Sagittarius Is Bleeding

I'm a big fan of BSG, so before I hit the beach this summer, I picked this book up when I saw it at a bookstore. I loved this book! I thought the characters were right on with the show. The dialogue sounded as if you'd hear it in an episode and it was more the story that was developed with less emphasis on Cylon attack action. If you like BSG and are looking to be entertained, I'd recommend this book.

Peter David is a very good Auther. This book felt like an episode and it was not predictable. Very vivide discriptions.

The first two BATTLESTAR GALACTICA novels were unimpressive at best: a novelization of the miniseries which added nothing to justify itself two years after the show aired, and a novel which filled in backstory that didn't seem to mesh well with the show. SAGITTARIUS IS BLEEDING by Peter David is the first BSG novel to take on the task of meshing with the series, and does so admirably. The novel picks up after President Roslin was cured of cancer in "Epiphanies", and explores the aftermath of that episode. David takes the opportunity to look into just what the cure means to Roslin. In the show, the cure is taken as given; here we get an in-depth exploration of the ramifications of it on her character, and on Sharon Valerii who provided it. In the process, David also explores one of the more noticeable dropped plots from the series: that of Boxey. A character from the original show, not seen after the first season, we get to see how he's coping with the changes in his life after his rescuer turned out to be a Cylon. But even for someone who's not interested in exploring these tidbits from the series, SAGITTARIUS IS BLEEDING is an excellent BATTLESTAR GALACTICA adventure. Peter David gets the characters and the universe right, giving us an adventure that is enjoyable on its own terms as well as having deeper meaning for those intimately familiar with the TV show. I'm not sure what this means for the future of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA novel line. I went into this book expecting it to be good because of Peter David's other work, in tie-ins and in his own settings. Hopefully SAGITTARIUS is a sign for the future, the shape of things to come.

The prior reviews nail it. It is nice to see an author create a new story for the BSG universe. I hate it when they have a sci-fi writer "cram" known characters into sci fi stories they had "lying" around - looking at you Star Wars authors :( . I almost had heart failure when "Boxey" (gone from the new BSG after the mini-series) was going to be a Major part of the story but he pulls it off. The author knows the BSG characters, the dialogue of the show, and most of the back story. The exchange between Helo and Kara toward the end about getting in an air duct was laugh out loud funny. He also makes you think about various topics that make of much of the BSG debate - treatment of a prisoner, what is human, what is worth giving up to achieve security, etc. The author does seem to have some continuity errors- as far as I remember Baltar's initial cylon detector worked fine but they keep saying that it does not, I think Billy was off the show by this time but I would need to check my DVD, and there was some other "myth" errors but with a show that is always changing (ask starbuck/kara about that one after a recent episode ;) still not a bad effort. You may need to have at least watch the mini-series and some of the show to understand what is happening = fans of the show will enjoy the book much more than a non-fan. If you are a fan of the show 4 stars because the joy of getting an "extra episode" is so much fun but if just a casual reader of sci-fi maybe 2 or 3 and you may be lost. If you have not rented / bought the DVDs and you consider yourself a Sci Fi fan shame on you and get it done. :)

This book takes place during Season II, right after Roslin's cancer is cured (Ep. 213, Epiphanies). Won't give away the story but it's basically another splinter group stirring up trouble for the fleet while Roslin faces her own demons. Oh, and the RETURN OF BOXEY!!! (sorry, no daggits) THE GOOD: Excellent dialogue. The author, Peter David, must be a true fan of the show because the dialogue/conversations throughout the book are spot on to the personalities of the characters/actors in the TV show. The whole time I read the book I was making the character's voice in my head. A lot of times, these sorts of books will play existing characters very wooden, but this read like you were almost reading a real script. Nicely done. THE BAD: Nothing really bad per se, but as much as I thought the author nailed the characterizations and dialogue, there's was too much "talky, talky" not enough "shooty, shooty". Some of the expose of Roslin's declining mental state or Sharon's dilemma of being an incarcerated pregnant Cylon go on and on and on. Revealing at times, redundant at others. THE UGLY: Again, nothing. Well done little book. Could have easily been a second half of Season 2 episode and fit right in. Much better than the "Sacrifice" (Dana Delaney one) episode they made. The Author should have stretched the action out more and not crammed it all at the end, few plot holes (why wasn't Mr. Gaeta just assumed to be a Cylon instead of what apparently happened to him? Boxey with a steel grate? C'mon!) and a few redundant passages but overall very eloquently written, interesting and fun book to read that doesn't wrap up as tightly as it may seem, just like the TV show.... I'd actually give it a 3.5, but hey that rounds up to 4. This book runs circles around the first BSG Novel - "THE CYLON'S SECRET". So when's the next BSG book due out?