"Rising", the novel: Review

SGA Book 1: “Rising” Review

OK, this book is based on the feature length pilot episode of Stargate: Atlantis. I love reading novelizations of TV show episodes because you get amazing insight into the characters you have come to love: you get to figure out what was going on in their minds and what the were feeling and thinking and their emotions racing while the action plays out. When you watch a TV show, you obviously don’t get that, you just see the blow-by-blow action play out, and the story play out that way. The other wonderful thing about this book, is that it is based on the script for the pilot, before the subsequent editing and final product we got to see on TV. So there, is some great dialogue I wish they kept in, such as:

Teyla was clearly unimpressed and interrupted the sales pitch.
“What is this?” she asked, pointing at one of their ration bars.
“Oh, that’s called a power bar,” Ford enthused, glancing at Sheppard with a glint in his eye.
“It gives you power.”

From “Rising” by Sally Malcolm

The only thing I didn’t like was how antagonistic Sumner was towards Sheppard. I think that was a bit over the top. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this novel.

Other bonuses, are beautiful colour photos from the pilot, and an extract from the next SGA book “Reliquary”.