Book Review: Dark Visions

I've been posting a lot of book reviews recently. Guess that's because nothing much has happened in my life this past week. Been rotting at home...haha. Okay, let's talk about Dark Visions.

Dark Visions is a story by L.J Smith, one of her many fantasy masterpieces. Like The Forbidden Game, it was originally published as three different books, namely The Strange Power, The Possessed and The Passion in 1994-1995. It is then published as a single book in 2009.

Genre: Fantasy

Plot Summary:
The Strange Power: Story starts with a girl, Kaitlyn, who was shunned by classmates at school because she was believed to be a witch. She sees the future by drawings by cannot understand the meanings until it was too late. A woman called Joyce found out about her and offered her a place at Zetes Institute, a research centre for psychics. At the institute, she made three friends with the other teen psychics, except for one, Gabriel, an aloof guy who prefers to be on his own. After some warnings, they became suspicious about the institute and starts to find out about it. They then found out the real plans of the institute, and was almost caught by the head, Mr.Zetes. The five of them must do something to stop the evil plans and get out of there...

Three-in-one version

The Possessed: This whole part of the book is all about a journey to the unknown. After the five of them escaped from the institute, they found that they had nowhere to go because they couldn't go home, afraid that the Mr.Zetes would catch them there. They dreamt of the same place together, and decided that it was a place where they could find help. They managed to get on the road and on their way, and begin to travel to this unknown place. On the way, Gabriel found out that he has turned into a psychic vampire, while Kaitlyn accidentally found out his dark secrets. They also faced psychic attacks from Mr.Zetes. Under one of these attacks, the van crashes and delayed their journey...will they find the place they have been dreaming about? Will the people there know about what was happening and help them?

The Passion: Kaitlyn and her friends are planning a strategy to take down Mr Zetes. On the other hand, Gabriel has joined Mr Zetes side, and he attacks Kaitlyn and her friends to get at the crystal shard. However, his feelings for Kaitlyn made him leave without the shard. Kaitlyn then infiltrates Zetes Institute without telling anyone. Gabriel brought her to the Institute where she was accepted back and met with the psychics from the previous project. Gabriel becomes suspicious of her when she refused to share her mind  with his, and believed that she is a spy. Kaitlyn also has to pass a test by committing a felony with the team. Will Kaitlyn survive at the institute, and will she get caught? What will happen next, and what about Gabriel's feelings for Kaitlyn, who already has Rob?

Fan poster of Kaitlyn

Opinion: L.J Smith excels in every book I have picked up authored by her. Every story came with a fresh idea and a new style that always manage to astound me with its simplicity yet beautiful composing style. Dark Visions is one of her many amazing stories.
The characters are as usual perfect, although they may sometimes come across as having things easily their way, (like how Rob gets over Kaitlyn so quickly with only a split second of pain), and how things fit in so easily like puzzle pieces (like how Anna and Rob could've been together), and how easily they could get away from everyone and just set off on a journey (how about the parents? How about the money? How about real-life problems and issues concerning runaways?)
But even so, the plot is so fluid and fast-moving that it is easy to forget the petty minute details and weirdness of the story, and in overall the little things do not diminish the beauty of the plot in any way. This is yet another of L.J Smith's excellent piece, and deserves a high rating.

Rating: 5 Stars