Customer Reviews

Stargate SG-1: A Matter of Honor: SG1-3

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"A Matter of Honor" by Sally Malcolm is a catchy story about SG-1's visit to P4X-481, a planet that has some interesting security technology and even more interesting gravitational machinery. Ordinarily that would be enough for two episodes worth of adventure, or equivalently one trade paperback from Fandemonium Books. Because the adventure has a well wrapped Baal tie-in, a Senator Kinsey hook, and all the pull of the planet-chomping black hole from the season 2 episode, "A Matter of Time" -- it rates a royal treatment -- a double book presentation. "A Matter of Honor" is the first part of the story, and "The Cost of Honor" is its conclusion. The plot of "A Matter of Honor" is very well done. It reads as fast as it is fun.

The hardest thing in the SG-1 universe for an author to do is to get the characterizations right. Sally Malcolm did an admirable job bringing our favorite Jaffa, Teal'c, to life in the pages of this book. The mannerisms were spot on. His subtle humor was natural and effectively presented. I liked her presentation of General Hammond very much.

In three places in "A Matter of Honor" the author missed the characterization mark. These EXTREMELY jarring gaffs happened in the characterization of Samantha Carter and Jack O'Neill. The first happens very, very early in the story when Samantha Carter thinks about when she will HAVE to relieve Colonel O'Neill of his command. There is an unfortunate and out of place discussion of military service being equivalent to legalized murder. The last and most appalling is when Colonel O'Neill shoots Teal'c in the ear because he mistook Teal'c for an enemy. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Samantha Carter and Jack O'Neill are heroic characters. The SG-1 canon has never wavered on that point. Taking liberties with the heroic nature of these four characters is -- CHEATING. Don't do it! These three miscues are the only weakness that mattered to me in the story because the storyline is so strong and (otherwise) well done.

This book is definitely worth a read, even if you have to hold your nose to cross three bad paragraphs. All the rest of the 236 pages of "A Matter of Honor" are a pleasure to read.

Finally Stargate Tie-in novels. I read TV tie-ins to relax my brain, I write fan fiction to de-stress from my commercial writing as there are no "expectations" to fulfil. Unfortunately too many TV tie-in writers (Highlander, anyone?) write the novels as if they were writing "just fan-fic" to no expectation of quality and are clearly blinded by $ signs. On saying that, A Matter of Honor is a very good book, though I've given it 4 stars for Sally Malcolm's obvious effort rather than strictly the book's content. Let's hope Fandemonium sensibly retain this author.
The plot of the book is how an opportunity to rescue Major Boyd from the black hole is presented to SG-1. It doesn't go well (hence the sequel). I'm not going to lengthily describe the plot as that would spoil it. Ms Malcolm's SG-1 are finely drawn characters and most importantly she does her best to include those exchanges of dry wit amongst them that make the show so enjoyable. She keeps a good pace and strong dialogue throughout. Some writers use a tie-in as an excuse to be gratuitously graphically gory or macho gung-ho in a way the show won't allow, and Ms Malcolm thankfully avoids this very well. She also doesn't have SG-1 acting in completely uncharacteristic ways, such as in Sacrifice Moon where Daniel is unbelievably willing to risk his friend's lives and friendship with flimsy justification.
Of course there are flaws, mainly that Teal'c is the one who often comes through as stilted. There's an art to writing formal diction (how Teal'c talks) and it's a pain mostly. The main problem is so much of Stargate communicates on the visual level -Teal'c's "eloquent stillness" being the prime example. Watch any given episode and note how Jack & Daniel, Jack & Teal'c, Sam & Daniel, etc., do nothing more than exchange raised eyebrows yet convey 10 minutes worth of conversation. It's hard to convey that on the page without becoming tediously repetitive (I should know, fanfic, remember?)Occasionally this leads Ms Malcolm's SG-1 towards being wooden, but this is entirely forgivable - trust me, as a writer, it's difficult to maintain this balance especially when you are aiming at particular audience (for instance, I dislike the tendency for Rodney McKay in Atlantis to be a 1 dimensional comic character. He said, "My parents hated each other and took it out on me", which indicates at the least mental cruelty and probably beatings received from his parents' fists. So far however this dark edge to the character has been totally ignored). In short, if you are going to "try" a Stargate TV Tie-in, I strongly recommend that you use A Matter of Honor as the gauge of quality, because it's a strong, positive effort.

