Original cover for The Outsider |
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The Outsider
The Wild One The Seeker The Watcher The Intruder The Stowaway The Vanished The Rebel The Dark One The Salvation |
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| Author | Melinda Metz |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction, young adult |
| Publisher | Pocket Books |
| Published | 1998 – 2000 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
Roswell High is a young adults book series written by Melinda Metz and published by Pocket Books. The 10-book series chronicles the adventures of three teen aliens and their human friends, who attend the fictional Ulysses F. Olsen High in Roswell, New Mexico. The Roswell High books served as inspiration for the American science fiction television series Roswell (1999-2002), also known as Roswell High in some countries, which in turn spawned eleven spin-off books of its own.
Contents |
Max Evans, his sister Isabel and their friend Michael Guerin appear to be human, but are in reality the survivors of the 1947 UFO crash known as the Roswell UFO incident. They are from the planet Antar. Upon emerging from stasis pods, they appeared to be 7-year-old orphaned humans. Max and Isabel are adopted by a loving pair of attorneys, the Evanses. Michael, who was not so lucky, entered the foster care system, bouncing from household to household with lots of families rejecting him.
The aliens have special powers, including the ability to:
Max, Isabel and Michael have successfully kept their true nature a secret for a decade. The series begins with the accidental shooting of Liz Ortecho, a human friend of Max's. He cannot bear to see her die and risks bringing attention to himself when he uses his powers to save her life. Liz is soon let in on the secret, as are her friends Maria DeLuca and Alex Manes. The six teens quickly bond and learn to trust one another, and Max and Liz fall deeply in love. Together the group fends off the suspicions of law enforcement, particularly Sheriff Valenti, alien hunters, and Liz's jealous ex-boyfriend, Kyle Valenti, while seeking clues about the aliens' origins.
Pocket Books created the core idea for the Roswell High series. Metz and her writing partner Laura J. Burns created the basic story arc for the first six books, after which several writers wrote the sample scene in which Max saves Liz's life. Metz was chosen to write the books, and she and Burns worked together to further develop the series.[1]
When Liz Ortecho is shot in a freak accident at the Crashdown Cafe owned by her family, her friend Max Evans leaps in to heal her without regard for the secret that he keeps about his sister Isabel, friend Michael Guerin and himself. He loves Liz and can't let her die. Though Liz withdraws from Max when she finds out that they are aliens, she slowly realizes that Max loves her and poses no danger to her. Liz keeps his secret from Sheriff Valenti and Elsevan DuPris, the publisher of the local tabloid, despite their suspicions. But she tells her best friend Maria DeLuca, who in turn tells their friend Alex Manes. The six of them figure out a way to put aside their fears and trust each other. The groups comes up with a plan to throw Sheriff Valenti off their trail - they stage a chase and dump a truck into a lake, making it look like the aliens perished in the crash. At the end, Liz realizes that she returns Max's love. But he pushes her away because he believes that he is endangering her by being in her life.
Max, Michael and Isabel had agreed not to use their powers any more. It was too dangerous because Valenti could catch them. But after a new boy comes to town - Nikolas Branson, strange events start happening. Isabel soon realizes the boy was one of them - the forth alien who had also come out of the pods. They had never met before because Nikolas managed to leave his pod first, got adopted and moved to California. Isabel felt strongly attracted to him. The problem was that Nikolas didn't understand why Max, Michael and Isabel didn't use their power, and instead, were afraid of the sheriff. Isabel thinks he made a point and joins him. Max gets hired at the UFO Museum and thinks his new boss Ray Iburg is a strange cool guy. Sheriff Valenti is suspicious about the recent strange occurrences. Therefore, he interrogates Liz. A few moments later, Liz takes Max and go after Nikolas, who was accompanied by Isabel. They start a fight. Isabel keeps defending her new boyfriend. Angry, Nikolas touches and seriously hurts Liz. While Max is healing her, Nikolas and Isabel take off. Max, Michael, Liz, Maria and Alex are lead by sheriff Valenti to the mall. Isabel and Nikolas must be there. Isabel has just knocked the guard down with her power when they arrive. Max and Liz stick together. Almost caught by the sheriff, they share a passionate kiss that proves they can't be just friends. Valenti finds the couple first and fires a shot at Nikolas. Before getting to Isabel, Liz distracts him. Isabel, Max and the others are now alright, but Valenti has just caught Liz. Then Ray Iburg appears from nowhere and sends Valenti a kiss good night. Liz is free. Max is relieved. Ray admits he's also an alien.
