Alien Nation: Day of Descent is a fan-fiction writer's dream, not because there are Mary Sues or interspecies sex (in fact, it's blissfully short on both), but because the authors do an incredible job of capturing the characters.I should say that I'm a big fan of the show and recently rewatched the entire series. It was better than I remembered, so much more than a cop drama with racial allegories. The development of the Tenctonese species is more than enough to satisfy any armchair xenologist. While on the surface, these aliens seemed very close to (bald) humans, in building their culture show-runner Kenneth Johnson shined. His attention to biological and anthropological detail, paired with extraordinary characterization (though early episodes paint George comedically, you learn over the course of just one season what an incredibly complex, nauanced character he is, particularly in his interactions with his son), made it exemplary sci-fi. Though a little dated, I'd still recommend the core series to any science fiction or television fan.And apparently, I can recommend the first follow-up novel with the same confidence. Set largely well before the movie, television series, and follow up TV films, Day of Descent is a prequel story, largely set five years before the events of the first film. Human Matt's tale is developed in parallel to George Francisco's and describes his very first case as a detective. Meanwhile, we're given ample and compelling backstory on the Newcomers lives in space and their eventual shipwreck on Earth. I always felt that this was a promising area left painfully unexplored during the series, and (true to my expectations), the alien plot is the stronger of the two. It describes the slow-building, and absolutely riveting rebellion of the Tenctonese against the Overseers, members of their own race who torture and enslave their cohorts. There are nice cultural and historic details about the Tenctonese sprinkled throughout--the novel does a good job of providing context for the aliens, and this context enriches the source material, rather than detracting or distracting from it.What's more, even removed from their more familiar Terran situations, the Francisco family is perfectly recognizable. In fact all of the characters were. I had the uncanny feeling that I was actually watching an episode of the series as I was reading this book, something I've never before felt while reading a licensed novel. The Reese-Stevenses obviously approached the composition of this story with a great deal of affection and care. The only drawbacks here were some very minor issues with Matt Sikes' characterizations--he's a bit overly romantic in his internal narration at times, which (in just one scene) felt off. Also, the police drama dragged a little compared to the shipboard tale. However, their excruciating attention to the other detail of the series--the writers even resolve the most glaring continuity error of the franchise in a single line--easily redeem those minor issues. I'd definitely recommend this book for any fans of the series, perhaps even before I'd recommend any of the TV movies that followed several years later.In short, this is a terrific science fiction tome. Reading it was instructive--this is what licensed work should be. ( )