The summary on the story is: 'A mission to explore an abandoned temple turns into a desperate flight for survival', and that's pretty close to what the story is about. Our heroes find an abandoned planet and, of course, run into trouble in an equally abandoned temple. There is some great foreshadowing when they come across what the reader will later know to be signs of the 'Night Terrors'. "Peaceful like a cemetery" is a good phrase that sets the tone. The foreshadowing and plot devices that show up early in this almost seventy page story are a good indication of a well thought out plot. It's a story that moves at a steady pace. There is no sudden appearance of a convenient ally or weapon to save the day, and there are no easy outs. It's realistic in that these four people are stranded far from safety and the only way they can get home is to get themselves home. Most of the story consists of SG-1's desperate flight from the planet: injured, on foot, and under the literal deadline of nightfall. During the course of their flight we get to peek into all of their minds and are privy to every character's private thoughts. Every one of them is hurt in some way, yet every one of them also goes above and beyond the call of duty so as not to get the others killed. The authors paints a relatively vivid picture of the planet and the main protagonists are suitably creepy. The medical conditions seem consistent with how they'd be in real life and there are no sudden and miraculous recoveries. It's also handled realistically in that Janet can't fix it all, which is more consistent with an infirmary than a hospital. The characters all maintain behavior similar to what we see on the show, with the possible exception of Jack waxing poetic about Sam in places and some of the language. Occasionally, Jack's thoughts do go a little over the top for me. If you don’t like ship, you might be put off a bit by his reminiscing. This story is classified as ship but it should appeal to all. The plot is solid enough that you get caught up in the story and the ship just slips right by. The language used by some of the characters sometimes stands out, I think, simply because in the world of PG-13 TV it's not language we ever hear the characters use on the show. We never hear Sam cuss, so when she does in the story it takes you back for a second. There is a place or two where Sam does act a bit more forceful than she does on the show, yet I don't see it as acting out of line. 'Night Terrors' is an engaging, well thought out and well plotted adventure that pulls you in and won't let you go until the last page. I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good, old-fashioned adventure story with a dash of hurt/comfort thrown in for good measure. |
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