War, peace, and the cycle of revenge is extensively discussed in this fantastic new addition to the Halo franchise. There's a war on an independent huWar, peace, and the cycle of revenge is extensively discussed in this fantastic new addition to the Halo franchise. There's a war on an independent human world between the Elite and human settlers with three marooned Spartans caught up in the middle. Lots of great references to Halo Wars 2 and previous volumes. It's also a message of trying to figure out how to make peace after much violence with few "real" villains. The narrator does a great job too. ...more
Halo remains one of my favorite sci-fi franchises. The setting is a book, comic, and video game series featuring military characters doing battle withHalo remains one of my favorite sci-fi franchises. The setting is a book, comic, and video game series featuring military characters doing battle with an alien theocracy known as the Covenant. The Kilo-5 novels, which starts with Glasslands, chronicles the events following Halo 3 when the Master Chief has disappeared, the Covenant has been defeated, and an uneasy peace exists between humanity with the various former Covenant races.
The premise is the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) has decided to start arming insurgent alien religious groups with weapons to rise up against the strongest remaining Covenant state. Admiral Parangosky, leader of ONI, believes this is the only way to guarantee humanity's survival against future aggression despite the current leadership being friendly with humanity. Given the author Karen Traviss' familiarity with real-life blowback from doing the same with the future Taliban during the Soviet-Afghanistan War, I can only assume the foolishness of this action was deliberate.
Meanwhile, Doctor Catherine Halsey is marooned with a group of Spartans on a Forerunner shield-world, unaware of the events of Halo 3. Doctor Halsey is attempting to make up for her crimes in creating the original Spartans by protecting them from the destruction of the galaxy at the hands of the Flood. Not knowing this has been prevented, the group slowly begins turning against her as Chief Mendez vents his decades of guilt over the same project she's trying to atone for. It gets worse for Doctor Halsey as Captain Serin Osman, a Spartan-II program "washout", plots revenge against her for the kidnapping and body-horror she endured.
As these events go on, Sangheili (one of the Covenant races) Jul'mdama has grown to hate and loathe humanity. Refusing to believe his current government's path is the right one, he chooses to ally with the very same religious fanatics currently being armed by ONI. It's a twisted collection of plots, subplots, and counter-plots which all come together in a prequel for the events of Halo 4.
What's interesting is all of this is built on the organic foundation of Halo's politics and faction rather than anything typical of video game sci-fi like ancient artifacts or some dastardly villain setting plans in motion. It all flows from the fact, post-Halo 3, just about everyone working together to defeat the Prophet of Truth and Flood still hated each other.
I've been a big fan of Karen Traviss and her writing since her days writing for the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I loved her Republic Commando books and even had a neat little pen-pal relationship with her on RPG.net for a short while. I even sent her a package of my books back when I was a very-very crappy writer. Hehe. While I didn't always agree with her portrayal of characters in those books, I've rarely met an author who was nicer to her fans. I also felt she was a great fit for the Haloverse as she does excellent military science-fiction depictions.
The Kilo-5 team is an interesting collection of individuals and I have to say I enjoyed spending time with them. I enjoyed how they're able to wrap themselves in the comforting warmth of patriotism and doing what was necessary even as the narrative makes it clear they're somewhat deluding themselves. As we see in Halo 4, their actions will have terrible consequences for humanity but they trust their superiors to know what they're doing even as the book slowly unravels that trust.
I was particularly fond of Spartan-II Naomi who came off as an adorable cutie despite being raised as a supersoldier. I also enjoyed the character of Black Box as the A.I. vacillated between ruthlessly manipulative and supportive. Captain Osman is also a somewhat tragic character as she has allied herself with ONI out of misguided rage and personal loyalty but the consequences of such may well be her becoming the same sort of person who created her tragedy in the first plans.
Some fans may have difficulty with the treatment of fan favorite Doctor Halsey who is called out repeatedly for her kidnapping of children to create the Spartans. I believe Karen Traviss is aware of just how hypocritical Chief Mendez and Admiral Parangosky are being, though, attempting to project guilt from their own sins on her.
Indeed, Doctor Halsey says Mendez's remorse is an illusion since he repeated the crime without her a decade later. Much of the book depends on irony and self-justification which is something which fits into spy fiction as we see everyone attempting to play off their shady deals as the right thing to do, no matter how dishonorable or brutal those actions may be. The other guy is always bad and thus anything done to them is justified.
I especially liked that we got into Doctor Halsey's head about the fact she's just lost her daughter, Miranda Keyes, and that she doesn't have any beliefs or remaining loved ones to provide her comfort during this time. The fact the UNSC is turning on her during this just makes it a double gut-punch. Doctor Halsey may have done some awful things but she was a humanized character and the engine which enabled her actions moves on without her. Some of the writing is overwrought with Doctor Halsey talking about being a soulless being but I can't help but assume she's confronting her own guilt.
