Derivatives

I started reading an ARC which made me unreasonable angry.  Was it offensive?  No.  Was it bad writing?  No.

It's because it was far too close to Roswell, a TV show I absolutely loved in the late 90s.  (Which in itself is based on Melinda Metz's book series, but I digress).

I'm such a fan girl about it that as soon as I started reading and saw how the relationship between the protagonists were set up exactly the same way and a side character had the same name and similar role as a Roswell character, I wanted to throw the book to the floor and stomp it dead.  Again, not exactly a reasonable response for someone who can tolerate just about anything in her books.  Seriously, I'm very liberal.  You write it, I'll read it (Case in point:  Tabitha Suzuma's Forbidden, a YA novel featuring incest, I happened to like, thank you very much.  Do I like incest?  No.  Do I like an engaging story?  Yes!).

I paused in my reading and tried to give the author the benefit of the doubt, telling myself it was just a coincidence.  She might not even be familiar with the show.  After looking at her blog, though, I saw that she was indeed a fan (sigh). 

I did try to consider this ARC from a publisher's perspective, despite my visceral reaction (Max and Liz forever!).  Practically every novel in the market is a derivation of another, so was it really fair to be so harsh?  In my biased opinion, I would have changed the set up some, so as not to be so gosh darn close, but still.  The author does have the right to do what she's done here, which is re-imagine.  I was peeved for about a week, but I calmed myself with the realization.  I also laughed at myself for not being as impartial as I'm wont to be.  It had been awhile since I'd read something not as a publishing insider, but as a plain old reader.

My sister told me to stop reading it, but I wanted to give the author a chance.  Would she go off in a new direction, at least?  I'm glad to say that, yes, she has (phew!).  I haven't finished it yet, but it is good.  It's getting rave responses on Goodreads and is clearly introducing more teens to an area of sci-fi (and new potential Roswell devotees) I happen to love.

The debut will be published this April, so have a read.