Spoilers behind the cut.
If a story mentions Jack's alleged dislike of trees within the opening paragraphs, I roll my eyes (yes, I know I've done it, and the show does it, and everyone's done it, and it's not a heinous sin – it's just boring). If it then goes on to make a Simpsons reference(see notes re. trees), a few lines further on, I'm tempted to skim the whole thing. If an OC then appears who is quite obviously the daughter of one of SG-1 from the future*, but Our Heroes do not work this out until they're told, three-quarters of the way through, I'm not sure I can be bothered to plod through it all, even if there are space gypsies.
In a fanfic, I'd think it was unoriginal, but forgivable if the rest is fun. But in a published, official Stargate book? It may be wrong, but I
And I'm sorry, but I just can't see Jack naming his daughter "Jade".
* Science Fiction Rule #127: if a mysterious young man / woman appears, wearing clothes and/or carrying objects that are similar but more advanced to those available to the regular characters, s/he will be assumed to be the son or daughter from the future of one (or two) of said regular characters, until proven otherwise – and sometimes even after that.
ETA: I have commentfic! *loves
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But your point about the Simpsons stuff and the TREES, plus the antagonism of the Jacks (even though the one had *every good reason to be bitter*)... maybe it's a function of how fans who read fanfic become adept at identifying all the stuff that Everybody Does, that is, in other words, a CLICHE. Sure, some fans never move on from that. Sure, some fans use them deliberately, or judiciously. But as you say: what's easier to overlook in just another fanfic out of many is less easy to look in a published book.
And as I said before: the author of this book isn't a fan. At least, I do not get the sense that he is a participant-in-fandom type of fan (possibly he's a fan-of-the-show); he's a tie-in novel writer.
It's too harsh, I think, to call him "lazy"; I don't think he is. But in a sense... well, if you think that sprinkling in the trees thing and the Simpsons thing into the first page of your book is a way to signify "Hey everyone! This is Jack O'Neill! Look how familiar I am with him! Look how in-the-know I am about the details of the show!"... it's going to come off, I'm afraid, as trying too hard.
(Didn't the show only do the "trees" thing, like, ONCE?)
Also, I'm not against OCs. I have run into some who I've really liked. But again, I just got "trying too hard" off that whole plotline, and... to be honest, while I felt it was blindingly obvious that she was the daughter of someone on SG-1 from the future, for a lot of the book *I* disbelieved that she could be Jack's daughter *just because of the name*.
Yes - that's exactly my problem with it. It reads like a collection of generic scifi characters - like he's written it from a precis about the show, rather than actual fandom. From that, he's gathered that Jack likes the Simpsons, "hates" trees, etc - but hasn't got the subtle inner knowledge that a name like Jade just... isn't right.
Yeah, the being coy about whether her mother was Sam or not was very irksome. And, as I've said below, to Trout, calling Daniel "Jackson" all the time, and him seemingly being an expert with tech... it's stretching the character a bit. Not that Daniel couldn't be good at Ancient tech, but it's just subtly off.
"Sir," she backed over to him while Teal'c and Daniel kept up the scanning for unknown things. "Are you okay?"
He lifted his head and waved her away. "I'm fine, Carter." He stood up and slapped the dust off his knees. "I just couldn't stand the sight of another tree-infested planet. I mean look around. They're
Teal'c and Daniel had picked up on the extreme stupidity of the situation and quit looking for evil energy rays that didn't exist. "I do not understand your dislike for trees, O'Neill. Perhaps you had a negative experience involving trees as a small child."
"No, Teal'c. It's nothing like that. I mean, I've always liked trees. It was just in the script that one time and now I can't shake it."
"I see," said Teal'c. "It is much like my undomesticated equines."
"Indeed, big guy." He clapped Teal'c on the shoulder and they moved out. "Hey, did I ever tell you about my Burns as Goa'uld theory?"
Heeheehee! You for the win.
Perhaps you had a negative experience involving trees as a small child."
*sporfle*
Should I even bother reading this one?
On the whole, I wouldn't recommend it. It's not terrible, but it doesn't read much like the actual show.
What book should I LOOK for that isn't CofG or Sacrifice Moon?
:)
(Survival Of The Fittest is my second favourite so far, after Sacrifice Moon.)