Stargate Novels

[hedwig]

Thus far, in my ongoing quest to read all the SG1 ebooks, I've read

Trial by Fire
Survival of the Fittest (takes place late S5)
Valhalla (takes place late S7)
Relativity (takes place late S7)
Hydra
Sunrise (takes place shortly after Beneath the Surface)
Transitions (takes place early S9 of SG1)
Roswell (takes place late S10)

For the most part, I highly recommend all of them (I wasn't impressed with "Valhalla"). There may be some inconsistencies in where they take place throughout the series, and in one book, Colonel Dixon is referred to as "Major" Dixon, and there are quite a few typos and other sorts of errors, but I didn't find them too much of a distraction.

I'm reading "Relativity" at the moment, and just had an "aha" moment, that I'll be interested in finding out when I get to the end if I'm right. It started out a bit slow (IMO), but then picked up speed as I got into it There seem to be a variety of people/races/whatever more or less pitted against each other (if that's the right way to describe it).

There's a group of space travelers called "The Pack" which has a population of over 6 million (or it may have been 60 million; I don't recall at the moment), who are willing to negotiate with earth for trading stuff. Unfortunately, Senator (now Vice President Kinsey) has gotten himself appointed to lead the delegation, and all sorts of ridiculous stunts are pulled by him in order to make himself look wonderful and benevolent, all the while ridiculing and diminishing and downgrading the SGC, but most especially SG1.

The appear to be a couple of other races that I haven't found out enough about yet to even know what they're up to, but at least one of them appears to be up to no good.

There's an appearance by one member of a race encountered in S2, but he's working with an infiltrator who claims to be on the side of earth, but we'll see.

[hedwig]

So, I must ask.

Is it wrong of me to be cheering the catastrophic destruction of a race of aliens bent on revenge on the SGC, and thus on the entire population of earth. Or, at least cheering the destruction of one of their ships that is coldly and methodically picking off a conglomeration of ships with tens of thousands of people living on them. All for the sake of revenge of one individual.

[hlndncr]

I finished Allegiance last night. For the most part I'm enjoying the Legacy Series. But I was always less interested in Atlantis so I'm less familiar with the cannon and characters and don't really care much what liberties the author takes as long as it's a decent story.

If I had any complaints it would be:

1. The authors do seem to be trying to draw the story out much more than necessary. (I understand this is supposed to be six books. They could have easily done it in three or four at most.) So there are several unnecessary (and IMO uninteresting) original characters doing a lot of things that really don't advance the plot. Some of the scenes even with established characters can be a tedious and plodding, but at least I actually care about those characters and what they are thinking and feeling.

2. I have a huge problem with the way the authors have handled one particular relationships in the book. (I'll put this rant in spoilers so I don't give anything away and with a warning that this is a bitter S/J shipper talking.)

Spoiler:

Apperantly John and Teyla are now essentially sharing quarters. For a ship that was decidedly nonexistent at the end of the series MGM has allowed an awful lot of movement from the existing cannon. I'm not a J/T shipper (or a shipper of any Atlantis pairing) so I don't really care either way per se. What burns my hide is that while the Sam/Jack ship has not been done any harm by these books it's also essentially ignored by these and every other Fandemonium author. And so I ask why do the PTB insist on maintaining the ambiguous status quo of the S/J ship that has existed in cannon for years while allowing a J/T ship to be created almost out of whole cloth, which even required dumping Teyla's cannon significant other (ie Kaanan)?!

I wish one of the SG1 authors would just be more bold with S/J. I think now that the franchise is on hiatus as it were, MGM might be willing to bend.

[SamJackShipper93]

I finished Allegiance last night. For the most part I'm enjoying the Legacy Series. But I was always less interested in Atlantis so I'm less familiar with the cannon and characters and don't really care much what liberties the author takes as long as it's a decent story.

If I had any complaints it would be:

1. The authors do seem to be trying to draw the story out much more than necessary. (I understand this is supposed to be six books. They could have easily done it in three or four at most.) So there are several unnecessary (and IMO uninteresting) original characters doing a lot of things that really don't advance the plot. Some of the scenes even with established characters can be a tedious and plodding, but at least I actually care about those characters and what they are thinking and feeling.

