Alliances

Stargate SG-1 #8

by Karen Miller

The price of failure…

All SG-1 wanted was technology to save Earth from the Goa'uld, but the mission to Euronda was a terrible failure. Now the dogs of Washington are baying for Jack O'Neill's blood-and Senator Robert Kinsey is leading the pack.

When Jacob Carter asks General Hammond for SG-1's participation in a mission for the Tok'ra, it seems like the answer to O'Neill's dilemma. The secretive Tok'ra are running out of hosts, and Jacob believes he's found the answer-but it means O'Neill and his team must risk their lives infiltrating a Goa'uld slave breeding farm to recruit humans willing to join the Tok'ra.

It's a risky proposition, especially since the fallout from Euronda has strained the team's bonds almost to breaking. If they can't find a way to put their differences behind them, they might not make it home alive...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In, Ebooks, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy

302 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published February 8, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. Please see this thread for more details.

Also writes as "K.E. Mills"

Lord, do you really want to know?

Oh, all right.

I was born in Vancouver, Canada, and came to Australia with my parents when I was 2. I think. Dad’s an Aussie, Mum’s English, go figure. Talk about Fate and Destiny. But three passports come in handy.

I’ve always lived in Sydney, except when I didn’t. After graduating with a BA Communications from the then Institute of Technology (now University) a few years ahead of Hugh Jackman, dammit, talk about rotten timing, I headed off to England and lived there for 3 years. It was interesting. I worked for a bunch of nutters in a community health centre and got the sack because I refused to go do EST with them (you stand in the middle of a circle and thank people for hurling verbal abuse at you for your own good, they said, and then were surprised when I said no), was a customer services officer for DHL London (would you believe at one time I knew every single airport code for every single airport in the world, off by heart?!?), got roped into an extremely dubious life insurance selling scheme (I was young and broke, need I say more?) and ended up realizing a life-long dream of working professionally with horses. After 18 grueling months I woke up, and came home.

Since then I’ve done customer service in the insurance and telecommunications industries, been a training officer, PR Officer in local government, production assistant in educational publishing, taught English and Business Communication at TAFE, been a supervisor and run my own sf/fantasy/mystery bookshop. Money for jam, there! I also managed to squeeze in a Master’s Degree in Children’s Literature from Macquarie University.

I used to have horses of my own, and spent lots of time and money showing, breeding, training and judging, but then I came off one time too many and so a large part of my life ended.

When I’m not writing I’m heavily involved in the Castle Hill Players, my local community theatre group, as an actor, director, prompt, stage manager (but not all at once!) and publicity officer.

I’m a story junkie. Books, film, tv ... you name it. Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica (the new series), Stargate, Firefly, X-Men, Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, The Professionals, Forever Knight, Due South, The West Wing, The Shield, Sandbaggers, Homicide, Wiseguy, The Shield, The Closer ... and the list goes on. And that’s just the media stuff!

I love music. While writing I listen primarily to film soundtracks, because they’ve been written primarily to evoke emotional responses in the listener. This helps access emotion during tough scenes. Plus, the music is pretty. At least the stuff I listen to is. Favourite film composers include Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestri, James Horner and John Williams. Vocalists I enjoy are Josh Groban, Russell Watson, Sarah McLachlan, Simon and Garfunkel , Queen, The Moody Blues, Steeleye Span, Meatloaf, Mike Oldfield ... anyone who can carry a tune, basically.

In short, I’m an only child with an overactive imagination, 3 dogs, 2 cats and not enough hours in the day. I don’t drink, smoke, or do enough exercise. I make periodic stabs at eating properly. Chocolate is my besetting downfall.

So that’s me. You can wake up now ...

Reviews

[Linda Kaban · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I've been so impressed by an SG-1 or Atlantis book as I was with this one. The adventure was great, but the author's treatment of the characters was phenomenal. Jack, Daniel and Sam dealt with some MAJOR issues; issues we could only have speculated about after watching the Eurondan episode. Great book!!!

[Sally · Rating 1 out of 5]

After the events of season 4 episode, The Other Side, SG-1 might just be coming apart. An altercation between O'Neill and Senator Kinsey doesn't help matters either. Thankfully, there's a mission that Jacob Carter and the Tok'ra think would be suitable for the team...

To be honest, this book was a total struggle to get through. A pain in the mik'ta. Since the publishing company, Fandemonium, is comprised of fans and knowledgable beings of the Stargate SG-1 show, I had hoped for decent writing. This is the first book where I've been let down big time.

