Customer Reviews

Stargate Atlantis: The Chosen (Stargate Atlantis)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Editorial Review on this Amazon page is like describing Lord of the Rings as a bunch of elves and humans fighting some orcs while a couple of Hobbits try and destroy an evil ring that powers the bad guys. The Chosen is mind blowingly more dramatic than the review! Sure, the team go through the gate to another world, but everything takes a complete left turn and bang! One minute you think your going in one direction and the next you're thrown 180 degrees and the world is falling apart. Worse, it all goes badly, amazingly, profoundingly wrong just as the Wraith hive ships attack. And this is a huge ground attack by tens of thousands of Wraith who can't use Darts because of the technology on the planet. The way Rodney figures out how to defend against them is sheer genius but it involves putting him in a real ugly situation, which is half the fun! I think McKay is the only person you can be laughing at the guy one second and crying with him the next. Anyway, the reason for this Wraith attack puts a whole new twist on the situation in the hive ships. Also love Sheppard's strategy with the `weapon'.

For me the biggest thing I wanted was for the characters to be exactly as we see them on the screen. That's especially true of McKay. He's my favorite and I didn't think anyone could get `him' in a book. I'm happy to report that I was way wrong. Even better, it's McKay at his best...or worst...well it's McKay! And then he falls flat on his face in a twist to the story I just did not see coming.

This was slightly more a McKay/Sheppard heavy novel. Those two together are hilarious but Teyla's insight was a real eye opener, too, which fitted perfectly, and Ford wasn't just standing around pointing a gun. Like the scenes with Carson Beckett, we get insights into their issues about dealing with the problems on Atlantis. I had some of my own issues about the decisions Weir made in Season One given her `diplomatic background'. The Chosen let's us see why she did some of the stuff that she has even when she doesn't want to.

Not only an excellent take on the TV series, it's a excellent SF story in its own right. The Chosen pulls you in and the best you can do is grab the edges of the page and hang on tight because it's not going to let you go until the end. I'm going to re-read it because like McKay, I want to see why I was blindsided by what I thought was right and wrong. Like all great sci fi, it isn't afraid of dealing with social and political issues that force you to realise that that the moral high ground is a damned murky place.

When is the next book by these authors? Please, hurry up!

The plot dragged out for far too long, loosing my interest with well over one hundred pages left to go, and wasn't even original. The season two episode The Tower, which had aired in December of 2005, months before this book came out, dealt with the same topic of "genetic superiority" determining the ruling class. Also, the characterizations didn't ring true at all. Dr. McKay was made out to be stupid, and Teyla was written as judgmental and cruel. If you like Stargate Atlantis, stay away from this mockery of a book.

I own all of both SG1 and Atlantis novels and am an avid Sci Fi reader. I have found that anything with Sonny Whitelaw will be tons of extranious description and very poor character and plot development. If you want to read some great Stargate books try the ones by James Swallow or Salley Malcom.

Still an enjoyable read for Stargate Atlantis diehards but characterizations didn't ring true, especially Dr McKay's portrayal. In the tv series, he is eccentric and sometimes clueless, but not repeatedly stupid as was portrayed. The personalities seemed to be contrived so that the plot would work, rather than to be true to their development on the tv series and made the characters seem lacking in depth and intelligence.
Interesting plot and plot development; just would be nice to have more accurate character portrayal.

I've got a lot of the stargate books and I think all of the books have been getting better, but this is hands down the best by far. From what I've seen, books based on television shows generally seem to steer clear a bit about what's motivating characters because they rely on fans to insert their own ideas about what the characters might be thinking. Although some of the other SG-1 titles also did this, `getting inside the heads' thing, the Chosen is much more like a real book rather than a good television book. With every scene we're right inside the characters. We feel what Rodney feels, about things like his father and the way he was treated, and how that affects him now and what he does. With Teyla we feel how she has had to change the way she thought as an Athosian who just put up with the Wraith attacking them, and as someone who is now prepared to stand and fight against them. With Weir, we `get' her doubts about herself and some of her decisions, and why. And I really liked the start, with Sheppard and `coin'. It seemed just right for him and really put you in the same position as he was, and the decision he had to make.

The setting for the story is a stage much, much bigger than what we would ever see on screen. I think this is another thing, like getting inside the characters, that the writers have really used very, very well to the benefit of this story. Instead of just, say, a village or a city that we would see on the show, they have created a whole civilization spread across the countryside, so you get a really strong 'epic' feel to the story. There's also a map if you're not sure where things are happening during the actual battle with the Wraith.

You also get that epic feel from the depth and complexity of the story itself. I think if they ever tried to film this, it would have to be around three hours long, possibly three to four episodes, but I don't think they'd have the budget. Still, I'd really love to see Peter Jackson direct it!

This book is a bit too dark for any Stargate story. I love Stargate Atlantis, but some of this story is more like a horror movie. Not only that, but it makes Rodney look stupid and ridiculously short with everyone. In the series, Rodney has an attitude that is right at the boarder of being too annoying (which I think gives him a great charisma), but in this story the author makes it look like he's on the boarder of exploding in literally every conversation.

This is a great book about Stargate Atlantis that has a great "keep you on the edge of your seat" story.

This SGA tie-in novel is set after The Storm and leads nicely into The Defiant One. It reminded me a lot of Trinity - Rodney's arrogance reared its ugly head once more but this time, it didn't lead "just" to the destruction of an uninhabited solar system, it caused the downfall of a whole civilization. The thing is, I could see both sides of the argument, Rodney and Teyla's - they were both right and wrong, both operating on limited information. Rodney's behavior fit well his season 1 self when all his concerns were more about him than about others, when he was still learning how to care. And a healthy dose of hurt Sheppard didn't hurt either, of course.

I thought this book was great. I didn't want to put it down. Who ever said they lost interest while reading this book must get bored easily.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a really good story and is well written. It deals with people who have the ancient gene and have elevated status because of it. I personally like reading more stories about the Atlantis team and seeing things that aren't shown on the screen. You see Major Sheppard become more of a military leader who has to control and army and save this world. It is a good read.