Customer Reviews

V: The Second Generation

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Twenty years ago, they arrived in 50 gigantic motherships offering their peace and universal friendship to Earth. They said they had come because their world was dying and desperately needed our help to manufacture chemicals found on our world in return for sharing their technology, cures for diseases and all the fruits of their knowledge. Skeptical of the Visitors intentions, a collective coalition of scientists became the unwitting scapegoats of a conspiracy against the Visitors and soon a state of martial law was imposed. A small but growing band of underground freedom fighters had organized into the Resistance led in Los Angeles by Dr. Juliette Parrish. News cameraman Mike Donovan had infiltrated the motherships to discover their clandestine truth and with the help of Visitor Fifth Columnist Martin who revealed the Visitors' true horrific intentions that they had come to rape our planet of its most precious resource - water - and to harvest human beings for food. The Resistance struck back and won a small but decisive victory against the Visitors and sent out a distress signal deep into space directed towards their homeworld near Sirius in hopes of it reaching one of the Visitors' adversaries who might answer the beacon and come to help them stave off the invasion.

Twenty years later, that call has been answered. The world under Visitor control is at its most critical point. Fifty percent of the water in the Earth's oceans have been depleted leaving behind a vast barren salt bed along the floor of the Pacific basin. The Golden Gate bridge now suspends atop two large peaks above the once aqueous San Francisco Bay. An entire generation has grown up under Visitor occupation and has bought into the lies and propaganda with unquestioning obedience to The Visitor Way and the apathetic human race have become complacent and submissive through the coercion of the Teammates - those humans that serve the Visitor Youth Corps and the Players - the corrupt collaborators who have betrayed their own kind to satisfy their own personal ambitions. The operation that Martin had said would take nearly a generation to complete was accelerating rapidly now with little opposition after the Resistance had been decimated by Commandant Diana's Great Purge in 1999 and with only a few years left until the Earth would become a barren, desolate planet devoid of all life.

Enter the Zedti - a humanoid race evolved from an insectoidial alien species who respond to the signal at our most desperate hour by sending three advance "emissaries" to make contact with the Resistance in the form of a pair of strangely humanoid females named Kayta and Bryke and a humanoid male named Ayden who are prepared to launch a counter-invasion force waiting in the wings to strike against their old enemies the Visitors whom they had defeated once before and rescue us from their oppression. But are their intentions benevolent, or do they have their own more diabolical plans for us and are we simply trading one dictatorship for an equal or even greater oppressor?

Kenneth Johnson's narrative is engaging and entertaining and manages to deftly interleave socio-political themes relevant to present day issues of counter-terrorism and political apathy as relevant as his brilliant allegory of neo-fascist takeover akin to the Nazi Holocaust that he employed in creating his V - The Original TV Miniseries. However, as a lifelong V fan, the biggest challenges I had to come to terms with while reading Kenny's book, is ignoring the problem of conflicting continuity between his original mini-series and the events of V - The Final Battle and V - The Complete Series of which he had no involvement with, and the fans are asked to simply accept the fact that those events had never even existed. Even more, the fates of several key characters established in Kenny's original story like Elias, who was killed off in the Series, and Robin Maxwell, who was impregnated by the Visitor Youth Leader Brian and gave birth to the half-breed Elizabeth, are overlooked or simply disregarded. In Kenny's mind, all of that never happened and many may welcome the idea that Elizabeth, the Star Child, doesn't save the human race with her hokey magical alien superpowers, the Visitors weren't defeated by the Red Dust, Robert Maxwell wasn't killed trying to help the Resistance commandeer the mothership, and Martin didn't die and come back as his zygote twin brother Philip who just happened to wear an identical human-looking mask. On the other hand we unfortunately never meet the stone-cold mercenary Ham Tyler nor his associate Chris Farber who joined up with the Resistance or other memorable characters indigenous to the series like Kyle Bates.

