Death Tide

V #10

by A.C. Crispin, Deborah A. Marshall

Science Frontiers develops a new strain of the Red Dust; Donovan's ex-wife comes back into his life.

Genres: Science Fiction, Media Tie In, Dystopia, Fiction

207 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Ann Carol Crispin (1950-2013) was an American science fiction writer, the author of over twenty published novels. She wrote professionally since 1983. She wrote several Star Trek and Star Wars novels, and created her own original science fiction series called Starbridge.

Crispin also served as Eastern Regional Director, and then Vice President, of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. With Victoria Strauss, she founded Writer Beware, a "watchdog" group that is part of SFWA that warns aspiring writers about the dangers of scam agents, editors, and publishers. Writer Beware was founded in 1998, and has assisted law enforcement and civil authorities in tracking and shutting down writing scams.

Crispin, who also wrote a prequel providing the back story for the popular Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, died on September 6th, 2013 at the Hospice of Charles County in Waldorf, aged 63.

She was married to science fiction author Michael Capobianco.

Reviews

[Jansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've collected most of the books in this vintage series, and most of them are crap. Sometimes the writing isn't engaging or the characters are cardboard stereotypes. With a series like this, writers are hired and have to work within very strict guidelines---and are probably up against a tight deadline. A.C. Crispin and Deborah A. Marshall actually spent some time on the set of the show as it was filming. They met the actors and writers and got to read some scripts. Their in-depth research really shows through in this book, because they actually seem to know about the characters. And what's best of all is that this book actually spends more time with the characters from the show that fans already know about. It reads like a lost episode. Too bad the rest of the series wasn't done this way. There are some truly terrible books in this line and some okay ones, but this is the best in the bunch, in my opinion. Read the novelization of the miniseries and this book. That's all you need.

[Irredeemable Shag · Rating 4 out of 5]

The core premise of the novel is a fascinating concept worth exploring - developing a new Red Dust to thrive in seaweed, thus poisoning the Earth’s oceans to the Visitors. Great idea!! The concept gets explored early on, but then transitions into a dramatic piece about the relationships of the LA resistance. Good characterization throughout the book, with special highlights being the romantic relationships between Donovan and Julie, and Chris Faber and Maggie. The books is absolutely engaging and technically well-written. However, towards the end the resolution of key situations rely too much on Elizabeth’s super powers. If you could remove that Deus Ex Machina, the book is very solid. It’s a shame such a worthwhile novel ends that way; in some ways that negative overshadows many of the other positive aspects.

Still a great read! Highly recommended for “V” fans, as long as they can accept Elizabeth’s undefinable super powers.

[Lise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just started reading it and getting reacquainted with the V original series characters like Ham Tyler, Julie Parrish and Willie, the friendly Visitor who was my favorite character and which helped me discover Robert Englund.

At the point where I am now the Visitors had left the planet after a toxin had been created to make our atmosphere unlivable for them but something went wrong and now they're back.

Diana has done it again! Converted Marjorie Donovan and using her to try and trap the resistance with the intention of capturing Mike Donovan and eliminating him. He seems about to fall into the trap as old feelings for Marjorie, his estranged wife are awakened. Even Ham Tyler seems to believe her story about being part of the Denver resistance group but good old Ham still retains some of his old lack of trust which might save them all finally.

Julie Parrish might well be pregnant. At this point, she sure sounds like she is.

Will Diana succeed in killing all the seaweed in the sea with her latest project or will she be foiled in her plans again?

I remember that Lydia though not an ally of the humans certainly hated Diane enough to work against her.

Well Julie had a miscarriage and Marjorie Donovan died. When I finished the book Willie was getting closer to a Visitor by the name of Claire who works for the resistance with the humans.

[Gerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually like that book a lot, I think the authors did a great in recreating the typical feel of the show with all its little quirks and inconsistencies.

What I would have liked to see would have been more romance and less sex talk, at least in the first half of the novel it seems at times like everybody in the book is horny and you could actually have made a drinking game based on how often female breasts are mentioned, that and the massive amount of typos/missed words in the German translation keep me from giving it more stars, but still I could easily recommend it to fans of the show.

[Tamera · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an awesome tie-in to the weekly series with familiar favorites like Donovan, Julie, Ham, Kyle, Elizabeth, Diana, Maggie and Chris. This book fills in some of the blanks of the TV series and adds wonderful character development as well. This is my favorite among the original 16 tie-in books, but maybe that's just because I'm such a big fan of Donovan and Julie.

[Maria Carmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible epic of the human race - yet with the possibility of solidarity among species if they respect each other's right to live... Wonderful sequence with all the exuberant characters that walk right into the reader's heart...

Maria Carmo,

Lisbon 17 April 2018.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good one with the main cast. There's new romance for some, a good scheme from Diana and wrap up of a dangling plotline. Add in nice characterization and it's one of the strongest yet.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good book in the series, and involves characters from the original story.

[Troy Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great action packed episode involving all the regular characters of the L. A. Resistance and Our favorite Lizard leader Diana.