The Seven Rays, a fantasy and science fiction novel by
Jessica Bendinger, is about a girl named Beth Michaels, a
seemingly normal girl who's a senior in high school and
on her way to go to Columbia University, after a lot of
hard work. She receives a strange golden envelope, at her
school, with an intriguing message that's not even
addressed to her, rather to an Aleph Beth. Then she
starts seeing things, strange things, like dots, bands,
and ropes. She has surgery done to her eyes because she's
so worried about her strange vision, but it doesn't work.
She also falls in love with a guy from school, Richie. He
happens to be the brother of her best friend's love
interest. Beth eventually ends up in a mental institution
because she keeps seeing things and has episodes. She's
diagnosed as a schizophrenic. While she's there, she
befriends a girl that happens to be deaf, learns difficult
truths about her mother and best friend, who actually
turns out to have a terrible character, and discovers that
she's actually not crazy.
The Seven Rays started off
pretty boring, when Beth got her golden letter. It got a
lot better in the middle, when Beth was at the mental
hospital, but got worse when she got even more messages in
golden envelopes. It was somewhat interesting when she
broke out of it. The plot was interesting, though not
spectacular, and Beth was a decent character. It was,
however, pretty predictable. I could tell that something
was off about her mother from the beginning. This was not
one of my favorite books, but neither was it one of my
least favorites. It was pretty strange when Beth got a
tattoo and started talking to a deaf person, who talked
back, at the mental hospital. I got mildly sad after
Richie, Beth's boyfriend, left. If you're looking for a
fantastic book to read, go somewhere else. If you're
looking for a decently written book with interesting
characters and an somewhat unusual plot, then read The
Seven Rays.
There were some inappropriate and
disturbing scenes with Beth and Richie.
Reviewer Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Charleston, SC US
