Bull of the Woods
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Bull of the Woods |
| Author(s): | Debi C |
| Date(s): | |
| Length: | 93K |
| Genre: | gen |
| Fandom: | Stargate SG-1 |
| External Links: | Bull of the Woods at Fanfiction.net |
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Bull of the Woods is a Stargate SG-1 story by Debi C.
Reactions and Reviews
A new Lieutenant Colonel assigned to the SGC to replace Makepeace sees Jack as his greatest rival. His power games quickly cause trouble for the SGC. The story is a window into the not-so-savoury aspects of military life.There's a lot of good in this story. The opening scene is wonderful. The villain of the piece is a bit of a cliché but, as a creative choice, that works very well indeed; the reader is left in no doubt that he's the bad guy and I can see him as a character who could appear on the show. "Bad Bob Bowers", as he calls himself, is a vividly drawn character right from the beginning. Indeed, all of the original characters in this story are well drawn, realistic characters who are as rounded as their role in the story allows. That alone is worth a recommendation.
I enjoyed the way Jack introduces his team to Bowers, while the easy banter between the members of SG-1 is funny and an effective contrast with the tension later in the story. The characterisation of Sam is outstanding. I love her first reaction to Bowers ("That man can't be a real Marine!") and her dryly humorous remark to Jack later in the tale: "I decided that killing a Lieutenant Colonel could have repercussions on my career." It's a side of Sam that has rarely appeared in canon and I found it delightful here.
Unfortunately, that's where the good things end. There are just too many things in the story that bug me. There are proof-reading errors (missing punctuation marks and some spelling errors) but these are mostly minor and easily overlooked. Of greater concern to me are the stylistic choices the author has made. Things like using "Danieljackson" and "Majorcarter" when in Teal'c's point of view - is it really so hard to spell the names correctly? - and an over-use of epithets for the major characters, such as "the Warrior" for Teal'c and, even worse, "the civilian" for Daniel. For crying out loud, he deserves better than that!
The author's notes state the story is set in season five. Makepeace left the SGC in Shades of Grey (season 3), yet his replacement has only just been assigned over a year later? Jack's thoughts about Makepeace are nothing if not charitable, considering that the man was a traitor and part of a conspiracy that almost lost Earth three valuable allies. The author feels the need to explain to the reader exactly who Ferretti is, which isn't really important to the plot, yet the story is strewn with military jargon and abbreviations that are not adequately explained and which the reader *does* need to understand in order to follow the plot. (I had to look up "Article 15" - and if the reader needs to search the internet in order to follow a story, it's a safe bet that most won't bother.)
The focus of the narrative is firmly on Jack but the point-of-view is choppy, with scene and POV changes not signalled well that make the narrative difficult to follow. Jack's dilemma (his duty as an officer versus his loyalty to his friends) is central to the story, yet the reader isn't really *shown* his feelings. The feelings of the other characters - Bowers' arrogance, Ferretti's anger, Sam's frustration, Daniel's fear and doubt - all these come across strongly but Jack remains an emotional blank wall. The reader is only told of Jack's anger and frustration at being unable to act, not shown it, and therefore, it makes little impression.
The author gives the impression of knowing the inside of the military (the narrative is peppered with military jargon) but the plot details suggest the opposite. In the course of the story, Bowers is guilty of repeated sexual harassment and sexual assault, attempted rape (twice!), aggravated assault *and* assault on a superior officer (Jack), in addition to a string of lesser offences. For him to get away with merely an "Article 15" punishment (which applies only to minor offences, according to my research) is improbable to say the least, not to mention an unsatisfying conclusion to events.
It's an original perspective on the workings of the SGC and there are some wonderful ideas in here. The author has real talent but I'm afraid it was wasted on this story.[1]