Death Game: Stargate Atlantis: SGA-15 Book

It was a bit of an ordeal actually getting a hold of this book. It was available for several weeks through the publisher while Amazon still had it down as a Pre-Order with an unknown ship date. I eventually got frustrated enough to cancel my pre-order and order directly from the publisher. Was the book worth all that hassle? I believe so.

In 'Death Game' the Atlantis team is scattered on a world whose DHD has been tampered with: allowing travelers to arrive but not to leave. The world also has an energy field similar to one the team encountered on a world full of children that would disable any ship that tried to pass through it. Sheppard and Teyla wake onboard their crashed jumper; John with a bad enough concussion to not remember how and why the jumper crashed. The two end up as prisoners and shipped to the High King as "Tribute" to act as contestants in the Games of Life. It doesn't take long for Sheppard and Teyla to figure out who is actually running these games and that they need to escape... now. All the while, Ronon and Zelenka are trying to find their own way back to Sheppard and Teyla while Rodney, Lorne, and team of Marines do their best to fix the Stargate and rescue their missing team-mates.

The Stargate novels I've read tend to fall into the categories of Hit or Miss. I think 'Death Game' falls into the Hit category. The characterizations were much closer to their TV counterparts than I've seen in other novels. Though I do wish the publisher or author would add a "This story takes place between episodes ..." for clarity's sake so one doesn't have to puzzle it out in their own head as they read. I think Zelenka's character in the book was a bit more testy than I recall him being on the show (he always had far more patience for the unscientific mind and rarely lost his cool with anyone besides Rodney). I would have rather seen his characteristic outbursts in Czech when frustrated. I did enjoy that the characters were paired off in an atypical fashion: Sheppard and Teyla, Ronon and Zelenka, and McKay and Lorne instead of the usual: Sheppard and McKay, Teyla and Ronon, Lorne and Zelenka that we saw often on the show. The banter between Sheppard and Teyla was fun (except I can't imagine Teyla using the word "Meta") though I would have loved to have seen one near-romance situation (but that's the Sheppard/Teyla 'shipper in me speaking out.) Major Lorne is my favorite Atlantis recurring character so, I love, love, love that he had a decent part to play in this book.

If I had to get nit-picky I'd have to point out that the last time the team encountered an energy field around a planet it rendered all electronics inert within the field. If it was meant to be the same type of energy field then the Jumper should have crashed as soon as they left the 'Gate and entered the field and none of their equipment (radios, etc) should have worked. Also, though I enjoyed the story, I felt it was lacking a true sense of urgency and peril. Never once did I wonder how or if the team would escape.

All in all, "Death Game" is a good story which I could picture as an actual episode and, for a media tie-in, that's not a bad thing.