Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict--The Arrival

I enjoyed "EFC: The Arrival." I expected the story line of the book to be somewhat different than the television series and was proven correct. There are technical errors throughout the book, many details that do not match from the television series. The mistakes will provide good trivia, faqs, topics, and related material questions that will be talked about in internet news groups and chat rooms. I have also read "EFC: The First Protector" by James White, very enjoyable.

I recently bought this book, and being the avid fan of Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict that I am, I couldn't put it down! I read it cover to cover TWICE before I was satisfied that I had read it in a proper manner :o) . The author was excellent at portraying the characters-both human AND Taelon-and showing their true nature. I recommend this book to ANYBODY who enjoys the series, or any other Gene Roddenberry works. If you are a Roddenberry fan, you need to read this text extension of the Earth: Final Conflict universe!

'The Arrival' is an ultra-cool book, it is not nearly as 'fannish' as one would expect. There are some plot problems, but not major ones, for example, the show suggests the first Taelon landings were during the day, not at night. Also, the cover is slightly misleading-it shows the EFC character 'Lili Marquette', but she is not even mentioned in this book. Most of 'The Arrival is written in a flash back to 1936, a time when Doors' father is 'abducted' by the Taelon 'Lekron.' Dispite the fact that most books based on tv shows are quick reads, this book is well written. I reccomend this book to EFC fans-you know who you are-and others, though if you are not an Earth Final Conflict fan, I suggest you watch the show for a better understanding of the characters.

I am a big fan of the television series, Gene Roddenburry's Earth: Final Conflict, and personally I would have found myself reading this book one way or another. I was happily surprised, though, by both the ability of the author to accurately portray the Taelons, and by the actual basis of the story. At first review, I believed the novel would span a much longer period of time after the arrival of the alien Companions. As I found out, half of the book is actually spent in a flashback that yields incredible information about both the Taelons and another mysterious type of being that I had not known about previously through the TV program. This past-tense adventure, told through the eyes of Jonathan Doors' father, is an insightful tale in itself, bordering on fantasy slightly more than science fiction. Then, following Jubal Doors' confessional, occurrences in the present begin to uncannily equate to those from the past. Pure action encompasses the better part of the conclusion of the novel, and thus the reader knows what Jonathan Doors truly stands for. As was Gene Roddenburry's ongoing intension, the mystery of alien abilities never ceases throughout the tale. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested, whether or not the reader has knowledge of the show on TV. Of course, I believe that having watched the show since its premiere made this first tale of The Arrival even more comprehensible, and certainly much more intriguing.