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Stargate Atlantis #17
The Lost
Reeling from the terrible events of Homecoming: Stargate Atlantis, the team are doing whatever it takes to find their lost crew - even if it means turning to their enemies for help. While Teyla and Ronon seek information from the Genii, Colonel Sheppard reopens tense negotiations with the Wraith, Todd, struggling to ensure that he remains Todd's ally and not his hostage. The Lost: Stargate Atlantis is book two of the exciting Legacy series.
264 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 13, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
June 3, 2017
Second book in an offshoot Stargate Atlantis Legacy e-series, a derivative. I read this because I enjoyed the television series Stargate Atlantis, and wanted to know the rest of the story, especially about Todd / Guide the ancient Wraith, and his uneasy alliance (brotherhood) with Colonol John Sheppard. This book was enjoyable enough yet fairly predictable, in that I immediately guessed the identity of Quicksilver. There were a few scenes showing Todd the Wraith, but he was paired up with Ronan "the caveman" and Dr. Jennifer Keller. There was one short scene showing Todd and John talking via video link. They ask Todd to help them locate their kidnapped crew member.
Other plot lines: We see a little more of the Wraith Queen, Death. The Atlantis team helps the Genii salvage an Ancient Warship. The Floating City is struck by icebergs on their new frozen homeland.
It ends on another cliffhanger, with a shocking denouement. An essential character is still in captivity. The plot moved slowly at times, but it held my interest. The writing quality is okay, however, the authors have included too many inner thoughts, memories of TV episode plots, feelings, etc. Also, they are creating sexual tension between Sheppard and Teyla. They ended her affair with Kanaan, Torren's father. I'd rather not go there. Too soapy.
I was intrigued with Dr. Carson Beckett's speculation on the origin of the Wraith species. His discussion about it with Teyla was well written. Perfectly penned!
This book feels quite different from the television series, yet it belongs within the same space, if that makes sense.
Other plot lines: We see a little more of the Wraith Queen, Death. The Atlantis team helps the Genii salvage an Ancient Warship. The Floating City is struck by icebergs on their new frozen homeland.
It ends on another cliffhanger, with a shocking denouement. An essential character is still in captivity. The plot moved slowly at times, but it held my interest. The writing quality is okay, however, the authors have included too many inner thoughts, memories of TV episode plots, feelings, etc. Also, they are creating sexual tension between Sheppard and Teyla. They ended her affair with Kanaan, Torren's father. I'd rather not go there. Too soapy.
I was intrigued with Dr. Carson Beckett's speculation on the origin of the Wraith species. His discussion about it with Teyla was well written. Perfectly penned!
This book feels quite different from the television series, yet it belongs within the same space, if that makes sense.
September 23, 2017
There are some spoilers perhaps although I haven't finished the book. I have been vague as possible and provide a second warning below before I reveal details.
The premise presented so far in the Legacy series is an enjoyable and plausible story. Plausible in that it makes sense given the story origins left from the premature cancellation by SyFy (IMO).
I have just an ok feel about half way through this novel because of some lazy and illogical events used to create the drama. Some spoilers may follow so read at your peril though I will attempt to be vague as possible.
The situation where some of the heroes become stranded and are left on their own entirely because Atlantis won't expect them to return for days is very lazy. At the very least there would be required reports via radio up to the time they would be leaving the planet where they traveled. If a check in was missed, a team would be sent to recon the situation.
Simply being 60 miles from the stargate is no excuse when they have/had a working jumper. It has been said they could be anywhere on Earth in less than 15 minutes in the previous novel so even if 60 miles would be beyond their radio capability...it isn't...they could easily puddlejump to the gate and report. At the absolute least, they would be expected to check in once every 24 hours and when they were about to leave the planet.
The lazy use of this drives the point of creating a feeling of guilt and responsibility by the leader of this unit. In the guilt, there are additional lazy uses of illogical plot devices used to drive the shipping of putting two favorite characters together. The fan aspect has taken control of a major Atlantis story device and is forcing a relationship where one was never going to happen in the televised show.
Another unit is sent to meet with the Wraith at the same time running concurrent off world operations. In a completely contrived manner, the love interest of a captured member of the team is sent with just one other person to negotiate with the Wraith Todd for information. They sent the love interest of the character who has very little off world time and who is not a diplomat and Ronan one certainly not diplomatic in anything to do with the Wraith.
It is a pairing that would absolutely never happen unless the leadership is very ignorant. The novel attempts to question this weakly to defend the choice between Shephard and Woolsey. It just doesn't make any sense even if you can suspend your disbelief to the utmost.
