Ouroboros Om Nom Nomoros...
I started reading Ouroboros back in June, however life took over and I didn’t pick it up again until a few days ago. I remember wanting a story where the conflicts between characters - especially Jack and Daniel, so prevalent in the last few novels I have read, was something not as overt in Ouroboros. And I got my wish. This novel was team fiction, after Jack had left SG-1 to run the SGC. My second wish was a reduction of canon errors that again have plagued these books, and I only came across one!
SG-1 tinker with one of Janus’ toys and find themselves transported to the Pegasus Galaxy in an alternate reality (not its intended function and it is never fully explained why this happens?). There, they find out that the expedition team is living on Athos, Weir is dead, Sumner is in charge and Sheppard is AWOL off living with the Athosians. Sumner has set up camp in Emege - the ruins of the ancient city where the Athosians refuse to tread. There is much butting of heads between Marines, Air Force, civilians and Athosians, and of course, they are under attack from the Wraith. Jack wants to find out what the hell is going on because Sumner won’t let them play with another of Janus’ toys conveniently hidden within Emege, so he sneaks off and meets with Sheppard.
Sumner locks up Sam and Daniel because he is on the hyper wraith drug (similar if not identical to the one developed by Ford in Lost Boys) and paranoia and the military go hand in hand. They break out and Daniel is captured in a wraith attack because the wile wraith have figured out them humans have some shiny-ass weapons.
Super Sam figures out wraith technology from a crashed dart like that *snaps fingers*, and Jack manages to bargain with the queen for Daniel without snark or remark.
Prisoners exchanged and deals dealt, SG-1 tinker with Janus’ Ouroboros machine and end up in AU Atlantis which they raise and make homely for their AU pals before using Janus’ Atlantis Ouroboros machine to go home and find they have only been missing for ten minutes, ISN’T THE MULTIVERSE FUN LIKE THAT?!
Thoughts:
* Not much in the way of character development or exploration of characters on SG-1, however there were instances of team members acknowledging and figuring out another’s way of thinking and with that the cohesion that made SG-1 so great. Having this expressed after Jack has left the team solidifies our character’s parts in each other’s lives.
* The exploration of an AU Atlantis mirrors what we saw in Letters to Pegasus and what could have eventuated had Sumner been in charge and Weir the one to die. However, it makes you wonder why Sateda still exists when at least in this universe, their level of technological advancement is around that of Earth’s with their energy weapons etc., though less advanced civilisations such as the Genii and Hoff have been wiped out completely.
* Of course Daniel is the one to be captured by the Wraith, and miraculously escape whumpage when it looked very much like it was heading into alien experimentation lab territory. On Daniel and the Wraith, his ability to read them in the way that Teyla’s gift works was an odd inclusion I felt, seeing as he does not have any genetic connection to the Wraith as Teyla does, and thus I can assume it can be attributed to his being an ex-ascended… being. This also makes you wonder if the ability is similar in fashion to the one used by the Replicators to communicate with one another and perform their hand in the head thingie, AND Daniel’s ability to do this in turn to RepliCarter. Since the Wraith and Replicators are both creations of or have strong connections with the Ancients this may be so.
* Insight into the Wraith social structure was interesting, and makes you wonder if the Queen is somehow able to choose the gender of her children? Why are more queens produced if there is not enough food around for all and they must take turns sleeping while other hives hunt? Are the ‘generals’ born of the queen also? Must they find another hive queen in order to provide the opportunity to propagate? Is homosexuality the norm between these generals and uppers such as the relationship between the cousins Seeker and Consort vying for the Queen’s affections?
* Sumner’s death and the subsequent withdrawal of Marine personal from the hyper wraith serum was a little too convenient. Suddenly everyone is getting along? This version of the expedition was painted as being more similar in mindset to those aboard Destiny in a lost in space scenario rather than our version of the Atlantis expedition. Whether this is a comment on military versus civilian command, I am unsure.
* The ending seemed a little drawn out and anti-climactic from the prisoner exchange with Daniel and the young Queen to the numerous attempts to get the Ouroboros machine functioning so that SG-1 could return to their own reality. Of course this was so that SG-1 could raise Atlantis from the ocean floor and the AU expedition team could live there, but as with most AU scenarios, the reader is not going to care as much for AU characters, so what’s the point?
Likes:
* TEAM! \o/
* Sam bitching about the annoying children's song which turns out to be a gate address!
* Jack and Teal’c being wise old fumble bums together and knowing when to sit back and wait.
* Daniel’s habit of stealing from the bad guys.
* Battle!Sam
* Daniel’s interactions with Seeker, it felt like there should have been more there.