By disregarding the continuity of V: The Final Battle and V: The Series, there is, for better (*cough* Star Child) and for worse (*cough* Ham Tyler) gaps of unexplained and contradictory continuity between the Original and The Second Generation. Willy's true reptilian nature wasn't revealed to Harmony until V: The Final Battle when the Resistance captured and exposed him in front of a disbelieving Harmy and forced him to confess the truth to her. Complicating things even more, Harmony was killed during the Final Battle. Disregarding those events, the reader must make the supposition that Willy inevitably revealed the truth to her somehow and irregardless of which maintained her indiscriminate feelings toward him and they married and had a half-breed son named Ted and the reader is forced to accept the circumstances of altered continuity twenty years later as-is. With the introduction of the half-breed culture of Dregs at times it felt more like I was reading a page from Kenny's other series Alien Nation, not V.

As much as I would love to see a Second Generation of V revived, I don't think, with all due respect to Kenny, that this story, in its current form, should be used as the basis of a new mini-series because of the problems inherent with ignoring the continuity which old-school V fans might find jarring and confusing. Perhaps this is why initial plans for a new mini-series announced a few years ago by NBC have remained on indefinite hold and Warner Bros. felt like they could still profit from publishing Kenny's book while surreptitiously gauging fan interest in a possible revival or perhaps have their own agenda for a "re-imagining" of V ala "Battlestar Galactica" which I think would be a huge mistake because it would be a betrayal to a generation of loyal fans who, like myself, grew up in the 80's and grew attached to those characters and the actors who portrayed them. Still, I'll take Kenny's version of V the Second Generation over an outright remake or "re-imagining" any day and I'm all for getting behind a revival of V that would reunite original cast members Mark Singer, Faye Grant, Jane Badler, Michael Ironside, Robert Englund, Blair Tefkin, et al, but if and only if it's my generation of V.

I read the previous reviews before I purchased the book, and I was well prepared. I accepted that the writer chose to deny the existence of V: The Final Battle and the Series which allowed me to approach the book with an open mind. All in all I'm glad I bought the book as it was an enjoyable read. I also agree with many of the gripes of other reviewers.

It's dreadfully obvious that the book was written AFTER a screenplay. I'd even go so far as to say it was hastily put together. I imagine the writer was not able to devote as much time and talent to its writing and was pressured by a deadline. Johnson does provide "sufficient" depth so that anyone reading it who hasn't seen the previous telecasts isn't left in the dark. I was also able to ignore the constant "jumping" from one seen to the next. Even tho most of the time there was no warning and I usually had to reread entire pages to see where it jumped. Occasionally some "jumps" are obvious, as the writer bolds the first sentence.

I'd have to say that the most annoying aspect in the book is it's lack of time. As others have written slightly about it, I feel they didn't describe it enough. There is NO mention of time except for a few instances in which the writer tells you if the sun is shining or stars are twinkling. I've had to reread several pages at a time to get a feel for when the "day" ended, and the "night" began. You'll find yourself imagining one or the other, until the writer tells u at the END of the scene. It's very easy to get lost in the time line, and very frustrating when you have to go back and reread sections at a time.

While the writer provides sufficient depth in some areas, it's horridly lacking in others. Reviewers before me have pointed out that the story ignores various prominent characters from the first series. I've come to the conclusion that once the movie is released, the confusion will evaporate. The book describes a memorial to people lost during the "great purge" as described in the book. Tho the writer only indicates to 2 people on the memorial, I'm assuming that when the movie is shown, we'll see the faces of the missing characters.

On the positive side I'm pleased at how easy the book is to read. The language and vernacular used is as easy to understand as a Harry Potter book. You may however want to censure the book from younger readers, as it does have strong sexual depictions. Speaking of, I was pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of gay characters in the novel. Johnson writes the gay characters as if they are "simply" gay, and pays no special attention to them. He does however, give them equal inclusion in the story line. Johnson plays this off very well and I thank him for not playing into other stereotypes.

Each of the characters are believable and engaging, this is another great aspect that many other authors too often miss. While I agree with others that parts of the story line are predictable, I also assert that every story has a certain predictability. The great thing is that this book is very suspenseful, and a majority of it does not unfold as you may suspect.

I found the ending to the story to be extremely satisfying, however there are some "holes". I also enjoy the that even tho there is a conclusion, it's also a cliff hanger. I have no doubt that if this book and movie is successful, johnson will continue the story line as there is ample room to do so. All in all I'm glad I bought the book and enjoyed reading it. I do have to remove a star as it's not perfect, tho I imagine that subsequent editions will fix the "jumping without notice" problem.

Ugh. I can't remember ever being as disappointed in a novel as this one.