I could pull several examples where this book fails, but that would take too long. However, most of the problems fall into two categories: continuity (lack of), and characterization (lack of). The trouble started - at least for me - on page 82, during a discussion at an archaeological site of all places. Sam Carter says, "I always wanted a cat," and the rest of her statement implies that she has NEVER had a cat. This is despite the appearance of her cat Schroedinger in not just one but two early SG-1 episodes. On the next page, she calls O'Neill "Jack" albeit in a conversation with Daniel. Unfortunately, I can think of maybe only ONE occasion where she has ever done that. He is nearly always "Colonel O'Neill," regardless of the context. Further along in the story, we have a situation where the contextual thoughts are better suited to a time after the next episode, Upgrades and the subsequent Divide and Conquer. The problems don't just lie with Carter: Daniel Jackson manages to conveniently forget that he has faced dire circumstances in captivity previous to this time frame, or that Jack was in the USAF Special Forces. And has everyone forgotten that Major Paul Davis has been in more than one episode by now? No character should need reminded of who he is, especially when he assisted the team in the season opener Small Victories.

Ultimately, this could have been a good book. It had a decent plotline and exploring the team conflict in comparison to the conflict they have with the Tok'ra certainly could have been exploited more. Sadly, however, this fan was distracted by situations such as the ones I've outlined above. It gets one star for it being a Stargate novel and because it did include Major Davis, who happens to be my favourite recurring character.

[BlueRose99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great follow-up to one of the darker moments from the show, nice team angst.

[Brittany]

I have a love hate relationship with this book. But here are some events that are tattooed in my heart from it:

My besties Major Paul Davis and Daniel talk on the phone.
Sam’s a big Monty Python fan.
The gang have movie nights at Jack’s.
Martouf isn’t subtle about how much he likes Sam.
Daniel Jackson is girl dad coded.
Jack yearns. He YEARNS for Sam.
Daniel trying to speak to his dead wife, “Sha’re, can you hear me, sweetheart? Tell me what to do…”
Jack says Janet is a sister he never had.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably not a perfect book, but one I was totally immersed in and one that has exactly the things I like in tie-in novels. There were so many nice observations about the characters and so many scenes where the characters discuss the events from The Other Side and how they relate to the mission in this book. Plus I'm always so happy to just see our team members being good friends and caring about each other. (Also, I was a bit apprehensive about Kinsey being in this book and this potentially being very focused on Earth politics, but it thankfully wasn't at all.)

[Jo R. Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great follow up to the episode 'The Other Side', as the team (especially Daniel and Jack) have to get through their disageements about that mission while on another, very difficult, mission.
I was slightly annoyed that I couldn't get away from the Jack/Sam shippy stuff even in one of the books, but I could overlook it in favour of the story.

[Craterdweller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea

Although I can see where the author was trying to go, this story wasn't for me. Takes place just after the second episode of Season four so I expected better chemistry between Sam and Jack. I wound up skimming to the end to see if the issues between Daniel and Jack were resolved. All the characters including Hammond and Jacob Carter just seemed off.

[Ryan Trussell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was enjoyable and action packed. The writer was good at translating the characters from the tv show to novel form. A good sequel and follow up to the episode “the other side”.

[Nicky2910 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stargate: SG-1: Alliances by Karen Miller Right after the mission to Euronda O'Neill's threatened by Kinsey with a court-martial because of his actions which led to the death of Alar - and to Earth not procuring new weapons. Meanwhile, the Tok'ra come up with a plan to get new hosts and spies. They plan on infiltrating a human breeding farm, and for that endeavour to succeed they need SG-1... which conveniently would put O'Neill out of Kinsey's sight.
 
I picked up this novel because of the post-Euronda premise where Jack and Daniel clashed in quite an unprecedented way. But somehow, this was the weakest part because, quite frankly, at times it felt as though this novel was set early in the series, not its 4th season. Everyone's unsure of everyone else, Daniel believes himself on the high moral ground which gets tiresome really fast, and the author doesn't waste time emphasizing Jack's past in covert ops including his stint in an Iraqi prison (that's only been mentioned twice within the series, that I can remember). Okay, but why not elaborate on that? Instead, she chooses to have him second-guess himself left and right about killing Alar.
 
