Nightfall

Stargate Atlantis #10

by James Swallow

In the distant Pegasus galaxy, the scientists and soldiers of the Atlantis expedition push back the frontiers of knowledge and exploration; in the city of the Ancients, new challenges and old secrets are waiting to be unlocked. Far from home, ranged against lethal enemies the Atlantis team must fight to preserve a distant outpost of humanity against impossible odds; but when the Nightfall comes, it will be like nothing they have ever encountered before...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In, Ebooks, Fantasy, Adventure

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 25, 2008

About the author

James Swallow is a New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author and scriptwriter, a BAFTA nominee, a former journalist and the award-winning writer of over sixty-five books, along with scripts for video games, comics, radio and television.

DARK HORIZON, his latest stand-alone thriller, is out now from Mountain Leopard Press, and OUTLAW, the 6th action-packed Marc Dane novel, is published by Bonnier.

Along with the Marc Dane thrillers, his writing includes, the Sundowners steampunk Westerns and fiction from the worlds of Star Trek, Tom Clancy, 24, Warhammer 40000, Doctor Who, Deus Ex, Stargate, 2000AD and many more.

For information on new releases & more, sign up to the Readers’ Club here: www.bit.ly/JamesSwallow

Visit James's website at http://www.jswallow.com/ for more, including ROUGH AIR, a free eBook novella in the Marc Dane series.

You can also follow James on Bluesky at @jmswallow.bsky.social, Twitter at @jmswallow, Mastodon at @jmswallow@mstdn.social and jmswallow.tumblr.com at Tumblr.

Reviews

[Kati · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's really hard for me to somehow rate this book. You see, on the one hand, it was really good - the plot was quite intriguing and well plotted - on the other hand, quite often I asked myself if the author had even seen SGA. Why? Well...

a) He got some of the most basic SG "hard facts" wrong - according to him, the 'gate wormhole goes both ways!
b) The characterization. Oh, boy. Teyla kept snapping/barking/snarling. Rodney either whined or he was painfully meek, his acerbic - and intelligent - humor was completely absent etc. etc.
c) The author moved the plot forward through completely illogical decisions on the part of the main characters. Example? Carter forced Sheppard to take Keller, an untrained doctor who refused to even accept a gun, with his team - on a recon mission to a possibly hostile planet! When Teyla and Ronon were kidnapped in a space ship, Sheppard and the Marines went searching for them - on foot!
d) The author's style... If I hear "the Athosian woman" or "the warrior woman" or "the P-90 submachine gun" or "the submachine gun" again, I will scream!

I think that Swallow would benefit from either having a co-author or a better editor.

To sum it up? My least favorite SGA book so far. I won't be re-reading it any time soon, that's for sure.

[Craterdweller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than I expected

As I hated this author's SG-1 novel, I had low expectations going in but this one wasn't half bad. Not up to the standards of the Legacy series but still worth the read. Takes place early season four.

[Ida Leter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually don't read books all that much as of late, per se. More often than I listen to them on my walks. Usually, I have no trouble keeping up with the story, but sometimes the mind.... wanders. This book did not engage me despite my best efforts. There were a few set pieces too many, too many characters, too many plot lines, too much movement, very little connective tissue between them. Too many times I had to go "wait, what happened? They were there, and suddenly they are here? And, oh, suddenly they know this thing? Ok..." I legitimately do not know whether it was all explained in a blink and you miss it kind of way, or whether it wasn't there to begin with, but I am not invested enough to go back and check.

Not the worst one by any stretch of imagination, just, quite bland. Might have been better if it was split into two, with more in-depth attention given to both plot lines.

[Ana Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully suspenseful! I believe I like this one better than Swallow's first Atlantis novel but I did enjoy the brief reappearance of one of his original characters from "Halcyon".

I also liked the new character he introduces in this book; without to many spoilers this character's circumstances allows the us to revisit some SG1 characters but also see a different side of them and their advanced civilization.

[Jason Bleckly · Rating 4 out of 5]

With tie-in novels it's always a risk they won't live up to the show they're based on. That is not the case with this book. It's just like an episode. Action and intrigue. A whizz-bang sciency thing for Rodney to geek over. What is really good is he has captured a true likeness of the charachters. They read exactly like they are in the series.

[Uly Ramos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awasome

I just love this series I would recommend to asnymore who love stargate this series stand by itself and but still have action in packed of stargate but totally different their own characters

[Stephanie Jo Hanauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read with an interesting populace that the team gets to visit and a bit of a surprise twist. Well worth your time for this series.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid season 4 adventure. Good pacing too.

[Linda Kaban · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poor Asgard. Good book!!

[Graisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun Stargate adventure.

[Chiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, that was good. James Swallow is good both in Star Trek and in Stargate stories, really good to know!

[Scott Gardner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took an absolute age to get going , not one of the best

[Beenee Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fascinating and fantastic book! Twists and turns are my favorite here and I was not disappointed!!

[Daniel Gaul · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look into the Asgard and how they affect the Atlantis team even after Season 10 of SG-1!

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another un-interesting novel of stargate atlantis. After leaving a void when the show was cancelled I had to read the books belonging to this series. Unfortunaly they are not that good because the main characters dont behave equally in each novel. if one portrays wrongly mckay others leave teyla and ronon as simple sidekicks of sheppard. even their relantionships are kind of wrong. sheppard loves mckay in a way but some books its seems he hates him.

