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grav_ityI haven't read a tie-in in FOREVER. Such nostalgia! I used to order them into my small town library six or eight at a time, and then read them in an hour at the park. Mostly Voyager, TNG and Deep Space Nine (I looked it up, and discovered that I'd actually read Melissa Scott's DS9 book), and my very favourites, Peter David's Excalibur books. I've read a few SG-1 tie-ins, but this was my first for Stargate Atlantis.
I have, as I've said before, a weird relationship with Stargate Atlantis. It was shaped almost entirely in season one and changed very little in the following seasons. The writers I surrounded myself with in fandom focused largely on Elizabeth, city politics, and Pegasus Galaxy politics, instead of the harder military sci-fi and Earth politics aspects of the show. So reading "Homecoming", set in what's basically Season Six, was a bit of a departure for me.
That said, I really enjoyed it. And I think the thing I enjoyed the most was how many supporting characters got to show up (because you don't have to pay the actors, obviously, so you can do whatever you want). And I'm not just talking Radek and Banks. I'm talking people we haven't seen hide or hair of since season two. ;)
Teyla was freaking awesome, let me just say. I really loved how the authors chose to deal with her issues with regard to Torren, Kanaan and the Athosians in general (plus bonus Halling!). I also thought they handled the Athosian speech patterns well. Teyla got to do pretty much everything I love having her do, and with one exception, I really liked her development. It was neat to learn learn those things about her mother, if nothing else, and I love the idea that Athosians have complex kinship systems because it makes a lot more sense.
Ronon was likewise awesome. I really adored how he got to be more than "The Big Guy". It was nice to see someone remember that Ronon was actually Someone Of Vague Importance on Sateda, and has the rank and skills to match. And I love that it came from Sam first, even if it was a feint on her part, it was still a genuine one. I think my favourite part of Ronon's story, though, came early on in the book when he and Radek got drunk, and Radek told him that Earth was going to let the Pegasus Galaxy burn. It was kind of horrible, from the standpoint of the characters, but it was also the truth, and I like that.
Jennifer Keller was another character I ended up liking more than I thought I would. At the beginning, when I thought she wasn't going to go, I was actually really proud of her for saying "No, the adventure is really cool, but if I do this, I will be on the front line of a genocide, and I refuse to do that". I was still proud of her for going, though, and again when she got back-up when Sora took Carson hostage. She's just become this really awesome person, and I can't wait to see what she does next.
(Lordy, I hope the Relationship Drama is kept to a minimum.)
Radek, as I said above, has one of my favourite scenes in the book, and I loved getting into his head a bit more during this. His memories of Elizabeth broke my heart.
Another scene I really loved was with Woolsey (who, for the record, I cannot bring myself to think of as Dick. Richard, I can manage, but Dick...) and Ladon, when John realizes that they are going to talk ALL DAY LONG, but also that this is what Woolsey is good at. Because it was really nice to see Woolsey being good at something, and also not being the comic relief. I loved seeing Woolsey as this small man who found out the universe was enormous, stepped up to the plate and grew as a person.
There was a lot of Elizabeth Weir in this book. I appreciate that more than I can put words to.
Both Scott and Graham are masters of description, so I was not surprised to find that their pictures of what it feels like to fly the City or what it was like in the moments before Teyla could get to New Athos. I really, really loved the part where John figured out that the City was changing to adapt to the new planet (and that Rodney knew, but Radek had forgotten to send the memo! *hearts memo jokes*). This book was just SO BEAUTIFUL.
I do like John. I do. He's awesome and he has great hair, and Todd will never kill him, which just blows my mind.
(Oh, and TODD? AND ALL THE WRAITH? AMAZING!)
But my ability to like John (and, as I hinted at above, Teyla), was tempered quite strongly by the fact that the novel was so expressly Teyla/John. I can see how people see it. I do not. (And also, John might be terrible at expressing his emotions, but Teyla is not a piner. I mean, I get that it's complicated and she's confused and whatnot, but the part where she's now pretty much told everyone BUT John was just WEIRD.)
I am, nonetheless, very excited for the next book. Pegasus politics, Wraith politics, Genii chicanery, the City is awesome, Sam is coming...
