Reviewed by Clare O’Beara
Posted September 14, 2026

Science Fiction | Young Adult Science Fiction | Paranormal – Supernatural

This science fiction tale brings a startled group of school staff and students to an unexpected destination – which then keeps changing. TRANSPLANTED by Joy V. Smith has similarities to her tales of the American frontier, in that people have to work together, and be self- sufficient, ready for trade, and ready for threats.

Hanna Lee is the respected Dean of Flowering Branches school north of Santa Ynez, and her staff are preparing for a weekend festival on their large estate. Raaf Herrick is the head of security, and he sounds the alarm when a strange fog arises and starts covering the premises. Everyone falls into a sudden sleep and when they wake, they’re not in California anymore. High white walls surround the area.

We’re introduced to several of the group, mostly the staff. Jodi Howards and Lani Verrell care for the horses, along with their other roles. Pewter, Snowball, pinto mustang Frosting, stallion Jex, a palomino mare Astra and others appear at different times. There’s also two Shire horses. They provided hay wagon rides, and it’s great that old skills were being saved. Now – horses are transport and work. Supplies come down to what livestock the folks can breed, garden produce, well water, stored foods, and solar power. If you had to be in this situation, three thousand acres in a Californian climate, with a few work dogs, is not the worst place to be.

The concern is what might appear when the wall develops a gap. The people the school group meet are like themselves, but reduced by long years of separation from origin. Kemi and Artter are two children who abandon their village when a threat of violence arises, and throw in their lot with the school. Then the walls shift again, and a new scenario is on the other side.

The Wall Bringers, the beings controlling the mechanism, finally do reveal themselves, and while it’s a story about being controlled, it’s not about malevolence. Adults can enjoy SF without horror. Everyone got less stressed out and depressed than I would have expected. Young adults can read this and learn a great deal about responsibility and teamwork, as well as the many exciting locations. Look at the herd of Eohippus on the cover!  I want to go there. I had a query about one scenario, in which the team time travel, but the author has covered it for me by suggesting that some materials for trade were more durable than others. Joy V. Smith always spins a good yarn, and TRANSPLANTED is one I’ll read more than once. Room for a sequel, I hope.

A California school vanishes behind alien walls and wakes into a universe of shifting worlds.

Cut off from Earth, the people of Flowering Branches must survive with what they have: horses, gardens, hard‑won skills, stubborn humor, and one another. But the towering white walls around their campus keep opening onto new lands, each with its own dangers and possibilities.

Lani Verrell, Raaf Herrick, Dean Hanna Lee, and a growing team of students become explorers, negotiators, rescuers, and reluctant diplomats. Their neighbors include telepathic plants, warrior butterflies, giant spiders, stranded aliens, prehistoric horses, volcanic refugees, and a sprawling interspecies bazaar.

They were transplanted without warning. Now they must decide what kind of home, and what kind of future, they can build.