Dual Review: The Hitch Hiker / The Lost Temple by Stevie Woods
I want to preface this review by saying that I don't usually review things outside of epic_recs. I tried for a bit at a now-defunct community run by jane_elliot but, well, none of us seemed to be able to get our act together enough to keep things going and it went the way of the wind. Also, if it's not fan fic related, I tend to be bollocks at reviewing things (and some, I'm sure, could argue that I'm bollocks at that, too). Luckily enough for me, both of these novels happen to fall into an interesting category: they both used to be fic.
Or, to put a finer point on it, they used to be part of a Stargate SG-1 series I actually recced and reviewed on epic_recs before it was taken offline. I no longer have that review, unfortunately, so it won't do me any good now, but the gist of what I said was that I really, really liked the entire series from beginning to end. It was a little bit Indiana Jones, a little bit SG-1, and a whole lot of action/adventure meets romance between Jack and Daniel.
That was when it was a fan fiction, though. Now that it's an original work, I have a slightly different opinion of the first two novels in this series. But first, for those of you who haven't read either one of the stories incarnations, a blurb:
Ian Grayson's priority is to protect the artifact which could be the answer to all his questions, but he has already been chased across Belize and Mexico by those who would take it from him by any means necessary and he is desperate to find a way to escape from them and get home to Chicago. When he persuades a trucker to give him a ride he has no idea that his life was about to take a whole new direction. When Mackenzie Wallace picks up an unlikely hitch-hiker he soon discovers one should never go by first appearances, Ian Grayson was certainly not what he expected from a Doctor of Archaeology.
--The Hitch Hiker, Book 1 in The Tomcat Line Series, MLR Press
Disregarding the fact that the above blurb isn't exactly stellar - or maybe it is and I'm just being picky - the entire premise of this novel is really intriguing (and familiar): an archaeologist has found a long-lost artifact, wants to study and share it with the world, but is being pursued by bad guys who are willing to hurt him to get their hands on it. Hence the, not misplaced, comparison to Indiana Jones. But the comparison doesn't hold up for long when applied to the original version of this work.
The reason: whereas Daniel Jackson had enough background history and character development to make you believe that he was the modern day Indy, Ian Grayson doesn't. Don't get me wrong, he's not a blank slate. He has character but not enough of it for me to believe that he's the full package. The same reasoning can be applied to Mackenzie's character.
Jack O'Neill is a character's character. He's got charisma, is an alpha male, and he's kind of a hard ass. We know this. We don't know this about Mackenzie. He's just kind of there with all these crazy skills. I still like him, though, just like I like Ian. I just don't like them as much as Jack and Daniel.
This leads me to my next point: the author only changed the superficial details about these two in order to make them into original works. In other words, the names of the characters (Daniel becomes Ian; Jack becomes Mackenzie) and a few other minor points like Mackenzie being in the Navy instead of the Air Force like Jack. Chicago in place of...St. Louis? I can't remember right now.
In any case, I could have totally bought the changes hook, line, and sinker if the author had expanded elsewhere in some form or fashion, but as far as I can tell, she/he hasn't. Or if the author did expand, it wasn't enough for me to notice...and that's a real shame. Why?
Because both of these novels are so fun. In fact I'm going to go so far as to say that these books - done *properly - could make for an excellent movie. Just the beginning alone (of The Hitch Hiker) is the stuff of a good suspense/thriller. Don't believe me? Read an excerpt.
I mean, yes, the author would need to have done some serious expanding and tweaks. The villains in the first book are nearly omniscient in their pursuit of Ian and Mac and that could have been extremely scary...but it wasn't. Because the author didn't properly build up the villainous characters (this holds true in both the fan fiction and the original work). But, at it's heart, there's still a lot to work with and that's why I still enjoy it.
I just wish the author would have gone back to the drawing board before publishing it. If he/she had, this would have, for sure, been on my favorites list. As it stands, it's just a good read that I'll likely continue to pursue, if only for something to smile about and to see what, if any, changes were made.
*by properly I mean made with a decent budget and not a Lifetime made-for-tv movie.
Length: 228 pages.
My Rating: 3/5 for both.
Book Challenge 2012: Book #2