Elizabeth Weir and Ronon Dex are prisoners of the Vanir, whose damaged ship is plummeting into the mountains of Sateda. Meanwhile, Atlantis is in lock down, infected by a virulent contagion, cut off from the rest of the galaxy. And time is running out…
Helped by Dr. Daniel Jackson, Colonel Shepherd’s team fight not only to save their city and free their friends, but ultimately to save an entire species from extinction. As tensions rise between the Wraith, the Travelers, and the Lanteans, old enemies — and long lost friends — must unite to walk a third path if the fragile peace in the Pegasus galaxy is to hold.
In this riveting conclusion to the epic Legacy series, the destiny of Atlantis and her people will be decided.
Scott studied history at Harvard College and Brandeis University, and earned her PhD. in comparative history. She published her first novel in 1984, and has since written some two dozen science fiction and fantasy works, including three co-authored with her partner, Lisa A. Barnett.
Scott's work is known for the elaborate and well-constructed settings. While many of her protagonists are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, this is perfectly integrated into the rest of the story and is rarely a major focus of the story. Shadow Man, alone among Scott's works, focuses explicitly on issues of sexuality and gender.
She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction in 1986, and has won several Lambda Literary Awards.
In addition to writing, Scott also teaches writing, offering classes via her website and publishing a writing guide.
Scott lived with her partner, author Lisa A. Barnett, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for 27 years, until the latter's death of breast cancer on May 2, 2006.
This book does a good job wrapping up the Legacy series. All the major plotlines were resolved and there were some nice suprises too. Nice to see Radek Zelenka and Major Lorne get significant story time as they were always favorites of mine.
It was a decent ending. All though I cannot say the same thing for the Author Jo Graham I have repeatedly asked about this book and she never answered me. She is stuck up.
Welp... I am going to be brutally honest here... This book is definitely the worst in the series... And I am really sorry about that...
The book has incredible problem with continuity... So many errors and deviations not only from the TV series, but even from the books as well... It was really frustrating to read... Just as an example... How on the bloody Earth can you so incredibly focus on the dialing of Atlantis from Earth and then write it took only 7 symbols?!? I get that errors happen but this concept is such a cornerstone of the Stargate universe that I am honestly in disbelief that the authors of this book who had done pretty good job so far made such a mistake... I just don't get it... I think any fan of Stargate would spot this immediately... There are some more inconsistencies but this one was the most disheartening...
If I ignore what I wrote above it was still pretty below the Legacy average... The story was so incredibly slow I struggled to push through... The chapters about the team who had the "Plant problem" were incredibly pointless and they inhibited the whole story so much they almost killed it... The same point was mentioned like 15 times and the whole story created more inconsistencies... One, max two chapters would be fine... But this was just way too much... Waaaay too much... The overall plot was incredibly weak, only saviour was O'Neill most of the time who is the only one that seemed... Well... To behave normally...
Maybe I was too hyped for this book after the preceding one that I really liked... Maybe my knowledge of the Stargate world prevents me from ignoring some factual errors... I don't know... I just think the authors should not burden themselves with 250 plus page books and should be satisfied with around 160... The pacing would be so much better... It would get rid of inhibitors and I think it would be a much better format... I will, however, keep on reading if some books come out... I love Stargate and I want to see it do well... But please... Maybe watch the series again before you finish the next book... Or let some massive Stargate nerd like myself proofread it for you... It would be so incredibly worth it...
Eh. I do like the written style of the books where Melissa Scott is the first author, as opposed to Jo Graham, they are a bit more engaging, but, eh. Same problems as always. Too many unrelated plot points, very little in-depth look at any of them that would make me care about any of them. Half the time I spent wondering what's the point of any of it. A number of things were sold as "this is the worst thing to ever happen to them, how in the world are they going to get out of it?!!!1eleventyone!1", but there wasn't much tension. And then a few things got tied together a bit too neatly. I understand what they were going for with "the wolf", but considering how many pages he is actually in, it didn't really do any of his story any justice.
The thing that bothered me the most is a leftover from the previous book, but the fact that it wasn't resolved just made me so mad. Who is a new commander of Atlantis? IOA should be having kittens at the thought of it in the military hands. It makes absolutely no sense of them not to appoint someone else immediately when they resended Woolsey, just like they appointed him immediately upon asking for Sam to come back. And, sure, Weir is back in the city, but they spent two books without a de-facto commander, and they made it abandondly clear that even though she is back in the city, she isn't getting her old job back.
This was such a wonderful ending to a fantastic series! I love how all the major loose ends were tied up but things were also left open for possibilities, as if this wasn't a final end but could leave the Stargate Atlantis universe open for someone else to play in.
I loved how this series had shaped the growth for all this universes beloved characters, the TV series certainly carried them the majority of the distance but this novel series, this textual sixth season, has allow for a new maturity that probably would never have happened outside a the novel format.
