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brendalovesbooks's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this! I'm not sure if it would be a good one for readers who aren't a fan of the show, though. SGA is one of my favorites, and this was just like watching an episode of the show, but with more detail. Very fun!
elodie2711's review
5.0
An excellent book!
The story was well-conducted and suspenseful, once I got drowned into it I couldn't let go of the book, and if I had to do it (like to go to sleep) I kept thinking about the story, which is as far as I'm concerned always a good sign (showing obviously that I like what I'm reading).
Anyway, though as I said the story was great, you could wonder why the hell they didn't think twice before rushing to that planet. I guess you could always argue that at that time, they were desperately searching for ZPMs, such making unwise decisions.
I like the way Martha Wells handled the relationships between the characters, and especially all the parts with John and Rodney. I'm really fond of their relationship as friends, and I found that the author portrayed really well that side of the show.
The story was well-conducted and suspenseful, once I got drowned into it I couldn't let go of the book, and if I had to do it (like to go to sleep) I kept thinking about the story, which is as far as I'm concerned always a good sign (showing obviously that I like what I'm reading).
Anyway, though as I said the story was great, you could wonder why the hell they didn't think twice before rushing to that planet. I guess you could always argue that at that time, they were desperately searching for ZPMs, such making unwise decisions.
I like the way Martha Wells handled the relationships between the characters, and especially all the parts with John and Rodney. I'm really fond of their relationship as friends, and I found that the author portrayed really well that side of the show.
quirkycatsfatstacks's review against another edition
4.0
Book Summary:
A recent check on a newly discovered gate brings a city of ruins to the attention of the Atlantis crew. This city has great promise, as it seems to blend Ancient technology with technology from other civilizations. Could this be what they've been looking for this whole time?
Major John Sheppard and his team will embark on a quest to find out. In doing so, they will uncover layer after layer of secrets and danger. It won't take long before the tables turn, and the team has to fight for their lives.
My Review:
I do love a good tie-in novel. That opinion is a little contentious, as not everyone loves media tie-in novels. That said, what tipped the scale in favor of me reading Reliquary is the author – Martha Wells. Yes, that's right! The author behind The MurderBot Diaries. She wrote this and another tie-in; I fully intend to read them both.
In a way, this novel can do so much for the world. In this case, we read the adventure from multiple perspectives (mostly Sheppard and McKay). Since there's less of a show/tell issue in reading, this means we were able to learn more about their thought processes.
Reliquary is darkly fascinating, bringing a new threat to the forefront of our attention. Admittedly, that threat has some "freak of the week" vibes, but I think that works well with the Stargate Atlantis format.
I think the thing I enjoyed the most about Reliquary would be the little details dropped here and there. These things made me stop and think about the series and the events that happened previously. It added a whole new layer to the story/universe.
Highlights:
From the world of Stargate Atlantis
Science Fiction
Space Odyssey
Episodic Storytelling Style
You Can Also Find Me On:
Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks | Quirky Cat's Comics | The Book Review Crew | Monkeys Fighting Robots | Storygraph | Bookhype | Bookstagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Reedsy
A recent check on a newly discovered gate brings a city of ruins to the attention of the Atlantis crew. This city has great promise, as it seems to blend Ancient technology with technology from other civilizations. Could this be what they've been looking for this whole time?
Major John Sheppard and his team will embark on a quest to find out. In doing so, they will uncover layer after layer of secrets and danger. It won't take long before the tables turn, and the team has to fight for their lives.
My Review:
I do love a good tie-in novel. That opinion is a little contentious, as not everyone loves media tie-in novels. That said, what tipped the scale in favor of me reading Reliquary is the author – Martha Wells. Yes, that's right! The author behind The MurderBot Diaries. She wrote this and another tie-in; I fully intend to read them both.
In a way, this novel can do so much for the world. In this case, we read the adventure from multiple perspectives (mostly Sheppard and McKay). Since there's less of a show/tell issue in reading, this means we were able to learn more about their thought processes.
Reliquary is darkly fascinating, bringing a new threat to the forefront of our attention. Admittedly, that threat has some "freak of the week" vibes, but I think that works well with the Stargate Atlantis format.
I think the thing I enjoyed the most about Reliquary would be the little details dropped here and there. These things made me stop and think about the series and the events that happened previously. It added a whole new layer to the story/universe.
Highlights:
From the world of Stargate Atlantis
Science Fiction
Space Odyssey
Episodic Storytelling Style
You Can Also Find Me On:
Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks | Quirky Cat's Comics | The Book Review Crew | Monkeys Fighting Robots | Storygraph | Bookhype | Bookstagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Reedsy
needmorelight's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Slow start and then gallops to the end.
halcyon_rising's review
4.0
*posts 14-year-old review*
As it’s been a few weeks since I read the book, I don’t really remember that much in detail about it, which is a shame, of course. But I’ll try to say something nonetheless. Here goes:
The book starts off on Atlantis, with a few team members exploring some rooms, to find themselves a possible recreation area, or at least that’s what Ford is doing. They end up finding a Gate address in a holographic projector, which, naturally, they wish to explore. The MALP shows them a structure that somewhat matches Heliopolis (‘a meeting place where the Ancients shared information with the other great races of the time, the Asgard, the Furlings, and the Nox’) from the first season of SG-1, where Ernest Littlefield went after he first tried out the Stargate so many years ago. Sheppard, taking his team in the form of Dr. Mckay, Teyla and Ford, along with Kavanagh and some Marines/fodder/red shirts/extra scientists, sets out to explore this possible ZPM factory.
