Kenneth Johnson - A. C. Crispin - V: The Original Miniseries

The alien visitors arrive without warning, their enormous spaceships hovering over fifty of the worlds major cities. Their tale of an imperiled home world beguiles us.
Their human appearance and soothing voices reassure us.
Their calm promises of friendship and mutual aid lull us.
The aliens fool everyone - until a suspicious journalist and a Holocaust survivor point out the chilling signs that the Visitors aren't nearly as friendly as they seem.

As with many oppressive regimens of Earth's past and present, an ill informed, propagandized populace becomes complicit in its subjugation, turning a blind eye to atrocities committed by their tyrannical overlords. Now a small band of resistance fighters who knew the aliens' true nature must stand up for all humanity.

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The Visitors' arrive with the promise to share their great knowledge in exchange for a chemical compound that is missing on their planet which slowly dies. But soon humans begin to notice things are off. Only selected people are invited to the mother ship, children are invited into Visitor friendly groups and one particular group of humans called scientist are suspected of being traitors of the worlds peace conspiring against the visitors. While the Visitors' presence becomes more and more with each passing day, them taking over government institutions, media coverage and police actions, the science community splits into those who suddenly vanish, hide in the underground or close their eyes.
Mike Donavan, daring news camera man was one of the first persons to be invited to the mother ship, meeting the two in command persons John and Diana. His curious nature brings him back to the mother ship incognito to unravel the Visitors' secrets. It is not the chemical compound they need. Instead he finds gazillions of water tanks filled with fresh water. To make it worse he witnesses the real lizard-like nature of the Visitors' and their preservation of human flesh and torture methods. But there aren't only enemies on board of the mother ships. Few of the aliens don't believe in their great leaders plans and form their own resistance working against Diana & John. One of them is Martin who helps Mike out of dangerous situations on the mother ship and also helps him to take some humans back to earth.
Mike gets to know Juliet Parrish, a 4th year medical student and biochemist who made the move into the underground slowly building a resistance to the aliens. In her secret camp the first human/alien baby is born.

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If it weren't for the series which I loved on TV and in the old books as well, I'd say I didn't like this book at all. Message overload or whatever one might call it, pointed out the resemblance to Nazi Germany, in a way that left an unsavory, boring aftertaste. Now I know it has been a while since the series aired on TV in 1985 but even than I believe the Holocaust comparison was just playing with human superficial stupidity at that time.
However, there is more to criticize, although it is tried to keep the book as near to the series as possible, which it really is, there are a few major characters simply left out. F. e. the capture of visitor William into the resistance camp and the way humans' learn that not all visitors' agree to their main leaders great plan to take over earth and the resistance that is forming on board of the ships itself. This part just drowned the same way as the part how Robin got pregnant by a visitor and her twins (yes, in the TV series she gave birth to twins, one completely alien and one human with partly lizard like features).

For me as a fan those things are important.
In the end I don't think a new reader to the series is going to like the overload or short chapters involving characters.
It made me sad but who cares, I've got the old books on my shelf. :-)

The book also sort of prepares the reader for the follow-up book V: The Second Generation. A bit early because between the miniseries and the second generation are over ten books, and well 20 years that have passed.

Rating:
Visit Kenneth Johnson.

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Tor Books (October 28, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0765321580
ISBN-13: 978-0765321589

Kenneth Johnson - V: The Second Generation

Millions thrilled to Kenneth Johnson's hugely popular mini-series "V," an action filled drama of alien invasion, a TV event that was also a number one bestselling novel. Now, in a new novel based on the sequel miniseries currently being developed for TV, the tension between The Visitors and Earth's human inhabitants has reached a boiling point.

The reptilian Visitors, who cleverly portray themselves as Earth's protectors, are anything but. Our oceans are being drained in order to fuel the aliens' motherships, and our scientists are treated like wanted criminals. And they have pods of preserved humans destined for even more sinister purposes.

But hope is not lost. A small, yet resourceful Resistance risks everything to undermine the Visitors' stranglehold on Earth's people. Despite their heroic efforts, without more help they will be crushed by the Visitors and their human militia. Just when Earth's doom seems inevitable, agents of an alien civilization from another planet arrive in answer to humanity's desperate call for help. But can these other aliens be trusted? Or might we defeat one alien overlord, only to be delivered into the hands of another, equally as oppressive?

Time is running out for the Resistance, for when the Visitors' Leader arrives, the aliens will complete their mission on Earth, with devastating consequences for all life on the planet.

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It has been over 20 years since the Visitors' arrived with high promises such as helping to find cures against cancer. They offered protection and their high technology for just a little share of Earth' resources, mainly water.
What Earth got is a global race separation, corruption, punishment and death. It took a while until humanity noticed the Visitor's weren't what they had promised. Hiding behind human faces is a lizard like animal, taking everything Earth and humanity has to offer.

Since than everything has changed:
You are either pro visitor or against them. If you let someone know you are, you are most certainly dead.
The Visitors' work is almost finished. They collected most of Earths' water resources for their own, they collected human bodies to either eat them or transform them into soldiers.
People live in constant fear to be blackmailed by someone without having done something against th Visitors' rules. They just take you away and nobody will ever see you again.

The Resistance still exists, lead by Julie Parish, now 20 years older but still fighting with everything she got. Still there are those of the Visitos' that don't agree with the cause of the Visitors'. They work for the Resistance, putting their life's on the line each and every day.

When the news break that the big leader finally will arrive everyone in the Resistance fears the ultimate fight and end of their war but they find new allies in very old enemies of the Visitors'. They are the Zedti. An insectoid race that fought their war a long time ago and almost lost. Now they have come to Earth to help humanity and ultimately defeat the Visitors'. They soon ally with the Resistance fighters to fight side by side but still, there is some inconsistency that makes their help a bitter medicine.
Can they be trusted ?

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Oh, I loved it and waited so long for it !
The continuation of the Visitors' is a wa-woooom one ! V was first aired in the 1984-1985 but got cancelled very soon. A year after this a mini series was aired. At the same time the series was aired the first books have been published. 16 books in number.
V: The Next Generation is the 17 one and kept me on the edge of my seat. It felt good to know about some of the old Resistance fighters. While reading I had their faces in mind which made the book even more enjoyable.
So there is Willy and Harmy. Willy was one of the first Visitors working for the Resistance. The love between Willy and Harmy was difficult in the beginning. Practically Willy's a lizard and Harmy's a human.
Then Julie and finally Mike Donovan !

The book has something that definitely cheers the V-fan up. A must read for everybody who enjoys Science Fiction or likes the V series in general.

Rating:
Visit Kenneth Johnson

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (February 5, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0765319071
ISBN-13: 978-076531907-4