Stargate SG-1: Relativity
So I finally read the latest Stargate book. Yeah, I know I said I was going to read it at least a month ago, but I just never got around to it. What can I say? Put Jack and Daniel on the cover of a book and I'm not going to come running unless I'm really looking for some boyslash/subtext. Now, Janet on the cover of the next book? Yeah, I'm so there. Which reminds me: geonncannon, I may need you to ship to my mom's address since I may very well be moving the day it gets released. I should have a more solid move date next week, so just be aware.
Anyway, I decided to read it when Geonn started talking about one of the books where there was this girl and it involved time travel. I finished it in two days. This is what happens when you give me a job that sometimes involves me sitting on my ass for hours at a time.
So, anyone who is still wondering who Jade's mother is, raise your hand. I want to slap you. I agree with you, geonncannon, Sam/Jack is fine (as long as it's not the wistful glances and the morose thoughts back and forth like one of the authors does), so long as they don't try to be so damn...I didn't want to say "coy" but that really is the right word. Seriously, anyone who has watched the series for even a couple of episodes knows who it's supposed to be. I know they might be trying to leave it an open-ended question for those fans who don't like Sam/Jack, but I think they're probably used to it by now. Especially since they came so close to making it canon in "Trio." If that deleted scene hadn't been deleted, it would have. And I'm fairly certain they only deleted it so they could use it later for better effect.
The plot was actually very good. It was very complex and I like that. Some things I could kind of see coming (it wasn't all that hard to figure out that "The Commander" was Jack and I wasn't surprised when Ryn was the traitor...I had suspected either him or Suj), but other things were a total surprise. The first bomb being a dud? Didn't expect that. The bad guys being the Aschen? I should have expected them to show up again somewhere, but I didn't think this was it. I also liked how they tied this into regular canon by using this as a decision maker for Jack about the whole General thing. When Kinsey started belittling him there at the end, that almost went too far (because Kinsey should know better than to think that Jack would stay a Colonel for so long...Sam's track record for promotion notwithstanding).
Pairing moments. Gods, the pairing moments. My, how there were quite a few.
The Sam/Jack stuff was mostly obvious. Though there at the end, when Sam and Teal'c got to the cabin, it would have been awesome if Jack had told Sam that Daniel was interested in their daughter. Depending on whether or not Sam and Jack had had a chance to talk privately about the whole idea and had accepted it as just another possibility without letting it get too awkward, it could have been very funny to see Daniel suddenly faced with two Air Force officers being protective over JuniorJade. Barring that, Sam's sudden deer-in-the-headlights reaction, if done right, would have been just as amusing. That, of course, would all be based on the assumption that they just admitted who Jade was.
For a book set after Janet's death, there was a fair amount of Sam/Janet stuff going on, too. Granted, most of it could be chalked up to a really close friendship, but when Sam/Janet is your OTP, you take whatever you can get. It helps that Jack was the only other person who even thought about Janet. And that was one of those bendy possible OT3, Jack/Sam/Janet moments, so it works there, too.
I did see a couple of Sam/Teal'c moments (I've accepted that you've corrupted me, geonncannon and now I'm just revelling in it because it means that Sam's chances for getting laid are increased that much more). When they were in the air shaft with the bomb, that felt like it could have been more than just team loyalty. Plus when they were in the Glider they had that understanding between them. I choose to see it as a pairing moment because Teal'c tends to be paired off more often with Jack in the Gliders, so you would expect a more natural understanding via piloting to be through him.
The scene with Sam and Daniel and the laundry started to lend itself toward pairing, but not quite. But since I don't really ship Sam/Daniel very much outside the Jack/Sam/Daniel OT3 (I'll read the occasional story or see the occasional moment), I'm not sure it really counts.
I did have a couple of nitpicks. First of all, at the end, when Old Jack asked about the fish in the lake...that needed to be reworded. Unless this is supposed to take place within a weird timeline from Moebius, Old Jack should've known there weren't any fish. Also, with all the hinting that Jade was Sam's daughter, they should've come out and said it because that causes another nitpick. When they ran the tests on Jade's blood and ran it against known SGC markers, they found out she was Jack's daughter. Unless they were only testing to see if she matched him, they should have found out she matched Sam as well. And if they were testing only against him, the only way that would make sense is if they were testing for the ATA gene. And I think they already knew how to isolate that by this point, so that doesn't make any sense. Those were the two that sat as glaring errors.
