The book today is…
Stargate Atlantis: Entanglement
Book #6
ISBN: 9781905586035
(te woot!)
Here’s the thing. After the last review I did, I watched the next episode ‘Duet’ (Season2, Episode 4), and came to the conclusion that there was something a little off about the order.
In ‘Halcyon’, Ronon is with Sheppard’s team and so I read it as he was part of the team. However, watching ‘Duet’ its clear that he hasn’t accepted Sheppard’s invitation to join and Weir isn’t sure she wants him to at first.
At this point I’d have to say that ‘Halcyon’ can, and should, be read after ‘Duet’. As in-
watch ‘Duet’
read ‘Halcyon’
read ‘Entanglement’
watch ‘Condemned’.
Sound good? I do plan on going back and looking at ‘Halcyon’ to see if they mention that Ronon is there on a trial bases or not, but I’m almost positive it was read as he was a part of the team. Sheppard certainly treated him as such so we’ll see.
Now.
‘Duet’ is a hilarious and also moving episode. Rodney McKay and a female Marine named Cadman are caught in a Dart’s culling beam and the Dart ends up being shot down with them still inside the buffer. Because of the damage they can only bring one person out, not enough power for both, and it’s an obvious choice because if you bring Rodney out, he can find a way to get power to the damaged Dart and get Cadman out.
Right?
It’s what Sheppard thought, but that’s not how the tech works apparently. There isn’t a way to distinguish between life signs. This forces Sheppard to pick one at random, and out pops Rodney.
Huzzah?
Yeah, not so much.
Cadman’s consciousness is inside of Rodney too and they have to share his body for a few days while Zelenka and others try to find a solution.
Cadman tries to help Rodney with his date with botanist Katie (who doesn’t know about the additional mind sharing Rodney’s) but Rodney isn’t so pleased with how she does it.
I liked the episode because she really does try to help, but she doesn’t listen to Rodney and even takes control of his body a few times.
Turns out, two minds can’t be in one body and when it causes Rodney to have a stroke, Cadman says she’ll ‘leave’ and give him his body. She’s already feeling herself fade and it’s his body after all so the choice is obvious.
Except it’s not.
In another great example of character development and growth, Rodney (who so far has been very vehement in his disgust with the whole situation) says he isn’t going to let her die.
Sure enough, after Cadman takes control one last time to kiss Dr. Beckett because they aren’t sure Rodney’s plan will work, McKay pulls off the impossible and saves the day!
LOVE the episode for the humor and heartfelt moments. David Hewlett, Rodney McKay, portrays both characters fabulously! When Cadman is in control of the body or just talking, he makes sure to change his body language, if just a little, to signify the change and it’s so well done.
So, we come to ‘Entanglement’!
The screaming over this book would deafen you so I’m just going to say that my excitement about this book is enormous!
Ronon is definitely part of the team here and said team, along with another, are on a moon trying to locate an energy source.
Thing is, it keeps appearing and disappearing.
After a few days, Rodney and Zelenka figure out that it isn’t coming from the moon the are currently on, but another one and so they go to explore while leaving Major Lorne and the other scientists on the first moon that holds the Stargate. (if you’ve watched SG1 you’ll recognize Major Lorne as a reoccurring character who decided to join Atlantis)
Things are interesting and funny to this point, but the action definitely picks up here because the energy signature is coming from a huge facility set a ways away from a huge hangar bay.
What’s inside the facility makes Rodney sick.
It’s a massive Quantum Mirror.
Big enough to fly a Wraith Cruiser through in fact.
The Alterans built it as an escape route because they were losing the war with the Wraith. The Mirror opens a doorway between dimensions/realities/worlds, except that you can’t really control it since it fluctuates.
And, because things can never be easy for our lovable team, a ship comes through the Mirror and a few hours later a Wraith cruiser shows up to spice things up even more.
Now, the thing we want to focus on is the ship that came through the Mirror from another dimension. The sole occupant is young but willing to work with SGA 1 since they think they can send her back. SGA 1 is willing to help because the ship is obviously influenced by Alteran technology along with something else.
When the girl finally takes her helmet off, we find out what the other ‘something’ is and this is where I almost lost it because holy heck!
IT’S A WRAITH FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION WHERE THEY DON’T FEED ON HUMANS!!!
Apparently, an Alteran ship, or more, did go through the Mirror way back when, but they can’t outrun certain things. The plague that sent them to another galaxy in the first place wipes them out in the alternate world, just not before they tamper with things and create Wraith in that dimension too (yeah, they never seem to learn their lesson do they?).
Only they call themselves Eidolon and though they don’t have to feed on humans, they can. Once they do however there’s no turning back and they’re killed for their crime.
Trishen, our lovely new Eidolon from another world, is horrified by the Wraith of Sheppard’s world and Rodney is able to convince her to help them not only destroy the Mirror so no one else would be in danger of the Wraith invading, but he’s also positive he can send her home first.
Trishen does in fact get back to her dimension…along with Rodney, Teyla, Sheppard, Miko, Radek, Ronon and the Wraith ship.
There, they have to rely on the Eidolon to not only destroy the Wraith, but also to get them back home before the Mirror destabilizes completely.
Obviously, they succeed after much intrigue, suspicion and action and we continue on to another episode.
I LOVED this book!
I’ve always wanted more Wraith (as I mentioned when we met Scar a while ago) and the fact that there is obviously a way for the Wraith to survive without feeding means there’s hope for our world’s Wraith.
Until this book I had only the series to go on and with the end being a cliffhanger I couldn’t say definitively one way or the other if they would have been able to find a solution. I’d hoped because otherwise that would be a sucky ending and I really think that the Wraith civil war that would have ensued and the continual distrust with the humans would have made for some excellent episodes.
‘Entanglement’ gives me a ton to work with and I appreciate that someone thought it would be a good addition to the Stargate Atlantis world.
Though I have to wonder now if our Todd has ever ‘talked’ to the Eidolon? It’s insinuated in the ‘Vegas’ (much later on, so don’t skip!) episode that he’s aware of other realities so it’s possible…
Maybe we’ll find out in another book?
Speaking of, the next episode is ‘Condemned’ with the book after being ‘Death Game’.
See you there!
The Dark Library 