Female of the Species

Stargate SG-1 #31

by Geonn Cannon

Here come the girls… Vala Mal Doran, SG-1’s newest recruit, simply can’t ignore the plea for help she receives from her old friend, Tanis Reynard. And with vital intel up for grabs, Vala ensures SG-1 can’t ignore it either… However, as the mission quickly unravels, Colonel Carter and Vala find themselves bound for the ‘inescapable’ prison world Viaxeiro Caldera, leaving Colonel Mitchell, Teal’c, and Dr Daniel Jackson to mount a rescue. Meanwhile, Sam and Vala uncover a sinister secret on Viaxeiro which means they will have to overcome their personal rivalries and learn to work together to bring down the insidious faction which controls the prison world — preferably before their true identities are discovered. By the time Mitchell and the rest of SG-1 reach Viaxeiro, it’s anyone’s guess who’s rescuing whom in this rip-roaring Stargate adventure… EXTRACT “Yo, Jackson. Siler is offering lunch. Beer, wings, the whole nine yards, on him. Apparently it’s been a week since he’s been hurt, and he thought that required a celebration. You in?” “Uh, maybe. Did he say where they’re going? I’m still not really welcome in O’Malley’s.” Vala’s voice echoed through the corridor. “Dan-iel!” He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temple. “On second thought, it sounds like we’re about to get busy.” Mitchell stepped aside as Vala appeared, arriving at such speed that she had to slam into the door just to slow herself down enough to get into the office. She wobbled on her feet a little and shook her head as she stumbled over to where Daniel was sitting. “Daniel. Ow. I need your help. I need you to convince General Landry to send SG-1 on a mission. It’s a matter of life and death.” “What mission?” Daniel said. “It’s a rescue mission. A mission of mercy! SG-1 does those all the time, right?” She looked behind her and finally noticed Mitchell. “Oh. Hello, Colonel Mitchell. You can help convince him, too. The two of you, how could he say no?” Mitchell enunciated when he asked, “What... mission?” “Calm down and use your words,” Daniel said. Vala sneered at him. “Don’t you patronize me! This is a serious matter. My friend Tanis Reynard needs my help. She sent a distress signal. She’s been arrested and she’s being held in a horrible prison where there’s no hope of escape. We have to go break her out.” “Tanis Reynard?” Daniel said, glancing toward his computer. “Tanis Reynard... why do I know that name?” Mitchell said, “Tanis Reynard, the Hebridian prisoner who killed her guards when their ship crashed on an uninhabited world? SG-1 ran into her four years ago. She and her cronies tied up Carter off-world and tried to use the SGC computers to find new planets to pillage.” “Well.” Vala flipped her hair out of her face and rubbed her arm where she’d run into the door. “We all have pasts we’re not proud of...” She looked at Daniel. “So you’ve met Tanis?” “No, I haven’t had the pleasure.” Daniel gathered his notebooks and stood up. “I was, ah, somewhere else that year. So, Cam, you mentioned beer and wings?”

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

310 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 22, 2018

About the author

Geonn Cannon is a male author who grew up in Oklahoma, thousands of miles from the nearest coastline, who found his calling in stories about women who live on an island in the Pacific Northwest. In 2010, Geonn became the first male author to win the prestigious Golden Crown Literary Society Award for his novel "Gemini." In 2015, he won it again for "Dogs of War." He has written two official tie-in novels for Stargate SG-1, and his Riley Parra novels have been turned into an Emmy-nominated webseries by Tello Films. His first name is pronounced just like "John."

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting and well paced, just a little slow towards the end and a little too much of new characters. overall a solid addition.

[Rachel Hyland · Rating 5 out of 5]

READING THE TBR: DAY 3

This is a very recent release, comparatively speaking to the rest of my TBR books, but in all honesty it has been something I have wanted to read since it was first announced some years ago. Indeed, since Geonn — full disclosure: I know him! — first mooted the possibility of this book on his social media, I was always going to read it. And not just because I know him. In fact, this book immediately landed on my Must Read list because not only did I really enjoy his previous SG-1 novel, Two Roads, but this book was going to be an adventure centered on Vala and Sam, and I love those women.

The story takes place during late-Season 10 of Stargate SG-1, when Vala’s quick-grown daughter Adria is ravaging two galaxies at the head of the malevolent religious organization (redundant?), the Priors of the Ori. However, it is not those diabolical false god-peddlers with whom the team must deal here, but with breaking into an unfindable, inescapable prison to free Vala’s old cohort, smuggler and thief Tanis (as seen in the sixth season SG-1 episode “Forsaken”). Along the way, maybe they’ll be able to dig up some dirt on the Lucian Alliance, the loose federation of criminals who have taken over the galaxy in the wake of SG-1 defeating pretty much all the Goa’uld, and who make up a decent-sized chunk of Stargate Universe‘s plot.

