From the title I was initially expecting Stargate to be a science fiction novel, but instead I found myself trudging through this rather dull and unfocused mythological fantasy story set in a bizarre set of bubble worlds with little relevance to each other (and equally little relevance to the reader).
In many ways it feels more like a collection of related short stories than a continuous novel. The POV bounces around erratically between the many characters, most of whom have no real resolution or influence on the story - for instance, the character we start with dies (as much as a god can die) in the the first third of the book and is rarely mentioned again.

There are some nice moments where the story zooms in on the mortal people who are living basic lives, which gave me something connect with in a more grounded way. Unfortunately these moments are usually immediately overshadowed by the strange drama of the gods which, most of the time, is much less interesting.

Perhaps if I knew what to expect going into the book I might have enjoyed it a little bit more, but sadly I finished it feeling like it was a story without stakes, consequence, or weight. ( )

This has absolutely no relation to the movie and subsequent TV series. None whatsoever. But it did come first. And it is beautiful.

Man, what a thrift store find. This book is gorgeous, and so so unique. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. It strongly reminded me of H.G. Wells's The Time Machine, mostly just the Eloi.

The world is so secluded and complete, with just enough mystery to keep me interested. And the plot progression! Get ready for a journey here.

I don't want to say a lot about it, because part of the greatness of my experience was knowing absolutely nothing about the story. It made it exciting and surprising and painful all at the right times. But I will say that I love the characters and the amazing way they go from one extreme to the other by the end of the book.

It's a strange mix of epic fantasy and science fiction, somehow condensed into 337 pages. ( )

I suspect like many readers, this title came to my attention because of the 1994 film of the same name. What I discovered instead was a completely different and very compelling story of lost innocence. There are gates, and they go among the stars, but instead of focusing on exploration of new worlds, this is all about losing a known world one gate at a time. The pervasive sadness is still vivid in my mind. ( )

A rather marvellous mythic fantasy, nothing (I'm glad to say) to do with the truly terrible film or its even worse TV spin-offs.