Connie Willis

Francie travels to Roswell for her best friend’s wedding, and ends up being abducted by a seemingly-non-verbal alien.

The story unfolds with exactly the same pace, level of miscommunication and frustratingly-steady-stream-of-things-going-wrong which I expected from Willis, but it took me much longer than I’d expected to find all of that engrossing. But I’m glad I persevered, because I really enjoyed the rest of it! I grew increasingly fond of several of the characters and increasingly invested in their attempts to communicate with their alien abductor.

There was a twist I’d somewhat predicted, and that was satisfying, and more twists which completely took me by surprise, and that was satisfying too.

There are lots of references to alien invasion movies and to Westerns, two genres I have only a cursory familiarity with (Admittedly, I’m well acquainted with Doctor Who’s brand of alien invasions, but not so much Hollywood’s). I assume The Road to Roswell is also doing at least something with these references which I just didn’t pick up on?… (altro)

Francie thought it would be a breeze talking her friend Serena out of marriage to a UFO fanatic, even if she has to travel to Roswell (where the wedding is to be held) to do it. But then everything that can go wrong, does: Serena can’t meet her at the airport, Francie has to wait forever to rent a car because, naturally, there’s a UFO convention going on in Roswell and everybody going to it needs transportation; Serena asks her to wait to pick up another wedding guest, but then that person’s plane is delayed significantly, so when Francie finally gets her car, she leaves without him. She does meet up with Serena, but the latter barely has time to say hello because she’s so busy with wedding plans, and then Serena asks Francie to pick up some lights from her car - and Francie is promptly kidnapped, by an alien…. Connie Willis is a wonderful writer whom I’ve loved for ages; she tends to alternate between serious science fiction/time travel/philosophical stories and madcap adventure/romances, and “The Road to Roswell” is in the latter camp. Not, to my mind, her finest work (that would probably be “Passage,” given that I am still blown away by its last line, more than 20 years after I read it), but still quite good. It’s a very goofy premise (the alien looks like a tumbleweed) with the abductees essentially all determined to help “Indy” achieve his quest rather than trying to escape, and of course there’s a love story thrown in for good measure. Ms. Willis is writing less than she used to, so it’s a joy to find this recent (2023) novel and revel in its sheer goofiness; recommended!… (altro)