This is a entertaining military science fiction novel but sometimes goes a bit overboard in depicting its characters reactions. I think they'd be a bit more subdued personally with their self-righteousness given the moral ambiguities of their work but, despite this, I think it was really entertaining and encourage Halo fans to pick up the trilogy before playing Halo 4. Sadly, the next volumes of the trilogy weren't quite as good.
I feel bad rating this book so low but, unfortunately, it wasn't that enjoyable to me. It's not any fault of Matt Forbeck but a result of the fact theI feel bad rating this book so low but, unfortunately, it wasn't that enjoyable to me. It's not any fault of Matt Forbeck but a result of the fact the story is intimately and irrevocably tied to HALO: GUARDIANS which I consider to be the nadir of the franchise. This a sequel to HALO 5 and picks up after the events of the game when beloved sci-fi character Cortana is made to make a turn to a bad guy.
Matt Forbeck makes the best of events with Nathan Fillion-inspired character Edward Buck being the protagonist and having him deal with the entire UNSC turn against him. This forces Edward and his lover Veronica Dare to spring traitorous Spartan-IV Mickey from prison in order to try to get his help against Cortana. He has ties to the Humanity Front which knows how to hide against Cortana. Supposedly.
Honestly, even if I wasn't a big fan of anything having to do with Cortana turning bad, I'd have a problem with the fact Mickey never wavers in his beliefs or takes responsibility for his awful actions. He's an irritating character and I wish he'd display some sense of remorse or acknowledge he was turning his friends over to terrorists.
Despite these problems, the action was good and the book was well-written. I just can't take any book with Cortana as a villain seriously.
I feel bad rating this book so low but, unfortunately, it wasn't that enjoyable to me. It's not any fault of Matt Forbeck but a result of the fact theI feel bad rating this book so low but, unfortunately, it wasn't that enjoyable to me. It's not any fault of Matt Forbeck but a result of the fact the story is intimately and irrevocably tied to HALO: GUARDIANS which I consider to be the nadir of the franchise. This a sequel to HALO 5 and picks up after the events of the game when beloved sci-fi character Cortana is made to make a turn to a bad guy.
Matt Forbeck makes the best of events with Nathan Fillion-inspired character Edward Buck being the protagonist and having him deal with the entire UNSC turn against him. This forces Edward and his lover Veronica Dare to spring traitorous Spartan-IV Mickey from prison in order to try to get his help against Cortana. He has ties to the Humanity Front which knows how to hide against Cortana. Supposedly.
Honestly, even if I wasn't a big fan of anything having to do with Cortana turning bad, I'd have a problem with the fact Mickey never wavers in his beliefs or takes responsibility for his awful actions. He's an irritating character and I wish he'd display some sense of remorse or acknowledge he was turning his friends over to terrorists.
Despite these problems, the action was good and the book was well-written. I just can't take any book with Cortana as a villain seriously.
It is a rare book which kills you, the reader. I don't recall any book where I've been killed before, actually. However, I die in HALO: NEW BLOOD. It'It is a rare book which kills you, the reader. I don't recall any book where I've been killed before, actually. However, I die in HALO: NEW BLOOD. It's a rather interesting experience. Specifically, my character, "Rookie", is killed within the pages of this novel about halfway through. I played Rookie extensively in HALO: ODST which I really enjoyed. I bonded with the characters and was briefly a part of the HALO universe. This is technically the second time I've died in the Halo universe but I won't spoil which game that happens in. It's kind of surreal to have your character have a funeral and hear what the characters think of your digital avatar but that happens too.
Halo: New Blood is the story of Captain Edward Buck, former ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) and now Spartan-IV hero. The fact he's portrayed by Nathan Fillion in Halo: ODTS and Halo 5: Guardians is probably why he was selected to be the star of his own short novel. This is about 200 pages long and mostly consists of Buck's backstory. We discover he's from a fishing world colony, it was glassed by the Covenant then resettled, and he's in a romantic relationship with Office of Naval Intelligence agent Veronica Dare. She was, notably, portrayed by Tricia Helfer in ODST and I kind of wish she'd shown up in Halo 5.
It's an entertaining novel about a relatively minor character but not something I would consider to be an essential part of the Halo franchise. I do like the fact they went with the most unexpected SPARTAN-IV to be a traitor, though. It nicely expands on the dangers of Human Insurrectionists as a threat equal to the Covenant.
Effectively, the inspiration for HALO: REACH along with the original novel in the trilogy. A lot of it has since been overwritten in Halo canon but itEffectively, the inspiration for HALO: REACH along with the original novel in the trilogy. A lot of it has since been overwritten in Halo canon but it was still enjoyable. It also gives a lot of focus to the members of Master Chief's squad in HALO V: GUARDIANS. Eric Nylund loves throwing guns, explosions, and military jargon into his works so if you're in the mood for an original "classic" Halo story then this will certainly work for you.
