A New Beginning

Rating:
Summary: An okay book, but slow, full of plot holes, & kinda cheesy.
Review: As a Roswell fan, I was extremely excited to see this book come out, picking up right where Season 3 left off, telling the story of Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Kyle, after they fled Roswell from the FBI Special Unit. Apparently, this takes place before Max and Liz get married, because she is referred to as Max's girlfriend in the book. So, that gives you an idea of the timeframe.

Unfortunately, I found this book to be extremely disappointing for three main reasons:
1) The plot of the book is EXTREMELY slow. They end up with their van broken down in this small town out in the middle of nowhere just one day out of Roswell. They have to get jobs to earn money to fix the car. In the meantime, there are these references to girls disappearing. That pretty much goes on for all but the last four or five chapters of the book. The set up for the main action of the story is just way too long, and causes it to drag. Most of the book is mainly Kyle trying to fix the van, while a jealous mechanic named Gomer (ha, ha) doesn't like the way he looks at his girlfriend; Max, Isabel, and Michael paint a restaraunt and play some cards; Liz and Maria wait tables at the restaraunt and pitty a local boy who's sister is missing. That's it until chapter nineteen or twenty.

2) This story was full of plot holes from the time they broke down in the small town. The author really needed to study the show more closely for information about Max's, Isabel's, and Michael's powers. Supposedly, they have to get jobs to make money to fix the van. But Isabel indicated in an episode of Roswell she could change the denominations of money (in one of the late season two eps, after Alex's death, during a conversation she had with Michael). So, why didn't they just change their one dollar bills into one hundreds? The reason for them being stuck in the town, as a result, did not fit for me in the first place. Plus, I still think one of the pod squad could have just fixed the engine, as indicated in Season three when Kyle was bringing Isabel engine parts for her to use her powers on to fix (see episode "I Married an Alien"). Add to that the fact that the author's time references for past events were all wrong. For instance, the incident in which Max and Michael infiltrate an Air Force base to save an Air Force pilot who collided with Tess' ship was referred to. This event was placed at a couple of days before graduation. That couldn't be, considering that a week (at least) passed between Tess's return in the next episode and Max giving up his child at the end of that episode. This was only one of several references to past events in which the timeline was wrong. To the average reader, these might not be major sticking points. But to a Roswell fan, they stick out as plot holes, and since Roswell fans make up most of the readers for this book-well, it kind of hurts its quality.

3) The whole alien monsters coming down in a ship and taking women was like something out of a 1950's science fiction film. "Mars Needs Women" kept popping into my head, referring to the title of a cheesy 1960's Sci-Fi picture. Plus, when Max and Michael attack the ship, the evil aliens try and shoot some kind of ray gun at them (I wonder if it looked like a hairdryer, just like in the old Flash Gordon serials). The description of the monsters made them sound like the Creatures From the Black Lagoon (green, scaley, clawed). This whole plot device just seemed so hokey.

That being said, there are really two things that still make this book one a Roswell fan would still want to pick up and read once. First, the first couple of chapters, in which Liz has a vision of the future described by Future Max in the episode "End of the World" is very compelling. Liz's revelation of this long kept secret to Max and the others also makes for some interesting dialogue. Second, though the whole alien monsters abducting women plot device is rather cheesy, the action in the last few chapters of the book is pretty good. Max, Michael, and Kyle taking down the alien bad guys was fun, and it showed how the first two had really come to accept Kyle as their friend and comrade (thus, good exploration of character development). Add on a few comical moments (like when the guys try and explain the Godfather to the girls), and you get an okay read. But(I'm sorry to say) a very disappointing and poorly constructed one.

Rating:
Summary: I am pleased the series is continuing at least in book form
Review: I purchased Roswell : A New Beginning and the 3 subsequent titles of the new series to satisfy my curiosity after the TV series was unjustly axed. It would be interesting to know if these novels are in anyway based on the direction the TV series would have taken.

I was not expecting a literary masterpiece which this title isn't. It does capture the characters quite well and I am willing to overlook most of the plot discrepancies and typos that other reviewers have mentioned. One thing that does annoy me is the mess the author made in regards to the problems with their van as it becomes a major aspect of the plot when it breaks down.

It is described as a 60s Volkswagen van (a Kombi) yet the author has Kyle walk to the front of the van to inspect the motor and then describes problems with the belts, hoses (I assume the author meant water hoses) and timing chain.

