#forerunner trilogy

Official synopsis and Halopedia page

"What am I, really? A long time ago, I was a living, breathing human being. I went mad. I served my enemies. They became my only friends. Since then, I’ve traveled back and forth across this galaxy, and out to the spaces between galaxies — a greater reach than any human before me. You have asked me to tell you about that time. Since you are the true Reclaimers, I must obey. Are you recording? Good. Because my memory is failing rapidly. I doubt I’ll be able to finish the story. Once, on my birth-world, a world I knew as Erde-Tyrene, and which now is called Earth, my name was Chakas…"

- Taken from the novel's Halopedia page - the bible of Halo, linked below

Sevine’s rambling

I try to keep myself generally positive and light-hearted about the things I enjoy. I'm someone who likes most of Halo, even modern Halo which many seem to detest, and I always try to avoid the worst of the negativity that enshrouds this fandom. That said, however, I'm afraid that I must say that this book is a strong contender for my least favourite Halo book.

As before, I'll start with what I, personally, quite enjoyed about it. First, the exploration of human culture and the backdrop of the Forerunner Civil War and Forerunner-Flood War are both gems for me, as someone who really enjoys world building above all else. Zeta Halo feels vibrant and alive, and there is a wonderful sense of scale to the world and the setting that is just beautiful to read. The diegetic framing of the narrative is fun and I really enjoy how, particularly, Forerunners are portrayed in their moments on-page. Genemender and Bornstellar’s moments are literally highlights of the novel.

Like I said though. I have some problems. This book suffers from, in my mind, two or three major problems. The first is that for the second book in a three book trilogy, this continues very little from the first book. Our last protagonist, Bornstellar, is reduced to an almost cameo role in the final chapters, and even Riser is relegated to the latter half of the book. It is like, if you'll permit a Star Wars analogy, George Lucas decided that Empire Strikes Back would be from the perspective of Chewbacca, Han Solo wouldn't show up until halfway through and Luke Skywalker would only appear at the very end. While some plot threads are continued - Mendicant Bias, the rogue Halo, the Captive - so much time is spent reacquainting that what little carryover there is still feels relatively divorced from the last book.

Secondly: this book feels sooooo slooooowwww. The first ⅓ of it is mostly Chakas, Vinnevra and Gamelpar walking and being desperate. It starts to pick up, with a brief spike in the middle (around Genemender) and a sustained pace at the end, but the majority of the novel feels just like their journey: plodding.

And thirdly, even these spikes in pacing are diluted. Genemender goes on a multi-page expository rant that completely kills the flow of the section, even if it has some genuinely important stuff to share. More examples are failing to spring to mind, but I remember this being a repeated problem.

Was it the worst thing I've ever read? No, and not by a long shot. It is a serious contender for my least favourite out of the books (in contention with others we'll get to soon enough) but it has its redeeming qualities.

Sevine's rating

I give this book a:

5/10

Again. Not the worst I've ever read, but one of the lesser books in the Halo series.

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