Customer Reviews

Stargate SG-1: City of the Gods: SG1-4

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

 

 

Man, this was fantastic! Fans of the show absolutely must read this book. It's set near the end of Season 5, and follows up one of my all time favorite Season 3 episodes, Crystal Skull. I'd always wanted to know more about the skull and what happened between Daniel's grandfather Nick Ballard, and Quetzelcoatl but I never expected to have this huge story that includes an entire Aztec civilization. It was amazing! I mean, the author must know a lot about the Aztecs because the really incredible thing was that he tied it altogether exactly with the Goa'uld, the Mayan City of the Gods in Mexico, Teotihuacan, crystal skulls and Daniel's theory about aliens building the Egyptian pyramids. In between all that we had page turning drama and action, lots of angst between the team members, and a humongous volcanic eruption that makes the Last Day of Pompeii look teeny.

I especially loved the characterizations. The author nailed Jack O'Neill, and Daniel, and the banter between them was exactly like the show. Sam Carter wasn't just standing around mouthing off scientific stuff, either. Instead we really got some insights into how she thought and felt. I liked the scene between her and Janet Fraiser. Really, a very mature and logical approach to the whole shipper versus non-shipper argument. At the same time, the science that Sam explained made complete sense. And Tea'lc, wow, look for a really insightful conversation between him and Daniel Jackson!

I thought the `Daniel Jackson's diary' at the end of the book was a really neat touch. I've read a lot of behind the scenes books, but this explained the origins and interesting stuff about crystal skulls, Mayans and Aztecs. It was like an archeological paper written for real, but as if the Stargate and Goa'uld were for real.

Seriously, if you only ever read one Stargate book, make it this one! It's real homage to the show.

This book has many good things about it, such as an interesting story, historical context, plenty of plot, and several references to previous novels and episodes of the show. A few things seemed a bit far-fetched, such as Daniel's rival archeologist friend going off the deep end by turning cannibal and pretending to be an Aztec god. But most of the story was believable, and the main characterizations were excellent.

The one thing that I found completely unacceptable is the fact that the author never follows through with her cliffhangers. The point of a cliffhanger is to end a scene with a dramatic situation in order to hook the reader so they continue reading. But if you don't follow through and deal with the problem presented in the cliffhanger, it cheats the reader out of that resolution.

Several times the author ends a chapter with a series of climactic events; for example, while Daniel is visiting an ancient temple in Mexico it collapses, leaving him trapped inside and knocked unconscious by falling rocks. As a reader, I was eager to know what happened: how he survived, how he escaped, all of that. However, the author altogether skips the resolution of Daniel's dilemma--the next day, Daniel is suddenly back home, safe and sound! He mentions the cave-in as though it were unimportant, reminding us how he got knocked out, and gee, wasn't it lucky that Teal'c happened to be right behind him in the temple and was able to drag him out of the building before it collapsed on them both....

In "City of the Gods", the author constantly leaves cliffhangers without being properly resolved. She diminishes the import of every climactic scene, because she repeatedly skips the resolution and, instead, later gives a brief summary of what happened. Why should I bother getting worried about the characters when something bad happens if I already know that the author isn't going to show what happens? I don't want to hear second-hand that someone rescued the hero or that he managed to escape--I want to read what happens for myself.

As far as I am concerned, this is a pretty serious writing flaw: one that marks the author as an amateur. But, as I said, she has other good qualities as a writer and lots of potential. So if you're not a picky reader, go ahead and give this book a try! Hopefully, as Ms Whitelaw writes more she'll learn to follow through with her cliffhangers; when that happens I will be pleased to buy more of her books.

Adventure - check
Action - check
Drama - check
Characterisation - check
Humour - check
Fandemonium's fourth outing into the Stargate SG-1 universe is a compelling tale that pushes imagination beyond the boundaries of the show. Firmly and expertly rooted in Aztec mythology, City of the Gods takes the reader to places that would explode even the most extravagant TV budget and realises vistas and scenarios the show's producers could only dream of.

Monumental cities and temple precincts on a world in cataclysm - feel the tremors and sneeze at the brimstone - provide the backdrop for desperate, ferocious rites and a truly galactic showdown that features more hair's breadth escapes than you can shake a stick at. But for all its relentless action the book never loses sight of the characters. Daniel Jackson's learning, passion, and ingenuity are equally as well portrayed as Teal'c's quiet intelligence and occasional sense of displacement or the subliminal emotional minefields Jack O'Neill and Sam Carter find themselves navigating.

An additional bonus comes in the shape of seamless ties into previous episodes - including the very welcome, superbly tongue-in-cheek reappearance of Daniel's grandfather, Nick Ballard - and the references to Fandemonium's earlier novel, Sacrifice Moon.

In short, this is a true homage to the show's intelligence, imagination, and humour and a rollicking good read to boot.

I'm actually extremely pleased with this novel, and found myself immensely entertained. I suspect this is in good part because I am both prepared and capable of distinguishing history from science fiction.

As a student of meso-American culture, I can state that no culture remains fixed throughout time. The Aztec culture exists today in a totally different way than it existed in the tenth century. Once one then takes this culture into a purely fictional framework, off to another planet, and twisted it to suit the machinations of a Go'auld that itself was considered an atrocious creature even by Ra's standards, it is most certainly going to be gruesome and differ from the Aztecs of past that some textbooks portray in an idealized light. As to the chocolate, of course it was never produced as candy bars, but I chuckled at the way it cleverly connected Quetzalcoatl to O'Neill. The author has taken genuine research, married it to mythology and come up with an excellent and original plot.