After Nikolas got killed in the mall, Isabel suffered an emotional breakdown. Alex was the one that stood by her and brought her back. As a result she started appreciating her life and promised she'd never use her powers. Max told Liz their kiss from the mall meant nothing and he wished he stayed away from her. Liz was completely hurt and started dating a guy from the school. Ray began teaching Max and Michael how to do things with their power. He also explained them that their ship was crashed by a stowaway who had stolen a powerful ring. Maria and Michael start doing things together. At first, they thought they were just friends, but then they realize it was much more then that. They kiss. Maria thinks he has psychic abilities because she gets flashes of certain things. In the end, after Maria is almost killed, Ray tells them it was just a manipulation of some alien bounty hunters who were looking for the alien ring Maria had taken from the mall. Finally Ray takes the ring.
Max is hit by an alien disease. Ray explain him that it is called akino and is usual back on their home planet. Every teenagers contacts it when reaches maturity. The problem is, Max will die unless he is healed by some crystals from their planet, crystals that are situated on their spaceship. Max soon stars to feel really bad, he loses weight, strength and finally his powers. Michael, Alex, Isabel, Maria and Liz help Max to find the ship. They find out that Valenti and his Project Clean State have it. So, they plan a dangerous escape in order to recover the crystals. Liz is the one that supports Max until the last moment. Michael, Isabel and Ray go to the secret location of the spaceship. Ray is killed, Michael is captured. Only Isabel comes back with the crystals.
Max is saved. But Ray was dead and Michael was Valenti's prisoner. After three days, a boy comes to the Evanses. He proves to be the forth alien from the pods that was raised in captivity by Valenti. His name was Adam. He related them how Michael helped him get out. Adam seems to be acting like a 8-year old boy but in fact his power was stronger because it had been developed by the sheriff's Clean State Project. He also forms a crush on Liz. A few days later, Max, Liz, Isabel, Maria, Alex and Adam go to the compound to rescue Michael. Even if Adam promises to help the others get Michael, he instead leads them straight to Valenti's office. Adam kills the sheriff and then tries, unsuccessfully,to kill Max too. Then, he starts a huge fire. Max, Liz, Isabel, Alex and Maria manage to take Michael and his prison companion, Cameron, out of the compound in the last second. Valenti was dead. They were all safe now. Adam was there too.
The Salvation opens with Adam's funeral. Max is completely lost to the consciousness in a comatose state. Michael has two of the three Stones of Midnight. Alex, Isabel and Liz keep trying to reach out to Max, while trying to hide the true aim of the group from the consciousness. Michael, Trevor and Maria attempt to find a way to shatter the consciousness without hurting Max. Michael and Trevor begin to bond as brothers. Isabel and Trevor discover an attraction for each other. Michael realized he loves Maria - but he keeps denying it to himself. And Liz keeps trying to find a way to get through to Max. The group finally figure out a way to shatter the consciousness. They use the Stones of Midnight in their possession to open a wormhole to the alien planet. The consciousness has the third Stone of Midnight in its possession. Using a device that they get from Kyle Valenti (who is now in a mental asylum for saying that aliens killed his father), they neutralize that Stone. This disperses all the auras, including those of Michael's parents and Ray Gilburt. Max is dispersed into his molecules too - but Liz finds a way to connect with him and bring him back. Trevor returns to his home planet through the wormhole to rebuild a new world order. Isabel decides not to go with him because her family is on Earth. Michael also, finds that he can't leave Maria behind and confesses his love to her. The group is reunited happily at the end.