During their exploration, they find much destruction in this once beautiful place, and laboratories with cell doors that contain skeletons, but also a man named Dorane on a lower level in stasis. Naturally at that point the pod opens, triggered by the team’s arrival, and he says he’s the only human being around there. Though not the only ‘being’ per se, since there’s also strange creatures running around, called ‘Koan’. But where did those come from?
Some team members have a very strange feel about the place, especially those who just happen to have the Ancient gene in their make-up. Sheppard, the only natural gene carrier in the bunch, even smells rotten stuff in the facility! And is going to feel lousy.
Could that have something to do with the Koan’s story? But of course it does! Is Dorane not telling the truth about what part of that lower facility is, why he’s there? Sure thing he is! Is Dorane a guy that ran nasty experiments? Yup, Ma’am! Is there a use for those red shirts? Definite yes! You kill ‘em. Is Sheppard meant to be whumped, meant to become Koan!Sheppard because Dorane didn’t like the Ancients so he made him into an icky creature who would go insane and die? That’s indeed the case! Are the Koan and Dorane going to try to go to Atlantis? Indeed they are! Are they going to succeed with that mission? Of course they are! Another take-over! Is it a good book? Sure, it’s entertaining. Always worth a read.
What wasn’t right in the book: There’s a reference to trying to manually dial out of a planet with a Pegasus Gate, which is of course not possible since last time I checked the inner circle of this Gate system didn’t turn around like the ones from the Milky Way do. So not possible.
I did find it a bummer that they didn’t make the font a bit bigger, because the book is only 216 pages of actual story, and the font is the smallest I have ever seen. That’s why I only read a chapter or 2, 3 each day, I think, to make sure I didn’t damage my eyes too much. But it’s doable.
If you've read it, why don't you tell me what you thought of it?
Spoiler
Time line: Season 1? Team is still exploring Atlantis, and Ford is alive.As it’s been a few weeks since I read the book, I don’t really remember that much in detail about it, which is a shame, of course. But I’ll try to say something nonetheless. Here goes:
The book starts off on Atlantis, with a few team members exploring some rooms, to find themselves a possible recreation area, or at least that’s what Ford is doing. They end up finding a Gate address in a holographic projector, which, naturally, they wish to explore. The MALP shows them a structure that somewhat matches Heliopolis (‘a meeting place where the Ancients shared information with the other great races of the time, the Asgard, the Furlings, and the Nox’) from the first season of SG-1, where Ernest Littlefield went after he first tried out the Stargate so many years ago. Sheppard, taking his team in the form of Dr. Mckay, Teyla and Ford, along with Kavanagh and some Marines/fodder/red shirts/extra scientists, sets out to explore this possible ZPM factory.
During their exploration, they find much destruction in this once beautiful place, and laboratories with cell doors that contain skeletons, but also a man named Dorane on a lower level in stasis. Naturally at that point the pod opens, triggered by the team’s arrival, and he says he’s the only human being around there. Though not the only ‘being’ per se, since there’s also strange creatures running around, called ‘Koan’. But where did those come from?
Some team members have a very strange feel about the place, especially those who just happen to have the Ancient gene in their make-up. Sheppard, the only natural gene carrier in the bunch, even smells rotten stuff in the facility! And is going to feel lousy.
Could that have something to do with the Koan’s story? But of course it does! Is Dorane not telling the truth about what part of that lower facility is, why he’s there? Sure thing he is! Is Dorane a guy that ran nasty experiments? Yup, Ma’am! Is there a use for those red shirts? Definite yes! You kill ‘em. Is Sheppard meant to be whumped, meant to become Koan!Sheppard because Dorane didn’t like the Ancients so he made him into an icky creature who would go insane and die? That’s indeed the case! Are the Koan and Dorane going to try to go to Atlantis? Indeed they are! Are they going to succeed with that mission? Of course they are! Another take-over! Is it a good book? Sure, it’s entertaining. Always worth a read.
What wasn’t right in the book: There’s a reference to trying to manually dial out of a planet with a Pegasus Gate, which is of course not possible since last time I checked the inner circle of this Gate system didn’t turn around like the ones from the Milky Way do. So not possible.
I did find it a bummer that they didn’t make the font a bit bigger, because the book is only 216 pages of actual story, and the font is the smallest I have ever seen. That’s why I only read a chapter or 2, 3 each day, I think, to make sure I didn’t damage my eyes too much. But it’s doable.
If you've read it, why don't you tell me what you thought of it?
thereadingwren's review
5.0
4.5/5
Oh my wow, this should have been an episode!!!
I can't believe how awesome this was. The characterization of everyone was spot on, the action was perfect, and I just love those episodes when they're trapped in Atlantis. Having John transforming was super cool, and kind of funny because this kind of stuff always happens to him, and I'm now really interesting in the Koan.