This novel depicts the sga in a world that is free of wraiths from some time but at the same time that benevolent dictator kidnaps people at random and after some time released them with some illness. Most of the first half of the novel is like the prime directive of startreck that says that should avoid messing with an enviroment they visit. Strangely in the episodes rarely this comes up. Well after teyla and ronon being held captive the rest of the team ignores the directive and move forward to help them. The revelation was great and easily the only worth part of the novel.

The ending was as predicted and it felt like nothing happened because its would be big in the episode continuity.

There was several typos on this novel mainly with the Ronon name.
Unfortunally the void remains and even not enjoying almost any novel I shall read the next one... with low expectations....

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the more enjoyable SGA novels. Shepherd’s team is investigating a planet were the locals have not been bothered by the Wraith for years. They attribute this protection to the Aegis. What Shepherd and the team quickly learn is that the Aegis takes people from the local village for the span of about two weeks and returns them with no memory of what happened. After being taken several times the people begin to sicken and eventually die. The people consider it a trade off for protection from the Wraith. Then Teyla and Ronan are kidnapped and Shepherd will stop at nothing to get them back. There is of course much more going on than just that, but to tell would spoil it.[return][return]I thought the characterizations were pretty well done. There was humor and banter between the characters. What made it feel the most like an actual episode was the speed and action. I felt many of the other SGA books were more descriptive and slowly built up to the action. In this book, the action starts off quick -the team gets in way over their head, and must scramble to save the day, just like a regular episode. A fun addition to the Stargate universe.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pastoral world under imminent attach by the Wraith. A mysterious force that protects and yet kidnaps the citizens. A strange sickness. Just another day for the team from Atlantis!

Books based on hit TV shows are always a bit hit or miss - especially when you are a BIG fan of the show. But I think the author did a great job of bringing the characters to the page. I could definitely hear their 'voices' in my head as I read.

The story I quite liked, especially the mix of some of the old and new show plotlines, and I liked that Carter got another shot at some of the action - although her and Rodney's 'death-scene' confession didn't quite ring true!

A quick, easy read that had me wishing Stargate was back on our screens.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the premise of the story very interesting. Unfortunately, the author doesn't quite have the voices of the characters right, especially Radek, and parts of the story felt very rushed to me. I like to 'hear' the characters speaking when I read and I just didn't get that here the majority of the time. Still, I'd have to say it's a fairly solid effort and I don't feel like I've wasted the time I spent reading. So while I can't say it's my favorite of the SGA novels, I certainly don't feel it's among the worst either.

[Tiffany Smead · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nightfall was an interesting mix of action and a stale flavor. I was easily hooked at the beginning of the story and the action kept me interested until a sudden plateau in the middle of the book. This plateau seemed to last forever before the story picked up again and it was so vastly different from the beginning of the book (which I'd been enjoying) that I didn't much care for the last half of the book. I found it a shock to find a book that I lost interest in AFTER being so hooked. That was a little disappointing.

[Miss Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easily the most readable of any of Swallow's Stargate offerings to-date, which is why it gets a two. It focuses on the Wraith and the last living Asgard, both of whom are causing problems galore for our intrepid band of Atlantis explorers. In terms of character development or humor, not much there. Action is fine, and plot comes along slowly, but at least there is a plot. Not one of the best installments of the series, but a step above some of the others.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The team investigate a planet where wrath ships are being destroyed in orbit. The planet inhabitants live in trees and think a god is helping them. At first this does sound like standard SGA fare, but adding unexpected elements makes it more enjoyable. Keller and Tayla come out very well in this novel, considering only one of them is on the cover. Yes, Carter is in it bit not as much as you would expect from the cover. A good read.

[Cami · Rating 4 out of 5]

TV show turned book... I always enjoyed the Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis series, but I was a bit unsure whether I'd enjoy them in book form.

This story was a good one. I'm not sure if I saw this episode or not. Some of the phrasing made me shake my head, but all in all, I enjoyed the book. I'm not sure that I'd go looking for more episodes in this series, but if I found one, I might pick it up.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Atlantis team meets the last living Asgard who has been stranded on a planet in the Pegasus galaxy for a long time and is using its inhabitants unknowingly for experiments and labour, causing a sickness threatening many lives. Add in the Wraith wanting the Asgard ship, political upheaval on the planet and Teyla and Ronon abducted by the Asgard scientist and you get a lot of chaos and a mostly quite entertaining story. The character voices were a bit off, though. 3.5/5

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Positives: It held my interest and brought back (albeit briefly) a race we thought were long gone. One character was in an unusual position of not being able to do as much as normal.

Negatives: Some of the characterisations felt 'off.' There is also reference to something in the book AFTER this one. I'm guessing the publication order was switched around after final edits.

[Ramona · Rating 4 out of 5]

a big fan of Stargate, star trek, etc. I enjoy the books based on the tv shows. I am not a big fan of the Wraith, wicked adversaries of SG1, but they did add that extra twist in the plot. This has the Aegis, The Hive ship, a peaceful planet with disappearing people, an incurable wasting sickness...what more could you ask for!

[Arrietty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am just finishing this book. It is one of my favourites of the SGA books so far. It is very well written and the characters are true to what I've seen in the show. I recommend this book.

[Linda J Owens]

What I'd really like is the print to be bigger. I've never had good vision, but now... sucks to get older.

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book.