Kudos to all the authors involved with this project. I, for one, loved it!
So again, a fun Atlantis adventure. Again minus one star because of scene formatting, or lack thereof. I'm giving this series the benefit of the doubt on all this happy ending thing. Is this the last book in the series? If so, then I'd take away another star. There should be more conflict from ABC and the IOA about Vanir ship, about Dr. weird (figured they'd stick her at Area 51, and Ford's homecoming is too easy. All great points of contention to continue the series. So I'll wait and see.
After 8 books and God knows how many hours of reading, I feel cheated and want my time back. The ending was such a bunch of hog wash I’m ashamed to admit I read the whole series. But as a huge Stargate fan I think I expected more from this series. I certainly expected more resolution for the characters not just here they are another day in the galaxy. So disappointed.
Just finished reading all of the Legacy books and all I can say is I Want More in this series. I wasn’t ready for the story to end when the TV series ended and I’m not ready for the story to end again now. Great books all of them. Enjoyed learning more about the Wraith. I highly recommend this series for anyone who wanted more after Atlantis ended. Thanks to the authors for bringing Atlantis back to us.
Worst book of the series. The contagion sub-plot and the storm planet sub-plot were both completely irrelevant and filler material that distracted from the main story. It was like the author had run of things to write about.
A very satisfying conclusion to the Legacy series! Some of the scientific portions were slightly tedious, but it was great to see an amicable conclusion drawn together for Dr. Weir and Lt. Ford :-)
More chill than the last few books, but very welcomed. Gave it an ending i would have loved for the show ! Gave Characters like Major Lorne a more important role, which i loved.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Decent conclusion to the series. A few plot lines didn't get resolved (like the Vanir storyline,) so hopefully in later books they'll get resolved. A few continuity errors and wasn't that eventful compared to the previous book, but I enjoyed it.
The (currently) final novel in the Stargate Atlantis universe begins where Unascended left off. Dr. Weir and Ronon have been taken prisoner and the ship they are on has been crippled and is heading toward a crash. Meanwhile, Atlantis has been forced to suspend all travel to and from because of a potentially catastrophic contagion.
The book does what Inheritors did in terms of expanding the lore for the show. More learning about the Wraith culture and what the retrovirus will mean to them. How would you feel about having a very close encounter with your food?
Unfortunatley, it also tries to one up Inheritors by bringing back another loose thread to needlessly tie-up so it can feel like a satisfying ending. Their technical/continuity person made another error (it takes 8 symbols to dial Atlantis from Earth, not 7, you forgot the galactic area-code). Ronon's story is tacked on to fill pages and doesn't contribute to his growth, maybe you needed him to not be with the rest of the team, but it didn't work as a reason for me to fear for him since we always knew he had a plan B.
The Vanir story is also simple, has virtually no twists or obstacles to overcome, and the characters have no qualms about a very aggressive race gaining another ship (which miraculously has inter-galactic hyperdrive, something the show said they'd all lost.)
It serves as a fan friendly story, but only just. They break the shows' rules, but lack a satisfying payoff does not seem to justify the mistakes.
And thus, we finally come to the conclusion of the Stargate Atlantis Legacy series, which continues the story past season 5 of the television series. Overall, this novel was both a bittersweet and very satisfying ending to a much larger and more complicated story line.
One of the benefits of media tie-in novels is that the story is not restricted by things like money for special effects budgets or real-life personnel issues, and that is an issue that this entire saga has taken full advantage of. Third Path featured the well-rounded ending to the Wraith saga and solved some unresolved questions regarding the Pegasus universe Asgard that were only so briefly featured in the last season of the show. In addition, the return of a few fan-favorite characters could have felt artificial and self-serving, but were deftly intertwined in the already established plot lines to great effect.
The Legacy series was originally supposed to run six books rather than eight (I believe), and while I was perfectly happy to keep reading about some of my favorite characters in my favorite science-fiction universe, I think some things were given short shrift in this final installment. Book 6 is where I found the the epic space battles, and though reading about a team stranded on a strange planet and the folks on Atlantis battling a plastic-eating virus was exciting, I wanted something a bit more substantial for the wrap-up to such a long series.
I'm not sure whether the Stargate Novels team will continue publishing post-series novels for Atlantis or whether we will see a return to within-show tales. Either way, this publisher's dedication to the quality and themes of the wider Stargate universe ensure that I will keep reading them.