When I think about Euronda, *that*'s not the moment I was doubting Jack, that decision to close the iris on Alar, after having warned him not to follow. Indubitably a questionable decision in itself but Jack isn't the person to doubt himself after the fact. But in pondering the aftermath, I'd have Jack question his single-minded quest for new weapons, his being deceived and not asking questions until it's almost too late. There's a reason why people should hear both sides of a conflict before making any kinds of judgement. And that should apply to military personnel as well, tasked with first contact. Standing order to procure weapons aside, this is the line dividing the SGC from the NID and their illegal operation.
 
And Daniel? Back in that episode he was right to question that war. But he should have talked to Jack in private, not in Alar's presence - who after all could use the division within the team for his own purpose. So Jack's right to be angry and lash out at Daniel in this novel. But I definitely could have done without that heart to heart where Daniel practically forgives Jack for killing Alar and everything's fine again. I've read better fanfic.
 
Unfortunately, one of the most promising premises, the threat Kinsey's posing to Jack, is dropped after the first confrontation. It's like once SG-1 is off Earth, Kinsey's vanishing back into the hole he's crawled out of, as well. Granted, we know that nothing comes out of Kinsey's threat of a court-martial, but I'd still have appreciated some mention of what's going to happen after SG-1's return, just one sentence would have been enough...
 
The main plot: Quite honestly, I don't understand why SG-1 claims to free those humans from slavery (even back when they're only targeting select humans, not the whole farm) when all it is they're doing is send them to the Tok'ra - what if they don't decide to become Tok'ra hosts or spies? What happens then? No one mentionned that. And quite frankly, the timeframe's just ridiculous. SG-1 joins such a breeding farm where people are terrorized, and within a day they talk about freedom and question everything the slaves know... that they're not killed or betrayed's not credible at all.
 
And finally, everyone using idioms and military speak got a bit annoying quite fast. At least, I didn't hear Jacob talk like that in the series...
 
So, overall, rather negligible.

[Ida Leter · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were a few books so far in the series to which I was quite indifferent, but this is the first one that I outright hated. It is very heavy handed. The author clearly considers Jack to be her darling, and seems to dislike Daniel, or at the very least handed him the Idiot Ball. On several occasion Daniel is being berated, chided, and reprimanded for doing the things that either don't occur in the canon, or that are never considered to be an issue. On the other hand, they keep saying how Jack has always Done The Right Thing, and that they are behind his decisions 100% (ignore the eyes full of judgement from the Euronda episode, why don't you). Teal'c is practically nonexistent this book, too.

Kinsey is largely nonexistent, he does nothing to drive the conflict beyond the first couple of chapters. That arc could have been neatly scraped off to make a shorter book. Jacob's plan is stupid. And, well, given that the main duty of people on that farm to procreate, it is one thing that he has paired Jack and Sam off, but Daniel? What would he have been expected to do if it hasn't been the case that none of the women have been "empty"? Hell, what would he have expected his only daughter to do if she was alone down there as he has expected from the start?

Then, SUDDENLY, for no reason other than to add tension, the book throws a curveball that came out of nowhere, that cheapened the things that have happened before.

Overall, it's quite a miserable read.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot happening in this book. The political fallout from not doing business with Euronda, a joint mission with the Tok’ra, Goa’uld slave farms, and discord between SG-1. I liked some parts of the book a lot. I enjoyed the scenes with the Tok’ra and the storyline of recruiting Tok’ra hosts from among Goa’uld human slaves. It’s a practical approach to the problem of finding hosts, and the brief glimpses we got of human slaves on the show were always interesting. I don’t like stories where SG-1 is fighting with each other all the time. It seemed really extreme in this book. Is anyone really crying over a dead space Nazi? It took too long for everyone to admit they’re not.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite my intentions to read them in order, this is actually the first SG-1 novelisation that I've read. This is because it was a gift from a generous Tumblr member, along with a couple of other titles.
I wasn't sure what to expect.
I enjoyed the book, and on the whole the characterisation was good, but not great. Daniel, in particular, seemed just slightly off. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but there were a few things he said that didn't quite ring true as his 'voice'.

[Candace Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not impressed with this novel. The majority of the book was about a Tok'ra born mission that turned into a nightmare. Teal'c was hardly mentioned. The completely unnecessary Sam & Jack "romance" was hinted at briefly, but more than needed. The fallout, between Jack and Daniel, from "The Other Side" was covered and revolved within 20 page spread throughout the book. The book provided some official closure to the episode but was boring otherwise

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another action packed Stargate novel. This book is set during season 4, after the events of "The Other Side". We see how sg-1 might have dealt with some of the emotional and political fallout following the events on Euronda. A great part of the story involves sg-1s involvement on a covert mission for the tok'ra. The mission continues to test some of their emotional and even ethical limits; as is typical for a tok'ra associated mission- it doesn't go entirely to plan. A good read !

