Customer Reviews

Stargate SG-1: The Power Behind the Throne: SG1-15

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

THIS REVIEW HAS SPOILERS! Read at your own risk, but I'll offer the same warning to anyone who is actually considering buying this book.

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There are so many problems with this book, I don't even know where to start. The good parts feel rushed and forced-in. The part I felt like I could actually like felt like the outline for a much longer story with the SG-1 team forced into it. Even that I could have forgiven, but the basic errors I can't overlook.

* A voice cannot drip with malfeasance. It's just not possible. The word I believe the author and editor was looking for is "malevolence."
* Incoming wormholes do not require Walter to engage chevrons.
* A man's hand does not look anything like a woman's hand. Another character confirms this after a chapter of pointless worrying about who the hand belongs to. There should have been no doubt whatsoever just from looking at it.
* Harry MAYBOURNE. Not Mayberry. Mayberry is where Opie lives with Aunt Bee. Maybourne is the person you wouldn't want to see with the creature.
* SG-1 goes to a prison planet without considering the Gate may be booby trapped.
* Sam and Jack both act like it's impossible for a wormhole to jump from one Gate to another (this despite the fact Sam has done it on purpose at this point). And an addition.
* If you're going to pretend Solitudes didn't happen, don't reference it 11 pages later.
* The point of origin is unique to each Stargate and DHD. A DHD has 38 symbols and a point of origin. The only thing necessary to discover an unknown planet's point of origin is to look at the device and find the symbol that looks unusual.
* Why is the team so concerned with keeping the creature away from Apophis specifically when Teal'c later (page 176) declare Apophis is dead? It's not a lie. Teal'c wouldn't lie about a victory he had yet to achieve; he's too honorable for that. And yes, Apophis had a bad habit of coming back to life. But worrying about what Apophis would do with the creature isn't a worst-case scenario, it's an impossible-case scenario. No one on the team would entertain it. There are plenty of other bad Goa'ulds out there who could have been name dropped.

My biggest problem is with the ending, but I won't go into that here. I've spoiled enough. Suffice to say it was one of the most wholly unsatisfying endings I have ever read. If the author was setting up a sequel, good luck. That's the one Stargate novel I will never even consider buying.

One last point: SG-1 (or any team) who has been presumed dead for over a month would have their IDCs locked out. Given the way the novel ends, I can only assume the entire team died against the iris. And given the way the novel made me feel about the team, I really didn't have a problem with that.

This is absolutely the worst SG1 novel I have ever read (and I've read them all). I wish I had not spent the money. I agree with everything Cannon said. He clearly slogged through this horrible piece of tripe, which is more than I can say. I forced myself to skim the last half just because I hate not finishing what I've started.

The Fandemonium novels are hit or miss as far as I'm concerned, but there are several good ones. I was not a fan of this story and the writing was atrocious. (Was he paid an extra nickel for every time he used his thesaurus?) But the biggest and in my opinion absolutely unforgiveable offense is that he clearly had no idea about the characters or the universe of Stargate. Sam was barely there. Daniel was a whiney baby, completely useless, apparently he just can't keep up with Sam's intellect. Teal'c was verbose. Jack was indescribably annoying. And the presence of the team seemed to be a minor inconvenience to the story the author really wanted to tell, which had nothing to do with Stargate.

The point of this publishing company was that it was started by fans, for fans and the books were originally written by SG fanfic authors. Sally Malcolm, owner and chief executive of Fandemonium explained in an interview that they have moved away from that model is because she believed there weren't publishing enough male authors. Because a majority of authors in SG fandom are women, they went searching elsewhere. (And I'm going to take a Sam Carter moment to say that just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside doesn't mean I can't write fiction just as well as any man--and definitely better than Savile. If they started out with all male authors I doubt gender would have ever come up.)

I can understand MGM approving this book because their people don't need to know the franchise that well, and let's face it, they need the money. But Malcolm, who most definitely knows better, should never have allowed it to even get that far.

Am not doing a separate review of the book itself. Read Cannon's and my comment on his/her review. But I did want to score it since the 5 star review is so glowing and thinks that Cannon didn't read the book. I can tell he did read it, as have I. Our ratings are accurate for the reasonable reader.