Another question that hasn't even been asked (I will update this if it ever gets asked and answered) is how the goal of the first unit was ever found by the ally in question. This ally hasn't even developed prop planes at this point, they have nothing that can fly and yet they've found a strategic piece of Ancient technology 60 miles from the stargate on an uninhabited planet.
Draw a 60 mile radius around any point and see how much territory that is to cover on a planet that has been described to have deep canyons, unpleasant weather and a lizard like creature that attacks at night. What are the chances this ally would have ever gotten close to this Ancient object before turning around and going back? There are how many planets in Pegasus?
They covered how many square miles without any transportation devices...they simply walked? 60*60*3.14= about 11,310 square miles. This ally covered on foot 11,310 miles on a random planet to find an Ancient piece of technology.
I'm doing my best to skim the details of relationships which are bunk. I'm doing my best to ignore the implausible strokes of luck that had to happen to even get where this story is going...and I'm waiting for answers.
If it weren't for characters that I enjoy very much, this would be a hard book to rate ok...but I do love these characters, although I hate the relationship being forced on us, so I am finding this ok since there aren't any other hopes of getting more material from this world. If you love Stargate Atlantis, you can make it through this book and hope as I am that the next book isn't as poorly researched or contrived.
Upon completion, I could no longer leave this rated at 2 stars. It is a brutal read.
It resolved absolutely nothing. The only real reason for this book as I can tell is to put John and Teyla together in a relationship. Although it doesn't specifically state that they are now in one at the end, it clearly the case.
This isn't a Stargate Atlantis novel. It is a fanfic ship of the relationship between two characters.
Major plot points were simply dropped and forgotten. Example? The ally who was recovering the ancient warship had been compromised resulting in the ambush of the unit going to retrieve it from whatever planet. It was clear that a spy had infiltrated the ally and informed the Wraith they'd be coming to that planet.
In wrapping up that part of the story, not one mention about that ambush...it was just dropped entirely. The ally in question was especially antagonistic toward Atlantis and the natural your side compromised the mission in the first place never was said. Just lazy. The question was also never approached about how they found the ancient ship in the first place.
The authors seem to love having John and Teyla together but hate John being a competent leader. They tore him down for his decisions at every turn. They also treated Mr. Woolsey with contempt. Sam Carter and Teyla though were promoted as the real backbone of the leadership. This point of driving the female as the real power was made even more clear as the book criticized the Genii for their disdain for female leadership and yet portrayed Radin Ladim's sister as the strong and competent one of her people.
I really like the concept that is supposed to be the main plot...or I would think was supposed to be the main subject...of having a key Atlantis person kidnapped by the Wraith and the table turned as the retrovirus that turned Michael human has apparently been reverse engineered. Unfortunately this matter received barely subplot attention. Taking a backseat to the love interest of the fanfic authors.
I recommend reading if you love Stargate Atlantis. I also recommend skipping entire conversations and paragraphs when you get the sense that it is fluff...and I hope you don't get nearly as many of those as I felt I found. After the midsection of the book, I would guess I skimmed/skipped 30% at a minimum to just get to the end.
The premise presented so far in the Legacy series is an enjoyable and plausible story. Plausible in that it makes sense given the story origins left from the premature cancellation by SyFy (IMO).
I have just an ok feel about half way through this novel because of some lazy and illogical events used to create the drama. Some spoilers may follow so read at your peril though I will attempt to be vague as possible.
The situation where some of the heroes become stranded and are left on their own entirely because Atlantis won't expect them to return for days is very lazy. At the very least there would be required reports via radio up to the time they would be leaving the planet where they traveled. If a check in was missed, a team would be sent to recon the situation.
Simply being 60 miles from the stargate is no excuse when they have/had a working jumper. It has been said they could be anywhere on Earth in less than 15 minutes in the previous novel so even if 60 miles would be beyond their radio capability...it isn't...they could easily puddlejump to the gate and report. At the absolute least, they would be expected to check in once every 24 hours and when they were about to leave the planet.
The lazy use of this drives the point of creating a feeling of guilt and responsibility by the leader of this unit. In the guilt, there are additional lazy uses of illogical plot devices used to drive the shipping of putting two favorite characters together. The fan aspect has taken control of a major Atlantis story device and is forcing a relationship where one was never going to happen in the televised show.
