The Transall Saga

by Gary Paulsen Narrated by Johnny Heller

Overview

Mark's solo camping trip in the desert turns into a terrifying and thrilling odyssey when a mysterious beam of light transports him to another time on what appears to be another planet. As Mark searches for a pathway back to his own time on Earth, he must make a new life in a new world. His encounters with primitive tribes bring the joy of human bonds, but violence and war as well-and, finally, a contest in which he discovers his own startling powers.

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Paulsen (My Life in Dog Years, 1998, etc.), treading water, offers a competent fantasy-adventure about a boy who is time- warped into a primitive world, undergoes the hero's journey, and proves he can get the girl and still go home again. Mark, 13, is thrilled to spend a few days in the desert camping, until a mysterious light transports him to a place and time not his own. When he comes upon other people, recognizable but clearly different from himself, he sees that he is in a society close to that of the first peoples in North America. The language is plain, action-oriented, and always driven toward cliff-hanging chapter endings, but there is little in the way of character development. Instead the story is filled with some powerful if old-fashioned archetypes engaged in fairly primal give-and-take: Mark kills a horrible beast and thereby rescues a young maiden from its clutches; he kills or outsmarts all enemies; he is accepted as a warrior and undergoes ceremonial tributes as such; he's sweet to younger children; and prepares to marry the chief's daughter. Other than referring to pizza and his parents once or twice, Mark is at home as a warrior/survivor; his former life falls away even as he searches for the way back to the present. In the end, the light brings a 17-year-old Mark back from what was a future brought about by a great epidemic; his readjustment is unremarked upon. Readers last glimpse Mark as an adult, trying to find a vaccine for the virus behind the epidemic. (Fiction. 10- 14)

From the Publisher

Gary Paulsen, bestselling author of Brian's Winter, brings us a new dimension in adventure with The Transall Saga.

* "[A] world of rare charm, a captivating, well-realized realm, where fantastical elements force the protagonist to discover and employ the greatest strengths of his humanity."
—Booklist, starred

FEB/MAR 00 - AudioFile

Time-travel, science fiction, survival and adventure: the plot prescription for a winning audiobook? Perhaps. While veteran narrator Johnny Heller ably recounts the story of 13-year-old Mark Harrison, time-traveler to a post-apocalyptic earth, he must endeavor to wring every fragment of feeling from a text mostly lacking in emotion. Paulsen's novel, with its tight, limited focus on plot at the expense of character, offers Heller little meat in its cast of stock characters. As a result, secondary characters are sometimes indistinguishable. Only Sarbo, a warrior and champion, is clearly drawn. While this recording isn't poorly executed, given the limitations of the text, it's simply lackluster. T.B. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170995301
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	03/14/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

The desert was unusually quiet. A gentle breeze tumbled over the sparse vegetation along the wide canyon floor and then continued on its way to the north.

Thirteen-year-old Mark Harrison sat on a white slab of shale studying a small army of ants that was carrying off the crumbs that had dropped from a granola bar he'd just eaten.

A roadrunner, unaware of his presence, trotted to the base of the rock and stopped near a crimson cactus flower. Mark shifted position and it scurried away in the opposite direction.

He yawned even though it wasn't late. The sun hadn't completely faded behind the blue-gray mountains to the west. Still, he had put in a long day. He'd walked farther that day than on any of the previous three days and he was ready to turn in.

His parents had given him just one short week to backpack across the old Magruder Missile Range. And if he didn't meet them at the appointed spot on the other side by Saturday afternoon his mom had threatened to call out the National Guard.

Hiking and backpacking were Mark's one obsession. He saved every dime of his paper-route money to buy equipment and now he had some of the best. In his spare time he studied survival books and magazines to stay up on the latest techniques. But so far he had been allowed to hike only short, easy trails and had actually camped out only twice in his life. This time he'd hit the jackpot, though.

Mark stretched, ran his hand through his short brown hair and grabbed his bedroll and pack. He'd decided to make camp in the canyon. The quiet here was a little unnerving for a city boy, but there was a trickle of water, and a dead tree that protruded from the south wall wouldprovide plenty of firewood.

When the small blaze was crackling and his bed was made, Mark stretched out on the soft down sleeping bag and stared up at the stars. This was the life he wanted for himself. Someday he'd fix it so that he was always camping under the wide-open skies.

He yawned again and was just about to settle in for the night when a flaming ball of fire shot over the edge of the canyon wall.

The fiery thing was the size of a grapefruit and glowed bright orange around its blue edges. It danced and sputtered when it touched the ground. Then it fizzled away to nothing.

Mark snapped on his flashlight and found his camera. He scrambled to the top of the dirt wall and peeked over. To his right, behind a huge rectangular boulder, was a bright, iridescent beam of bluish white light that seemed to be projected at the ground from somewhere in the sky.

For a full minute he stood transfixed, watching the strange tube of light. It had two sections, each supercharged with electricity. The sides pushed mightily against each other, but both were equal in power, so nothing moved except for an occasional shooting spark caused by the tremendous friction.

He shook his head. This was worth looking into. Maybe it was some sort of experiment the air force had once conducted out here and then forgotten about, or maybe . . . He swallowed. Maybe it was something not from this planet at all.

Mark inched closer, snapping pictures as he went. When he reached the boulder he used his flashlight to search for a way up and began climbing.

The top of the big rock was flat. He pulled himself up and sat, staring again. The inside of the tube contained myriad surging colors: reds, blues and yellows. It was like watching a spectacular laser light show being performed just for him.

Slowly he put out his hand to see if the light generated heat. Too late, he heard the rattle--and felt the snake strike.

He jerked his hand back and leaped to his feet. The sudden movement threw him off balance and he fell, off the boulder and into the light.

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