I'm a huge V fan. I watched both original mini-series with rapt attention. I even watched the weekly series -- which was, while not good, not altogether horrible. I held onto my grainy VHS copies of the mini-series recorded off TV for more than a decade. When the mini-series and weekly series were released on DVD, I bought them. I even re-bought them from itunes and carry them on my ipod. In other words, as I mentioned, I'm a huge V fan.

This book is not for huge V fans. As other reviewers have pointed out, this book picks up where the FIRST mini-series left off, and ignores everything that came after. More annoyingly, the author never actually tells you what it's doing, but it becomes apparent pretty quickly. I could understand, and maybe even approve ignoring the weekly series. It wasn't well-received, and didn't have the same following as the minis. For most fans, though, V and V: The Final Battle are basically one entity. Many fans probably don't remember exactly which events took place in which. They have become a seamless whole. If anything, The Final Battle was a superior story, because it was more complete. Okay, the star-child was stupid, but that's just the last few minutes of the show, anyway.

In Kenneth Johnson's V: The Second Generation, Harmony is still alive. Martin is still alive, and was never discovered. He has no brother named Phillip, as far as we know. The Visitor Leader is now a woman. Robin Maxwell is MIA. Ham Tyler doesn't exist. The Resistance never invented the red dust. Most humans never figured out that the Visitors were evil. Diana doesn't have a conversion chamber. Julie and Donovan were never, as far as we know, romantically involved. Need I go on?

The dissonance is so severe that it would ruin this book even if it were otherwise good. Unfortunately, it is not. The characters are thin. Even the ones we knew from before seem less fleshed out than they did on TV. The plot makes no sense. Most of humanity continues to see the Visitors as benevolent, even though the planet has been basically destroyed. The new alien enemy of the Visitors are a goofy race that is unnecessarily mysterious. The Beyonce-ripoff character is painful to read about.

The whole book just plain sucks.

Allow me to get straight to the point: DO NOT read "V: The Second Generation" by Kenneth Johnson unless you're a diehard "V" fan looking for a fresh story set in the "V" universe. And even then, either buy it only after it's in the discount bin or if you can get it from your local library.

Why am I being so harsh? Because I was among those who was revved up to hear about new life in the "V" universe, and eagerly purchased this book, even after its release was delayed multiple times (an obvious "red alert" to be suspicious of its quality, in retrospect). So, what did I get (and what you will get if you disregard my advice in this review's lead)?

I got a reintroduction to the "V" universe, albeit one where the second "V" TV miniseries never took place, nor the short-lived TV series or any of the previous books that came out in the 1980s. Reading this book brought back a lot of fond memories -- but that was it. Memories. Nothing more. And those memories were for what had been, not what Johnson envisioned in this alternate "V" timeline.

Beside that, I got shallow, cardboard-cutout characters that I had no chance to "bond with" before the majority of them met various, gruesome ends. I got a plot that had holes so ridiculous I was left debating whether to break down into hysterical laughter or to simply shake my head with disbelief. I usually did the latter.

Furthermore, I got a plot so simplistic and writing so amateurish -- yes, amateurish is the proper word, even though Johnson is a published author and the mind behind other creative content, such as "Alien Nation" -- that I thought more than once, "How in God's name did Johnson's editors let this get through?" Then again, maybe he didn't have editors or, at the very least, editors with spines.

Last, but not least, I got a book whose author seemed to relish in not only killing off his cardboard characters, but child characters as well. At least three such characters meet such sad/heroic ends. If Johnson was attempting to get his readers to feel an emotional loss, he failed with at least me. It's hard to feel a connection with any character -- child or adult -- who's barely developed before becoming a convenient plot device to move the story forward (i.e., usually by getting killed). If anything, Johnson, you succeeded in getting a sole emotion out of me -- anger. I was left with the distinct impression that you simply offed the child characters as a cheap way to get readers emotionally invested in the story. Well, kind sir, you failed miserably.

All of the above said, I feel it's necessary for me to point out that, in my reviews at Amazon, I am rarely this "down" on an author (check my other reviews for confirmation of this). Unfortunately, Kenneth Johnson stooped low enough to earn this negative review. It takes a lot to get this sort of review out of me and, to my regret (for dollars and time lost to reading this tome), Johnson met the criteria.