Another unit is sent to meet with the Wraith at the same time running concurrent off world operations. In a completely contrived manner, the love interest of a captured member of the team is sent with just one other person to negotiate with the Wraith Todd for information. They sent the love interest of the character who has very little off world time and who is not a diplomat and Ronan one certainly not diplomatic in anything to do with the Wraith.
It is a pairing that would absolutely never happen unless the leadership is very ignorant. The novel attempts to question this weakly to defend the choice between Shephard and Woolsey. It just doesn't make any sense even if you can suspend your disbelief to the utmost.
Another question that hasn't even been asked (I will update this if it ever gets asked and answered) is how the goal of the first unit was ever found by the ally in question. This ally hasn't even developed prop planes at this point, they have nothing that can fly and yet they've found a strategic piece of Ancient technology 60 miles from the stargate on an uninhabited planet.
Draw a 60 mile radius around any point and see how much territory that is to cover on a planet that has been described to have deep canyons, unpleasant weather and a lizard like creature that attacks at night. What are the chances this ally would have ever gotten close to this Ancient object before turning around and going back? There are how many planets in Pegasus?
They covered how many square miles without any transportation devices...they simply walked? 60*60*3.14= about 11,310 square miles. This ally covered on foot 11,310 miles on a random planet to find an Ancient piece of technology.
I'm doing my best to skim the details of relationships which are bunk. I'm doing my best to ignore the implausible strokes of luck that had to happen to even get where this story is going...and I'm waiting for answers.
If it weren't for characters that I enjoy very much, this would be a hard book to rate ok...but I do love these characters, although I hate the relationship being forced on us, so I am finding this ok since there aren't any other hopes of getting more material from this world. If you love Stargate Atlantis, you can make it through this book and hope as I am that the next book isn't as poorly researched or contrived.
Upon completion, I could no longer leave this rated at 2 stars. It is a brutal read.
It resolved absolutely nothing. The only real reason for this book as I can tell is to put John and Teyla together in a relationship. Although it doesn't specifically state that they are now in one at the end, it clearly the case.
This isn't a Stargate Atlantis novel. It is a fanfic ship of the relationship between two characters.
Major plot points were simply dropped and forgotten. Example? The ally who was recovering the ancient warship had been compromised resulting in the ambush of the unit going to retrieve it from whatever planet. It was clear that a spy had infiltrated the ally and informed the Wraith they'd be coming to that planet.
In wrapping up that part of the story, not one mention about that ambush...it was just dropped entirely. The ally in question was especially antagonistic toward Atlantis and the natural your side compromised the mission in the first place never was said. Just lazy. The question was also never approached about how they found the ancient ship in the first place.
The authors seem to love having John and Teyla together but hate John being a competent leader. They tore him down for his decisions at every turn. They also treated Mr. Woolsey with contempt. Sam Carter and Teyla though were promoted as the real backbone of the leadership. This point of driving the female as the real power was made even more clear as the book criticized the Genii for their disdain for female leadership and yet portrayed Radin Ladim's sister as the strong and competent one of her people.
I really like the concept that is supposed to be the main plot...or I would think was supposed to be the main subject...of having a key Atlantis person kidnapped by the Wraith and the table turned as the retrovirus that turned Michael human has apparently been reverse engineered. Unfortunately this matter received barely subplot attention. Taking a backseat to the love interest of the fanfic authors.
I recommend reading if you love Stargate Atlantis. I also recommend skipping entire conversations and paragraphs when you get the sense that it is fluff...and I hope you don't get nearly as many of those as I felt I found. After the midsection of the book, I would guess I skimmed/skipped 30% at a minimum to just get to the end.
April 20, 2018
The fact that the Wraith think of Elizabeth & Sam & Teyla as Atlantis Queens and have a ton of respect for them made this book so much more awsome.
January 15, 2012
Good God, why do I continue to read this crap?
February 1, 2022
What a ride. Rodney is a Wraith? Can't wait for the next one.
Read for a Second Time: still 5 stars
Read for a Second Time: still 5 stars
December 2, 2023
Overall, I liked this one. There were elements I liked a lot better than the first one, and the twists were awesome. The ending was spectacular and left me wanting more!
Carson really had some truly shining moments. It was cool to see Teyla dive deeper into her Wraith side. I loved her conversation with Carson about all that. Quicksilver's chapters were my favorite, and I look forward to following that plotline and his continued development in the next book.
Of everyone, Dr. Keller and Sam felt like they were most in-character for the whole book. A danger of continuing a tv show via novels is that almost everything that the actors, writers, and directors from the show bring into it that really make the characters themselves is either not there or very rarely captured properly. So yes, there were a lot of times when it felt like reading fanfiction rather than a proper continuation. But hey, I was entertained, and I plan to read the next one.
