"Who says it's deliberate?"
Took me all of 5 DAYS to finish off 'City of the Gods'. That's right, my dear flist, I have already knocked the first book off the list! Considering the fact of my pathetic lack of novel reading in the past year and half or so, and that I also wrote TWO fics, started a third one, went to classes, did homework, saw a movie at the SLC, as well as watched A New Hope and the end of TTT in those days (as wel as watched SG-1, of course) - that's not bad!
I am QUITE pleased with myself, for I am taking time out of my day specifically for reading! Novels - how I've missed them!
So here's here's the final post for the 'City of the Gods' Chapter Cross-Off (as well as my thoughts on the book compared to the other SG-1 Fandemonium novels I'v read so far):
Started: 4/8/08
Finished: 4/12/08
Total Pages: 235/235
Chapter Cross-Off: 'City of the Gods'
Updated: 4/12/08
Chapter 1Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20Chapter 21EpilogueMission Report by Dr. Daniel Jackson
My thoughts on the novel:
I had read somewhere - I think it was on the Gateworld Forum - a little while back that 'City of the Gods' was the least favorite among the SG-1 Fandemonium novels. From what I read, it was because the sciene and mythology in it was a little too complex and hard to understand...
I don't see how any good SG-1 fan/SG-1 novel fan could hate this book! It's AWESOME! I actually found it SOOOO much easier to understand in comparison to 'Survival of the Fittest', which was the first novel in the SG-1 series that I read (it's the 7th in the series in terms of order) - not saying 'Survival of the Fittest' was bad (if it was, I might not have gone all gung-ho on the novels in the first place), but it was hard for me to truly comprehend some of the concepts in SotF - harder than the concepts in City of the Gods.
Some of the high points of the book:
Characterizations were near spot on for the season it was based in (i'm not gonna mention the season b/c I find that's always one of the fun parts when you start each novel - figuring out where in the timeline it takes place) - the banter for Jack and Daniel was PERFECT for where they are in their friendship at this point, the stuff between Daniel and Teal'c was also very well done. Actually, the author picked up on Daniel's growing assertiveness and 'too much time with Jack'ness and encorporated that nicely.
The imminent peril and final 'showdown' chapters that are normal for the novels was AWESOME! I know the author's of these novels are under obligation to make it so the end of their stories return thing to canon (so essentially they can't KILL anyone, unless it was a character of their own making), but Sonny Whitelaw did an EXCELLENT job of putting you in the moment of the action, and DEFINITELY created a ver vivid picture (and the 'layout' of the places wasn't quite so hard to picture).
He had some of the best secondary characters I have read in the novels so far. Atlatl was such a great character, as well a Two-Water, White-Owl, and Xipe - though my FAVORITE, by far, was definitely Dabruzzi! OMG, I loved him immediately! He's the type of character I wouldn't mind including in a fanfiction! Snaps for the secondary characters of this one!
Some of the low points of the book:
The names are the biggest issue, but it's not something that can be avoided seeing as this is based in Aztec/Mayan/Mesoamerican myth. As you saw in that one AM I made from the book, the names aren't fun for the eyes to see and th brain to comprehend. Of course, I have always used the technique in cases such as this to skim the names, and put to memory how certain names look to know who they are referring to later down the line. I don't both with how they sound - more with how they look (though on of the harder names in this novel wasn't hard at all seeing as Daniel had talked about her once in a previous episode). I don't know how many people are able to do this (i have good photographic memory, so I'm guessing that's why it works well for me), though, so I consider the names a slight drawback.
Thankfully it tapered off mostly as the novel wore on, but in the beginning, there was a disturbing amount of UST between Jack and Sam - something I DO NOT like to see in my SG-1 novels - it's one thing to get it unwantingly on the show, and tossed into fics here and there, but I figured the novels were relatively safe from it (going by the 5 i had read before this one) - so seeing it, even if it was sublte, mild - merely suggestive, wasn't a nice thing for me.
And this isn't a draw back, or low point, but more of a heads up - but it is PLUS (big PLUS) if you've read 'Sacrifice Moon' (#2 in the series) prior to this one because it is alluded to and the events of it are mentioned A LOT in this one (specifically in terms of Daniel and Sam, for those who HAVE read Sacrifice Moon).
Overall, A+ for this SG-1 Novel - it definitely was the perfect book to start my list with b/c it reminded me how FUN reading novels can be, and why i RUSH to by every SG-1 Novel when it's released! These books kick ass!
Alrighty, now i'm off to see Cloverfield - I'll try and post my Summer Reading list later, with it's much need adjustments...