Sorry to tell you this Kevin Ryan but the motor is in the back of the van, it has one belt that wouldn't prevent the van from starting and the hoses only direct air for the heating as the motor is air cooled. Also there is no timing chain in these motors, they use gears to drive the camshaft. A dropped valve would have been a more convincing scenario for the novel.

Before you think that is all, the wrecked van next to the garage is described as having an alternator - wrong. Old Kombis have a generator. Then later on the van breaks a spring which is OK but no 60s VWs use the coil springs described, they are fitted with torsion bars. A break in these would be obvious by the entire front of the van having dropped but not visible by looking at them as they are sealed in a metal tube.

I am assuming that the author may have had a Ford or Chevy van in mind whilst writing this novel but changed the brand to match the van used in the final episode of the TV series. If this is not the case I would certainly think twice before getting my car serviced at Harbor Auto Repair (see thanks page). Perhaps I am being a bit picky as I used to work in a specialist Volkswagen garage and the average reader of this novel would not be any the wiser to the errors.

In the end I did wonder why Kyle just didn't get Max or Isabel to fix the broken parts once he had removed them from the engine and once they could see what needed to be done.

Overall I am pleased the series is continuing, at least in book form, and I quite enjoyed the read. The recent rumours of a Roswell movie to finish off the series is great news, however the books will have to do for the time being.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: I was a bit startled that the book picks up the story a mere few hours after they left Roswell. I was thinking that Max and Liz would be married and they would have been on the road for some time. Of course, since they were on the road only a few hours, there was no time for them to get married. I hope they will be in the next book.

I had a few problems with the book, one of them being the incredibly numerous typos. Didn't anyone proofread this book? Also, I couldn't stop wondering why they didn't just take some paper and change it into 20 dollar bills. They did with plane tickets in the 3rd season episode "Interruptus" and that seemed to work just fine. Also I was unsatisfied that there was no real resolution. What were the aliens doing? Who were they?

However, I overall liked the book. It was kind of refreshing to see what happens after they leave Roswell, kind of like getting a season 4. The relationship stuff was all good, although I'm irritated at Maria. I like how Michael was thinking about how he
stayed on the planet for her. Those two need to have a serious talk and she needs to apologize for how she treated him in season 3. Max and Liz are happy, so I'm happy. I wish Isabel wasn't actually married to Jesse, so then eventually she and Kyle could end up together. At the end of season 2, I really thought they would end up together, and now it seems like that's the best thing to do.
I'm a bit disappointed that these new books are not a continuing series with cliffhangers at the end like the Melinda Metz books. Still, though, any Roswell is good with me, as long as they don't kill off any of these remaining six characters. If you like
Roswell at all, read this book!

Rating:
Summary: Great subject, hard read
Review: I was thrilled to discover that the series was being continued, if only through the written word, and I would have loved to be able to give it 5 stars. I freely admit that I am a true Roswellian and have been reading fanfiction regarding this series for the past couple of years. As a result I could hardly help but enjoy this SUBJECT. However, getting past the fact that I am a fan of the show and Metz's books, I had a very difficult time enjoying the actual BOOK. The plot was slow, but forgiveably so as it did a decent job of getting into the characters' minds. I really enjoyed the growth and importance of Liz's abilities. I also enjoyed the fact that they decided to stop running and to use their abilities.

The difficult part came in the reading. I am a college graduate who is currently going through the masters program. (The only reason I even say this is to let you know that I know what I am writing about.) I am well known for my writing and editing abilities but was prepared for a teenage writing level as that seems to be the focus demographic. I certainly was not prepared for this. The punctuation was terrible, the spelling was a disaster, and the grammar was atrocious. The discontinuity between the author's statements and the show, not to mention the page by page disparity found within the writer's own storyline (like the money brought up in the first section), is appalling. I cannot applaud a book whose storyline is disturbed by the fact that I have to read and reread the same statements in an effort to figure out what the author was trying to say because the author didn't write it decently. At best I could call this a fanfiction PRE-editor. However, this is a book that cost me $6, and not a free fanfiction that I could have found on the web at a myriad of sites and that I could have read more easily and enjoyed more completely. This was supposedly a professional work.

That said, I want to restate that the plot was a decent one, and that there were some bright spots to it. I would definitely suggest this book to any other Roswell fans for three reasons. One, it is another item that can be added to your library. Two, it is a decent plot if you can ignore the way it was put together. Three (and this is the most important), WE WANT MORE ROSWELL and if we are going to get more we are forced to support any effort, regardless of its quality.

