Customer Reviews

V: East Coast Crisis

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

 

 

This was a good book. I first read it back in 1984. It's about a New York resistance group called White Christmas. It opens with the Vistors, led by Roger, the commander of the New York Mother Ship, and his second-in-command, Angela. Lisa, one of those on the New York Mother Ship, is lied to and told that they've come to Earth on a peaceful scientific mission. That's not true. The Visitors are here to conquer us without a fight. The two miniseries were the pilots for the short-lived 1984-85 television series. It's mentioned in the Larry Niven-Jerry Pournelle science fiction novel Footfall but not in the 1996 science fiction movie Independence Day. Read this book and Footfall.

Hey all! Here I am with the second book review of the entire V novels. This one has got to be one of the best. . .ranking right up there with the first book, which should come as no surprise seeing that is was co-authored by the same person, A.C. Crispin. Here, she teams with Howard Weinstein and is allowed to take a lot more freedom than when she was restricted to the confines of the mini-series with the first book, but yet still capturing the essence of the V saga.

East Coast Crises tells the same story as V - The Mini Series, and V - The Final Battle, only instead of focusing on the Los Angeles resistance, we meet a whole new group of rebels from New York. Like their west coast counterparts, our resistance fighters start out as a diverse group of individuals who, through the events of the visitors coming to earth, are slowly webbed together to become united and fight the new threat on our planet. The book wisely matches pace with the television mini-series and gives us plenty of familiarity by incorporating many of the same events - like watching one lucky cameraman be the first to go aboard the mothership, and later witnessing the televised sensation of the L.A. rebels exposing the alien commander John for what he really is. However, we have our own storylines here too, not to mention our own mothership hovering above New York with it's own crew aboard, who have the same nasty backstabbing ambitions as the one in California.

One very smart idea was the involvement of this New York resistance and their contribution to the creation and distribution of the red dust which leads to a very warm and welcoming crossover appearance by several Californians (get the book to find out who!). And the ending was phenomenal, to say the least. What seemed to be like an obvious copycat ending involving balloons and an airforce base diversion, turned into a fast paced rescue operation involving a sky fighter and two sets of trains! Wow! I was literally ripping through the pages!

A thoroughly entertaining read - familiar yet very original. I highly recommend it.

It certainly seems like an interesting concept: re-tell the basic story of V from the perspective of the East Coast. Unfotunately the implementation leaves quite a bit to be desired.

First, the book takes a while to get started, as a whole new cast of characters has to be introduced. And none of them really have the appeal of the original characters. There's no strong leading pair like Mike and Julie. Instead we have Peter Forsythe (an alcoholic aging baseball player) and Lauren Stewart (a naive, holier-than-thou UN flunkie). Both of the leads are boring and unheroic - Forsythe's big moment is when he lectures some gang-bangers about drunk driving; Stewart just acts haughty and superior, measuring men against her UN boss (the old white-haired guy from the original show who first met the Visitors, and who hilariously waxes philosophic about the innate rationality and superior temperament of the Swedish, using their 'impartiality' during WWII as a moral soapbox - this was clearly written before we found out they were getting rich by helping the Nazis). The authors overall reverence for the UN is itself risible - it's such a laughably inept organization - and the fact that a UN functionary is a 'hero' of this story should give you an idea of how gripping and tense it is. See them file a grievance! Motions will be passed!

The incidental characters don't help much. Overall, it's a weak and inert cast. There's none of the dynamism of characters like Donovan (hotshot pilot, cameraman); Ham Tyler (Michael Ironside - 'nuff said); Julie (reluctant leader, brains of the operation); there isn't even a good human villain like Daniel Bernstein. The new characters are just forgettable and lifeless.

It doesn't help that the story follows the same basic beats as the original. Many subplots are repeated verbatim with the new, boring characters: doctor discovers something, disappears; they catch the Visitors venting the 'critical chemical'; Visitors plant evidence in a doctor's office (which Forsythe magically finds); et cetera. Repeating the old story with some minor twists and the less compelling characters makes the book rather tedious.

Even Crispin's writing isn't up to its usual level - although to be fair, I don't know how much to blame her as a co-author. But in all the series novels she co-authors the same bizarre writing quirks occur with irritating consistency. Everyone 'runs their hand through their hair' when they are tense or frustrated. Lots of 'clouds gathering in eyes' and 'holding eyes with eyes', etc. It's not a big deal, just kind of funny.

And there are some annoying inconsistencies and plot contrivances. At one point a character in the book recalls Michael Donovan, and he is described as 'short'. Um, Beastmaster is 6'2". Everyone who saw the original series knows he towered over dwarfy Faye Dunaway. They also try to switch it up a bit by having a converted guy change from being a lefty to a righty; but that just doesn't make sense - I always imagined the conversion caused a switch that made the left brain dominant, not just a generic hand switch. In fact, this is confirmed in 'Death Tide' when Diana states that her new conversion process doesn't cause the 'left-hand dominance that was such a giveaway'. Yes, I'm a geek.

Overall a very weak entry in the V canon.

I really enjoyed this book as a 13-year-old, but I haven't re-read it as an adult. For those who have seen the NBC miniseries "V", it's the story of the same events, only told about a New York resistance group