I really loved the callbacks to previous episodes and how those episodes effected the characters, especially the episode The Defiant One. That is one of my favourite episodes and I always wish they'd been some follow-up with that - I mean it was pretty traumatic for John and Rodney. My prayers were answered in this book. We got to see how John struggled with having scientists on mission, in that he was always worried he couldn't keep them safe because he couldn't during The Defiant One, and then we got a beautiful moment where Rodney is utterly afraid to give John (who is very sick at this moment) a gun because last time that happened the person killed themselves. Finally getting to have those discussions was amazing and I love how real those moments felt.
I gotta put it out there that the main thing I loved about this book was all the John and Rodney content, they are my favourite characters (and yes, I ship them, hard) so seeing them interact with each other and have their moments to shine was amazing.
The writing was so well done, I was hooked the entire time. But I will say there were some moments when I wasn't totally sure what happened, like how they discovered who the bad guy was and how they figured out the bad guys motivation - I was confused about that the whole time. Still enjoyed the hell out of this.
This honestly would have gotten a 5 star if it didn't have one glaring mistake. YOU CANNOT MANUALLY DIAL PEGASUS STARGATES!!!!! THERE IS NO SPINNING RING THAT YOU CAN TURN!!!! I was so mad about this. Obviously the whole book is referring to the SG1 episode The Torment of Tantalus in which SG1 needs to manually dial the gate... but that literally cannot happen in Pegasus because the gates are a newer version and are digital. Like I'm honestly so mad about this one thing, but how did no one pick up on this????
Anyways, I adored this book and I'm probably going to re-read it in the future because it should have been an episode. I'm also going to pick up other books by this author because the writing was great, and I'm excited for the next Stargate Atlantis novel.
Oh my wow, this should have been an episode!!!
I can't believe how awesome this was. The characterization of everyone was spot on, the action was perfect, and I just love those episodes when they're trapped in Atlantis. Having John transforming was super cool, and kind of funny because this kind of stuff always happens to him, and I'm now really interesting in the Koan.
I really loved the callbacks to previous episodes and how those episodes effected the characters, especially the episode The Defiant One. That is one of my favourite episodes and I always wish they'd been some follow-up with that - I mean it was pretty traumatic for John and Rodney. My prayers were answered in this book. We got to see how John struggled with having scientists on mission, in that he was always worried he couldn't keep them safe because he couldn't during The Defiant One, and then we got a beautiful moment where Rodney is utterly afraid to give John (who is very sick at this moment) a gun because last time that happened the person killed themselves. Finally getting to have those discussions was amazing and I love how real those moments felt.
I gotta put it out there that the main thing I loved about this book was all the John and Rodney content, they are my favourite characters (and yes, I ship them, hard) so seeing them interact with each other and have their moments to shine was amazing.
The writing was so well done, I was hooked the entire time. But I will say there were some moments when I wasn't totally sure what happened, like how they discovered who the bad guy was and how they figured out the bad guys motivation - I was confused about that the whole time. Still enjoyed the hell out of this.
This honestly would have gotten a 5 star if it didn't have one glaring mistake. YOU CANNOT MANUALLY DIAL PEGASUS STARGATES!!!!! THERE IS NO SPINNING RING THAT YOU CAN TURN!!!! I was so mad about this. Obviously the whole book is referring to the SG1 episode The Torment of Tantalus in which SG1 needs to manually dial the gate... but that literally cannot happen in Pegasus because the gates are a newer version and are digital. Like I'm honestly so mad about this one thing, but how did no one pick up on this????
Anyways, I adored this book and I'm probably going to re-read it in the future because it should have been an episode. I'm also going to pick up other books by this author because the writing was great, and I'm excited for the next Stargate Atlantis novel.
clack's review
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A really eerie start that evolves into an exciting romp through the SGA world. Perfect for fans of the series who want an extra episode.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror and Medical trauma
Minor: Death
Mentions biological research on humans\human-like people. Mind-control.ryanjamesburt's review
4.0
Liked it. Not sure I would have liked it as much if I wasn't a big fan of the show.
teanahk's review
4.0
This is a great TV tie-in.
The show had a bit of a formula, a lot of episodes go something like this: Our team of planet explorers find some reason to check out a planet, it looks safe enough for people, they visit, something/everything goes wrong, danger! danger! excitement! then the day is saved by some combination of shooting things and wild technology wizardry. This book fits right in and was a really nice way to revisit the series.
The book stays true to the characters and their quirks from the show. There was no point where the leads were acting in a way that didn’t fit their TV characterization. I couldn’t put it down.
The show had a bit of a formula, a lot of episodes go something like this: Our team of planet explorers find some reason to check out a planet, it looks safe enough for people, they visit, something/everything goes wrong, danger! danger! excitement! then the day is saved by some combination of shooting things and wild technology wizardry. This book fits right in and was a really nice way to revisit the series.
The book stays true to the characters and their quirks from the show. There was no point where the leads were acting in a way that didn’t fit their TV characterization. I couldn’t put it down.
quitesimplyreading's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0