2. I have a huge problem with the way the authors have handled one particular relationships in the book. (I'll put this rant in spoilers so I don't give anything away and with a warning that this is a bitter S/J shipper talking.)

Spoiler:

Apperantly John and Teyla are now essentially sharing quarters. For a ship that was decidedly nonexistent at the end of the series MGM has allowed an awful lot of movement from the existing cannon. I'm not a J/T shipper (or a shipper of any Atlantis pairing) so I don't really care either way per se. What burns my hide is that while the Sam/Jack ship has not been done any harm by these books it's also essentially ignored by these and every other Fandemonium author. And so I ask why do the PTB insist on maintaining the ambiguous status quo of the S/J ship that has existed in cannon for years while allowing a J/T ship to be created almost out of whole cloth, which even required dumping Teyla's cannon significant other (ie Kaanan)?!

I wish one of the SG1 authors would just be more bold with S/J. I think now that the franchise is on hiatus as it were, MGM might be willing to bend.

Agreed and amen to both points.

[kusanagi]

I'm just about to buy my first book, but I'm not too sure which one is the best to start with. Don't want to jump in something that would be a middle of some bigger plot. I would appreciate any suggestions

[hedwig]

I'm just about to buy my first book, but I'm not too sure which one is the best to start with. Don't want to jump in something that would be a middle of some bigger plot. I would appreciate any suggestions

Are you getting a paperback or an ebook? If it's an ebook, you can get a sample chapter (or a few pages) of each book on Barnes & Noble for the Nook. I'm not sure if amazon.com does the same thing for Kindle.

Otherwise, for SG1, Roswell, City of the Gods or Survival of the Fittest are all quite good (IMO). Most of the others were good, too. But those seem to be the ones I liked best. "Transitions" is also very good.

If you're looking for SGA books, "Exogenesis", "Homecoming" (first in the Legacy series), and "Nightfall" were good.

Except for the "Homecoming" series, all the others are stand-alone stories. They usually occur right after an episode throughout the series, but they don't have to be read in any particular order.

[planet_tv]

I do think SG1 novel number 5 is a sequel to SG1 novel number 3 just in case you like to read a sequel right after the book it's a sequel to. I haven't read them yet as I'm still on SGA novel number 1 but seeing as they're written but someone, Sally Malcolm, who started off writing fan fiction then they should be good because her SG1 fan fiction was good.

[hedwig]

I do think SG1 novel number 5 is a sequel to SG1 novel number 3 just in case you like to read a sequel right after the book it's a sequel to. I haven't read them yet as I'm still on SGA novel number 1 but seeing as they're written but someone, Sally Malcolm, who started off writing fan fiction then they should be good because her SG1 fan fiction was good.

You're probably thinking of A Matter of Honor, and The Cost of Honor. A two part story in two books. It takes place in S7, and is about SG1 rescuing Henry Boyd's team from the black hole planet in S2, A Matter of Time. Both are quite good.

[Artie]

You're probably thinking of A Matter of Honor, and The Cost of Honor. A two part story in two books. It takes place in S7, and is about SG1 rescuing Henry Boyd's team from the black hole planet in S2, A Matter of Time. Both are quite good.

Ditto. I think those may be the two I've enjoyed most. She writes the best Jack!

[SamJackShipper93]

Ditto. I think those may be the two I've enjoyed most. She writes the best Jack!

Yep! Definitely my favorites of the books and I also feel like she's got the best grasp of the characters.

[kusanagi]

thanks for all the recs guys. I'll go for paperback, btw. I'm a little bit old fasioned like that Have some holiday planned for feb so it's a perfect time to get some books

[hedwig]

I finished reading "The Power Behind the Throne" yesterday. I had started reading it awhile back, and just couldn't get interested in it. For whatever reason, I forced myself to read it and have to say I should have listened to my intuition or whatever it was telling me not to bother.

If you are looking for a story about SG1, this is not a book you want to read.

It starts out with SG1 being sent on a mission to recover a creature of some kind that has the ability to get in a person's mind and make them believe absolutely anything. It is called the Mujina.

This creature was apparently imprisoned by the ancients (IIRC) to live a life of basically solitary confinement so it couldn't work it's powers on any one. The Tok'ra want it (it's unclear whether to kill it or use it), and wants SG1 to do their dirty work in recovering it.

