Customer Reviews

DAY OF DESCENT (ALIEN NATION 1)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are a fan of the show this book is totally worth the time it might take to find it. It explains EVERYTHING that happened in the years before the ship landed and lets you see more about why the characters are the way they are. I definately recommened this book, I couldn't put it down.

It's been my experience that "Pro Fic" isn't exceptionally well written. However, Day of Descent proves the stereotype wrong. Set in the minutes/hours just following the show cliffhanger "Green Eyes" this book details how the Teconese actually crash landed in the Mojave. It gives a lot of detail about George and his family while exploring slavery. We get to meet rookie detective Matt Sikes and see how he's initially drawn into the plight of the Newcomers.

The continuity was spot on. The writing was crisp and entertaining. This is an absolutely fabulous additon to the Alien Nation universe.

I loved this book. It was an accurate representation of George and Matt and explained a lot about the series. The author was excellent! If you are a fan of the show this is a must-read book.

The story of the landing of the newcomers on Earth. Judith and Garfield Reeves Stevens really know how to write science fiction with lively characters. I was more familiar with the TV series than the books, but this was a good precursor to that series.

To me, ALIEN NATION -- THE SERIES, was not only the best science fiction EVER on TV....it was the best show of ANY genre, ever on TV.
Period.

"Alien Nation - The Series" dealt with the story of the lives of 250,000 alien slaves, (and their Overseers), who had crash-landed on Earth in California's Mojave Desert in 1988, and who all now had to find new lives for themselves in late 20th-century California. The series focuses on the lives of two men -- MATT SIKES, a human police detective, (who used to be a juvenile delinquent), and GEORGE FRANCISO, the first ET Tenctonese to make the rank of Detective, and who is Matt's partner. Going into not only their work as detectives --- but also into their family lives, (Matt is divorced wih one daughter, George is happily married with, eventually, four children....one of whom was lost on the slave-ship). "Alien Nation",
with joy and sorror, with humour and terror, and memorable scenes, depicted, in parable, the life-cycles of all immigrants to all countries....including Native Americans, who find themselves, improbably, to be strangers in the land of their ancestors..

This book, "The Day of Descent", is the best of a fine, but sadly
and cruelly truncated series of A.N. novels. DAY OF DESCENT, by huband and wife team, shows -- in moving and photographic detail -- what daily life, (and death), was like for the Tenctonese slaves
aboard their ship, the "Gruza", the cruelties and, perhaps even more, the mental and emotional craftiness of the Overseers.
("It's for the good of the ship", and "Your parents were really heroic overseers", are phrases which will remain with e for my entire life). In this novel, readers will learn the REAL reason
why the Gruza just HAD to be crashed, and the new life -- and
new dangers -- the now ex-slave Tenctonese had to begin to adjust to on Earth.

Yep, Matt is here too....and he DOES get to meet George! This novel has many twists and turns. It is exciting, and makes my imaginary
Tenctonese friend, ("Paige Turner"), proud of her name. Reading this
book will increase your pride in becoming and/or remaining an "Alien Nation" fan.

As "Alien Nation - The Series", went head and shouders above what is usually offered on TV, on any network, so "Day of Descent", goes head and shoulders above almost every other science-fiction novel. It is not just a great book with a great story, but a story that is told so well, and with characters that stand out in high relief, as three-dimensional beings. It is not just a sci-fi novel -- it is LITERATURE, in the highest sense of that word. What is literature, and how is it differentiated from other writing, (such as "soap operas"? I once heard this definition, which makes a lot of sense to me: In soap-opera, and/or inferiour literature, the situations are always more interesting than the characters. In great literature, it is the characters who are the most interesting." Nothing was said of a story like "Alien Nation", wherein BOTH the situations AND the characters are equally as involving. The great cast and production crew of "Alien Nation" made that series' characters and situations, both come alive for fans on the screen....and this book, "DAY OF DESCENT", perhaps more than any other book in the series, makes the story of "AN -- The Series", come alive, as well. Read this book -- you'll see what I mean! And a book THIS good just HAS to be made into a movie.........someday!