink…then shows us having to remake
the pets we love and the very food we eat. Man's greatest dreams seem
to always go awry and the events in this story seem to be the rule,
rather than the exception!
Our world population dwindled to a mere billion or so souls; terrified,
lost and hungry, searching for something to unify them. From this, our
darkest hour, mankind creates The Age of Light and hopes to create a
united world and a future worth living. A rising genius, Ducane Covax,
creates a long list of things to help the human race, the last of which
are the biodroids, made to protect mankind from some of the “science
projects gone wrong” and also from modern day pirates. We also learn of
a great mentor and teacher, Masta Poe, creator of the lost powers of
the Visionistic Arts, who now teaches at Tosadae Academy, the most
sought after school on Earth.
Enter our hero, Cole Lazerman, known as Lazer. We travel with him
through his rite of passage adventure, as he helplessly watches his
father and 2,700 other innocent people die at the hands of the Black
Guard, composed of those very biodroids that were built to protect
mankind. The dark leader of the Black Guard has become sentient and
wants, more than anything, the death of Lazer. The dark leader, known
as Five believes that through the death of Lazer, he can obtain the key
to opening the “Gnorb of Orbis”, one of the four hidden treasures
called up from the deep when Earth became transformed.
Lazer’s hatred and loathing for the Black Guard drives him
relentlessly, until he meets the beautiful and elusive Elana Blue, who
just happens to be the daughter of the genius Ducane Covax (creator of
the Black Guard.) Add to this explosive mix, the love interest held by
Lazer’s longtime childhood friend, Kyla, we have a disaster waiting to
happen… and it does, but that is later in the story!!
Masta Poe helps with the ebb and flow of Lazer’s emotions, trying to
teach him the important things he MUST learn if he is to become
successful in his fight against the Black Guard. Lazer has promised his
mother and his friends that he will remain at Tosadae Academy, until
after his first rite of passage, without which, he couldn’t get a
decent job, get married, own property, much less become a pilot, which
has always been his dream. Lazer would love to circumvent it all and go
home to help his mother who still lives on the island, where he is
afraid the Black Guard has already taken control.
Our author has populated the book with an amazing cast of characters,
from full humans, to clones to part-human splicers, not to mention
incredible pets formed from amazing combinations of animals, since our
domestic animals are no longer able to survive. She opens our eyes to a
world that “might could be” in our future, if we are not more careful
about what we do today.
Ms Pratt, job well done! A fast-paced, emotion-packed hit, for sure! I,
for one, can hardly wait to see all of these creatures and characters
on the big screen, because we know that is where this story is headed!
You also have the talent for the cliff-hanger, because you left me
dangling off a huge cliff with your ending of Book One. Please, when
can we see Book Two so we can read of Lazer’s further exploits?