Stargate Atlantis: The Lost: Sga-17, Book Two in the Legacy Series [Mass Market Paperback]

Rodney McKay has been abducted by the Wraith and the Atlantis team has had little luck tracking down their missing scientist on their own. They split into two teams to gather what information they can from their shaky alliances. Sheppard, Teyla, and Dr. Beckett visit the Genii while Ronon and Dr. Keller meet with Todd. Neither mission goes as planned but valuable information is gleaned regardless. But what the Atlantis team doesn't know is that Dr. McKay has no desire to be rescued.

Reading THE LOST was a two steps forward, one step back experience for me and, by that, I mean for everything I enjoyed about the story, there was something that I didn't. There's definitely nothing wrong with the bare bones of the novel. The writing is on the higher end of the readability scale and everyone is in character 97% of the time. Much better than some of the other Atlantis novels which sometimes read like amateurish fanfiction. The problems I had were more to do with plot and changes the authors made to established Atlantis canon.

I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum throughout this review but I'll add this warning to be on the safe side.

I did enjoy the many scenes between Sheppard and Teyla and I'm happy with the direction that relationship is heading in. However, giving the amount of time that has elapsed between HOMECOMING and THE LOST it feels a little bit like too much, too soon. I guess we are supposed to assume things moved in leaps and bounds that long stretch Atlantis was stuck on Earth but without those type of scenes to go by, it all just seems to be moving very quickly. Some of what happened in THE LOST between Shep and Teyla may have felt more organic coming in book three or four. I'm very pleased about the small side plot involving Major Lorne. There's never enough Lorne in my opinion so, I'm always happy to see him.

The description of the book made it sound very Keller-centric which was my biggest fear going in. Thankfully, her part wasn't excessively large. Her mission with Ronon, however, was ridiculously contrived in order to have the two of them alone together. I find it very hard to believe that Woolsey would send his Chief Medical Officer to lead a meeting with Todd. Not to mention that it felt inappropriate for someone that emotionally involved to lead a mission of that significance. I found Keller to be extremely abrasive and arrogant throughout the mission with Ronon and only served to remind me how much I disliked her character on the show. Now, for my biggest issue with this particular mission: going by the uniforms we saw on the show, I find it very hard to believe that someone could secret a flash-bang up their sleeve. That one left me going "*pfft* yeah, right".

Still no mention of Ronon's relationship with Amelia Banks. I would be happy with someone asking Ronon, "How are things with Banks?" and Ronon replying, "Good." or "Didn't work out." Anything would be better than ignoring it completely.

I'm still struggling to find a point for the character of Dr. Robinson. I mean, Dr. Heightmeyer was in what? 3 episodes before becoming the unfortunate Red Shirt. I guess I'm not seeing the need for a replacement. I think what's bothering me is that her scenes feel shoe-horned in. Like, what's the point of an entire scene of her refilling a pitcher of milk and talking about Kosher MRE's with Atlantis' cook? Scenes like that felt like padding, like they don't have enough to fill six books. The deal with Zelenka's glasses felt the same way. I was always taught that if a scene didn't move the plot along it shouldn't be there and there were definitely several scenes that didn't move the plot anywhere.

My biggest concern with the direction of these novels is the Wraith. The Wraith of the tv series were clearly patterned on insects/bees (hives, queens, warriors, drones) and the authors attributing these stereotypically Native American tribal-sounding names to everything just doesn't mesh. While I don't believe the Wraith are going around calling themselves Steve, Kenny, or Todd; I also can't imagine them calling themselves Bonewhite, SteelFlower, or Guide. And, well, Quicksilver; when I see someone called Quicksilver, the only person who comes to mind is Pietro Maximoff. And I don't believe they'd call Carter "She Who Carries Many Things". If anything, they'd call her "The one called Carter" or something along those lines. But what aggravates me the most is having Dr. Beckett change his opinion of the Wraith's origin from the established evolutionary mixture of human and Iratus bug DNA to the Firefly/Serenity Reaver route of innocent victims of an over-reaching authority.

Even with these concerns I am looking forward to book three because I miss Atlantis and I'm hoping that some of the things that don't feel right to me at the moment will make sense at the end of the series.

While I don't exactly like how the authors are interpreting the wraith, I have to admit its nice to get more information about them- since Todd used to be the only one the reader could get insight on- if that makes any sense. Eva Robinson is still around, but the scenes with her in it don't seem necessary, and seem to distract from the actual story. Heads up for all Zelenka fans; he gets a bigger role in this one!
The biggest complaint I have for this one though, was how Sheppard was portrayed. He seemed to unsure of himself always second guessing and constantly berrated for his actions- with Woosley it understandable, with Keller, not so much. Considering how long he's been on the expedition I would think he'd have more of a say on certain things since he is the military commander of atlantis. However, remembering that he's a bit off since Rodney is gone that can be forgiven, as it seems to help his development with Teyla.
For a shorter version of this review- Great plot twist with the capture of Rodney, more talking than actual action throughout, lots of zelenka, and overall still an excellent continuation of this series. WORTH IT

Only comment is I really enjoyed the 2 books available in this series for Kindle. I can't find the 3rd book at Amazon, so I don't know what happens to Rodney!#@$@%