In closing, I cannot in good conscious recommend "V: The Second Generation." If you must read it, do so after getting it at your local library or the discount book bin. Don't say you weren't warned.

M. Keck

I was quite willing to abandon The Final Battle and the weekly debacle. But the book falls flat. It is full of inconsistencies (within the book itself) and contradicts some of what was established in the original miniseries. The science was terrible. I am all for willing suspension of disbelief, but there were too many gross errors to overlook. The lack of symmetry in the hybrids is but one glaring example.

I think Ken Johnson is a brilliant director and usually good story author. But this novel feels like a screenplay that was forced into a novel format. There is no additional characterization, no insight to what the characters are thinking. Lots of visual descriptions, but no internal ones. That bothers me, because its one of the best things novels offer over movies! There were also many little things that felt odd, until I saw they were a setup for later sequences, and decisions were made to keep filming low budget and PG rated. For example- when did the storage process for humans change to have them keep their clothes on? It made no sense until I saw what happened later. Clothes were needed for filming!

I also think he tried too hard to recreate the Final Battle in a new corner of the old sandbox. It didn't work. What may have made sense in the original plans for TFB (before he walked) seems forced and contrived here.

I had hoped for so much more. A logical story, internal consistency, character development were all absent. And I'm disappointed in that.

In short: A major disappointment.

When I heard this book was coming from Johnson I was fully prepared that it would be less a "novel" and more a padded script treatment as Johnson is a scriptwriter, not a novelist. In fact, the only other novel he has written was co-authored, so I was not surprised to find that this book felt like Johnson had both feet pressed firmly on the gas and brake as he madly fragments and reformats his script into a novel. When it comes to action, and the pacing of that action, Johnson knows how to move the material, but when it comes to plot, development, background or anything that moves away from THE BIG PICTURE, the book simply falls apart.

It may be twenty years after the arrival of the Visitors but literally nothing and no one has changed. Like bugs in amber, the cast of V may have grown older with time on the outside, but they're still the same people on the inside, stuck, trapped, held hostage to a plot which should be fresher than this, quicker on its feet and much more on point given the events that have happened in the world since V first appeared. Johnson had the chance to really sell the idea of HYPER-POWERS and the battles for and against them. Instead he offers up a almost G.I. JOE style plot of RED vs. BLUE (actually, I'm showing my age here... for all the fresh and poppin' kids out there insert HALO for G.I. JOE) with an ending so cardboard AMAZON could use it to ship the book in.

I struggled to finish this book and tried to overlook the missed oppurtunities (Johnson does take the time to tell us exactly how much water the Visitors have taken in the 20 years since they came... and it is striking, but after the wonderful visual you get, he drops it there and then... water may be in short supply, more than 50% of it already stored away on the motherships, and yet, it seems to have no impact AT ALL on anyone), odd pacing (there is no sense of "time" in this book, Johnson never tells us the month, year, day, morning, night, noon, brunch, what have you... there's no clock in this book so scenes just lurch from one set to the next, and the thing is, Johnson knows this and then awkwardly tries to bridge the gap with some quick novel SPACKLE that never really holds paint), and worst of all... the dues ex machina ending.

Johnson, please, Rome wasn't built in a day... nor did it fall in one either. But, despite his dislike for how V: THE FINAL BATTLE ended, this is no better and really spoils what little excitement and fun there is to be had in this book.

I was so excited to get this book and initially I was thrilled reading it. It was like the return of old friends. Once I realized that the author had pretty much disregarded V: The Final Battle to create his own alternate ending, I had different feelings.

Remember the movie Clue? The ending you saw depended on which theater you went to. This reminded me of that. Ending A: The human Resistance movement develops a bacteria and saves their own planet. Ending B: They spent 20 years making zero progress until another ailen race came to assist.

Johnson leaves gaping holes in his narrative. Why, for example, did he not explain the action moving from Los Angeles to San Francisco? Did he think his readers just wouldn't notice? The obvious reason is that if this is made into a movie or TV, the visual of The Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz over a desert is more striking than a desert LA. The next question is about Maxwell. Why is he used so sparingly? What happened to his daughters? And didn't the Resistance have ANY success over the last 20 years? Purge or not? And how did The Leader go from male to female? Another TV thing? Titillating viewers with hints of girl on girl sex? Give me a break! And lastly, if there are half-breeds, why do the Visitors still wear masks? And if they continue to claim to want peace with humans, would't the mixed race people be honored instead of pushed down? It just didn't make sense to me.