HALO: THE FLOOD is an adaptation of HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED or the first Halo game. It's interesting that a game which consists primarily about Master ChHALO: THE FLOOD is an adaptation of HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED or the first Halo game. It's interesting that a game which consists primarily about Master Chief blowing up hundreds of Grunts, Elites, and Jackals is expanded into a military science fiction novel I really enjoyed. William C. Dietz is a favorite science fiction novelist of mine and I absolutely loved his work on Starcraft: Heaven's Devils.
The premise of the book is pretty much the one of the games. Master Chief and the crew of the Pillar of Autumn are marooned on an ancient alien space station. The station proves to be a massive superweapon capable of wiping out all life in the galaxy. There's greater threats than the Covenant, the evil religious sect that wishes to destroy humanity, though and stopping them may require the weapon to be used.
William Deitz adds multiple interesting new plots like an ODST plot to steal a Covenant starship, the first in the war, but potentially endangers all of humanity by carrying a Flood spore to Earth. There's also the stories of a human traitor, a poor Grunt who just wants to survive, and an Elite determined to avenge himself on the Master Chief despite being just another enemy to him.
My favorite storyline in the book is probably the tale of Yayap, a Grunt who is smarter than the majority of his cowardly brethren and tries to survive by rescuing an Elite soldier as a mission objective versus charging at Master Chief or his companions. Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse for him as he discovers said Elite wants to kill the Master Chief more than anything. He's also glad to have Yayap along!
I don't quite like this book as much as the other two novels in the trilogy but it's still damned entertaining and we also get some insights into how the "regular" people reacted to the events of Halo. There's some really tragic moments like the death of Captain Keyes, the fruitlessness of certain characters' attempts to survive, and even the Covenant get humanized. We also get some insight into the awesomeness of Sergeant Johnson, one of my all time favorite Halo characters.
I am a huge fan of the Halo universe and doubly-so it's Expanded Universe. Long before I got my copy of the Master Chief collection, I was enjoying thI am a huge fan of the Halo universe and doubly-so it's Expanded Universe. Long before I got my copy of the Master Chief collection, I was enjoying the books by Eric Nylund and William Dietz that set up a surprisingly awesome science fiction universe. They were written in conunction with the original game and I suspect provided much of the backstory which would eventually be incorporated into the game's lore.
The premise is surprisingly dark. John-117 is a six-year-old boy kidnapped from his family by the Office of Naval Intelligence. Doctor Catherine Halsey proceeds to teach John and seventy-four other candidates bruttal combat techniques as well as strategy for the next decade. He is part of the SPARTAN-II program that is designed to produce super-soldiers.
Rather than vilify her for, the books show the children thriving under their training until they are surgically enhanced to become cyborgs capable of wearing Mjolnir armor. It's just in time, too, because the human race is being invaded by the Covenant and they want to exterminate us. Determined to defend their home, the Spartans fight a desperate holding action against a foe with far more advanced technology.
Despite the dark backstory, which helps it stand out from the rest, Halo: The Fall of Reach is a really entertaining action novel as well as uplifting. We see John and his Fireteam bond with one another as well as learn the lessons which will allow them to delay the Covenant even if they can't stop it. The action in the book is tremendous and the characters stand out. I liked Doctor Halsey a lot despite the fact she's a kidnapper, a mad scientist, and quite possibly crazy.
The events of the books were so entertaining they've been adapted twice with Halo: The Fall of Reach as a CGI movie I first saw on netflix as well as a somewhat looser adaptation of the novel's second half in the Halo: Reach video game. I shouldn't give this book such a high score as I'm going to but I've read the books like three times now and will probably read them again, I haven't done that with any other book.
I'm kind of done with HALO to be honest as I was bitterly disappointed with HALO: GUARDIANS but also because the universe has become unrecognizable. PI'm kind of done with HALO to be honest as I was bitterly disappointed with HALO: GUARDIANS but also because the universe has become unrecognizable. Part of what was great about Halo was the fact humanity was a little fish surrounded by incredibly powerful neighbors. Now, the new books act like humanity is the United States and able to throw its weight around despite all but being annihilated. This isn't a problem with HALO: LAST LIGHT which I say without irony is probably my favorite Troy Denning book since THE TRIAL OF CYRIC THE MAD.
Saying it's your favorite Troy Denning novel may not sound like high praise but you must understand that I know Troy Denning from my childhood onward. I read the entirety of the VERDANT PASSAGE series of Dark Sun (where I fell for Sadria of Tyr as my first fictional crush), every one of seventeen or so Forgotten Realms novels, PAGES OF PAIN for Planescape, and his Star Wars series too. I've read a LOT of Troy Denning novels over the years. This is, undoubtedly, the best.