On the bright side, there were A LOT fewer grammatical errors in this one. There were still a decent number of typos, but not enough to inhibit my enjoyment. However, I do have a formatting complaint, and I don't know if it was because I was reading an ebook or not--the narrative constantly switched POV without even an added space between paragraphs to signal the reader. I was continually getting whiplash from starting a new paragraph and discovering that the time, POV, and location had switched to a completely different character.
One note I did have on things straying significantly from the show: This book made it very clear that the Genii are rather misogynistic and overly strict about gender rolls. The book portrayed them as having little to no respect for the female leaders from Atlantis. I genuinely never got that impression in the tv show, so it felt forced and more like the authors were pushing an agenda where they could bash someone about that stuff than actually trying to construct a faithful continuation of the tv show.
*Content Guide below*
Sexual content: A little innuendo here and there and a mention of one society not looking favorably on homosexuality.
Language: About on par with what's in the show, but I think it was less than was in book one
Drugs and Alcohol: Some characters get a little tipsy. There is a colony of Wraith worshipers that come across as drug addicts, but not incredibly overt.
Carson really had some truly shining moments. It was cool to see Teyla dive deeper into her Wraith side. I loved her conversation with Carson about all that. Quicksilver's chapters were my favorite, and I look forward to following that plotline and his continued development in the next book.
Of everyone, Dr. Keller and Sam felt like they were most in-character for the whole book. A danger of continuing a tv show via novels is that almost everything that the actors, writers, and directors from the show bring into it that really make the characters themselves is either not there or very rarely captured properly. So yes, there were a lot of times when it felt like reading fanfiction rather than a proper continuation. But hey, I was entertained, and I plan to read the next one.
On the bright side, there were A LOT fewer grammatical errors in this one. There were still a decent number of typos, but not enough to inhibit my enjoyment. However, I do have a formatting complaint, and I don't know if it was because I was reading an ebook or not--the narrative constantly switched POV without even an added space between paragraphs to signal the reader. I was continually getting whiplash from starting a new paragraph and discovering that the time, POV, and location had switched to a completely different character.
One note I did have on things straying significantly from the show: This book made it very clear that the Genii are rather misogynistic and overly strict about gender rolls. The book portrayed them as having little to no respect for the female leaders from Atlantis. I genuinely never got that impression in the tv show, so it felt forced and more like the authors were pushing an agenda where they could bash someone about that stuff than actually trying to construct a faithful continuation of the tv show.
*Content Guide below*
Sexual content: A little innuendo here and there and a mention of one society not looking favorably on homosexuality.
Language: About on par with what's in the show, but I think it was less than was in book one
Drugs and Alcohol: Some characters get a little tipsy. There is a colony of Wraith worshipers that come across as drug addicts, but not incredibly overt.
September 20, 2018
Ok, this one is _significantly_ better than the last one. The issue of pacing is improved, and certain aspects of the story (i.e. Rodney) are quite captivating. But. The characters were juggling so many idiot balls. They just kept passing them around and getting smacked into face by them, it was getting quite ridiculous. Quite a lot of filler, too. And, many times, I kept asking "wait, you know this bit how, exactly??"
And, fundamentally, there was no arc in this book - there was no rising action, no climax, no falling action, and certainly no resolution. Sure, it is one book in a fairly long series, but it should also be able to tell a stand-alone story, or it's pointless to divide it into multiple books. Reading a summary of the next two-three books, they seem to be more of the same, very little progression between them. Seems like a waste if you ask me.
And, fundamentally, there was no arc in this book - there was no rising action, no climax, no falling action, and certainly no resolution. Sure, it is one book in a fairly long series, but it should also be able to tell a stand-alone story, or it's pointless to divide it into multiple books. Reading a summary of the next two-three books, they seem to be more of the same, very little progression between them. Seems like a waste if you ask me.
July 31, 2025
Good story, bad transitions
When I read the story, it mostly flows and is ok with the Stargate universe. The transitions are horrible however. They don't put any real space between one scene and the next. They just start up in the next sentence "oh, and over here", and it us again a bit jarring. Two books in and it is the same transition issue. It will probably continue. The relationship of Jennifer and Rodney flow well. But teyla and John? It is like they refuse to have their obvious relationship be openly acknowledged. It is like the authors want to show extremely close friendship that everyone sees is more than that, but are afraid to show the logical continuation. I would go three stars due to that but it seems unfair to the overall story.
