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[Slightly Live]

Link

Looks like we finally have the first title of the first of the three books that Karen Traviss has been working on. She's promised new characters and we know it's set post-Halo 3 and little else. The tentative title was UNSC Book 1, so we it looks like we'll see things from a human perspective. Maybe returning to and re-settling worlds lost to the Covenant and glassed in the war?

Spoiler

Resettling means restarting the important planetary infraustratures such as communications and agriculture. That means farming. And famers. The last time Traviss tackled farming in a sci-fi universe with super soldiers, we got Boba Fett and his planet of gay Mandalorian farmers. If we get even the slightest hint of gay Spartan farmers, I'm to petition to have Voc's head on a platter. =P

[Vanwadilion]

Why do you hate gay farmers?

[Slightly Live]

Why do you hate gay farmers?

I love gay farmers as much as the next person, just not in my Haloz. For the same reason I don't want bisexual Spartan barbers, transgender Spartan lawyers or straight Spartan accountants. Let soldiers be soldiers and keep the sexual orientation political agendas for fan-fiction.

[Slightly Live]

"Better" is pretty subjective. The fact is that without foundational work by Nylund, Staten and others, Karen would not have had such a rich starting point, but I have to say, she has some real shit-eating-grin scenes in there. There are some absolutely badass moments in terms of action, but some of the biggest smiles are from the way she has grown some of your favorite characters.

It is the best "contemporary" (non-Forerunner) Halo novel so far, IMO. Mr Vociferous feels much as I do.

Hype reaching party hat levels confirmed.

[Postmortem]

You gotta think, out of the vast majority of Spartans selected and trained for either -II or -III, there had to be at the very least one gay person. I mean, we know Spartans went through emotions of attachment to other people, more so than just childhood bonds being trained together (Bloodlines). It could be an interesting story, showing even further how much their personal lives were sacrificed for humanity. Perhaps an interesting story about going through training while also trying to grow up with feelings of attraction for the same sex. I mean, there's gotta be a Spartan for every demographic right? So that many different people can connect with the Spartan that they feel closest to. But yeah... I imagine most personal connections like that would have been trained out of them. Gay and straight alike. So after that point, no... I don't think there's much more story to be had about that. Also, anyone else think the title doesn't sound very... Halo-like?

[Vanwadilion]

Weren't the Spartans drugged to repress sexual-ness, or something like that?

[Postmortem]

It was a potential side effect of one of the drugs. Doesn't mean it happened every time.

[Cocopjojo]

Look what you've done, Dani.

[vociferous]

Weren't the Spartans drugged to repress sexual-ness, or something like that?

I actually was at one point. Just to make it fair for everyone else with a Y chromosome. One hand tied behind my back and what not.

[Slightly Live]

The one thing I was hoping for after Halo 3 was a "time gap". A clear jump in time between the universe as we last seen it and when we next get to see it. A good time gap would let the consequences of the original trilogy of games and events of extended fiction play out and provide a nice shortcut into a familiar universe which has changed. I think it would give some needed breathing space to introduce new enemies, characters, threats and tell new stories whilst retaining the ability to revisit the past and flesh out the time gap and and any unresolved events as and when needed.

The title of the book gives nothing away though. =/

Look what you've done, Dani.

I regret

Spoiler

everything

nothing.

[Slightly Live]

Direct Onyx follow up? I'll eat that up.

From this week's Halo Bulletin;

Halo: Glasslands will follow-up the events and characters from Halo: Ghosts of Onyx in the wake of the final events of Halo 3, introducing a wealth of compelling and unexpected new heroes and villains, and taking a galaxy in chaos in some surprising new directions.

[Vanwadilion]

I may have to go back and finish Ghosts of Onyx. I would love to see some rankings of all of the Halo books from the fans in the room. How do the Halo novels stack up against each other?

[Slightly Live]

I may have to go back and finish Ghosts of Onyx.

I would love to see some rankings of all of the Halo books from the fans in the room. How do the Halo novels stack up against each other?

1. Contact Harvest
2. Cryptum
3. Fall of Reach
4. The Flood
5. First Strike
6. Cole Something

Haven't read Evolutions but due to it being a collection of short stories, I wouldn't rank it among the other books. Heard Evolutions is pretty sweet though.

The Flood is certainly under-rated too. It's mostly written off because it re-covers events from the first game but I thought the author did a great job with the horrible restraints that was forced upon him. Plus when/if you play the original Halo game afterwards, there's an Elite you meet at the top of an Elevator ride. Now you know him and his story. Heh!

Cryptum is awesome. Easily would have been my top pick but for the fact that it is part of a trilogy and only 1/3 of the actual story - and that is probably my biggest criticism with it. It's just not finished and ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. Harvest was a pleasure to read from start to end and you could tell the author loves Halo as much as any reader does if not more. Apparently it was his first major book - he knocked it out of the park. I have a thing for stories that feature A.I. characters as usually it's hard for a writer to convince the reader that these super intelligent beings are worth caring and reading about but Harvest pulls it off and we get a look at things from a younger Johnson. Halo always needs more Johnson.

