Battlestar Galactica: Armageddon [Mass Market Paperback]

After reading the first chapter, I thought to myself, "this writing is terrible." The book is far too dependent on dialogue to convey the story line. When narrative is introduced, far too often it is third-person description of what a character is thinking. After a while, I got to feeling that I really didn't care what Starbuck, Apollo, Athena, or anyone else thought about something they were witnessing or reflecting upon. The reader is told everything, and as such the reader is disengaged as an active participant in the plot and character development.

The reason being that the characters themselves are transparent as cellophane. Compared to the novelization of the original Battlestar Galactica, they only have meaning by what they do in the book, and through what they have done, as relayed awkwardly through brief descriptions of moments from the past, where the authors slip out of style and begin writing in parenthetical statements without the parentheses.

The writing itself is nothing short of pedestrian. There are instances where certain words are used over and over again: words that should be used sparingly. The one that comes to mind is the word "irised" as a verb for "opened." On two consecutive pages, I think the door "irised" open about five times. It got really old after the
second time.

As for the timeline, the authors try to stick to references from the original series to explain some history. In some places, once again, this third-person omnipotent storytelling is awkwardly inserted into the middle of the thought
process of a character. However, despite the authors' attempt to "remind" readers of what happened during the series, there are obvious errors and inconsistencies. For example, the authors never explain how Baltar got back aboard a Base Star; we would assume that, indeed, he was set free as Adama promised he would do in exchange for information regarding the internal structure of the Base Star that Apollo and Starbuck sabotaged in "The Hand Of God," the very last episode of the series. Similarly, as Apollo and Starbuck are making their way around a Base Star in this book, there is no mention made of them ever having been on one before.

In addition, the fact that Starbuck discovers what's under all that plating on a centurion doesn't conform with the series either. In the episode "Baltar's Escape," Dr. Wilker is charged with the task of piecing together one of the centurions who co-piloted Baltar's Cylon Raider when he surrendered to the Galactica in "War of the Gods." Dr. Wilker had been studying the centurions and, as far as I recall, found them to be all wires and electronics. After all, if they had been organic life forms, wouldn't Dr. Salik have been studying them?

As much as the authors try to stick to Colonial time units, they missed a bunch of places where they use "year" for "yahren" and "day" for "cycle." Furthermore, I had always thought the spelling of one of their expletives was "felgercarb;" in fact, if you listen to
Starbuck on any of the episodes (he's the only one that ever says it), you can clearly hear the "c" in "...carb". Anyway, in the book it has become "feldergarb."

Another problem that I have is the fact that every one of the familiar characters is now a very high-ranking military officer (Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel) yet they are still just pilots, not serving any other function other than that which they have always filled. Yes, while I will admit that after 18 years, Starbuck and Boomer shouldn't be Lieutenants anymore, the Colonial military looks a little top heavy. Of course, I've never understood the use of
army ranks on Galactica, when every other ship I've ever seen on a screen follows navy ranks. After all, they are on a ship, not in the Cavalry.

As for the story line itself, there is a lot crammed into this 12-point type on 16-point leading, 309-page book (there's lots of blank pages). Too much, I think. The synopsis: Apollo and Starbuck are on patrol; they run into Cylons whom they haven't seen in six years (it says "years" at one point); Starbuck's ship is clobbered and he crashes on a planet and is presumed by Apollo to be dead. Apollo returns to the fleet just as Adama dies; Apollo is named "acting" commander until the Quorum can assess other candidates for the position; a power struggle ensues, with Ambassador Puck leading the way; Apollo finds a secret room in Adama's chambers and finds out secrets about the Lords of Kobol, and the origins of the colonies and of his own family; he has a vision that Starbuck is still alive; he puts Athena in charge of the fleet and leaves to rescue Starbuck; there is a murder on
one of the Agro ships, but no one can identify the remains; insurrections begin on several ships regarding leadership of the fleet, with most of malcontents favoring Puck; on route to the planet where Starbuck crashed (yes, he is alive), Apollo runs into "new" Cylons with a cloaking device; he is saved at the last minute by one of the lightships from "War of the Gods;" he meets his dead brother Zak on the lightship, who gives him more details about the Lords of Kobol and about Count Iblis, who it appears is behind the trouble in the fleet; Apollo rescues Starbuck; there is major rebellion on a number of ships in the fleet; Starbuck and Apollo have discovered the Cylons' plan to attack the Galactica and the fleet; they decide to go after Baltar to get the last piece of the Kobol-Earth puzzle; Baltar helps them to escape after escaping execution himself; they return to the Galactica; Apollo and Starbuck
play some heroics and win the day despite overwhelming Cylon odds; Iblis is defeated.

There's plenty of loose ends for the next book.

There's lots of cutesy going on as well: Sheba and Apollo are going to get married; Starbuck still can't decide on Athena or Cassiopeia; Troy (Boxey) and Dalton (Starbuck and Cassiopeia's daughter) have the hots for each other. It's not exciting nor is it in the least bit dramatic. The tension between any one of the main characters is totally diffused by their allegiance to the Galactica and whomever's in charge. The hardest pill to swallow is the 180-degree turn-around in the relationship between Athena and Apollo, which is described early in the book as cautious, but which becomes as comfortable as a pair of old Chuck Taylors by the time Apollo returns from rescuing Starbuck.

Not to sound totally negative, there are some things that are interesting, even compelling. But I'll leave that to the die-hards out there to find out for themselves. The book will only be for them in the end; I doubt if such mediocre writing and thin character development will ever appeal to the general reading public.