When I read the story, it mostly flows and is ok with the Stargate universe. The transitions are horrible however. They don't put any real space between one scene and the next. They just start up in the next sentence "oh, and over here", and it us again a bit jarring. Two books in and it is the same transition issue. It will probably continue. The relationship of Jennifer and Rodney flow well. But teyla and John? It is like they refuse to have their obvious relationship be openly acknowledged. It is like the authors want to show extremely close friendship that everyone sees is more than that, but are afraid to show the logical continuation. I would go three stars due to that but it seems unfair to the overall story.
March 8, 2019
I can overlook typos especially because I know these books are rushed out to appeal to the fanbase while they're paying attention so no points off for that though it did make difficult reading at times. The only thing keeping it from 5 stars to me is that Teyla supposedly knew Todd's real name from the time she was a wraith queen. Yet she never felt to share that information? That makes no sense to me, wraith naming may not seem like an important thing on the surface but the more knowledge of your enemy the better. Aside from that it was a nice episode of stargate Atlantis maybe 2 really but still fun and makes me pine for the days of stargate franchise.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2021
Great Original Plot But...
Great shocking plot twist in this series overall. However, this
Novel was very slow in places and dragged the whole novel down. The idea of this is wonderfully inventive but, all the dialog within the Wraith ship is impossible to believe never mind so boring this were the places I would end up stopping for the night to sleep. Hopefully the third book improves
Great shocking plot twist in this series overall. However, this
Novel was very slow in places and dragged the whole novel down. The idea of this is wonderfully inventive but, all the dialog within the Wraith ship is impossible to believe never mind so boring this were the places I would end up stopping for the night to sleep. Hopefully the third book improves
January 1, 2018
It was awesome
I just love it every book makes feel like I am back to the show and character are very well written and action is superberg like only
Stargate could. Give it over and over
I just love it every book makes feel like I am back to the show and character are very well written and action is superberg like only
Stargate could. Give it over and over
September 19, 2018
Suspenseful and exciting but still a cliffhanger! A totally worth it cliffhanger but still... cliffhanger! XD
I am very much enjoying the insights into Wraith culture and Athosian culture. Wonderful little extra tidbits that never really get explored in a television series. Kudos to the authors!
I am very much enjoying the insights into Wraith culture and Athosian culture. Wonderful little extra tidbits that never really get explored in a television series. Kudos to the authors!
March 21, 2020
There needs to be a way to give special books more than just 5 measly stars!
This was incredible! Unbelievable! I loved it so much it’s not even funny! The twists and turns and poor Rodney and Queen Death is gonna get it and go Carter and just too many things!!!
This was incredible! Unbelievable! I loved it so much it’s not even funny! The twists and turns and poor Rodney and Queen Death is gonna get it and go Carter and just too many things!!!
December 6, 2021
This book is maybe a bit denser than is merited, but Graham clearly cared to write a novel worthy of the series’ continuation. There were a few things I could nitpick, but overall I was happy to see this series happen.
May 6, 2024
In the old "Did not finish" pile.
The author cannot write these characters well. Tayla using the term "Ho", filler about pigeons and other such nonsense.
I desperately just want to know more about the team we loved on Tv. Instead we get fan fiction filler.
The author cannot write these characters well. Tayla using the term "Ho", filler about pigeons and other such nonsense.
I desperately just want to know more about the team we loved on Tv. Instead we get fan fiction filler.
July 10, 2018
McKay is probably my favorite character. He's kidnapped and has to be rescued and I thoroughly enjoyed the ensuing chaos.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2019
It continues thank god, even if it it's less than amazing.
March 31, 2020
The Lost
More of a filler than a story. I'm not a fan of the romantic element being brought in. It didn't happen In the TV series, so it doesn't feel right in the book.
More of a filler than a story. I'm not a fan of the romantic element being brought in. It didn't happen In the TV series, so it doesn't feel right in the book.
April 27, 2021
I really wish they'd had Jo Graham and Amy Griswold writing for the show.
August 2, 2021
The Lost
Captures the dynamics of the series well. Plot lines consistent and plausible in the confines of the series. Good job.
Captures the dynamics of the series well. Plot lines consistent and plausible in the confines of the series. Good job.
March 14, 2022
fun to read
I had a lot of fun reading this book. I am frustrated with some things but. Overall this is a fun read to enjoy on a rainy day.
I had a lot of fun reading this book. I am frustrated with some things but. Overall this is a fun read to enjoy on a rainy day.