Extremely rare for me to give fiction a book of five star. A big plus for me on this book, no language, no social agenda and no sexual content. I like to read sci-do for sci-if! I really like books that are independent of each other. And this book was more like that. It started off a little strange and hard to grasp in relation to the previous book, because it referred in the previous book to Asgard ship, and it started book 8 with the Vanir ship. After I realized the discrepancy (so if you read book 7, the Asgard ship is the Vanir ship in book 8, who is an offshoot/related to the Asgard), it really went uphill from there. The subject was sci-fi, just enough personal to relate to the characters, but not so much personal that it became a drama. I really like that it ended so you weren't forced to read another book to see how it was going to end (which book 7 was). There was enough going on that kept it interesting. One of the best stargate books read in awhile. Looking forward to reading the next book, and hope they come out with some more books that are from the previous years of Stargate, independent books (not a series) with lots of sci-fi and adventure. Spoiler:As a personal side note, hope to see the administration structure come back, and I hope Woolsey comes back as the head, dr. Weir maybe as a diplomatic character.
Second review: I also enjoyed this one more the second time. I added another star.
First review: The most fun thing here was the conclusion of the spaceship battle from the previous book, which didn't even take up all of chapter one.
While Teyla had a point in dressing down Daniel, she was a bit harsh. Although, both Daniel and Rodney are very childish and annoying in this book, so they were worse.
Is it really a good idea to
Ronans storyline was boring so I only skimmed it, and the bacteria storyline wasn't a lot better, though I liked it a little. I'm finding Embers character evolution interesting.
Bringing Elizabeth back, and now also , just seems like lazy, boring writing.
Excellent conclusion to the Legacy series. As with all the Stargate SG1 & Atlantis novels, this book would not appeal to anyone not a fan of the TV show and familiar with the characters. This is not a stand alone novel and picks up immediately where Legacy #7 left off. That said, I thought it was a well developed storyline and I enjoyed learning more about Wraith culture. I liked the complicated ethical questions brought up regarding humans as food vs pets vs colleagues. The Ronan storyline was the weakest but not horrible -- just slow in a few points. I understand the point was to develop Ronan as a leader rather than just the muscle. However, that entire storyline could have be left out and the novel would be fine. Still I loved the treatment of the beloved Atlantis Expedition members. The five stars is for both this novel individually as well as the entire series as a whole. Would have been a great TV season. <3 Miss Stargate Atlantis!
The book picks up right where Stargate Atlantis: Unascended left off, with Elizabeth and Ronon taken prisoner by the Vanir on Sateda and Atlantis in trouble with a mysterious plastic-eating infection. As the final book in the Legacy series, this was a great and immensely satisfying ending tying up all the loose story threads in ways that just felt right, although it didn't have anything near the sheer epic awesomeness of book six's huge space battle. All in all, I felt that the books truly did the story and characters justice, and I'm left with but one single complaint: What do you mean, final book and conclusion?? But I want more! How about a season seven, by the same brilliant trio of authors, wouldn't that be a thing? Pretty please with a cherry on top?
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Legacy series. In fact, I decided to reread the series prior to reading this final installment. But I was pretty disappointed with book 8. As others have stated, there is very little action, and the plot consists of multiple minor plots, none of which are very interesting. Most unforgivable to me is the fact that many of the characters behave inconsistently with the normal. Teyla is downright unbearable. Daniel Jackson is treated as a joke. Shepherd's characteristic sarcasm comes across as whining. The Atlantis personnel spend the whole book trying to solve a technical issue which wasn't very menacing. And at the end of the book (spoiler), we still don't know who is in charge of Atlantis.
Closer to 3.5 stars. I've really enjoyed Legacy series, it's a nice wrap up to several of the dangling plot lines left over when SGA was cancelled. There is a lot going on in this book, but nothing that really felt urgent. There was no great battle, no wondering who will live or die. It was just a nice quiet ending to the Legacy series - tying up loose ends.
Over all, if you are a SG:A fan, you should give this series a read - it's a good story. More like a Season 6 than we are ever likely to get.
I can see why this one has been getting a mixed response, it isn't exactly action packed, in fact for the most part it just plods along. For a hardcore Stargate Atlantis fan though, this is a nice way to end things. It tasted of normality and i think that was what it needed to be. It ended with an optimistic flavour, a taste at a future where Atlantis lives on as a home, not just a place to work. The characters remained solid and the writing was genuine, it was a fitting end to something that was a he part of my life, much better than the end of the show.
Legacy #8 here we go on another grand adventure. Still perfectly Stargate Atlantis in every way, reading this is just so much like the show. This book really fit's a lot of things together and we discover why the Vanir were after Elizabeth,. It has a satisfying ending to this Vanri arc. I can't say much more without spoiling the story. But if you are like me and love this series you will be happy to hear 3 more Legacy novels are planed to be released in 2016. I'm excited.
The climax of the story was a bit weak - it didn't really fill me with a sense of urgency, nor did it have the broad-reaching impact expected in the culmination of an 8-book series. That said, it was a reasonable wrap-up for the Legacy series, and provides a good jumping off point for future stories - I hope to see some!