5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An original twist on the ID4 story., August 20, 2004
This review is from: Independence Day #3 War in Desert (Independence Day, 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
Who would have thought that a short, one minute scene from a blockbuster film, would have inspired such a good book?
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.
On July 2nd, alien ships arrive over the cities of the Earth. One ship arrives over Jerusalem, where RAF Major Reg Cummins has been sent to retrieve some British fighter pilots and their planes. En route back to their base, the alien ship destroys Jerusalem and the alien fighters kill most of the RAF pilots. Only Reg, Col Thomson, Lt Sutton and Airman Michael Tye survive. They take cover in the middle of the Saudi Desert, where aircraft and pilots from many Middle Eastern countries have also hidden from the aliens.
When, on July 4th, the pilots receive a message from the Americans saying that they can bring down the shield on the alien destroyers, the fighter pilots must put aside their personal differences and unite to defeat the alien invaders. Various plans are discussed, but Saudi Captain Faisal has his own plans for personal glory. Reg and Faisal have differing ideas over what to do as the alien ship heads towards Mecca...
When the alien destroyer is downed, the pilots think they've won the war. But some of the aliens have survived the crash, and have stolen some biological weapons which they intend to use against the human race. Now Reg and his team - Sutton; Tye; Israelis Miriyam Marx and Yossi; Palastinean Edward; Saudis Fadeela Yamani and Captain Ali Hassan; and Ethiopian Remi - have to put aside their differences once again to save the human race, whilst also trying to deal with Faisal who has imprisoned Fadeela's brother Khalid, who has been accused of being a traitor.
Overall I found this a good read that added to the ID4 story in a good way. The first third of the book deals with the timeframe in the film - July 2nd to July 4th - and the attempts to defeat the alien city destroyers. Some events from the film - such as the American nuclear attack on the ship over Houston - were referred to, and of course the scene where Reg and Thomson receive the message about the shields was lifted directly from the film. Afterwards, where the film would have ended, our story continues until July 6th when another battle to save the world occurs. I also liked the various subplots that happened during the book and how they all tied in with each other.
The cast of characters were wide and all had real personalities, and I liked how Reg's team had their own, human problems to deal with as well as the alien problem. One slight nitpick is that we only knew half the main characters' full names. Sutton's first name or Edward's last name were never revealed, and I feel this made them slightly less "human". We are supposed to care about these characters yet we don't know their full names. This might just be me though.
The various relationships between the main characters were also done well. I enjoyed the bickering between Edward and Yossi about each other's grandmothers and various other things! Captain Ali Hassan also developed well during the book. When we first meet him, he is rude to the Israelis - in fact, we don't even discover Ali's name until later on in the book - but by the end of the book he is a valued member of Reg's team. He has risked everything to join the team and cares about the others. Sutton's constant moaning about things was also quite amusing.
Naturally Reg is the main character in the book - there are very few scenes without him in them. Sutton and Tye are his constant companions, staying with him most of the time, and the other members of the team join later. One thing I liked was how the characters were introduced. You don't know who will be helping Reg. Ali and Remi in particular are introduced in a "blink and you miss it" style, only for them to reappear later on as main characters.
The descriptions of the alien destroyers and other alien technology are very detailed, offering a better vision into the aliens' world and expanding on what we learnt in the film. Whereas in the film the alien ships themselves were the main threat - and indeed, we hardly see the actual aliens in the film - here the actual aliens are the threat and we also learn a bit more about them as well.
The author has done a successful job of turning the short scene in the film of the British pilots receiving the American message into a good novel, and giving the ID4 story an extra twist in that, unlike the film, this novel has a lot of action on the ground with the actual aliens themselves. Stephen Molstad has managed to resist writing a copy of the original story set in Saudi Arabia instead of America, and instead has managed to write an original story which ties in nicely with the film. I found myself wanting to read more and had to force myself to put the book down at times. The only bad points were the "name problem" I said about earlier, and the lack of reports from the outside world. There are a few places where we discover things such as the ship over Jerusalem is heading for Amman in Jordan, or that there is a ship over Turkey, and I would have liked a few more reports on those lines just to show the global impact of the invasion. I would also have liked to know if the ship near Mecca was the only ship with survivors (if you've read ID4: Silent Zone, you'll know there were no survivors on the ship destroyed by Russell Casse over Area 51) and what the rest of the world was doing. Other than that though, a very good book that is a must for any ID4 fan.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is a single sitting read!, November 10, 1999
This review is from: Independence Day #3 War in Desert (Independence Day, 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
I sat down, one morning, with a cup of coffee and thought I'd read a chapter or two of this little paperback I picked up. Lunch came and went without my notice.
This book is great! Stephen Molstad is an expert at drawing your right in to the events unfolding! Action packed with just a touch of romance on the side! Everybody is getting copies in their Christmas stockings this year!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book RULES!!!!, August 15, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Independence Day #3 War in Desert (Independence Day, 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book is one of the best books I have ever read! It startsout in the Middle East around the same time the movie starts, but thegreat thing about this book is that it goes beyond where the original story ends. Alien surviviors from the city destroyers come out with weapons killing everything in sight. The book is exciting and action packed from beggining to end. It has excellent descriptions about the inside of the city destroyer and you get to learn a lot more about the alien technology. I recommend this book to everyone. I couldn't put it down!
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