April 3, 2023
Great stuff. Fun story, interesting situations, excellent background detail on the Wraith. I really wish this had been part of the tv series as it would have been tremendous.
May 29, 2024
Excellent
A excellent follow up to book 1 I had difficulty in putting it down, great cliffhanger at the end, onward to book 3
A excellent follow up to book 1 I had difficulty in putting it down, great cliffhanger at the end, onward to book 3
November 12, 2025
4.5⭐️ if I could, only because it didn’t HOOK me the way the previous one did. Still, very good story, great character judgement and story. Loved it
March 15, 2011
Rodney McKay has been abducted by the Wraith and the Atlantis team has had little luck tracking down their missing scientist on their own. They split into two teams to gather what information they can from their shaky alliances. Sheppard, Teyla, and Dr. Beckett visit the Genii while Ronon and Dr. Keller meet with Todd. Neither mission goes as planned but valuable information is gleaned regardless. But what the Atlantis team doesn't know is that Dr. McKay has no desire to be rescued.
Reading THE LOST was a two steps forward, one step back experience for me and, by that, I mean for everything I enjoyed about the story, there was something that I didn't. There's definitely nothing wrong with the bare bones of the novel. The writing is on the higher end of the readability scale and everyone is in character 97% of the time. Much better than some of the other Atlantis novels which sometimes read like amateurish fanfiction. The problems I had were more to do with plot and changes the authors made to established Atlantis canon.
I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum throughout this review but I'll add this warning to be on the safe side.
I did enjoy the many scenes between Sheppard and Teyla and I'm happy with the direction that relationship is heading in. However, giving the amount of time that has elapsed between HOMECOMING and THE LOST it feels a little bit like too much, too soon. I guess we are supposed to assume things moved in leaps and bounds that long stretch Atlantis was stuck on Earth but without those type of scenes to go by, it all just seems to be moving very quickly. Some of what happened in THE LOST between Shep and Teyla may have felt more organic coming in book three or four. I'm very pleased about the small side plot involving Major Lorne. There's never enough Lorne in my opinion so, I'm always happy to see him.
The description of the book made it sound very Keller-centric which was my biggest fear going in. Thankfully, her part wasn't excessively large. Her mission with Ronon, however, was ridiculously contrived in order to have the two of them alone together. I find it very hard to believe that Woolsey would send his Chief Medical Officer to lead a meeting with Todd. Not to mention that it felt inappropriate for someone that emotionally involved to lead a mission of that significance. I found Keller to be extremely abrasive and arrogant throughout the mission with Ronon and only served to remind me how much I disliked her character on the show. Now, for my biggest issue with this particular mission: going by the uniforms we saw on the show, I find it very hard to believe that someone could secret a flash-bang up their sleeve. That one left me going "*pfft* yeah, right".
Still no mention of Ronon's relationship with Amelia Banks. I would be happy with someone asking Ronon, "How are things with Banks?" and Ronon replying, "Good." or "Didn't work out." Anything would be better than ignoring it completely.
I'm still struggling to find a point for the character of Dr. Robinson. I mean, Dr. Heightmeyer was in what? 3 episodes before becoming the unfortunate Red Shirt. I guess I'm not seeing the need for a replacement. I think what's bothering me is that her scenes feel shoe-horned in. Like, what's the point of an entire scene of her refilling a pitcher of milk and talking about Kosher MRE's with Atlantis' cook? Scenes like that felt like padding, like they don't have enough to fill six books. The deal with Zelenka's glasses felt the same way. I was always taught that if a scene didn't move the plot along it shouldn't be there and there were definitely several scenes that didn't move the plot anywhere.
My biggest concern with the direction of these novels is the Wraith. The Wraith of the tv series were clearly patterned on insects/bees (hives, queens, warriors, drones) and the authors attributing these stereotypically Native American tribal-sounding names to everything just doesn't mesh. While I don't believe the Wraith are going around calling themselves Steve, Kenny, or Todd; I also can't imagine them calling themselves Bonewhite, SteelFlower, or Guide. And, well, Quicksilver; when I see someone called Quicksilver, the only person who comes to mind is Pietro Maximoff. And I don't believe they'd call Carter "She Who Carries Many Things". If anything, they'd call her "The one called Carter" or something along those lines. But what aggravates me the most is having Dr. Beckett change his opinion of the Wraith's origin from the established evolutionary mixture of human and Iratus bug DNA to the Firefly/Serenity Reaver route of innocent victims of an over-reaching authority.
