7.8 /10 1 Votes
Cover artist Barclay Shaw Language English Publication date 1985 Originally published 1985 Page count 273 Genre Science Fiction | 3.9/5 Goodreads Country United States Publisher Del Rey Books Media type Print (paperback) Followed by The Howling Stones | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Preceded by Voyage to the City of the Dead Similar Alan Dean Foster books, The Humanx Commonwealth books, Science Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sentenced to Prism (1985) is a science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster, and is a stand-alone entry in his Humanx Commonwealth series of books. Like many of his books, Foster creates an extraordinary world that he tries to make unlike anything ever seen by his readers by creating a primarily silicon-based planet with almost everything seeming to be made from crystals, glass, and reflective surfaces.
Plot
Set in the Humanx Commonwealth, Prism is a unique planet because its ecosystem contains both silicon-based and carbon-based life. Evan Orgell, a management troubleshooter sent to Prism to investigate the disappearance of a research group, finds himself fighting for his survival in this strange crystalline environment after his specialized environment suit succumbs to the local elements. Leaving behind his mechanized suit, Evan is for the first time in his life exposed to a hostile environment without the protection of his suit and must rely on the unexpected help of the native sentient life to survive.
With the help of a caterpillar-like creature named A Surface of Fine Azure-Tinted Reflection With Pyroxin Dendritic Inclusions (which Evan chooses to call simply "Azure", much to his strange new friend's disappointment) he must grow to overcome his prejudices, his assumptions, and his preoccupations to relearn what life, communication, companionship, government, and even his own bodily form mean to him. He and his new-found friends must overcome multiple treacherous acts by his own race in order to survive and thrive on the beautiful, but deadly, planet.