Voices in the Theater is the first installment of A.S. Santos’
three-book Young Adult Paranormal Romance.
About the Author:
A.S. Santos has been writing for magazines since the age of 14, and has worked professionally as a scriptwriter for TV, a magazine editor, a creative writing teacher, and a creativity workshop facilitator.
The author’s own experiences with the paranormal began in
high school, during encounters with the Ouija board. At first it had seemed
like a game, until those experiences turned disturbing... then frightening.
Since then, Santos became interested in the paranormal, but
mostly in the scientific theories about what makes paranormal phenomena
possible.
In 2009, Santos was working on a personal project, a little
booklet called “The Top 12 Things Teens Need to Know About the Paranormal.” It
was to have been the booklet that the author would’ve wanted to have back then
during those teen years, the booklet that would help teens today better
understand the paranormal experiences they may have.
However, that booklet project was abandoned, because in the
middle of researching it the author suddenly had the idea for a three-book
series about a teenage girl who gradually develops her psychic abilities upon
joining her school’s paranormal research group.
And that was the beginning of the SPRG series.
Theme
The novel itself
is a mixture of the paranormal and romance. It belongs to the category of
young-adult fiction.
The novel deals with an interesting and different perspective
in looking at a teenager’s life. It’s different from your regular horror filled
novels yet it wouldn’t fail to keep those tiny hairs on your arms prickling at
their ends.
Samantha Davidson, the main character, is a very
relatable person. The book journeys on how Sam discovers who she is and what
she’s capable of.
Everyone goes through this kind of phase in which
one tries to look for their identity and life direction. The way the book
breaks down Sam’s mistakes, realizations, and struggles is a form of
enlightenment since almost every teenager can understand what she’s going
through. The lessons and morals of this story is truly remarkable and applicable
to the life we’re living today.
Setting
The story takes
place in De La Salle University. The university is located in Taft Avenue,
Malate, Manila, Philippines.
Samantha Davidson enters a new university in a new
country, starting a new life. Samantha
Davidson is a Filipino-American who has just transferred from New Jersey to the
Philippines.
Aside from the struggle of living in new and foreign
country, Sam faces a whole different kind of challenge. This challenge involves
her special capabilities that normal people don’t usually have. A capability in
which enables her to see the hidden truth.
Plot
Little by little Samantha Davidson’s abilities
start to manifest themselves into the world. Looking for answers, Sam joins the
Student Paranormal Research Group (SPRG) in the university she entered in. She
wants to learn more about what was happening to her and what she was
experiencing. Little did she know that she would be facing a whole different kind
of problem once she decided to tackle her abilities. She didn’t know that doing
this would even affect the lives of her family and friends.
The
novel starts by showing its readers Sam’s past. The moment her grandmother
passed away was the moment Sam realized what she was capable of. This was
because even when her grandmother’s already dead, Sam still heard her voice.
From that day on, she was well aware that she possessed a peculiar gift.
All
throughout the book, Samantha Davidson’s conflicts were about her choices. She
was still deciding if she wanted to use and accept her abilities of completely forget
and shut them out. But can she do it when she has reached the point where she
already knows what she’s truly capable of? Can she forget what she has seen and
uncovered?
As
Sam tests the limitations and boundaries of her abilities, she finds herself
uncovering a secret world. She finds herself unveiling the hidden battle among
mortals that has been occurring even during the beginning of life itself.
She
realizes that she was involved in an invisible war; a war in which humanity has
always been part of, a war that is ongoing even until this day.
With
the help of the SPRG, she has discovered and learned more about the world
within the world we have today. The mysteries of this life are unfathomable,
but that doesn’t mean everything about them should be known or understood.
When
you are well aware who your friends are, you’ll also know who your enemies will
be. Sam begins to understand
what the world is hiding but the problem was, these hidden secrets start to
understand who she was too. And the enemies Sam makes aren’t the ones you
usually hear in story books, because these are the kind of enemies that can
influence the end of a person’s life.
During
the finish, Sam faces a situation in which her choice decides whether her
father’s life would end or not. Not knowing what to do or how to save him, how
can she choose? How can she use her capabilities when the enemy seems so
powerful?