Admittedly, V: The TV series dove off the deep end. This doesn't mean that V: The Final Battle didn't have good qualities. It's a shame Mr Johnson doesn't see that. Final Battle had some great characters - namely Ham Tyler who I sorely missed while reading this novel. And although things like the conversion chamber and the whole Starchild thing were lame, they kind of fit in the story of a race taking over the bodies and minds of a people.

While I can accept that Johnson had a different vision than the one that aired on TV so many years ago, after thinking about it for a few days, I have to say the TV version appealed to me more. I like the idea of humans conquering the Visitors on their own.

Kenneth Johnson forgot what drives continuing interest in a franchise, at some point you have to listen to the fans a little bit. He may not have liked the Final Battle but I think most viewers did. Almost all of the fan fiction I've ever seen included it as canon and just dropped the TV show. I am fifty pages from the end and I like it - except for the fact that 'insectoid' aliens looked human - but I miss Ham Tyler. He was a great foil for the sometimes goody-two shoes attitude of the Resistance. I didn't find a character nearly as captivating in this one. In fact, the names were so bland that I really had to focus to remember who was what. And while there are a few scene recaps of the original miniseries, there are no reminders of the other members (Elias and his father, Robert's daughters, Mike's son, Sancho).

Read for nostalgia but I doubt this piece will convince anyone to restart the show. (I say that regretfully. I've waited twenty-plus years for a continuation only to find that half of what I wanted to see whas neglected.

***Spoiler Warning***

I was very excited to finally get to read this book. While I liked V: The Final Battle, I felt that V: The Series was a poor substitute at best. The series quickly became nothing more than `What are the Visitors going to put in their mouths this week?' A problem that started with V: The Final Battle. I didn't take me long to get really bored with V: The Series. 90% of the things that made V: The Original Mini Series so great were missing from the rest of the installments. Mainly believable plot and characters. And I won't even get into the whole Star Child thing.

So, Kenneth Johnson threw everything out and went back to his original story and picked it up 20 years later. Thus was the major problem that I had with this book. While I was and am very glad Mr. Johnson was able to complete his story in his own fashion, I felt that most of the really great V stories must have happened between V: The Original Mini Series and V: The Second Generation. I would have much rather have had Mr. Johnson pick up the story maybe 5 years after the mini series and then write a third installment bringing the story to it's conclusion. The way the story stands now, there is still room to do this, but it would be kind of awkward since we now know the final outcome.

Several folks have stated that they felt like they were reading an incomplete screenplay instead of a novel. I never go that feeling. I felt that the story flowed logically from point A to point B rather nicely. While it did take me about 50 or so pages before I really got into the story. I, like everyone else, was anxious to get reacquainted with all of the characters from the mini series right away. However, I do have to give Mr. Johnson credit for creating a new cast of characters that I found to be just as interesting as the first group. A few of the new characters could use a bit more fleshing out, but that's just a minor problem. The way Kenneth Johnson introduces us to his new cast of characters and then shows us how they all become interconnected is one of the strong points of the story. It was the same magic touch he used in the original mini series.

As for the fates of certain characters from the mini series that are not mentioned (Robin Maxwell for example), is a bit of a let down. However, since the novel for the original mini series is going to be re-released this fall with a new ending, I get the impression that once that book is out we will know all that we need to know about everyone. All of the certain little nagging questions like, `Why is the flagship now in San Francisco instead of Los Angeles?' will be answered in the new ending.

The only other major issue that I have with this book is the end. Kenneth Johnson doesn't give us the `everything wrapped up in a pretty bow' ending. Instead, there are several things that are left open. I found this to be a bit of a let down. While I don't always like `everything wrapped up in a pretty bow', there are certain things in this ending that I found annoying. Characters that I felt should have been either killed or captured just sort of faded away. I don't know if this is on purpose so that Kenneth Johnson can write another installment (I highly doubt it) or just a way to make the fans upset. Don't get me wrong. The ending is satisfying to a degree, but if this is the final chapter, the real `end' then I feel that it should have ended. There shouldn't be any lingering questions after the final page. At least not any major ones. The whole question of the new alien's loyalties and whether or not they are on our side is left open. This is a major cop out in my opinion. This should have been resolved. Leaving this open is just poor writing. This might not be so bad if there hadn't been so many other things just left open. Again, I can only guess that maybe Johnson is planning another novel in the series. It's really the only explanation for the mediocre ending that we are given.

