Path to Conquest

V #12

by Howard Weinstein

Diana enacts a two-pronged plot to alter world weather patterns to bring an early, crushing winter and to then contaminate world petroleum supplies and make the needed heating oil unusable.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

210 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 15, 1987

Reviews

[Troy Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An action packed chapter of the "V" saga. Juliette Parrish and Elizabeth Maxwell "starchild" even make an appearance in this exciting tale of Diana versus the New York resistance and the world.

[Jansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any time you have a set of books based on a hit television series or movie, the results are bound to be hit or miss. With this series, the results are usually miss with some occasional hits here and there.

"Path to Conquest" by Howard Weinstein is based on the hit '80s sci-fi series "V" and attempts to create an original episode of the show in book form. In this installment, Diana and the visitors have returned to Earth after being beaten back by the humans. Many of the Earth's colder climates enjoy the benefits of the red dust, which is toxic to the visitors. Diana hatches a plan to ignore the normal rules of engagement (Diana plays by her own rules) by altering the Earth's weather patterns until the northern hemisphere is freezing. She then plans to block all oil from getting to those areas and thus heating the freezing humans.

Because the human spirit is strong, a band of resistance fighters, led by the fictional U.S. President Morrow, now based in New York, sets out to stop Diana and her jealous second-in-command, Lydia, from bringing their plot to fruition. Julie Parrish and the star child, Elizabeth, make an enjoyable but brief cameo appearance to help the characters with their resistance efforts.

There is a lot of rah-rah-rah for the U.S.A. in this series, making the reader wonder if the rest of the world isn't also suffering an invasion. The men are usually white southern cowboy types, while the women are strong characters but not above wilting into muscly arms if necessary. The series is definitely a product of the '80s and it's clear that it was written for men with all the sports references, military references, patriotism, and a cast of Marlboro men.

The depictions of Diana and Lydia in the series are spot on. Their dialogue is believable in that it is something you can picture them saying on the show. I particularly enjoyed getting some additional background info on characters like Diana. For example, she came from a military family on her home world with her father being a high-ranking official and her mother being a ruthless scientist given to assassinating her spouse's enemies. Little gems like that made for interesting reading, however, most of the story is spent dealing with the interactions of the humans. I wanted to know more about the aliens and what was going on in the Mother Ship and found myself getting bored with the mundane lives of the resistance members.

If you're a diehard fan of the '80s version of V, you probably won't have trouble sailing through this book and enjoying it. Casual fans or those not really into sci-fi might want to give this series a pass. Several years ago, I bought most of the books in the series on Amazon. Sadly, I'm finding that they're not as good as I hoped they'd be.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will I finish off the series by the end of the year? It'll be a close call. This was a good one with the New York cast, fighting to save our oil.