Dislikes:
* Bitchy!Teyla
* Janus installing a bunch of these machines without having a completely working prototype first. The Alterans then destroying all records of it, but leaving the devices intact, and then Janus graffiti-ing a DHD for folks such as SG-1 to find it again…
Canon Errors:
* (Page 7) Jack says Maybourne has a new home after the events of It’s Good To Be King, however in the episode, Maybourne chose to remain on the planet where he was King Arkhan.
SG-1 tinker with one of Janus’ toys and find themselves transported to the Pegasus Galaxy in an alternate reality (not its intended function and it is never fully explained why this happens?). There, they find out that the expedition team is living on Athos, Weir is dead, Sumner is in charge and Sheppard is AWOL off living with the Athosians. Sumner has set up camp in Emege - the ruins of the ancient city where the Athosians refuse to tread. There is much butting of heads between Marines, Air Force, civilians and Athosians, and of course, they are under attack from the Wraith. Jack wants to find out what the hell is going on because Sumner won’t let them play with another of Janus’ toys conveniently hidden within Emege, so he sneaks off and meets with Sheppard.
Sumner locks up Sam and Daniel because he is on the hyper wraith drug (similar if not identical to the one developed by Ford in Lost Boys) and paranoia and the military go hand in hand. They break out and Daniel is captured in a wraith attack because the wile wraith have figured out them humans have some shiny-ass weapons.
Super Sam figures out wraith technology from a crashed dart like that *snaps fingers*, and Jack manages to bargain with the queen for Daniel without snark or remark.
Prisoners exchanged and deals dealt, SG-1 tinker with Janus’ Ouroboros machine and end up in AU Atlantis which they raise and make homely for their AU pals before using Janus’ Atlantis Ouroboros machine to go home and find they have only been missing for ten minutes, ISN’T THE MULTIVERSE FUN LIKE THAT?!
Thoughts:
* Not much in the way of character development or exploration of characters on SG-1, however there were instances of team members acknowledging and figuring out another’s way of thinking and with that the cohesion that made SG-1 so great. Having this expressed after Jack has left the team solidifies our character’s parts in each other’s lives.
* The exploration of an AU Atlantis mirrors what we saw in Letters to Pegasus and what could have eventuated had Sumner been in charge and Weir the one to die. However, it makes you wonder why Sateda still exists when at least in this universe, their level of technological advancement is around that of Earth’s with their energy weapons etc., though less advanced civilisations such as the Genii and Hoff have been wiped out completely.
* Of course Daniel is the one to be captured by the Wraith, and miraculously escape whumpage when it looked very much like it was heading into alien experimentation lab territory. On Daniel and the Wraith, his ability to read them in the way that Teyla’s gift works was an odd inclusion I felt, seeing as he does not have any genetic connection to the Wraith as Teyla does, and thus I can assume it can be attributed to his being an ex-ascended… being. This also makes you wonder if the ability is similar in fashion to the one used by the Replicators to communicate with one another and perform their hand in the head thingie, AND Daniel’s ability to do this in turn to RepliCarter. Since the Wraith and Replicators are both creations of or have strong connections with the Ancients this may be so.
* Insight into the Wraith social structure was interesting, and makes you wonder if the Queen is somehow able to choose the gender of her children? Why are more queens produced if there is not enough food around for all and they must take turns sleeping while other hives hunt? Are the ‘generals’ born of the queen also? Must they find another hive queen in order to provide the opportunity to propagate? Is homosexuality the norm between these generals and uppers such as the relationship between the cousins Seeker and Consort vying for the Queen’s affections?
* Sumner’s death and the subsequent withdrawal of Marine personal from the hyper wraith serum was a little too convenient. Suddenly everyone is getting along? This version of the expedition was painted as being more similar in mindset to those aboard Destiny in a lost in space scenario rather than our version of the Atlantis expedition. Whether this is a comment on military versus civilian command, I am unsure.
* The ending seemed a little drawn out and anti-climactic from the prisoner exchange with Daniel and the young Queen to the numerous attempts to get the Ouroboros machine functioning so that SG-1 could return to their own reality. Of course this was so that SG-1 could raise Atlantis from the ocean floor and the AU expedition team could live there, but as with most AU scenarios, the reader is not going to care as much for AU characters, so what’s the point?
Likes:
* TEAM! \o/
* Sam bitching about the annoying children's song which turns out to be a gate address!
* Jack and Teal’c being wise old fumble bums together and knowing when to sit back and wait.
* Daniel’s habit of stealing from the bad guys.
* Battle!Sam
* Daniel’s interactions with Seeker, it felt like there should have been more there.
Dislikes:
* Bitchy!Teyla
* Janus installing a bunch of these machines without having a completely working prototype first. The Alterans then destroying all records of it, but leaving the devices intact, and then Janus graffiti-ing a DHD for folks such as SG-1 to find it again…
Canon Errors:
* (Page 7) Jack says Maybourne has a new home after the events of It’s Good To Be King, however in the episode, Maybourne chose to remain on the planet where he was King Arkhan.