All in all I'm very glad that the story has been brought to a conclusion. Albeit a weak one, but a conclusion. I'm curious about the new ending to the original mini series and I will be getting that book when it comes out. I had a great time reading this novel and it was really fun to be back in the V universe. I didn't have any problems forgetting everything that happened in V: The Final Battle and V: The Series while reading this new novel like others seemed to have had. In fact, I was rather relieved to forget certain aspects of both The Final Battle and The Series. For anyone who is a fan of V: The Original Mini Series, this is a must read. Everything that you loved about V is back.

I'm a major V fanatic and while I understand the inherent problems in some of the aspects of V: The Final Battle and the miniseries I was underwhelmed with certain aspects of the book.
First off, there were major players in the original miniseries never mentioned. Yes, I love Ham Tyler (have a weird crush on Michael Ironside), second only to Diana I thought he was the best character in the V universe. His absence, while sad, I could live with. It's the absence and absolute loss of characters like Daniel Bernstein and his parents, Robin, Polly, Sancho, Elias, Eleanor DuPres, Brad, Caleb and John, the defacto visitor leader, that troubles me most. None merited a mere mention? Come on.
I understand Kenneth Johnson hated where the series went (and I'm also an avowed Alien Nation and Incredible Hulk fanatic) but there were certain things that worked in V: The Final Battle. Actually, up until the magical (and ridiculously aging) Elizabeth saved everyone I thought the miniseries was wonderful.
One of my major problems was using names that showed up in the V universe after Kenneth Johnson bailed. Namely Nathan (Nathan Bates, who's son, Kyle in the miniseries had a lot in common with the Nathan character in the book), Charles, Danny Stein (Daniel Bernstein -- hello), Mark (cop that died in the second part of V: The Final Battle), Shawn (Sean Donovan), etc. Couldn't Kenneth Johnson afford a baby names book?
While I like that Martin, Harmony and Robert were saved from sad fates, I had trouble with Mike and Julie's relationship and the fact that Martin and Mike seemed to only interact for about five minutes. Plus, if you go by the original miniseries, Mike and Willy never met -- and exposition on how Willy and Martin met would have been nice.
Another problem I had was Kenneth Johnson constantly wailing about the "Star Child" bit and then using a half-breed (Ruby Parish) to save everyone. He also mentioned the original Ruby being shot in the back (which happened in the second cycle of V: The Final Battle at the hands of Daniel Bernstein).
What I liked: Nathan was fun and cheeky. Emma showed shades of Christine Walsh without the cynicism. Ruby was wonderful, how the Elizabeth character should have been written. Ted, Harmony and Willy were a delightful character study -- despite Willy's use of the word ingrate -- which he would never use. However, who was Margarita's father? She said it was right after "her father" helped Julie send a distress beacon. That was Elias, who we all know didn't have time to have a seven-year-old child.
My biggest problem was the fact that the Leader is now a woman. Seriously? Even though everyone (Diana and Martin included) referred to him as a male. The kiss scene between Diana and the Leader just screams of an audience grab from Kenneth Johnson -- which he should be above frankly.
Also, the new "friends" were pretty annoying and unbelievable. Who sends their leader as part of a three-person team to save the world? That's like Star Trek sending Kirk AND Spock on away teams. All were pretty vapid and unnecessary. In actuality, I liked the "red dust" ending better.
All in all, I enjoyed the book because I love V but was put off by certain aspects of the book. Sadly, I choose to remember my Resistance as the one that kept on after Kenneth Johnson left the series. The one where Ham Tyler was a major player, Robin was still around and Julie didn't refer to Mike Donovan as "Mr. Donovan."
I enjoyed the book, though sometimes overwritten, and I'd probably watch something based on this book just because I'd want to see Diana, Mike, Julie and Robert again. Otherwise, I'll still watch the miniseries with trepidation on most parts and love from childhood for the others.