Stargate Atlantis: the Chosen [Paperback]

This was everything I had hoped for in an Atlantis story.

I normally don't like reviewing books because I tend to be very picky and don't like to rubbish something even when in my opinion it is rubbish, so I say nothing. But this one is absolutely 'it' in terms of absolutely nailing Atlantis for in depth and revealing characterisations and brilliant storyline.

Rodney's snarkiness totally hit the spot and I found myself laughing pages after he'd made some comment or others, especially after conversations with Sheppard. The whole septicaemia line at the outset set the tone, and the 'crayon' thing with Ford was priceless. This certainly carried the 'setting up' of the storyline at the outset.

I was particularly impressed by the writers treatment of characters like Weir and Beckett, who are laced with insight. Telya in this just blows me away, and of course Sheppard, all of them are very introspective. No superficial cardboard cut-out characters in this story, the entire book is jammed with one-liners that you feel like you want to frame as epitomising who these people are. I think this is crucial in these sorts of novels based on television shows, because its the characters that really drive them. We haven't seen a lot in the show in that, but we get it in this novel, in spades.

I have to say though that the story itself also utterly hooked me. There's a twist in the tale that is classic Stargate at its best, and remarkably well executed, particularly because the novel comes across more like a mega-blockbuster movie than an episode. So there's a great deal of drama and action happening and the twist is subtly woven in from the outset so when it hits, you really do a doubt take. It really is very thought provoking, the moral no-mans land is the sort of thing you would normally only hope to see in a top-notch SF novel.

Don't just skim through this story, it's not a lightweight snack but an intense, well crafted tale. Highly recommended and will definitely sign up for more from these authors.

"The Chosen" is much more than just another story in which the Wraith are attacking a world. When Sheppard and his team make contact and try to help they find out very quickly that there are no easy solutions and that the situation on the planet is much more complex than it seemed at the beginning. In many ways, this is a good Prime Directive story (I think this Star Trek term fits very well) and that means, it is not about if Sheppard`s team should interfere but the key question is how.

What makes the story so interesting is that his team arrives with the best intentions but that they have to learn the hard way that they jumped to conclusions, with disastrous consequences which in return started a chain reaction in this multi layered society with results I didn`t predict but made a lot of sense. The book shows in a very realistic and depressing way that a lot of the disaster the Dalerans are facing is self inflicted and I often had to wonder sometimes who is their worst enemy, the Wraith or they themselves. But as it is also the case in such societies, there are a lot of Dalerans who are innocent victims and many Dalerans who do terrible things are driven by desperation and ignorance.

Especially McKay definitely learned a lesson in this book. This experience dampened his arrogance considerably. Sheppard experienced this to a lesser degree but what was also interesting is Teyla`s part in this book. She understands many aspects of this society better than the rest of the team but on the other hand, she had to realize some painful truths about the Ancients. What I also liked is that Ford got something to do I liked in the book, meaning his friendship with the young Daleran girl, Lisera.

Daleran children play an important part in the book but definitely in a good way. They didn`t get on my nerves at all and some of the scenes with them are very touching. I like it that the authors took children seriously but at the same time, didn`t turn them into mini adults.

The battle against the Wraith involved a lot of teamwork with Dalerans from different levels of Daleran society but at the same time Sheppard and his allies also have to battle against Dalerans as well. The battle is certainly not always going to plan and the end result is bittersweet, something I found very appropriate.

It would have been a great book if it wouldn`t have a big flaw: As multi layered and interesting the Daleran society is, the portrayal of the Wraith annoyed me very much. I wouldn`t mind it so much if they would just be shown as one dimensional bad guys. Showing them as individuals too would have added a lot to the book but maybe, it would have made the story a bit too complicated. But unfortunately, "The Chosen" goes much further than that. We know that the Wraith are sentient beings, that there are males and females. This book does its best to dehumanize them (Of course I am talking about the broadest meaning here) by calling all of them "it", by treating and describing them as nothing else but dangerous "creatures" that need to be slaughtered. Towards the end of the book Rodney even went so far calling the Wraiths "things" and was wondering if young Wraiths should be called larvae or babies. I am not denying that the Wraith have to be fought and stopped. This is war. They are vicious and highly dangerous. But this approach disgusts me. It is wrong and this kind of attitude will make it much more difficult to find any solution to this conflict - if some solution can be found. We shouldn`t forget that the Wraith are first of all fighting this war in order to be able to feed themselves.

Nevertheless, I can definitely recommend this book and I am looking forward to the next one.

This SGA tie-in novel is set after The Storm and leads nicely into The Defiant One. It reminded me a lot of Trinity - Rodney's arrogance reared its ugly head once more but this time, it didn't lead "just" to the destruction of an uninhabited solar system, it caused the downfall of a whole civilization. The thing is, I could see both sides of the argument, Rodney and Teyla's - they were both right and wrong, both operating on limited information. Rodney's behavior fit well his season 1 self when all his concerns were more about him than about others, when he was still learning how to care. And a healthy dose of hurt Sheppard didn't hurt either, of course.