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Author: Bill McCay
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 300pp.
ISBN: 0451455169
Publisher: NAL/Dutton
Pub. Date: August  1996

the good
"Stargate: Retaliation" starts off with a bang, showing a bold assault by a group of Hathor's Horus guards through the Abydos Stargate.  It's always a good thing to have a novel start off in an exciting manner such as this.  Bill McCay continues to weave an intricate sociological and economical climate for the developing planet of Abydos, just as he started with the first novel of the series.  As with the first novel, this raises the maturity level of the story to heights that one might not necessarily expect from the "Stargate" name.  This complex plot architecture allows the reader to become deeply engrossed with the developing story and its characters.  Despite the maturity level of the novel, McCay strays from his tendencies (as seen in "Stargate: Rebellion") to use obscure vocabulary on a regular basis.  This was a welcome change which allowed the story to flow better without the distraction of unusual words.   One thing that bothered me about the first novel of the series was how Hathor and her people were all humanoid while Ra was an alien being who had assumed human form for the purpose of prolonging his life.  McCay explains this in "Stargate: Retaliation" during the scene where Hathor and Daniel board the massive starship, The Boat of a Million Years.  It is explained that Ra is the last of his kind who has assumed leadership of a race of humanoids comprised of Hathor and company.  Just as the novel started off with a bang, it ended with an even larger bang.  Just as he did with the first novel, McCay ends things off with a massive confrontation between Hathor's Horus guards and O'Neil's military force.  But this time, the battle attains new heights of grandeur with the introduction of an immensely powerful starship that simply dwarfs the previously seen Ra's Eye.  This is action that is worthy of the "Stargate" name.  And Bill McCay ends the halfway point of the series off with the retreat of the military and Abydos refugees back to Earth along with the destruction of the Abydos Stargate.  And knowing that Hathor's incredible starship survived the battle and is heading for Earth leaves the reader in suspense, very much wanting to immediately pick up the next novel in the series and continue reading.

the bad
As with most Centropolis-related things, there are very few bad points for me to discuss about this novel.  One thing that kind of stuck out in my mind was the revelation that Faizah was actually Hathor.  I felt that McCay might have revealed this at too early of a point in the story.  The element of surprise may have been heightened if this revelation had been revealed when Hathor and Daniel boarded the Boat of a Million Years.   But that is just my opinion.  One thing that I missed from the first novel was the detailed look at Hathor and her world.  It would have been interesting to see more infighting amongst the people of her world.  Another complaint that I have that I felt was a similar problem in the first novel was how long it took for any action to happen.  McCay opened up things with an exciting battle, but then failed to add more action until much later in the story.  I'm not saying that the novel was boring in between, but some action in between the character and plot development might have added variety to the pace.  And yet again, there were three typographical errors that I noticed which should not exist in a published novel.

the verdict
Overall, this was a highly enjoyable sequel to "Stargate: Rebellion" which continued the exploits of the heroes and of the new villian, Hathor.  It is quite similar to the first novel in its plot structure, but the advancement of Hathor's plans and the introduction of her incredible new starship left me with a feeling of anticipation for what lies ahead in the next novel of the series.

January, 2001

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