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I finished the SGA Legacy book series back at the start of the year, reading The Inheritors almost as soon as it came out. I started this post and then kind of forgot about it. (Oops.)
However, with the announcement of another SGA book series (two books, Elizabeth-centric, with team) I figure that now is a good time to pimp the six books of the SGA Legacy series to what remains of my f-list, in the hope that a handful of one-time SGA fans will read it and be encouraged to actually read the series.
why you should be reading it
1. Because you love the female characters.
That's kind of a given since you're reading my LJ. You love the female characters, the characters of colour, the action girls, the women who get the job done - whether that job is blowing up a sun (do it once and you'll never live it down) or managing to politely convey that the IOA sits only just above flesh-eating bugs on the scale of Things One Wishes To Spend Two Hours With.
In this series, the skills and talents of the female characters do not go to waste. Teyla, Sam, Jennifer, and even Elizabeth all have a key role to play - and that's just the main human women from canon. Other women of Atlantis are not forgotten either: there are multiple other female characters who appear in various roles, sometimes small, sometimes key. This is a story where what the women do matters, in small things and large.
2. Because you love the team.
Again, most likely a given since you're reading this. And by 'team', we don't mean "only the important people, the ones who have penises", or "only the hot white males".
You like a balanced group of problem-solvers, who behave like adults, disagree like friends, and back each other up like their relationships matter, who go out and try to make things work and when they don't work, fall back on shooting things up. You like characters who don't automatically groupthink, who are respectful of each other, who work together in spite of having different views, and who care about each other and don't just tolerate each other.
And I'm not just talking about Sheppard's team, either - I'm talking about all of Atlantis, Stargate Command, the crews of the Daedelus, the crews of the Hammond, and even the people of Pegasus.
Yes, the people of Pegasus get to play a role in their destiny.
3. Because you love intricate and well-plotted storylines, executed with flair.
One of the things I really enjoyed about the Legacy series is that the setup has the long view. There are storylines that resolve slowly over the course of the six books. There are storylines that resolve over a book or two. There are relationships and dynamics that are actually held in tension not just in a holding pattern. There is action and drama and thoughtful kindness and unthinking cruelty. There's betrayal and struggle and uncertainty, and conflict and tension and politics.
4. Because you like the hard questions.
It's a complex and satisfying story - at least, it was for me. It's also an adult series, for adults - not in terms of sex scenes or violence, but in terms of adult concepts, of the complicated and complex reality that we inhabit and which the characters of Stargate Atlantis do, too. In the true manner of science fiction, there are questions raised about what it is to be human, what it is that defines us as people, who we are as individuals, and who we aspire to be as a culture - the question of our destiny.
There are answers for the questions raised but they are not easy ones. Depending on you and your perspective on the universe, they may not even be satisfying ones. I, personally, found them both satisfying and heartening - the reassurance that there is a 'Plan C' and that it can work with work, even if it's not the easy answer from any direction.
It's a pleasure to read things that are both adult and satisfying. I've found that, as the years go on, stories become more formulaic and simplistic, or complicated and without answers. This one gives a solution that works, but it requires hard work, effort, and committment, all things which I think our current state of society sorely lacks.
There may be a bit of my personal preference in there. It's still a damned good read.
So, yeah, if you're reading this, and you enjoy my writing (or, at least, the kind of writing I aspire to), and you enjoyed Stargate Atlantis, you should go and buy the SGA Legacy series. Because it rocks.
However, with the announcement of another SGA book series (two books, Elizabeth-centric, with team) I figure that now is a good time to pimp the six books of the SGA Legacy series to what remains of my f-list, in the hope that a handful of one-time SGA fans will read it and be encouraged to actually read the series.
why you should be reading it
1. Because you love the female characters.
That's kind of a given since you're reading my LJ. You love the female characters, the characters of colour, the action girls, the women who get the job done - whether that job is blowing up a sun (do it once and you'll never live it down) or managing to politely convey that the IOA sits only just above flesh-eating bugs on the scale of Things One Wishes To Spend Two Hours With.
In this series, the skills and talents of the female characters do not go to waste. Teyla, Sam, Jennifer, and even Elizabeth all have a key role to play - and that's just the main human women from canon. Other women of Atlantis are not forgotten either: there are multiple other female characters who appear in various roles, sometimes small, sometimes key. This is a story where what the women do matters, in small things and large.
2. Because you love the team.
Again, most likely a given since you're reading this. And by 'team', we don't mean "only the important people, the ones who have penises", or "only the hot white males".
You like a balanced group of problem-solvers, who behave like adults, disagree like friends, and back each other up like their relationships matter, who go out and try to make things work and when they don't work, fall back on shooting things up. You like characters who don't automatically groupthink, who are respectful of each other, who work together in spite of having different views, and who care about each other and don't just tolerate each other.
And I'm not just talking about Sheppard's team, either - I'm talking about all of Atlantis, Stargate Command, the crews of the Daedelus, the crews of the Hammond, and even the people of Pegasus.
Yes, the people of Pegasus get to play a role in their destiny.
3. Because you love intricate and well-plotted storylines, executed with flair.
One of the things I really enjoyed about the Legacy series is that the setup has the long view. There are storylines that resolve slowly over the course of the six books. There are storylines that resolve over a book or two. There are relationships and dynamics that are actually held in tension not just in a holding pattern. There is action and drama and thoughtful kindness and unthinking cruelty. There's betrayal and struggle and uncertainty, and conflict and tension and politics.
4. Because you like the hard questions.
It's a complex and satisfying story - at least, it was for me. It's also an adult series, for adults - not in terms of sex scenes or violence, but in terms of adult concepts, of the complicated and complex reality that we inhabit and which the characters of Stargate Atlantis do, too. In the true manner of science fiction, there are questions raised about what it is to be human, what it is that defines us as people, who we are as individuals, and who we aspire to be as a culture - the question of our destiny.
There are answers for the questions raised but they are not easy ones. Depending on you and your perspective on the universe, they may not even be satisfying ones. I, personally, found them both satisfying and heartening - the reassurance that there is a 'Plan C' and that it can work with work, even if it's not the easy answer from any direction.
It's a pleasure to read things that are both adult and satisfying. I've found that, as the years go on, stories become more formulaic and simplistic, or complicated and without answers. This one gives a solution that works, but it requires hard work, effort, and committment, all things which I think our current state of society sorely lacks.
There may be a bit of my personal preference in there. It's still a damned good read.
So, yeah, if you're reading this, and you enjoy my writing (or, at least, the kind of writing I aspire to), and you enjoyed Stargate Atlantis, you should go and buy the SGA Legacy series. Because it rocks.
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