Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
So far best of the bunch, November 13, 2005
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.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Satisfying, quick and fun, October 11, 2006
"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.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Movie Quality, May 14, 2008
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.
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