I automatically suspend my disbelief when I read novels like these. They are a fun detour from the real world, and I see them purely for their entertainment value. Since the series itself takes us all on an excursion from reality every week, I would have personally been disappointed if this book had attempted to foster upon us something else. Equally, I am pleased that the author did not over-simply an intriguing story.

Whether one could possibly stand so close to volcanoes without being cooked - based on the extraordinary images on her website, it appears the author had no trouble with such encounters in real life!

As to characterizations, I was gratified to note that the author dealt with them in a mature and insightful manner. I enjoyed the way each team member was presented - more so in this novel than in others from this particular series.

I would liked to have seen a longer story, as I feel the end was somewhat short and that some scenes could have been fleshed out more, but again, this was in keeping with the series which is of course subject to the restrictions of time. No doubt the publisher must have an upper word limit for similar reasons as the show's producers have a time limit. I understand that MGM approves of each novel and therefore, feel quite comfortable in reading it as canon. Having said that, as with everything else about this novel, it has remained very faithful to the series. For all of those reasons, I'm giving it five stars and would highly recommend it. I'm looking forward to this author's treatment of the spinoff Atlantis series.

I just started reading the Stargate SG-1 series (I read 6 while I was on vacation last week -- including Sacrifice Moon, Alliances, Matter of Honor/Cost of Honor, Four Dragons, Trial by Fire and Survival of the Fittest -- make that 7). While I had a couple of minor issues with 2 of those stories, all in all, I couldn't STOP reading!

"City of the Gods" is the complete opposite. I'm only 20% into the story and have to FORCE myself to pick it up! [I hate leaving things unfinished.] This story feels like a college student did a term paper on the Aztecs and because they're a fan of the series decided to write a book! The writing is clunky, amateurish and heavy, full of cliches and stereotypes. It's confusing and jumps from moment to moment. I have to go back and re-read pages because I think I zoned out or something. Because the writing is so choppy, I can't follow the story and I get bored.

It includes references and VERBATIM passages from episodes of the show not to further the story, but just feels like the author is trying to prove they watched the series. It's just lazy filler.

I agree with the other reviewer who was confused by the cliffhangers. At the end of one chapter, Daniel is trapped in a collapsing pyramid. In the next, he's back at Stargate Command. Is the author trying to create a "cut-away" effect, or again, is it just lazy writing?

Besides the lack of professional/smooth writing, I find the characterizations are more often off than on. A few instances:

- O'Neill sneaks up on Carter and whispers in her ear. He wouldn't do that because of the unspoken distance they have to keep.
- Teal'c puts "a reassuring hand on Daniel's shoulder". Teal'c doesn't TOUCH other people unless he's fighting or helping because they're injured. He stands stoically and SAYS reassuring/wise things.
- Daniel starts lecturing about the pyramids and goes into it's structure and modern crazes of the '70s. Daniel talks about ANCIENT cultures and people, not recent history or sound waves. [This seems like the author passing on his homework assignment.]
- The whole situation with O'Neill/Carter and the children in the cave bugs me. O'Neill would have checked the cave out thoroughly before showing Carter, and he would have found the kids. And then LITERALLY fighting/wrestling knives away from the kids one second and having them sitting in their laps the next? Carter would have been deferring to O'Neill in this entire situation and "Father O'Neill" would have handled everything much different.
- The section where the older kid is telling the story about the Aztec Gods with O'Neill and Carter hearing it for the first time made me flash to "Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome". Only the story told was different.

And that's as far as I've gotten.

The only time I write reviews are when something really impresses me or totally disappoints. Between those two, I feel it's usually just a matter of personal preference. Unfortunately in this case, I don't understand how this book could have been published. This book needs MAJOR editing. MAYBE there's a story here - I haven't gotten very far, but it shouldn't have been published like this.

Terrible going...as slow as wading through molasses. To make matters worse, Daniel Jackson's Grandfather, Nick Ballard, vanishes partway through the novel with no explanation, and is never seen or spoken of again. I wish they had more professional writers handling this series.

I've read several of the Stargate novels, but this one seems a little off. Much of the relevant part of the story was rushed while the rest of it seemed like it would never end. It definately wasn't one of my favorites, but if you're an avid stargate fan like me you've still got to read it!

If you are a fan of the show then you will enjoy this book. Although I personally did not care for the Aztec story arc of the show, the book is enjoyable. Although I enjoyed Cost of Honor more this one is well written, true to form characters, and hey it keeps Stargate alive.

This book takes us to a moon called Xalotcan, an Aztec society like the ancient roots of the civilizations on Tollan and Orban, using the crystal skulls that Daniel Jackson's father, Nick, discovered. The skulls are actually part of a transportation network in the smae vein as the stargate network. The moon is self-destructing, and SG1 is determined to relocate the local population, but first they have to convince the natives to trust them. To do this, SG1 actually impersonates Aztec gods, which is a method I don't recall them using on any other mission...they are usually very clear about explaining that they are not gods, just humans like the locals. There is a lot of detailed description about the Aztec culture, which harkened me back to a vacation in Mexico where we toured many sacrificial temples. The story line is very cohesive, the dialog is practically perfect. The author makes references to the TV show, but also refers to the storyline of "Sacrifice Moon" (book 2 of this series) so if you haven't read that you may be lost for a few paragraphs. So if you can get past the gore this is a fun read.

Don't get me wrong I like Daniel...But reading chapter after chapter of Whitelaws having him prattle on was just TOO much. Knowledge of a subject is great, but doesn't make for an intersting novel. Way to much info. The story was disjointed and I didn't believe her character portrayals of SG-1. Boring! The two Honor books were 5 stars.