The mission goes wrong again and the team gets separated and stranded. John and Teyla crash and are injured. The locals find them and are not very friendly, but are not very hostile either. Radek and Ronon get left on an island, and Rodney is stuck by the gate. All of this is made more difficult by the fact that the gate has been tampered with so Rodney can't dial out for help. All their paths eventually lead to the Games, where there is only one survivor.

I review tie-ins based on Does it feel like an episode? I would say mostly yes. Chronologically it is set shortly after Ronon joins Atlantis. The character interactions are on target, the plot feels right; everything goes to pieces just like a regular episode and the team pulls it out at the very end. Lorne and Radek are involved only adding to the story. My two complaints are the way the Wraith are involved in this story. I’m not sure if I agree with how they are written into the plot. Their restraint seems uncharacteristic. The other problem I have was the stories that are mixed into the book. They had neat character background, but they slowed the pace and were at times awkward. Other than that, this was a solid tie-in, worth reading to get an SGA fix. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this Stargate Atlantis novel. It is well written with a good and clear plot. And I felt that Ms Graham was a fan - she understood and knew the characters and had them spot on. She also used a clever device in the plot to give us background histories from the characters, without delaying the story. Bodes well for her novels based on what happens after the end of the TV series. ( )