All in all, it was a good book. I have hopes for this author. When I checked him out at Amazon.com, it says he wrote the SGA tie-in Halcyon, which I have but haven't read and a forthcoming SGA book, Nightfall. The description is still pretty vague on that one. He also wrote two of the forthcoming Big Finish Audios, so I'm looking forward to those.
Anyway, I decided to read it when Geonn started talking about one of the books where there was this girl and it involved time travel. I finished it in two days. This is what happens when you give me a job that sometimes involves me sitting on my ass for hours at a time.
So, anyone who is still wondering who Jade's mother is, raise your hand. I want to slap you. I agree with you, geonncannon, Sam/Jack is fine (as long as it's not the wistful glances and the morose thoughts back and forth like one of the authors does), so long as they don't try to be so damn...I didn't want to say "coy" but that really is the right word. Seriously, anyone who has watched the series for even a couple of episodes knows who it's supposed to be. I know they might be trying to leave it an open-ended question for those fans who don't like Sam/Jack, but I think they're probably used to it by now. Especially since they came so close to making it canon in "Trio." If that deleted scene hadn't been deleted, it would have. And I'm fairly certain they only deleted it so they could use it later for better effect.
The plot was actually very good. It was very complex and I like that. Some things I could kind of see coming (it wasn't all that hard to figure out that "The Commander" was Jack and I wasn't surprised when Ryn was the traitor...I had suspected either him or Suj), but other things were a total surprise. The first bomb being a dud? Didn't expect that. The bad guys being the Aschen? I should have expected them to show up again somewhere, but I didn't think this was it. I also liked how they tied this into regular canon by using this as a decision maker for Jack about the whole General thing. When Kinsey started belittling him there at the end, that almost went too far (because Kinsey should know better than to think that Jack would stay a Colonel for so long...Sam's track record for promotion notwithstanding).
Pairing moments. Gods, the pairing moments. My, how there were quite a few.
The Sam/Jack stuff was mostly obvious. Though there at the end, when Sam and Teal'c got to the cabin, it would have been awesome if Jack had told Sam that Daniel was interested in their daughter. Depending on whether or not Sam and Jack had had a chance to talk privately about the whole idea and had accepted it as just another possibility without letting it get too awkward, it could have been very funny to see Daniel suddenly faced with two Air Force officers being protective over JuniorJade. Barring that, Sam's sudden deer-in-the-headlights reaction, if done right, would have been just as amusing. That, of course, would all be based on the assumption that they just admitted who Jade was.
For a book set after Janet's death, there was a fair amount of Sam/Janet stuff going on, too. Granted, most of it could be chalked up to a really close friendship, but when Sam/Janet is your OTP, you take whatever you can get. It helps that Jack was the only other person who even thought about Janet. And that was one of those bendy possible OT3, Jack/Sam/Janet moments, so it works there, too.
I did see a couple of Sam/Teal'c moments (I've accepted that you've corrupted me, geonncannon and now I'm just revelling in it because it means that Sam's chances for getting laid are increased that much more). When they were in the air shaft with the bomb, that felt like it could have been more than just team loyalty. Plus when they were in the Glider they had that understanding between them. I choose to see it as a pairing moment because Teal'c tends to be paired off more often with Jack in the Gliders, so you would expect a more natural understanding via piloting to be through him.
The scene with Sam and Daniel and the laundry started to lend itself toward pairing, but not quite. But since I don't really ship Sam/Daniel very much outside the Jack/Sam/Daniel OT3 (I'll read the occasional story or see the occasional moment), I'm not sure it really counts.
I did have a couple of nitpicks. First of all, at the end, when Old Jack asked about the fish in the lake...that needed to be reworded. Unless this is supposed to take place within a weird timeline from Moebius, Old Jack should've known there weren't any fish. Also, with all the hinting that Jade was Sam's daughter, they should've come out and said it because that causes another nitpick. When they ran the tests on Jade's blood and ran it against known SGC markers, they found out she was Jack's daughter. Unless they were only testing to see if she matched him, they should have found out she matched Sam as well. And if they were testing only against him, the only way that would make sense is if they were testing for the ATA gene. And I think they already knew how to isolate that by this point, so that doesn't make any sense. Those were the two that sat as glaring errors.
All in all, it was a good book. I have hopes for this author. When I checked him out at Amazon.com, it says he wrote the SGA tie-in Halcyon, which I have but haven't read and a forthcoming SGA book, Nightfall. The description is still pretty vague on that one. He also wrote two of the forthcoming Big Finish Audios, so I'm looking forward to those.