In
the end, Sam realizes that her gift wasn’t hers alone. She realizes that the
power she held did not originate from her, it originates from her Creator. Once
she comprehends this, she understands finally how to use her gift.
Characters
Major Characters:
Name: Samantha Davidson
Samantha
is a girl from New Jersey who has just transferred to her mother’s country, the
Philippines, because of her dad’s job offer there.
She
has a secret. Ever since her grandmother died, due to being hit by a car,
Samantha realized that she had a special ability. As her grandmother lay
between life and death, Samantha stayed with her from the ambulance until they
reached the hospital. And as she was with her, Samantha kept hearing her grandmother’s
voice, even when her grandmother reached her last final breath. And ever since
then, she realized she was capable of more extraordinary things, but the
problem was how she was going to use them.
Name: Lana Chan
Lana
is Sam’s best friend. She has also experience strange occurrences in her life
but has viewed them in a different way. She claims she has been helped by her
guardian angel multiple times in her life. Lana’s religious beliefs and faith
has amazed Sam and has also helped her in her trials.
Name: Migs delos Santos
Migs
is somehow similar to Sam for he is also looking for answers. He has his own
share of experiences when it comes to strange occurrences for he has shared a
conversation with his dead brother before. He is a selfless guy that does
everything in his power help Sam and his other friends.
Name: Richard Malvar
Richard
is a rebelling against his father and has joined the SPRG group to prove it. He
didn’t expect that anything in the SPRG group can change his life as
astonishingly as it did.
Character Analysis:
Samantha Davidson
Samantha
Davidson looks like a regular girl with Filipino and American blood flowing in
her veins.
“…straight
light brown hair, dark thinking eyes, a medium straight nose, and a
close-lipped but warm smile.”
The
hunger to look for answers motivates Sam to do what she does. She’s
continuously looking for answers and finding plausible ways on how she can achieve
them.
Samantha
doesn’t fully tell others what she’s thinking and what she knows. Mostly, she
keeps everything inside and only asks for help when she truly needs answers.
“Of
course I left out everything else, especially since I realized Samuel himself
was watching me every moment of
everyday... and listening to everything I said no doubt.”
The
external traits that Samantha shows others however, include how she shows them
that she cares. She cares about the trust she builds with her friends.
“But
now the overwhelming need to tell someone the complete truth seemed to well up
inside me. And if I was going to tell anyone the details, I knew I'd rather it
was Lana.”
Sam
hides the truth from the other characters in the story because she’s afraid
they might misunderstand her. She’s afraid that they might not comprehend what
she truly is saying and judge and rebuke her. She also hides the truth because
she’s afraid that if she reveals everything to others, it might end badly.
The
part in which Sam began to have more insights about what she’s going through
was when she finally musters the courage to ask for help. She learns how to let
go and how to trust people. She also learns that she cannot do everything by
herself.
The
part in which Sam hides her thoughts from the other characters made me become
involved with the emotions she’s been feeling. The urge to protect yourself
from the people around you is something I can really understand because I’ve
been feeling that way most of the time in my life.
Mostly
her decisions were something I would’ve done too if I was in her shoes. That is
because her decisions were reasonable and realistic. There were times though
that I knew I would’ve acted differently if I was her. That included the
situations in the book when I myself knew that if I was faced with those kind
of events, I would pray.
As a
reader, I accept the main characters as plausible real people because they seem
real. They are flawed and imperfect, reasonable and relatable. They seem like
they’re real people who just wants to find their way into the world.
I find myself totally immersed in the world of the
characters because the descriptions and the way the novel was written were
simple and straight to the point. It was also extremely entertaining.
Samantha Davidson is the character I find most relatable
because I see me in her.
Conclusion
For me, the book was extremely entertaining and
insightful. It’s a different kind of enlightenment that leaves you breathless
with realizations once you’re done with the last page. Because of this book, I
get to look at my life in a different perspective that changes the way I treat
this world.
The
author was very successful in creating authentic characters that helped in
presenting the message of the story. Everything, every word, every sentence was
unbelievably suitable and matched for the message of the whole story. They were
like pieces of a puzzle that fixed perfectly with each other by the time the
book was at its end.
I
would recommend the book to everyone because this book is a ground-breaking piece
of art that would make you question the life you’ve been living.
