Product Description

Desperate to leave a planetary system before its sun collapses, the ragtag fleet of Galacticans discovers that only two-thirds of the fleet's population can be carried to their next destination. The remainder are doomed to be incinerated when the sun blows off its outer layers and decimates all life in the solar system. Those to remain behind are chosen by lottery: Starbuck is one of them.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1193151 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

No battles but heavy character play
Richard Hatch attempts in his books to keep the essential spirit of Battlestar Galactica alive. Hatch himself is promoting a continuation movie (although he will appear in the reimagined version on SCI-FI Channel). His books thus far have been working towards keeping the story alive with our favorite characters and villains.
That being said, this book is not great compared to the first few in this series. Its strength lies in the characters themselves facing the possibility of being left behind to face the Cylons. However poor editing and continuity problems plague this book, which is unfortunate.
The main character in this book is Baltar and Hatch has managed to take this traitor and turn him inside out for us to view. Also underlying the book is the civil war within the Cylons between those who were genetically manipulated by Count Iblis and the pure Cylons. Both sides of the civil war want humans dead though, so the war will not end no matter who wins.
Destiny here refers to not only where the humans are going but what they must do in order to move forward. The Cylons are debating this by killing each other. And with the colonials, the old guard (the Council) is not happy it is being stripped of its power. Baltar surprises everyone by what he does in the end with that council and the Cylons that arrive
Apollo learns that it is time for his people to move forward, to a destiny, and that means leaving behind some elements of the Twelve Colonies that do not function at all when society is not stable and under constant threat of attack. One of the complaints of the original BSG was that it portrayed the civilian government as fools, knaves, and blackguards bent on all kinds of deceipt. That issue is resolved in this book (and some say good riddance to the council).
This book is like an intermission of sorts to another possibly interesting set of story possibilities. The Cylons make no real appearance (except in Baltar's mind which is now a piece of Cylon tech) and Iblis not at all. However in the future they should spellcheck, grammar check, and continuity check before publication. One of the big continuity errors is that Iblis was banished not to Cylon but to Kobol! (If you read Resurrection Iblis tells exactly what happened when the Kobolians exiled him).
There is good character development in this book for Apollo, Starbuck, Cassiopeia, and Sheba. In many ways the book resets those relationships back to their proper place (which will make many happy). And one good thing to about this book and the previous ones is that at least Athena is developed more than the televised BSG ever did.
If you are looking for a good character story, then this is for you. If you want to see Cylons and the Colonials battle it out, pop in a dvd from the recent released version. You will need to overlook some sloppy at times writing and other things that get in the way but once you do, there is some good stuff to be found here.

five stars
Over the past few months I have begun watching the Battlestar Galactica televison program for the first time. I was never much of a science fiction fan and had limited access to televison while growing up. I didn't see the Battlestar Galactica televison series until my husband purchased the complete series on DVD.

I became an instant fan after Saga of a Star World. I then began reading my husbands collection of Battlestar Galactica books by Richard Hatch. Both the books and the series have flaws (what doesn't?), but they also have wonderful characters, heart, imagination, and warmth. There's a special charm to Battlestar Galactica. Watching the episodes and reading the books has been five star experience for me.

as a Baltar fan I loved it
Destiny is a very good read that kept me entertained from start to finish. I love what Hatch and company have done with Baltar. You can almost hear Colicos' voice as you read Baltar's thoughts and words. Colicos' Baltar was one of the most complicated villains in 70's TV, but that wasn't understood by some. Hatch didn't miss it. He's given us a portrayal of this character that is extremely faithful and yet new. Hatch and company have really fleshed out many of the ideas and characters from the TV series. I have not read all of the books in this series, but sadly I have noticed typos in those that I have read. That's too bad. The stories are winners. The characters are on target. The new ideas and characters have made things more exciting. It seems that there are readers who did not like the idea of Sheba and Apollo's romance breaking up in Resurrection, but I thought that was very well done. It has also made things more interesting in the long run. Any complaints I could have about these books would be very minor compared to the positive aspects. I've had a very good time reading these.