Oh, and Rodney was kidnapped or something...;)
8/10 for nostalgia, the part where the City was awesome, the jokes about tava beans, that time John was happy about using the Twain line, the part where the expedition anthropologists classify new Pegasus cultures by how far from the Gate they choose to settle, every scene with Radek, and Jennifer and Rodney's as yet unnamed cat, about whom I may or may not already be writing fanfic. :)
I have, as I've said before, a weird relationship with Stargate Atlantis. It was shaped almost entirely in season one and changed very little in the following seasons. The writers I surrounded myself with in fandom focused largely on Elizabeth, city politics, and Pegasus Galaxy politics, instead of the harder military sci-fi and Earth politics aspects of the show. So reading "Homecoming", set in what's basically Season Six, was a bit of a departure for me.
That said, I really enjoyed it. And I think the thing I enjoyed the most was how many supporting characters got to show up (because you don't have to pay the actors, obviously, so you can do whatever you want). And I'm not just talking Radek and Banks. I'm talking people we haven't seen hide or hair of since season two. ;)
Teyla was freaking awesome, let me just say. I really loved how the authors chose to deal with her issues with regard to Torren, Kanaan and the Athosians in general (plus bonus Halling!). I also thought they handled the Athosian speech patterns well. Teyla got to do pretty much everything I love having her do, and with one exception, I really liked her development. It was neat to learn learn those things about her mother, if nothing else, and I love the idea that Athosians have complex kinship systems because it makes a lot more sense.
Ronon was likewise awesome. I really adored how he got to be more than "The Big Guy". It was nice to see someone remember that Ronon was actually Someone Of Vague Importance on Sateda, and has the rank and skills to match. And I love that it came from Sam first, even if it was a feint on her part, it was still a genuine one. I think my favourite part of Ronon's story, though, came early on in the book when he and Radek got drunk, and Radek told him that Earth was going to let the Pegasus Galaxy burn. It was kind of horrible, from the standpoint of the characters, but it was also the truth, and I like that.
Jennifer Keller was another character I ended up liking more than I thought I would. At the beginning, when I thought she wasn't going to go, I was actually really proud of her for saying "No, the adventure is really cool, but if I do this, I will be on the front line of a genocide, and I refuse to do that". I was still proud of her for going, though, and again when she got back-up when Sora took Carson hostage. She's just become this really awesome person, and I can't wait to see what she does next.
(Lordy, I hope the Relationship Drama is kept to a minimum.)
Radek, as I said above, has one of my favourite scenes in the book, and I loved getting into his head a bit more during this. His memories of Elizabeth broke my heart.
Another scene I really loved was with Woolsey (who, for the record, I cannot bring myself to think of as Dick. Richard, I can manage, but Dick...) and Ladon, when John realizes that they are going to talk ALL DAY LONG, but also that this is what Woolsey is good at. Because it was really nice to see Woolsey being good at something, and also not being the comic relief. I loved seeing Woolsey as this small man who found out the universe was enormous, stepped up to the plate and grew as a person.
There was a lot of Elizabeth Weir in this book. I appreciate that more than I can put words to.
Both Scott and Graham are masters of description, so I was not surprised to find that their pictures of what it feels like to fly the City or what it was like in the moments before Teyla could get to New Athos. I really, really loved the part where John figured out that the City was changing to adapt to the new planet (and that Rodney knew, but Radek had forgotten to send the memo! *hearts memo jokes*). This book was just SO BEAUTIFUL.
I do like John. I do. He's awesome and he has great hair, and Todd will never kill him, which just blows my mind.
(Oh, and TODD? AND ALL THE WRAITH? AMAZING!)
But my ability to like John (and, as I hinted at above, Teyla), was tempered quite strongly by the fact that the novel was so expressly Teyla/John. I can see how people see it. I do not. (And also, John might be terrible at expressing his emotions, but Teyla is not a piner. I mean, I get that it's complicated and she's confused and whatnot, but the part where she's now pretty much told everyone BUT John was just WEIRD.)
I am, nonetheless, very excited for the next book. Pegasus politics, Wraith politics, Genii chicanery, the City is awesome, Sam is coming...
Oh, and Rodney was kidnapped or something...;)
8/10 for nostalgia, the part where the City was awesome, the jokes about tava beans, that time John was happy about using the Twain line, the part where the expedition anthropologists classify new Pegasus cultures by how far from the Gate they choose to settle, every scene with Radek, and Jennifer and Rodney's as yet unnamed cat, about whom I may or may not already be writing fanfic. :)
