Valhalla

Stargate SG-1 #14

by Tim Waggoner

SG-1 become enmeshed in a fierce battle straight out of Nordic mythology. Although unwilling participants, SG-1 soon find themselves fighting with the Vanir against their ancient foe - the brutal giants of Jotunheim - and feasting with them long into the night. But when dawn arrives, the team find themselves in a very different world. Although still at war, the Vanir and Jotunheim have advanced a millennia and fight with weapons of the 18th century.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In

248 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 25, 2009

About the author

Tim Waggoner's first novel came out in 2001, and since then, he's published over sixty novels and eight collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He's written tie-in fiction based on Supernatural, The X-Files, Alien, Doctor Who, Conan the Barbarian, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Grimm, and Transformers, among others, and he's written novelizations for films such as Ti West’s X-Trilogy, Halloween Kills, Terrifier 2 and 3, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. He’s also the author of the award-winning guide to horror Writing in the Dark. He’s a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, a one-time winner of the Scribe Award, and he’s been a two-time finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and a one-time finalist for the Splatterpunk Award. He’s also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.

Reviews

[Dana (Dana and the Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more Jonas working with SG-1, but his story line was pretty separate from them for most of the book.

[BlueRose99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Props for including Jonas but taking off a star cause some pages of my book fell out near the end.

[Craterdweller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little on the short side and there were parts that I wished the author had chosen to flesh out more. Nice to see Jonas Quinn again too.

[J.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than I otherwise might have, reading it so soon on the heels of watching Thor: Ragnarok in theaters. Any Stargate reading for me is a visit to a world I love, and this was a solid, though not necessarily memorable, entry into the media tie-in offerings for this world.

One of my biggest criteria for media tie-in stories is whether the story would have worked in the constraints of visual storytelling, and unfortunately, I could have easily seen this, special effects totally doable, on screen as a two-part episode. The planet Langara and its all-powerful naquadia resources and rogue Asgard scientists are also already done to death in the realm of Stargate stories.

While I don't understand the hate many people have for Jonas Quinn, he's not my favorite character and always comes across as a little too perfect. He and Sam Carter are the point of view characters for this novel, and both of them are brilliant scientists who can do no wrong. Heroes who are just a tiny bit flawed are much more interesting, and one of the enduring traits of Stargate is that the heroes do have flaws, which seem to be missing here.

Some odd plot holes aside, the writing was well-crafted and this novel had very few of the copy-editing errors that tend to litter the Stargate novels. It was a quick (almost too quick), enjoyable visit with characters I love, even if it wasn't an amazing adventure to accompany them on.

[Ida Leter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. The main plot is excellently written. A bit weird, though, considering that the legends and myths shouldn't be able to predict the future, just convey what has happened in the past. But overall, pretty solid storytelling

The second plot deserves props for being the only novel to include Jonas, and it isn't too bad on its own either. But it is 95% unrelated to what is happening in the main plot, and I felt like there might have been a few blank spaces along the way, especially close to the end where everything just got resolved in the blink of an eye. It could and should have been a stand-alone story. I did get a bit of a whip-lash whenever the book was transitioning from one plot to another back and forth.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed catching up with Jonas in this book. I wish he could have had more time with SG-1, but it took awhile for his story to merge with theirs. I think too much was crammed into this book. There were Asgard, Norsemen, Langarans, Tok'ra, and Replicators. The book was not edited well. There are so many typos they became distracting.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like two books in one, given how separate the dual storylines were. I wish they'd meshed better. That aside, both "books" were great fun and captured the spirit of the show. I particularly enjoyed catching up with Jonas again.

[Marisa Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holographic Viking warriors battle all day only to be restored to life the next day. The SG-1 team encounters an Asgard behind this strange world. Meanwhile, Jonas Quinn is working on a defense system for his world and things do not go well.

[Daniel Gaul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rate this book as one of the best Stargate novels I've read to date; it was so cool to see Jonas back in action :-) There were noticeable editing errors (spelling, extra words, etc.) throughout, but overall, it was a very engaging, thrilling story from start to finish!

[Kasey Minnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a favorite

The story wasn't bad, but the characterization was off. The language of the characters' thoughts and speech was overly formal and awkward.

[Jemma (Aussie BookWorm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy because I got to read a good Stargate novel that features Jonas. Sad because it's the only one. 🙃

[Emily G · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read, the plot engaging enough for me not to mind too much the chopping between the two story lines featuring Jonas dealing with issues on his home planet and SG-1 in Valhalla, a world created by Odin, one of the Asgard. As I will freely admit, normally I like one story better and skim the one I'm not so bothered about to get to the next chapter about the one I do!

I also liked having Jonas back, as I do like him as a character (but not as a replacement for Daniel!) although the relationship between him and Kianna was a bit cheesy. I did wonder how such disparate plot lines were going to come together but it was neatly done and the ending rounds everything up nicely. Like I said at the beginning, a good read.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an easier read than Hydra as there was a lot less technobabble. Basically there were two different stories, much like the episodes an A and a B which wound up together at the end. The team visits a world with Viking warriors doing an eternal battle, while Jonas (remember him from season 6?) is working on his planet to develop a planetary defense system. Throw in a renegade Asgard, a Tok'ra and some of the galaxy's greatest scourge and it makes for an interesting adventure for our heroes.

Great line - O"Neill: "Make it so..........What? I heard it on a TV show once and thought I'd try it out".

[Dustin · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was like a bad episode of SG-1, only it's like a bad episode of SG-1 with Jonas Quinn in it, so it's even worse. This book combines a nonsensical a-plot involving holographic vikings and yet another rogue Asgard scientist with a completely worthless Jonas Quinn b-plot (three guesses about what super awesome yet unstable material it revolves around.)

This has little in the way of redeeming features and like most of the SG-1 tie-in books reads like fan-fic.

[Rex Libris]

Books started out pretty slow, but got a lot better in the second half. It made me realize how much I miss the show. For what is worth, I actually prefer the show over the novelizations. Usually it is the other way around. But such is life.

[Miss Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad or anything, simply the story failed to really interest me and the characters, while not radically out of character, were not very accurately or intently drawn.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good to have a book with Jonas. I miss the guy.

However... the back cover description is wrong in one of the plotpoints. That's a bit of an oops!

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was never much of a fan of the television show, but this is a very nice story set in its chronology. I enjoyed the Norse mythology references.

[Jacob Dalley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written book. With this book it is one of the rare times that I will say the show is better than the book.