Part of what makes it so good is the low-key premise. This is a smaller story set in a universe of galaxy-destroying superweapons and hostile alien powers. It's a murder mystery and that already makes it unique among Halo novels. It's still undoubtedly Halo with Fred-104 (a.k.a the second best Spartan-II), a group of Spartan-III soldiers, a Forerunner installation, and even an acknowledgement of the Insurrectionist movement. It's just we have less shooting thousands of Grunts and Elite versus character development. That automatically puts it above most Halo novels and they've done more than most Expanded Universes for fleshing out the lore of the mega sci-fi franchise.
Last Light's premise is an underground hot spring and resort has been taken over by the military to investigate an insane Forerunner A.I. that is floating around it. The UNSC is keeping it a secret, though, because they don't want the local government to potentially seize it for itself. You see, after the destruction of the Covenant--all of humanity's old grievances have come back. Veta Lopis is a cop who hates the UNSC, ONI, and isn't too fond of the Spartans either. However, she's more dedicated to finding out who is responsible for the series of murders going on.
I love Veta Lopis and think she's one of the best Halo characters aside from Cortana, Doctor Halsey, and the Spartans. She plays off of Fred-104 tremendously well. I also like their small amount of sexual tension that Troy plays mostly for humor. The Spartan-IIIs, which I have never been fond of, are also treated quite well here. The group is really expanded on once they have an older Spartan to serve as their father-figure. The mystery of who is responsible for the murders is never in doubt but what to do about it is the real issue.
I think part of what works about this novel is Troy Denning makes all of the characters (except for the corrupt official Arno Castille) sympathetic. Veta Lopis wants to solve a murder and that trumps her hostility to the Spartans and UNSC. Intrepid Eye is insane from millennium of isolation but the humans are the intruders into his home. Fred-104 is just trying to keep his people safe and a potential galaxy-disturbing artifact out of the hands of a bunch of militant revolutionaries. Even the Keepers of the One Freedom are fairly affable Covenant religious fanatics. I am probably more sympathetic to them than I should be since they're not interested in genocide of the human race.
The action in this book is great and there's even a few ridiculously fun moments like Veta using Fred as a sled down a snowy mountainside due to his armor locking up. She's embarrassed when she finds out he was conscious during the whole ordeal and even makes a quip, ("Next time, I'm on top."). I also like the confusion over whether one of the Spartan-IIIs could have done the murder even though we know they haven't since some of them have actual psychotic rages if they're off their meds too long. Great job, ONI. Real smooth move there.
I feel like also pointing out it's nice to have Troy Denning make the people of Gao descendants of non-United States or European humans. They have a Chinese-named world and are mostly descendants of South American people. It affects their personalities, accents, and behavior in a way that makes the world feel a little larger. It's a small detail but one I appreciate from the author.
In short, I loved this book and I think anyone who loves Halo will enjoy it. It's even an enjoyable piece of military science fiction for someone who isn't familiar with the franchise. I listened to the audiobook version of this book and prefer it to the physical version as the narration is top notch. If Halo novels were more like this one versus some of the more recent ones (which shall remain nameless), I'd still be as big a fan of them as I was years ago.
HALO: RETRIBUTION is the sequel to HALO: LAST LIGHT. In that book, a group of Spartan-IIIs, accompanied by Fred-104, made friends with a local investiHALO: RETRIBUTION is the sequel to HALO: LAST LIGHT. In that book, a group of Spartan-IIIs, accompanied by Fred-104, made friends with a local investigator (Veta Lopis) in order to stop a murderous A.I. Here, about six months later, Veta is now serving as an ONI agent in order to continue the fight against humanity's enemies. This includes an incredibly entertaining undercover sting operation that involves her pretending to be a pirate and arms trafficker in a Russian bar similar to the Mos Eisley Cantina.
I didn't quite enjoy this book as much as LAST LIGHT because it lacked interaction between Fred and Veta. They're one of my favorite Halo couples and I really wish Troy would get those two together (even if Spartans lack most of the human sex drive). Veta serving as Team Mom is always entertaining but I think she'd be more suspicious of ONI given they're, well, pretty much evil incarnate. While the rare agent is a decent person, ONI really needs someone working on the inside against them.
The best part of the book is when Veta is pretending to be an arms trafficker and trying to stay under the radar. I was sad when the story switched from that and to a more tradition shoot-em up storyline. Still, nobody writes Halo action quite like Troy Denning and I didn't mind them resolving things with plasma blasters versus their wits. I also enjoyed seeing the return of the Keepers since they're one of the best villain groups in Halo (if you can call them villains).
In conclusion, I very much enjoyed this and I hope Troy will write another Halo novel with Fred and Veta.
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