They go, they find the creature, they are attempting to get it back to the gate, which attempt fails, they wind up getting captured by a group of dissidents, and even though SG1 helps them save a bunch of their people from an earth/icequake, they are taken prisoner when the Mujina is freed and starts to work it's powers on these people, and convinces them to not trust SG1.

The planet is run by a dictator who is bent on killing anyone who isn't genetically pure, and there's a fair amount of really nauseating torture and other stuff of the slaves and lesser people. There's also a goa'uld that has been set free on this planet who is bent on taking over for his own purposes.

This story is more about the people and what happens to them than anything to do with SG1. I'm of the opinion the author doesn't really know Stargate or its characters all that well, since none of them are portrayed as much more than caricatures of their real selves. They only get about 1/4 of the story (or less), though Teal'c winds up with a fairly decent bit of the story.

As I said, the story opens with SG1 going on the mission, but once captured are more or less consigned by a dusty little corner to wait till an appropriate moment for the author to drag them out for a moment to serve his purposes, and then sent home.

I didn't find myself having any sympathy for any of the inhabitants of the planet, with the exception of a few that Teal'c met once he escaped.

Throughout the story, the author jumps from one character to another so that we get to know what they're thinking and feeling, but strangely doesn't do that for SG1 (again, which the exception of Teal'c).

Apparently, this story is the first of a trio of books by this author titled "The Iblis Trilogy", though I can't see how this one is going to lead into another one. It doesn't matter, since I won't be reading them.

[Artie]

I finished reading "The Power Behind the Throne" yesterday. I had started reading it awhile back, and just couldn't get interested in it. For whatever reason, I forced myself to read it and have to say I should have listened to my intuition or whatever it was telling me not to bother.

If you are looking for a story about SG1, this is not a book you want to read.

It starts out with SG1 being sent on a mission to recover a creature of some kind that has the ability to get in a person's mind and make them believe absolutely anything. It is called the Mujina.

This creature was apparently imprisoned by the ancients (IIRC) to live a life of basically solitary confinement so it couldn't work it's powers on any one. The Tok'ra want it (it's unclear whether to kill it or use it), and wants SG1 to do their dirty work in recovering it.

They go, they find the creature, they are attempting to get it back to the gate, which attempt fails, they wind up getting captured by a group of dissidents, and even though SG1 helps them save a bunch of their people from an earth/icequake, they are taken prisoner when the Mujina is freed and starts to work it's powers on these people, and convinces them to not trust SG1.

The planet is run by a dictator who is bent on killing anyone who isn't genetically pure, and there's a fair amount of really nauseating torture and other stuff of the slaves and lesser people. There's also a goa'uld that has been set free on this planet who is bent on taking over for his own purposes.

This story is more about the people and what happens to them than anything to do with SG1. I'm of the opinion the author doesn't really know Stargate or its characters all that well, since none of them are portrayed as much more than caricatures of their real selves. They only get about 1/4 of the story (or less), though Teal'c winds up with a fairly decent bit of the story.

As I said, the story opens with SG1 going on the mission, but once captured are more or less consigned by a dusty little corner to wait till an appropriate moment for the author to drag them out for a moment to serve his purposes, and then sent home.

I didn't find myself having any sympathy for any of the inhabitants of the planet, with the exception of a few that Teal'c met once he escaped.

Throughout the story, the author jumps from one character to another so that we get to know what they're thinking and feeling, but strangely doesn't do that for SG1 (again, which the exception of Teal'c).

Apparently, this story is the first of a trio of books by this author titled "The Iblis Trilogy", though I can't see how this one is going to lead into another one. It doesn't matter, since I won't be reading them.

There originally was a trilogy. It was cancelled when Fandemonium didn't buy the second two books. Their places in the lineup are taken by Diana Dru Botsford's The Drift and Melissa Scott's Ourobouros.

[fems]

There originally was a trilogy. It was cancelled when Fandemonium didn't buy the second two books. Their places in the lineup are taken by Diana Dru Botsford's The Drift and Melissa Scott's Ourobouros.

After reading hedwig's review, I wonder why...

[Artie]

After reading hedwig's review, I wonder why...

Yeah. Seriously!

I enjoyed Diana Dru Botsford's SG-1 novel Four Dragons, and Melissa's done the Atlantis books Homecoming and Allegiance.