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IIt's been a while since I've read a ROSWELL spin-off novel, and although I was looking forward to seeing the characters again, I have to confess that I didn't really expect a lot from DREAMWALK. The previous book in the series, SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET had been the least enjoyable one so far, and I suspected that the publishers would go in for a similar continuity fest. Fortunately this wasn't the case. DREAMWALK might have a terrible cover (I accept that employing an artist might be beyond the books' budget, but surely someone could do better than this) and a premise that could have slotted into the original ROSWELL HIGH series, but it proved pretty enjoyable. The cover might depict Kyle and Isabel, but all six teens get a fair share of the action, and there are also appearances from most of the parental units (although the Evanses are largely out of town) as well as Jesse Ramirez, continuing the trend of the post-season 2 novels to feature his fledgling relationship with Isabel. As you'd expect, Alex's death is still a major event for his human and alien friends. In order to give them all a chance to say goodbye, Liz organises a tribute evening at the Crashdown. This enables the author to slip in some continuity surrounding Jim Valenti's post-Sheriff lifestyle, as he rediscovers his love of music and fails to see what his son is going through. After the tribute, the six teens are pretty much paired off - Max and Liz babysitting in Artesia, Maria and Michael falling out and making up, and Isabel trying to help Kyle, who is suffering from flashbacks to his part in Alex's death. ROSWELL often made good use of the Max/Liz and Maria/Michael double-acts, although Kyle and Isabel were used together more rarely. The result is a story that moves from one couple to another, with the two couples left in Roswell coming together earlier as they find that the dreamwalking Isabel has been trapped in Kyle's mind. Meanwhile, Liz and Max have to cope with a troubled 12-year-old kid, as Max tries to learn about fatherhood. Although the idea of Isabel being trapped in Kyle's mind sounds a bit like something out of the ROSWELL HIGH novels, it was the Liz/Max element of the plot that I was least happy about. Liz claims that she as Jason are friends, but would his parents leave him with someone who hasn't seen him in over a year? Admittedly this element was only there to provide Max with some lessons about bringing up kids, but it still seemed a little unbelievable. Fortunately, with the author able to jump from couple to couple, it doesn't stand out as much as it would have had the whole book concentrated on Max and Liz. At just over 200 pages, this isn't the longest spin-off novel around, but at least the length means that it manages to sustain interest to the end. Plot-wise, it's not the most complex story around, but it's an entertaining enough read, and it's nice to see an author who doesn't overdo the continuity references. BACK TO THE TOP |
DREAMWALK |
