Teenreads.com -- TRION RISING: The Shadowside Trilogy, Book 1 by Robert Elmer

TRION RISING: The Shadowside Trilogy, Book 1
Robert Elmer
Zondervan
Science Fiction/Action & Adventure
ISBN: 9780310714217
352 pages

Author Robert Elmer poses the question of what it would be like if Jesus had come to another planet. In this fictional premise, he has created a small planet call Corista, where most of the inhabitants lead plush lives in considerable comfort. Those who live in this lushness are called Brightsiders and very happily exist in naïve, selfish oblivion, never considering from where their water sources arise. On the other side of Corista live the Shadowlanders, who are continually being plundered for their resources by the Brightsiders. For centuries the Brightsiders have been taught to ignore the people of the Shadowlands and to consider them as nothing more than animals.

The Shadowlanders have little hope of seeing change come until the teenage daughter of one of the Brightsider elders, Oriannon Hightower, begins to see inconsistencies between what she's been taught and what's right. When a new music teacher comes to the city, Oriannon finds herself increasingly drawn to him and his music. Jesmet (Jesus) begins teaching the Brightsider teens a new song that challenges the status quo and the ruling authorities. Jesmet quotes the Codex (the Bible) accurately, and this blatant rebuke to the governing rulers has Oriannon's father and friends in an uproar.

Oriannon is told to spy on Jesmet and to use her powers of recall and memory to recount everything he says and does to her father. However, the more attention Oriannon pays to Jesmet and his teachings, the more she is sure Jesmet is speaking the truth. Conflicted, Oriannon tries to understand her father's adamant command to find some fault in Jesmet. But when Jesmet brings Oriannon's friend back to life after a deadly fall, Oriannon believes that Jesmet isn't the one obstructing truth --- it is her father and the other Coristan leaders.

With questions looming in her mind, Oriannon tries to play along with her father's schemes to entrap Jesmet, but very quickly the stakes grow much more serious and Oriannon's life is threatened. With the help of her friend Margus, Oriannon finds a way out of the city and to the Shadowlands, where she is taken into custody and grilled over her knowledge of recent attacks. Completely innocent, the Shadowlanders slowly begin to trust Oriannon; the more she discovers about the Shadowlanders and their suffering, the more she understands her part in the unfolding drama between these two peoples.

Oriannon watches as death takes the lives of the Shadowlanders, and though she longs to stay with these new friends, Jesmet has other plans for her. She must go back to the city with the aid of her Coristan friend Margus. Once they arrive back home, Oriannon is shocked and appalled that Margus duped her and used her as a pawn in her father's scheme to entrap Jesmet. Still, with the truth in her heart, Oriannon overcomes her personal pain to see Jesmet's larger purpose for the redemption of all the people.

Readers will see the biblical parallels between the author's new world and its people, and well-known Bible stories. Though it's clear what comparisons Elmer is making, the storyline is well developed and evenly paced. Teens will find themselves thinking outside the box as they consider his initial premise of what would it be like if Jesus had indeed come to another world.

--- Reviewed by Michele Howe

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