Even with these concerns I am looking forward to book three because I miss Atlantis and I'm hoping that some of the things that don't feel right to me at the moment will make sense at the end of the series.
Reading THE LOST was a two steps forward, one step back experience for me and, by that, I mean for everything I enjoyed about the story, there was something that I didn't. There's definitely nothing wrong with the bare bones of the novel. The writing is on the higher end of the readability scale and everyone is in character 97% of the time. Much better than some of the other Atlantis novels which sometimes read like amateurish fanfiction. The problems I had were more to do with plot and changes the authors made to established Atlantis canon.
I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum throughout this review but I'll add this warning to be on the safe side.
I did enjoy the many scenes between Sheppard and Teyla and I'm happy with the direction that relationship is heading in. However, giving the amount of time that has elapsed between HOMECOMING and THE LOST it feels a little bit like too much, too soon. I guess we are supposed to assume things moved in leaps and bounds that long stretch Atlantis was stuck on Earth but without those type of scenes to go by, it all just seems to be moving very quickly. Some of what happened in THE LOST between Shep and Teyla may have felt more organic coming in book three or four. I'm very pleased about the small side plot involving Major Lorne. There's never enough Lorne in my opinion so, I'm always happy to see him.
The description of the book made it sound very Keller-centric which was my biggest fear going in. Thankfully, her part wasn't excessively large. Her mission with Ronon, however, was ridiculously contrived in order to have the two of them alone together. I find it very hard to believe that Woolsey would send his Chief Medical Officer to lead a meeting with Todd. Not to mention that it felt inappropriate for someone that emotionally involved to lead a mission of that significance. I found Keller to be extremely abrasive and arrogant throughout the mission with Ronon and only served to remind me how much I disliked her character on the show. Now, for my biggest issue with this particular mission: going by the uniforms we saw on the show, I find it very hard to believe that someone could secret a flash-bang up their sleeve. That one left me going "*pfft* yeah, right".
Still no mention of Ronon's relationship with Amelia Banks. I would be happy with someone asking Ronon, "How are things with Banks?" and Ronon replying, "Good." or "Didn't work out." Anything would be better than ignoring it completely.
I'm still struggling to find a point for the character of Dr. Robinson. I mean, Dr. Heightmeyer was in what? 3 episodes before becoming the unfortunate Red Shirt. I guess I'm not seeing the need for a replacement. I think what's bothering me is that her scenes feel shoe-horned in. Like, what's the point of an entire scene of her refilling a pitcher of milk and talking about Kosher MRE's with Atlantis' cook? Scenes like that felt like padding, like they don't have enough to fill six books. The deal with Zelenka's glasses felt the same way. I was always taught that if a scene didn't move the plot along it shouldn't be there and there were definitely several scenes that didn't move the plot anywhere.
My biggest concern with the direction of these novels is the Wraith. The Wraith of the tv series were clearly patterned on insects/bees (hives, queens, warriors, drones) and the authors attributing these stereotypically Native American tribal-sounding names to everything just doesn't mesh. While I don't believe the Wraith are going around calling themselves Steve, Kenny, or Todd; I also can't imagine them calling themselves Bonewhite, SteelFlower, or Guide. And, well, Quicksilver; when I see someone called Quicksilver, the only person who comes to mind is Pietro Maximoff. And I don't believe they'd call Carter "She Who Carries Many Things". If anything, they'd call her "The one called Carter" or something along those lines. But what aggravates me the most is having Dr. Beckett change his opinion of the Wraith's origin from the established evolutionary mixture of human and Iratus bug DNA to the Firefly/Serenity Reaver route of innocent victims of an over-reaching authority.
Even with these concerns I am looking forward to book three because I miss Atlantis and I'm hoping that some of the things that don't feel right to me at the moment will make sense at the end of the series.
July 15, 2021
I don’t know what series other people are reading but this is so far from SGA as you can get. This is a fan written story putting all the “wanted to happen in the show” elements into fanfic that got published.
Again, Richard is not and never will be called Dick, that and Teyla/John makes me cringe!!!!
I barely get by these by speed reading.
Again, Richard is not and never will be called Dick, that and Teyla/John makes me cringe!!!!
I barely get by these by speed reading.
September 19, 2015
I would easily have given the book 5 stars, but a few things had bugged me while I was reading, and I think I'm just gonna list them here before talking about the great ones.
But on the whole, it was a very good book. The general plot is near excellent, and I found myself engulfed in the book without being able to put it down until I read it from cover to cover. I found the story with Dr Robinson quite refreshing, it added a fresh point of view to the events, from someone new to the city, and I liked it.