I don't want to tell the author to never write again. Just next time (and if it is based on Roswell, I'll probably still read it), be more careful, think through your story more completely, and get it edited by people who actually know how to edit.

Rating:
Summary: Great subject, hard read
Review: I was thrilled to discover that the series was being continued, if only through the written word, and I would have loved to be able to give it 5 stars. I freely admit that I am a true Roswellian and have been reading fanfiction regarding this series for the past couple of years. As a result I could hardly help but enjoy this SUBJECT. However, getting past the fact that I am a fan of the show and Metz's books, I had a very difficult time enjoying the actual BOOK. The plot was slow, but forgiveably so as it did a decent job of getting into the characters' minds. I really enjoyed the growth and importance of Liz's abilities. I also enjoyed the fact that they decided to stop running and to use their abilities.

The difficult part came in the reading. I am a college graduate who is currently going through the masters program. (The only reason I even say this is to let you know that I know what I am writing about.) I am well known for my writing and editing abilities but was prepared for a teenage writing level as that seems to be the focus demographic. I certainly was not prepared for this. The punctuation was terrible, the spelling was a disaster, and the grammar was atrocious. The discontinuity between the author's statements and the show, not to mention the page by page disparity found within the writer's own storyline (like the money brought up in the first section), is appalling. I cannot applaud a book whose storyline is disturbed by the fact that I have to read and reread the same statements in an effort to figure out what the author was trying to say because the author didn't write it decently. At best I could call this a fanfiction PRE-editor. However, this is a book that cost me $6, and not a free fanfiction that I could have found on the web at a myriad of sites and that I could have read more easily and enjoyed more completely. This was supposedly a professional work.

That said, I want to restate that the plot was a decent one, and that there were some bright spots to it. I would definitely suggest this book to any other Roswell fans for three reasons. One, it is another item that can be added to your library. Two, it is a decent plot if you can ignore the way it was put together. Three (and this is the most important), WE WANT MORE ROSWELL and if we are going to get more we are forced to support any effort, regardless of its quality.

I don't want to tell the author to never write again. Just next time (and if it is based on Roswell, I'll probably still read it), be more careful, think through your story more completely, and get it edited by people who actually know how to edit.

Rating:
Summary: Is there an editor in the house?
Review: I'm only about a third of the way through this book, but I have to say I'm EXTREMELY disappointed in the proof-reading and editing. Three major errors in the first 12 pages is rediculous.

The author can't even get the timing right. He indicates that Max and Michael have known each other for 18 years before leaving Roswell. They were six when they came out of the pods and weren't reunited for two years after that. This makes only 10 or 11 years together. Not 18. (although I would agree to 12 if you want to count the day wandering in the desert together.)

It's so filled with errors, I'd think it was a vanity press edition of a fan-fiction. Although I've read better fan-fiction, too.

There are some good points, but in general, I'm not at all impressed.

Rating:
Summary: A nice attempt at the continuation of the TV show
Review: So what happens to them after they drive off? That is the question we have all been asking. Mr. Ryan has done an excellent job of keeping true to the storyline and characters while exploring new territory. A must read for any Roswell fan! I just can't wait till his next book...

Rating:
Summary: Roswell Returns
Review: So what happens to them after they drive off? That is the question we have all been asking. Mr. Ryan has done an excellent job of keeping true to the storyline and characters while exploring new territory. A must read for any Roswell fan! I just can't wait till his next book...

Rating:
Summary: beautiful story
Review: this is the first roswell book that dares to venture where the tv show left off last year. it finds our 6 friends on the road and in deep thought about their future. all of a sudden liz has a dream of the future where max and the 2 aliens are killed in the future. this also comes along the time the van breaks down outside of a small town where females have been disappearing. vowing to help people instead of trying to protect themselves, they delve head first into the live of the small town and they are in for an adventure they could not believe possible in such a small place. this book is for any disappointed roswell fan who was as upset as i was that the show was cancelled and the last 6 episodes were obviously thrown together in haste as the network pulled the plug. i hope authors such as this one keep the faith alive and keep writing books for many years to come.

Rating:
Summary: A nice attempt at the continuation of the TV show
Review: Well I read this book in one day, hopeing that I was going to like it as much as I liked the TV show. Having it kinda start off were season 3 left off was a great idea. I also like how past events that happened in the show, were linked to this book, but thats where the greatness ended. This book lacked a lot of key things that makes me a roswell fan. Where's the relationships?, Where's the comic relief?..... If your a Roswell fan you'll probably like it because of the fact that it's Roswell, but I was disappointed, especially at the end.