To be honest, I couldn't finish it, but I still feel that I read (too) far enough to make a judgement: holy terrible.

Can I swear the author wouldn't write good stories in her own universe? No, I guess not. But a lot of it was just stereotypical character-type writing. It really, honestly felt like the author had not seen a single episode, beyond maybe the first. And was just mimicking "the studious nerd" and "the thoughtful warrior" and etc., with no concept of who those characters actually are.

I finally got fed up when, on an alien planet, Jack (the armchair astronomer with his own telescope) needs astronomy lessons from the physicist. Because... she didn't know who the character are. And then the advice/commentary revolves around whether they could see the same constellations from another planet. Aaaaand the answer wasn't no, I slapped my forehead, resulting in the book flying into the nearby incinerator (actually, I dumped it at a Little Free Library, because maybe a kid will enjoy it) and I vowed to scratch an author off my list.

Yeesh. ( )

As much as I adore the television series, I was dubious about these tie-in books. I was convinced the authors of these books would fail at capturing the essence of the show or, most unforgivable, poorly portray the characters and their dynamics. I was desperate for more Stargatey goodness, though, so I scoured the reviews on Amazon and finally settled on "Barque of Heaven" as my intro to the Fandemonium series.

The verdict: excellent.

Not only does author Suzanne Wood capture everything that I love about Stargate, she also writes a darn good story. Reading "Barque of Heaven" really is like watching the show: a goodly amount of action, well-timed humor, enough detail to lend authentication, and the perfect blend of otherworldly science fiction with thoughtful mythology. Best of all, Wood absolutely does justice to our favorite foursome. Each of the main characters receive the same amount of attention, resulting in a balanced narrative of multiple perspectives. I would have enjoyed this book even if I had never heard of Stargate. ( )

http://allbookedup-elena.blogspot.com/2009/08/stargate-sg1-barque-of-heaven-suza... ( )