While I like the story, I have to admit that I've read free fan fiction that had a better handle on the characters. The bickering was out of character as was Teal'c "telling on" the other members of SG1. I have yet to read part 2 so I'm hoping it gets better because I feel like I'm reading about someone else, not SG1.

I found this book extremely difficult to put down. The story line is fantastic, the characters are almost perfectly captured in mannerisms and speech patterns. The author describes scenes vividly so that you can 'see' everything clearly. This is the second book in the Fandemonium SG-1 series that really focuses on the psychological aftermath of Jack O'Neill's torture by Baal. The TV show didn't make that big of a deal of this, but these wonderful tie-in novels use it as grist for a lot of internal angst. In this book we also again see Daniel's guiltly feelings for not helping Jack die when he was being tortured. More grist for internal angst. And then Sam is captured by Baal's Jaffa and receives her own package of angst. So far we don't really see Teal'c with baggage... perhaps in another book. Since this is just part one of the story, I recommend that you acquire SG-1 "The Cost of Honor" at the same time as this book so that you're not left hanging with the "To be continued" effect.

This book is sooooo good!!! This is the type of book that makes me love reading and never want to stop! This book has tons of excitement on every page! It never gets dull! I couldn't wait to pick up my book the next morning. And I couldn't put it down even at 10:00pm! I couldn't stop till I'd read a paragraph and not understand a single word! That's when I figured I should get some sleep. This book has everything Stargate fans have been waiting for! YOU SHOULD TOTALLY READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good story, enjoyed this book. Even though you'll need part 2 to see it to the end this is in itself a nice read. I only take issue that the author tried to tie in too many SG episodes (w/o giving away any plot the way Lt Reed exits the book)

This is a 2 part series of books. Sally Malcolm did a good job of fleshing out the characters. The premise was that Jack and the rest of SG-1 wants to rescue the team that was getting killed by the black hole. The depths that Jack was willin gto go to with his team were exactly as I picture them doing. This a must read, and is among one of the best Fandy boooks written.

This is a great sg1 novel and I would recommend this book and the author to anyone. She captures the series perfectly. The plot is so well written and keeps you on the edge of your seat. When I found out that Cost of Honor was the sequel I instantly set out to by it. It was worth all the effort!!!! No matter what you have to do to get these books get them you will not be disappointed.

The Stargate fan novels are very true to the characters and are the equivalent to watching an episode on SCI FI, only in most cases better. Some of the books are just new adventures written by fans, good, but not great. While others are Great adventures where the author actually expands on the depth of the character and team, fills in gaps that us fans have always thought or guessed about. So far all the SG-1 books have had Jack in them, not Cam. I am using this as a generic review for all the books rather than risk spoiling anything in the stories. I have watched all episodes in the series (both SG-1 and SG-A), heck I own every published season, and as much as I hate to admit it I have seen every episode at least twice, in short, I am a Stargate nut. I have purchased all books written in the SG-1 and SG-A series, though not all of them through Amazon due to availability. Sometimes the shipping takes a long time since they are published in the U.K.

"A Matter of Honor" by Sally Malcolm is exactly what SG1 is about. I could not put the book down it was such a page turner! The characters were to a 'T', the humor, sensitivity, and loyalty. You can picture everything in your mind. It is written so well that there is enough description for you to picture what is going on, however, not too much to bore you. I can't wait to read part 2. I was captured from the very beginning. Also I didn't have to wait for action. It is loaded with it as well as suspense. It takes place in the 7th season after Daniel returns, which plays a part in the book. A must read for Stargate fans!