I'll be gone from the front for the next few days. Here is a video update to pass the time =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr0sM1fcD7U

Will be back to produce more awesome, soon enough ...

Halo: Glasslands book review.

     We here at Science Epic do love a good romp around the stars sci-fi story, and that's exactly what Halo: Glasslands brings to the table: a good romp around the stars, although weighed down by an occasionally cluttered pacing and fictional inconsistencies Karen Traviss's attempt at the Halo license (A license that is now over a decade old) brings enough to the table to bring provide an engaging read.

     So here it is, my review of Halo : Glasslands, we'll take a look at everything the novel has to offer exploring The Good, The Bad and The Sangheili (waited a long time for that one).

The Good

      I admit there was a bit of fanboyism trailing the read of this novel. Karen Travis is no stranger to contributing to sci-fi universes with well established backgrounds. With experience scribing lore for both Star Wars and Gears of War I was eager to see what kind of contribution the seasoned author would make to the Halo universe. That and the fact the story arc would follow the much acclaimed 2006 novel Halo: Ghosts of Onyx. I was all too eager to jump in and continue the story of such notable characters as CPO Mendez (of which I have a Steam account named after) and Dr. Catherine Halsey.

     The story take place after the events of Halo 3, closing the story arc of humans (UNSC) versus  a group of religious alien fanatics (The Covenant) so the stage is already already set for a lot of bitter tension and  clashing emotions. As the two sides start to pick up the pieces of their shattered worlds a lot of old hatreds start to re-emerge and for some the war was not truly over. The story can be considered a mirror of the clandestine operations conducted during modern times especially the Cold War. Karen Traviss no doubt took inspiration from America's own campaign of gun running to morally unsavoury anti socialist factions during during that time period for the backdrop of the story but instead of  despicable humans that want to kill each other you get fanatical aliens that want to kill their fellow kin over ideological differences. This conflict drives a lot of the suspense  behind the actions undertaken by Kilo 5 an ONI black ops team. 

     One thing that I realised off the get go is that this was definitely not another Ghosts of Onyx. Everything here is more cloak and dagger than than rip roaring action, which is a good thing because of how the author portrays the workings of the factions involved. It was interesting to see two different sides to the UNSC represented by ONI and FLEETCOM. I think that this is where the author shines in defining a part of the Halo universe as well as building up the stakes for the characters involved. This is also where some of the more memorable parts of the book come from with characters such as Admiral Parangosky and Serin Osman starkly contrasting that of Fleet Admiral Hood.

     The book does try to keep the reader engaged by running multiple storylines simultaneously. This has been done in many other works of contemporary fiction and although the attempt here is far from flawless (as I will explain in The Bad) I do feel that I was thoroughly engaged by the story particularly midway through the book. I was definitely most interested in the story arc involving Halsey's team stranded on a Forerunner Dyson Sphere (Real science FTW) as I felt that there was more depth to the characters involved. The plot ties up neatly at the end uniting the various subplots together while hinting at some new ones in preparation for a sequel.

The Bad

      With all that said, the book does get some things wrong. There were problems in the writing that were not crippling to the overall readability of the book but may come out as obvious flaws for serious Halo buffs.

     One of the more obvious flaws in the story was the pacing. I felt as if the author spent a lot of time and effort building up to the end so much so that by the time I got there my reaction to the climax was rather lacklustre. I was expecting more. The end made me feel as if the author wanted to make a book that begged a sequel but not in the 'this story is interesting and I want too know more' fashion but the 'this story is interesting but has left me rather unsatisfied and I need more closure'. The end definitely needed a bit more to it seeing as how the only one character that got anything akin to closure ended up incarcerated. If you have ever watched Ridley Scott's Prometheus then you probably have an idea of how I felt by the end. Perhaps the author purposely intended for it to be that way, I won't know until I read The Thursday War.

     One of the problems that I found with the Kilo 5 story arc was that some of the characters were often one dimensional, The team as a whole had a lot of appeal but I felt that some of the ODST characters were a bit forced. One of them was just the group's designated driver. The other two got rage induced revenge boners every time they dissected a piece of intel on the Spartan program. They took up the black ops job offer knowing that they would come into contact with some really unsavoury information on what their own governments had done but then suddenly they want to go all vigilante justice for the sake human decency. I guess someone didn't hand them the proper job description. All of which makes for half baked emotional struggles that I feel could have been done better.

      With a universe as wide and diverse as Halo inconsistencies are bound to occur. This being the authors first contribution to the lore I wasn't surprised to find some parts of the novel out of sync with the wider fiction.  In one part of the novel you find Jiralhanae (brutes)  coexisting with the Sangheili's which I think could have been made to fit better in the context of a post war relationship if the Jiralhanae were some sort of free lancing privateer type (which would have been interesting to contemplate) but nothing more was mentioned on that.

The Sangheili

     I had picked up this novel expecting to get a glimpse of two civilizations in the fallout of a galaxy threatening event. With the Covenant destroyed its client races end up having to re-learn the tricks of functioning as independent space faring civilizations. For some like the Kig-Yar this was easy as they were never really Jesus freaks to begin with but for others like the Sangheili warrior race of the Coveneant the challege of rebuilding is far more difficult. The Sangheili find themselves in a very tough spot after having dedicated their entire species to becoming soldiers. Even simple tasks like farming and repairing their ships become arduous labours what more fighting a civil war. I found that to be an interesting theme with more depth than the whip, boom, pow situations that the Halo universe typically presents to its fans. It is almost on a level of classic hard sci-fi how the issue of running a space faring civilization is explored in the book and it actually made me wet my lips for more. Unfortunately that theme was only barely explored during the early stages of the book.

     The Sangheilis were a proud and powerful race but after the war they were left with nothing but their pride. In whatever stories to come that pride will no doubt become the seeds for their  further downfall. I think Halo: Glasslands provides a lesson in humility in the story of the Sangheili that despite their ferocity they were defeated by simple cunning and deception.

     If anything the book should be commended on its daringness to explore such a unique alien culture. A culture that gave rise to a race of aliens that  would normally be lost on fans of the game as just another enemy type to be blown away. I think that the Sangheili themselves were as much a "character" of the novel as Serin Osman of Kilo 5 or Dr. Halsey was.

Conclusion

     All in all the book as a decent read. Was I completely satisfied with my 35.90 ringgit purchase?  Pretty much, but I do feel that the licence deserves better. Perhaps there is more to be offered from Karen Traviss in The Thursday War. That's all from me. SonOfTerra92 signing off, I'll see you on the Infinity. 

Score: 3/5