Brimstone

Stargate Atlantis #15

by David Niall Wilson, Patricia Lee Macomber

The Stargate Atlantis team discover a city on a moon that's about to plunge into its own sun. But the city which looked as if it had been abandoned turns out to be inhabited by descendants of the Ancients who have fallen into decadence and debauchery. Faced with a dissolute society disinterested in their own fate and unable to escape, the team must fight their way free before being plunged into a fiery death.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Space, Media Tie In

273 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 25, 2009

About the author

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David Niall Wilson has been writing and publishing horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction since the mid-eighties. An ordained minister, once President of the Horror Writer 's Association and multiple recipient of the Bram Stoker Award. He lives outside Hertford, NC with the love of his life, Patricia Lee Macomber, His children Zane and Katie, occasionally their older siblings, Stephanie, who is in college, and Bill and Zach who are in the Navy, and an ever-changing assortment of pets.

David is CEO and founder of Crossroad Press, a cutting edge digital publishing company specializing in electronic novels, collections, and nonfiction, as well as unabridged audiobooks and print titles.

Reviews

[Kati · Rating 2 out of 5]

With all the universe at their fingertips, the authors went for a space Las Vegas casino and didn't even give it a proper alien twist. The OCs were two-dimensional and boring and the fact that Sheppard didn't even check if his team members were actually dead before he decided to just leave them... No. Just no. 2 stars only because I loved the show before TPTB butchered it.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rodney discovers a planet that has changed trajectory and is heading toward the sun. The team heads in to help rescue anyone that’s left. They discover a group of ancients that have chosen to spend their days in entertainment and decadence instead of ascending. New people are an opportunity for new amusements and so they have the gate rigged so that no visitors can leave. The team doesn't want to burn up with the planet (obviously) so they must figure a way off the planet before it burns.[return][return]I am not a big fan of the discovering ancients plot line, but I was willing to put that aside. Unfortunately, it is not executed very well. I didn’t buy the maniac leader and the completely passive followers routine. The team characterizations are pretty basic; Sheppard as the ladies man, McKay as the arrogant scientist, Ronon as the muscle, and Teyla as the diplomat. The team banter is stilted at best. There are some memorable moments for McKay that I really enjoyed. However, it frustrates me when the author is not very familiar with the actual Atlantis episodes. SPOILER: In this case the author ruined it by including the personal shield device, which as viewers know McKay burned out at the end of the episode Hide and Seek. Overall this book bears passing resemblance to the show, but don’t expect much more than that.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The team discover another Ancient city that is actually still inhabited - and located on a moon headed straight into its sun. Turns out the city's population is well aware of this, however, and doesn't want to be rescued. Instead, Sheppard's team is now trapped in a city about to be obliterated and intended to play a starring role in their very own end of the world entertainment programme...
Not the worst of the SGA novels, but certainly not one of the better ones either. Onedimensional OCs, slightly off characterization, and nothing particularly thrilling about the premise. It gets an extra star for Rodney and the dragon, which is probably the only memorable thing about this.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty much just like an episode of SGA, only not as good, which is to be expected. Still, in the absence of one of my all-time favorite shows, these novels do fill the gap. The characterization was pretty good, and the story was fun.

[Ana Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable adventure. Oddly the theme of games and gaming to excess coincided with the plot of the audio book in the Pendragon series.

I do love the portrayal of Rodney in this one, he's both at his worst and at his best. The introduction of new Ancient tech was imaginative and kinda of awesome from a readers standpoint.

[Ida Leter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, very trite and nonsensical story. Very flat characters. Pointless OC that had no reason to be there, and I was forgetting about his existence almost all the time. Out of character behavior that got them in the mess, it was a trap that they knew about and willingly stepped into, this trap had a ridiculously simple solution that they spent forever figuring out.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for this book. The concept of hedonist Ancients is something, but the execution didn't follow through. The characters didn't feel or sound like themselves. I don't understand the purpose of the OC either. He added nothing to the story, did no heroic deeds, didn't die a Redshirt death. He was just there. I didn't like the deus ex machina ending either.

[Tagcaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit off from the characters we know

The team, especially Shepard weren’t portrayed to their best. I don’t think he would have submitted to the situation like he did. The whole team did things in an unknown situation like accepting food or drink from a potentially hostile group of people. It just didn’t seem right.

[Linda Kaban · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminds me of an episode in the original Star Trek TV series. Debauched beings who lived for 1000s of years. They had nothing to look forward to except the "entertainment" when unsuspecting star ships happened by. Good book. Great adventure. Sublime cautionary tale.

[Uly Ramos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awsome

I love it other great book by this a stargate Atlantis series I would recommend to everyone who loves stargate or is sy fi science person

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't recognise any of the characters in this book.

[Graisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really entertaining, especially the way it ended for Rodney.

[Shadowsword · Rating 2 out of 5]

the team is way ooc

[Colleen Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't expect much from a book spun-off from a SyFy television show which was just a rollicking space adventure, but the plot of this "novel" made the weekly premises of Atlantis seem intricate and down-right sublime. I think I saw the same premise on an episode of Star Trek. If so, I'm sure the characters there were at least true to themselves in that absurd set-up, unlike here. This story even had its own red-shirted Ensign Cumbly or whatever. Too bad he didn't die a Star-trekian death. That might have been mildly interesting, unlike the rest of this book. The characterization of Sheppard was particularly off the mark. his teammates appear to suffer mortal injuries, but he doesn't check it out, he just waders around with some lamely sketched out female (whose "motivation" in the end defies logic). Of course, they're still alive, but Sheppard doesn't seem to concerned to make sure. Has the author even watched the show? The whole story appeared contrived to get Rodney on a horse in a suit of armor, as if the author's friend had laughingly suggested the visual image and challenged him to write a story about it. He may have managed to do that, but we readers lost the bet.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another reviewer noted the one-dimensional characters... They were absolutely right. I have the distinct impression the author watched only a handful of seasons to get a "sense" of the series and then wrote this. The characters just were never really in character... Especially Zalenka and Rodney. Rodney is more than just a petulant genius, but all he seemed to do was yell at Cumby (the most irrelevant character I've ever read).

A better ending would have had Wolsey actually send a MALP (how was there no time??) and find the gate in orbit... That would have added some suspense to Caldwel and the Daedelus pieces (having to arrive and rescue the team just in time, airlock the gate or something).

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars.

It was alright. It was not really a bad story but it wasn't particularly good either. It was a bit too forseeable for my taste and the characters didn't feel right. One could still recognize them but they weren't exactly right. I don't know any better way how to discribe it. And it seems like the auther didn't even bother with watching the show before writing the story or he just chose to ignore certain facts. What ever it was a bit nerve wrecking.
So nothing one really has to read.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another near-death adventure for Col. Sheppard and his team. Trapped on a world heading directly for destruction, they find a mirror image of Atlantis inhabited by a sect devoted to debauchery and decadence. They must fight there way back to the gate before becoming trapped. While Rodney usually manages to 'save the day' using his computer skills, this time he has to fight a dragon and become a warrior. And of course we have the Wraith too.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A moon is found heading towards the sun that may support life. The team is sent to see if they can rescue anybody, and find relatives of the Ancients there. There's some nice twists and the author has got the characters right. I think I will remember this because of Rodney, a dragon and Wolsey. A good read.

[Foggygirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read, very reminicent of the TV show which I miss.

[I. S.]

This is book #15 - this is one of the few series that still puts the numbers on the books so it should be labeled correctly.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost two straight one stars... review to come

[Gene · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good solid story, would have made a good episode. The main characters were written well, only Woolsey seemed a tad off. But his character changed so much over the season it's difficult to judge.

[Sarah Pottenger · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was novel-length fan-fiction, basically. But it was entertaining, and it allowed me to spend more time with beloved characters while I wait to get the next season of the show from the library.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This flows like an episode. If you like the show you will like the book.

[Erina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good quick read. Advanced fan fiction. As good as an episode and introduced cool tech. But wasn't as strong on the characters as some of the other books.