The Fall of Reach is pretty sweet but it has some issues. I wasn't too impressed with the split between John's history and the Invasion of Reach, as the two concepts easily have enough merit to carry a book a piece and would have probably worked out better for it. I know a bunch of folks regard the Fall of Reach as the zenith of Halo fiction and Nylund as the definitive writer but I don't sing from that particular hymm book. Had FOR not revealed John's past and had simply focused on Reach's fall, Nylund wouldn't be as highly revered as he is. First Strike, another Nylund piece wasn't particular outstanding. Despite some interesting situations and events, it just felt serviceable and no more. Master Chief had to get from point A at the start of the book to point B at the end, and any writer could have filled in the blanks just as well. There's no real attempt to push the story to some place unexpected or exciting really.

Cole was so awesome that I forgot to include it.

[Postmortem]

1. Contact Harvest
2. Cryptum
3. Fall of Reach
4. The Flood
5. First Strike

Haven't read Evolutions but due to it being a collection of short stories, I wouldn't rank it among the other books. Heard Evolutions is pretty sweet though.

The Flood is certainly under-rated too. It's mostly written off because it re-covers events from the first game but I thought the author did a great job with the horrible restraints that was forced upon him. Plus when/if you play the original Halo game afterwards, there's an Elite you meet at the top of an Elevator ride. Now you know him and his story. Heh!

Cryptum is awesome. Easily would have been my top pick but for the fact that it is part of a trilogy and only 1/3 of the actual story - and that is probably my biggest criticism with it. It's just not finished and ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. Harvest was a pleasure to read from start to end and you could tell the author loves Halo as much as any reader does if not more. Apparently it was his first major book - he knocked it out of the park. I have a thing for stories that feature A.I. characters as usually it's hard for a writer to convince the reader that these super intelligent beings are worth caring and reading about but Harvest pulls it off and we get a look at things from a younger Johnson. Halo always needs more Johnson.

The Fall of Reach is pretty sweet but it has some issues. I wasn't too impressed with the split between John's history and the Invasion of Reach, as the two concepts easily have enough merit to carry a book a piece and would have probably worked out better for it. I know a bunch of folks regard the Fall of Reach as the zenith of Halo fiction and Nylund as the definitive writer but I don't sing from that particular hymm book. Had FOR not revealed John's past and had simply focused on Reach's fall, Nylund wouldn't be as highly revered as he is. First Strike, another Nylund piece wasn't particular outstanding. Despite some interesting situations and events, it just felt serviceable and no more. Master Chief had to get from point A at the start of the book to point B at the end, and any writer could have filled in the blanks just as well. There's no real attempt to push the story to some place unexpected or exciting really.

I guess we know how you feel about 'Cole Protocol' then...

Mine are:

1. Cryptum (most new information about the many species I'm most interested in)
2. Halsey's Journal (yes it counts!)
3. The Flood (the sections showing what Flood victims go through makes up the book's other flaws)
4. Fall of Reach (Spartan origin story)
5. Contact Harvest
6. First Strike
5. The Cole Protocol
6. Ghosts of Onyx (I got tired of them fighting sentinels)

[Slightly Live]

Cover art released, though may not be final (at least I hope not). The Elite's mandibles are horribly over-sized.

[Postmortem]

The ODST seems to be more of a placeholder. It looks like the artist just copied from a screenshot from Landfall without changing much. Also, is that the Elite from The Return?

[DangerousDave]

I think Contact Harvest and The Flood are my favorites, just because I'm not a major fan of military sci-fi as written by Nylund--I think his greatest contribution was laying down some great concepts and railroad tracks, but ultimately I appreciated the character beats in The Flood far more than the angsty Chief of The Fall of Reach and First Strike. Agree with Dani--its strength and weakness is that it can coexist happily with the game, although that also straightjackets it into some places that don't work for a novelization. I still don't understand much of the flak it gets. The Cole Protocol I haven't read yet, but since I didn't like "Dirt" I'm not in a major hurry... maybe when I've got time. (I'd appreciate Contact Harvest even more if it didn't do those annoying cosmetic retcons, but I think it proves that Staten was right to try and show the Covenant side of the conflict, even if it didn't fully translate in Halo 2.) On the topic of the artwork: the lack of details in the Elite's armor looks like a definite rough to me, similar to the Cole Protocol. I do hope it gets a little more polished, as the Elite does look a little odd, the ODST does look ripped out of the ODST cover or a Landfall still, and the typography for the title is rather stolid and generic. We'll see. As the original Halo books prove, good reads lie within kind of ugly covers

[Slightly Live]

So, anyone else here pick this fecking awesome book up?

[Merguson]

I want to give it a spin but I have yet to check out Greg Bear's book. Not to mention that George R.R. Martin apparently wrote a lot of words for his A Song of Ice and Fire series (currently just starting on the 3rd novel).

Edited by Merguson, 27 October 2011 - 07:11 PM.

[Slightly Live]

I want to give it a spin but I have yet to check out Greg Bear's book. Not to mention that George R.R. Martin apparently wrote a lot of words for his A Song of Ice and Fire series (currently just starting on the 3rd novel).

3rd I&F book is the best in the series. Enjoy it.