Title: Queen Mother
Author: Esama
Rating: T
Genre: Drama
Status: Complete
Library Category: Alternate
Pairings: none
word Count: 29,918
Summary:
Egeria's endless nightmares end in dreams of better tomorrow, when Hermione Granger decides to fight for her principles and Harry Potter decides that the queen of Tok'ra is worth saving.

Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/2849939

This is an old story Esama did over at ff before she deleted her account. She has since reposted it over at AO3 with a bit more polish. Content has been removed and the story is now a oneshot. Considering the popularity of Esama's other work D.S.S Requirement I figured that this may be worth submitting.

The story takes place after the mishap at the Department of Magic during fifth year. In their desperate escape they accidentally enter a Goa'uld ship transporting them to Pangar. The story is from Egeria's POV, detailing her declining situation among the Pangarians and the subsequent involvement of Harry & Co.

Its a light read that manages to convey much without dragging things out or becoming angsty. The characters are well written and the writing is solid. Even without watching the show I found the story easy to follow. I enjoyed it quite a bit and it actually made me contemplate trying out other Stargate stories in spite of my version against it.

5/5

 

I have no real knowledge of Stargate, other than what I've picked up from reading crossovers, and watching a few episodes several years ago. That said, I had a quick flick through a wiki to pick up some stuff.

So first thoughts are that it isn't bad. Esama usually writes decent stuff, although beware of slash (usually labelled, and not normally explicit). 30K is quite a whopper for a single chapter, but the story is essentially a oneshot, if you ignore the set up, which I think is based on one of their other stories? TSS Requirement, or something?

Just checked, and currently Esama has 7 in both the library and almost recommended. Looking through those threads, it seems that we can't reach a consensus of how to rate her fics - ratings seem to come in all over the place (before me, this thread has either 5, 4, 1; or 5, 3, 2).

The characters are relatively close to normal - Ron and Hermione argue a bit, but not over anything major. Hermione likes learning, Harry wants to rescue people, Luna's a bit batty, Ginny isn't much use, and neither is Neville... So it's just like canon!

But whilst it was interesting, and I don't feel like it wasted my time, it wasn't anything spectacular. In a few months, if you asked me any of the plot about the story where Harry meets the space slug, I'll probably remember a shitty animorphs crossover rather than this, because there just wasn't any real stand out moments. Harry and co are cool, and speaking snek to a spacesnek comes in useful, but it was merely a pleasant read.

3/5 from me.

 

I love Stargate and I've enjoyed many of esama's stories, so this should be in my wheelhouse. But it's just ... okay. Not bad but not exceptional.

The story is written with the technical quality I expect from this author, of course, but I can't help but think that it would've benefited from being longer. That extra length could've been used to flesh out the shared setting. Most people know what the Harry Potter series is all about, so a stronger primer on what SG-1 is would've also made this a stronger fic. The beginning just sort of plonks you into the shared worlds and not in a "oh, wow, tell me more" way but a "wait, hold on, let me figure this out" way. (It does improve after that, but I had plow through a bit first.)

The actual plot is neat, though. I enjoyed where it went since it used both settings as more than just window-dressing. It also helps that the characterization is decent. I especially liked Egeria's inner thoughts and perspective. Harry's reactions were particularly on point. The conclusion was satisfying.

In short, it's an interesting story slightly hampered by its shared setting, as crossovers under a certain length tend to be. It also reads like a good start to a much longer story.

Weighing the positives and negatives, I'd rate it a firm 3/5.

 

You can tell it was originally meant to be longer and like many of Esama's other works it didn't last long before abandonment. That said, I actually like it better now. It has a good conclusion and while more would be nice I don't feel it's needed.

 

It was well written. No grammatical errors that I saw. It has a nice pace but then right when it started to get interesting in regards to the grasp of magic Harry now has it just ends with no further expansion on what exactly Harry is now capable of. It was a very interesting idea that I wish was developed further. 3/5