Reviews | Kenneth Johnson

V: The Second Generation by Kenneth Johnson

Rating 6.0/10

To be honest I found the books a little disappointing.

Kenneth Johnson’s Warner Bros television series “V” swept the nation and drew in hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide. Now, the novel “V” is finally back in print, with an all-new, never-before-seen ending. “V” tells the exciting story of mysterious Alien visitors who are ready to solve Earth’s problems. Soon after arriving, the Aliens’ true nature is revealed, but, as with so many oppressive regimes of Earth’s past, as long as people are not directly under attack, they will turn a blind eye to their tyrannical overlords. It is up to a small band of resistance fighters to stand up for all of humanity. With fast-paced action, political intrigue, and memorable characters, “V” is sure to stir fond memories for fans of the original mini-series, as well as make fans out of a new generation.

V is essentially about a race of alien beings coming to Earth and – on the surface – offering to help humanity. The aliens have openly acknowledged that they have chosen a human skin so as not to frighten people, but that skin hides so much. Known as the Visitors they offer humans an advanced technology far beyond their own, a technology that will cure cancer and all the other major diseases that are a blight on society. All the Aliens need in return is a some water from Earth’s oceans as their own resources have dried up. No problem. Seems simple enough, right?

Wrong. The aliens are a race of reptilian carnivores with an appetite for all things meat – humans included. The ultimate goal for the aliens is to take over the human race and to interbreed with them in order to create a vast army of loyal servants. But despite this there is hope in the form of the resistance, a core group of people willing to die rather than let humanity be taken over by aliens. The resistance has a secret symbol to encourage each other – it is the V sign. V for Victory. As the battle lines are drawn and the tension ratchets up a notch in the end who will win? Us or them?

Having been glued to the 2012 TV series of V I was frothing at the mouth in anticipation of reading the books. The TV series, for the uninitiated amongst us, did not continue due to whatever reason they had in TV land. For shame I say! To be honest I found the books a little disappointing as I felt that they lacked the tension of the 2012 TV series. This could be due to the fact that in the TV series there are several characters that do not appear at all in the books – Anna, the Leader of the Visitors and her daughter Lisa were fantastic and yet they are nowhere to be found. I was looking forward to some back stories for the characters, but to no avail.