Long story short, the book is really worth reading, if you're not that bothered by little details that may seem strange.
But on the whole, it was a very good book. The general plot is near excellent, and I found myself engulfed in the book without being able to put it down until I read it from cover to cover. I found the story with Dr Robinson quite refreshing, it added a fresh point of view to the events, from someone new to the city, and I liked it.
Long story short, the book is really worth reading, if you're not that bothered by little details that may seem strange.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2020
I enjoyed the first 75% of the novel. Certain sections were unnecessary, e.g. the descriptions of Atlantis's kitchen. If you've seen at least a few episodes of the television show, you'd already have had a general idea of the grandness of Atlantis, so no real need to give that much detail of the kitchen. Nor did I care that they had kosher MRE's. At that point in the novel I was ready to be on with it and get McKay rescued. The ending was terribly disappointing. All that build just to end the way it did. What a waste of time, ink, and electricity. GRAHAM AND GRISWOLD could have shortened this novel combined it with the 3rd novel. A few places were written oddly that I couldn't determine if it was typographical or they were merely using expressions I had never heard of before. There were also blatant typographical errors due to poor proofreading. I probably given this five stars despite some of what I were editing mistakes, if it wasn't for the crappy ending. What I did like is the way the Wraith psyche was better fleshed out in this novel. From reading this book I was able to get a better sense of the social structure and issues of the Wraith and apparently they were not much different from our own human race, e.g. issues of classical, gender roles, overpopulation in times of limited resources and limited technology. I also enjoyed the characterizations because it felt like the author's really had a good sense of the characters' personalities on the show and were able to translate them into written form. It was also interesting that the author's were better able to describe the problem of sexism in the Genii people because it was portrayed much more subtly on the show.
June 26, 2014
I didn't like this one as much as the last book in the series, but it's still a solid story, so I'll give it a three.
There were some really well done parts. The writing is smoother this time, so it feels like the authors got into the groove. I also love what's going on with Rodney. He has a really strong storyline in this. However, that's the end of what I liked.
Unfortunately, what I don't like is a longer list. I really didn't like Jennifer in this. She gets upset with people for doing their job, and acts like she's entitled to everyone's respect, even when Ronon points out exactly why she hasn't earned respect. That speech seems to go over her head.
I don't like the million different storylines going nowhere. We see Lorne and Radek doing stuff that doesn't do anything to advance the plot. We see a new psychologist and a cook have an entire scene that does nothing to advance the plot. We see the Genii being completely canon Genii, so I liked the characterization, but it all does nothing to advance the plot. I really didn't enjoy all the side stories here. Sadly, I really, really didn't.
But the Rodney storyline is enough to hold the three stars because I will read more because DAMN... I have to know what's going to happen with that.
There were some really well done parts. The writing is smoother this time, so it feels like the authors got into the groove. I also love what's going on with Rodney. He has a really strong storyline in this. However, that's the end of what I liked.
Unfortunately, what I don't like is a longer list. I really didn't like Jennifer in this. She gets upset with people for doing their job, and acts like she's entitled to everyone's respect, even when Ronon points out exactly why she hasn't earned respect. That speech seems to go over her head.
I don't like the million different storylines going nowhere. We see Lorne and Radek doing stuff that doesn't do anything to advance the plot. We see a new psychologist and a cook have an entire scene that does nothing to advance the plot. We see the Genii being completely canon Genii, so I liked the characterization, but it all does nothing to advance the plot. I really didn't enjoy all the side stories here. Sadly, I really, really didn't.
But the Rodney storyline is enough to hold the three stars because I will read more because DAMN... I have to know what's going to happen with that.
May 19, 2021
The second book of the Legacy series starts right where the first one left off, with the team and all of Atlantis dealing with the aftermath of Rodney's abduction and the start of a massive search effort, including reaching out to some of their most tentative allies in hopes of finding any information that will lead them to their missing man. Meanwhile, we also get some more insight into life aboard a Wraith ship and an intriguing look into their minds that the TV format just didn't allow for. The recent history of Atlantis as told by a Wraith took a little to sort through but was a fascinating angle on the story, as was Carson's very interesting theory on the origins of the species, which I hope we'll delve into further in these books. I also really like that the authors don't just stick with the main characters, but also let the minor characters out to play, giving a more complete picture of life in Atlantis and letting the whole ensemble cast get their interesting moments and decent amounts of time on the page.
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