Yeah, you kind of need to know a lot about the various Stargate iterations before going into this one. But that is true of almost every media tie-in novel–particularly so, if the book is a good one.

And this is a good one indeed. It is funny, it captures several of characters perfectly — Colonel Mitchell, Vala and Teal’c in particular — and it has a fast-paced and intricate action-y plot that could easily have been a real episode. (Probably a two-parter.) The other thing I really loved about this book is how SG-1’s fame is shown to have spread throughout the denizens of the galaxy. Their names are constantly being recognized, their deeds constantly being hailed as either heroic or demonic, and that is exactly how it should be.

My few quibbles with the book mainly lie in the characterization of my beloved Daniel — but he is difficult to capture, and I am rarely satisfied with his portrayal in these books — and with the way in which members of the team are constantly Leslie Knope-ing each other, delivering these long periods about how excellent the others are to their faces, which feels kind of out of place. But the thing about this licensed fan fiction is that it is wish-fulfillment at its finest, giving fans (and Geonn is a big SG-1 fan) a chance to rectify what they felt were the deficiencies of the series, as well as celebrate all that was great about it. And clearly, Geonn felt the team were not sufficiently complimentary to each other throughout the show. So he made that happen.

Despite these minor, minor concerns, I know this is a book I will read again and again, much as I rewatch my favorite episodes of SG-1 over and over. And there is no higher compliment I can give to a media tie-in novel than that.

SCORECARD

TBR DAY 3: Stargate SG-1: Female of the Species by Geonn Cannon.
GENRE: Science Fiction/Media Tie-in
PUBLISHED: 2018
TIME ON THE TBR: 3 weeks — but really two years.
PURCHASED FROM: Amazon.
KEEP: Yes!

[Robyn Bennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of Stargate, and this book did not disappoint. Cannon nails the unique voice of each character, as well as the overall tone of the franchise. He also picks a rich moment in SG-1’s history, shortly after Vala joins the team, and he puts her front and center. Back when I was watching the show, I was honestly a bit lukewarm on Cam coming onboard, but I loved Vala from the first. She had a vastly different perspective from the other characters, and was played pitch-perfect by Claudia Black.

By forcing the two most dissimilar members of the team, Vala and Carter, together for most of the book, The Female of the Species delves into each of them more fully that it could individually, or if they were part of the full team. It does an incredible job of it, too. It felt like I’d stepped back into a forgotten episode of one of my favorite shows.

This is a must-read for fans of the Stargate franchise, and SG-1 in particular.

[C.E. Case · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun romp. Good to visit the Stargate SG-1 world again.

[Pat Hauldren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vala gets involved

And at first it isn't pretty. Pretty much a FUBAR, until Vala rolls with the punches and her and Sam team up to end up Alice and well. Nice to see the women of SG-1 get some print time. About time, right? it's girl up in this book for an interesting adventure with SG-1.

[Linda Kaban · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting read!!!

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy Geonn Cannon's previous Stargate book, so I was pleasantly surprised with this one. A lot of fun - and I appreciated seeing how the galaxy's people view/respond to SG1 after their homeworlds previously encountered them.

[esotericfaery · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining female-cenrtic "episode" of SG-1. I really enjoyed this, especially the revolution of the relationship between Sam and Vala. It was also cool to see Lam involved in the action.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many things to love about this book! This was such a fun space adventure. It's going on my list of favorite Stargate novels.

The title might be a reference to Farscape, but the author makes sure Vala and Cam sound like themselves, not Aeryn and Crichton. I almost didn’t need speech tags for any of the characters, except the new ones, because character voice is that strong in this book.

I think the line that Tanis is a lesbian is taken largely as a lie used by Corso to throw Sam off his scent. I love that the author decided instead to make that the one true thing Corso said, and to make her relationship very important to this story.

I wish I had read Two Roads by this author first. I think there are references to that book here.

[Heidi Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice surprise

I love SG-1 and watch it all the time. I was ambivalent about reading a book about it. Would it really be anything like the series? The author was different from the screenwriters so probably not, right? Well, I was wrong. The characters were the same, there was a lot of action, some humor - like the series. Well written & a pleasant surprise!

[Marisa Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vala and Carter end up in a women's prison with no escape. While the rest of SG-1 tries to track them down, Carter figures out that the real power in the prison is a Goul'd.

Story builds the relationship between Vala and Carter. It also fills in some of Vala's background.

Interesting story.

[Kasey Minnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun caper

An action-packed and unpredictable story. A fun romp, focused mainly on Sam and Vala, with a dash of Dr. Lam.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read