Dr.Franklin's Island - Softcover

Ann Halam

3.93

2,574 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1858813964 ISBN 13: 9781858813967

Publisher: Orion Childrens, 2006

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

What's it like to see your friend transformed into a raven before your very eyes, and to know it's your turn next? How does it feel to morph into a manta ray or slide into the body of a snake? This is what happens to Miranda, Semi and Arnie, three friends who are the sole survivors of a plane crash. They find themselves on a tropical island of azure waters and white sands. But beyond the palm-fringed beaches lies the hospital run by the sinister Dr Franklin, and the three teenagers are about to become his next patients. Perfect candidates for his experiments in genetic engineering...A horrifying, fascinating story that is Ann Halam's most unusual and challenging novel so far.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"When something terrifically terrible happens to you, I think your brain doesn't get it, for quite a while. You go on trying to see the world the way it was, even when common sense should tell you that everything has changed forever."

Semirah Garson is certain that nothing could ever be more horrific than what she has just lived through: a plane crash in the middle of the ocean followed by the shocking discovery that she and the other survivors are stranded on an apparently deserted island with no Target or Taco Bell in sight. But she's wrong. Because no matter how hard it is for Semi, Arnie, and Miranda to bear the sun, snakes, and fading hope of rescue, it's nothing compared to what Dr. Franklin has in store for them. It's his private island they've had the misfortune to land on. And it's his private hell they'll have to endure. Dr. Franklin is too old to test his theories of animal gene therapy on himself. He needs resilient teenage bodies that have already proven they can handle great trauma. Semi's always wondered what it might be like to breathe underwater. She just never imagined she'd know firsthand....

Veteran science fiction author Ann Halam has taken the framework of H.G. Wells's classic evolution parable The Island of Dr. Moreau and crafted an exquisitely wrought 21st-century update that plays on all our modern fears of test-tube clones and misguided medical ethics. Haunting, bold, and heartily recommended. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From the Inside Flap:

Semi, Miranda, and Arnie are part of a group of 50 British Young Conservationists on their way to a wildlife conservation station deep in the rain forests of Ecuador. After a terrifying mid-air disaster and subsequent crash, these three are the sole survivors, stranded together on a deserted tropical island. Or so they think. Semi, Miranda, and Arnie stumble into the hands of Dr. Franklin, a mad scientist who's been waiting for them, eager to use them as specimens for his experiments in genetic engineering.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.