I've certainly read worse SG-1 novels (am doing so right now as a matter of fact), but paying readers deserve a fair assessment before they spend money. Readers - beware of Fandemonium and non-fan authors who many only be doing it for the money.

Do not waste money on this novel. If you're desperate to read every single Stargate novel out there, then you might want to borrow it for free somewhere down the line for completion - if you can put up with all the diegesis failures and cringing plot-holes. The author makes so many mistakes concerning the franchise canon, naming errors, logic errors and poor word choices it's clear he doesn't know enough about the series to write for it, and is a poor writer in general.

This is yet another Stargate wannabe story that dosen't make it anywhere close. First off are the HUGE and numerous errors that grate agonisingly for every Stargate fan that finds them.
Secondly, this 'sci fi' story is hugely based on the Nazis and holocaust history of WW2 - right down to the trains jammed full of poor people on their way to death camps. WHY WHY WHY would a sci fi story look to recent history on earth for inspiration - and the grimmest bleakest history of all??
Thirdly, our Fav SG-1 team seems to be going through the motions for 99% of the book without so much as a good line, original thought, or even an 'in character' moment. The only thing recognisable about the main characters are their names.

This entire book was painful to read. A complete dissapointment. Fandemonium seem to be hiring established writers who are only in it for the money. The result is some truely patheticly witten books that are poorly edited and not worth the time or the money. My advice is to aim ONLY for the few books written by the true fans of the series until Fandemonium figures out their huge mistake in going with writers who don't understand Stargate.

This is the most terrible book I have read in the series. The author calls Air Force personnel soldiers,which they are not.They are "airmen". Since when does a General let a bird Colonel speak for him, when he is standing right there. Hammond gave O'Neill a lot of leaway in the tv series, but this author has him talking like O'neill is in charge and that General Hammond is a flunky.I would not have purchased this book if I had read the reviews first. Very terrible writing. I bet the author didn't even bother watching any of the shows before writing this book.He should stick to writing gaming books.

This was hands down the worst Stargate SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis book that I have read, including the ones before the current publisher. It was way too dark for anything that would be part of the group for one. The ending is horrible as it leaves you hanging. There is not as much on the main characters as other books either. I just would not recommend this book to anyone to read. I normally look to re-read books but this is one that I will probably just read the one time and may even sell to a used book store.

There are so many problems with this book that I don't even know where to start.

A naquedah iris? Thinking that the wormhole can't jump to another gate? Sam & Jack can't tell a man's hand from a woman's hand? Needing to have the iris closed when there is no wormhole connected?

I'm only 1/3rd of the way through the book and the author is so clueless I'm not sure if I'll finish, and I have never not finished a book I've started.

Okay, so this was one of the worst books I have ever read!!! Needless to say, once I was finished with it (I have this thing where I have to finish something I start reading, no matter how much it pains me), I threw it into the trash. Probably the best thing about this book was its property of aerodynamics; it flew quite nicely into the bin I aimed it at.

All kidding aside, I picked up on all the previously mentioned errors my other reviewers picked up on. Besides glaring plot errors and places where SG1 doesn't even seem to be necessary, the thing that bugged me most about this book was the treatment of the main characters. We won't even delve into the emotional stuff... I'm highlighting physical mistreatment here.

Spoilers!!!

For poor Daniel- getting impaled on a wooden spike in a train crash, in the middle of a disease ridden train car, filled with people on the way to the gas chambers because this author drew most of his inspiration from the Nazis... after being mistreated, drugged, and starved for a good three fourths of the book... yeah. With no medical help at all, how in the world did he survive?!!! And I assure you, if your injuries are that grievous, you are not whining when you complain about them.

Poor Sam fared much worse- Being blown up! Okay, after being burned over a good portion of your body, you are not going to live long. Not to mention the smoke inhalation problems that come from being in the middle of an inferno. Remember, Sam and Daniel are humans here. Human lives are very frail.

Half of SG1 should have by rights all died, and that's what bugged me the most... it was as if the author cared so little about their work that they didn't even strive to hold to some standard of normalcy. Your characters have to be believable as people to be worth anything... and that includes making them realistically vulnerable. Not that we even saw much of SG1 in this book at all.

This author never watched the series. It was painfully obvious within the first 10 pages. I have enjoyed all the other books, but this one I just can't bear to read.