[Mary Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, not my fav. My biggest problem was that the team dynamics felt way off. I get they were working through some stuff, but Jack was super moody, Daniel was majorly winy, and Teal’c was barely even in it. The storyline was pretty good though, just didn’t feel like the SG1 we know and love.

[Marisa Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the request of the Tok'ra, Jack, Sam and Daniel go undercover at a Gou'ld breeding farm to recruit potential hosts for the Tok'ra.

Lots of twists and turns. Author stays true to television characters. Great read.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad piece of fan fiction, fits nicely into the rest of the series - nothing standout, but enjoyable for fans of the series.

[Tagcaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little too much angst

Decent story, but too padded with the “close the iris” story. That could have been resolved in a few sentences, not the pages and pages of dialog.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story! I love SG-1 and this was well written.

[Kellyanne Higgins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a great read, for the most part. The plot was intriguing, and the introspection into Jack and Daniel's relationship and into Jack's character was particularly well done. The dialogue, however, was incredibly lacking. While the characters sounded true to themselves in the first couple chapters, their words were frequently and gratingly off throughout the rest of the book. The worst had to be when everyone was talking about punching people in the nose. It was so juvenile and very much not like SG-1. The story took a long time to get going. I wish the exposition hadn't taken the first half of the book and that Miller had spent more time covering SG-1's stay on the slave planet. For such a long exposition, the conclusion was too sudden; all loose ends were quickly and fairly clunkily tied in the last chapter. Still, it was an enjoyable read.

[Michael Joosten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novels based on TV shows are not likely to be great fiction and if you go in to this --or any TV adaptation-- you're missing the point. The strongest point for Alliances as a part of the greater franchise is that it aims to address the fallout from an individual episode. Since the norm of the television series is episodic rather than serial, there are yet frequently one-off episodes that feel like they ought to have consequences in the series going forward, but don't. The weaker point for this book, subject wise, is that the slave planet on which so much is set, still feels a little like fanfiction, with its aim of getting people into a forced marriage sort of situation. Fortunately, this aspect isn't overemphasized and the book maintains a happy medium of SG-1 Adventure.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a typical SG-1 book, with all the usual familiar characters. Once again SG-1 is being asked to help the Tok'ra with something the Tok'ra would not do because it was "too dangerous". Because Jack has had a serious run-in with Kinsey they agree to take the mission. It takes place right after the season four episode "The Other Side" and there is much angst about that. I had to research just what episode that was :) but did remember once I had done so and could understand the backstory.

[Elliot · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is probably going to be one of my most disappointing reads of 2016, though it's still early. The plot was interesting, the writing was good, but the characterization was awful. Daniel and Sam seemed to suffer the worst out of all the characters. They read more like people who had never stepped through the Stargate before, or had any field experience. Teal'c, by virtue of barely being present, escaped with most of his character intact.

[Dustin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got about halfway through this one before I gave up. The characters are not poorly written, they're just not the characters from the show. Oh, they have the same names, but not the same personalities.
The premise is decent, and might have made a good episode, but it's not enough to get me to finish the book.

[Beezus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author really captured the way the team interacts with each other. Jack's self sacrificing and willingness to take the lumps for his team; Daniels's stubborn yet surprising strength in the face of adversity: Sam's compassion; Jacob's shipping of S/J :). I don't remember Teal'c being featured very much in this story.
if i recall, it's because SG-1 goes undercover in this adventure.

[Lenka · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mission part of the story is very believable, interesting and brings another aspect to stargate world. The only downside is the team's perception of O'Neill's actions at the end of the episode The Other Side.

[Jen526]

The mission part of the book is enjoyable, and I love the *idea* of a followup to the Eurondan incident. But the actual execution of that followup was a bit heavy-handed, imo. Lots of talk, talk, talk that started to feel out-of-character simply because of how *much* of it there was.

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked bits and pieces and the rest just wasn't all that interesting, but for the sake of the good bits, I'll say that this one was decent enough to read again. One of the better novels.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good follow up to "The Other Side". If you like a lot of interaction between O'Neill and Jackson, you will like this book.

[Lorne E Carrier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad editing!

In many locations throughout the book, words and whole paragraphs were missing, leaving only punctuation. This was very distracting. Made book a challenge to enjoy.