Bungie Universe
This topic has moved here: Subject: Glasslands Excerpt.
  • Subject: Glasslands Excerpt.
Subject: Glasslands Excerpt.
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.

I really hope they don't go to war, because if somebody assassinates Thel I'm never looking at a piece of Halo lore again.

  • 10.12.2011 7:00 PM PDT

I like it.

Some points about halseys character. Halsey has always been a woman of two halves. She exudes a steely, cold and convicted demeanour on the outside whilst internally being torn to shreds with conflict. The journal taught us that much, it being the first canon document written from her first person perspective, especially the parts of it that coincide with the events of Reach the game. She is a different person inside her head to what she allows to show outwardly, thats why she wrote the diary on old style paper only, so that no AI could secretly steal a copy.

So thats what were seeing here, a lot of the narrative in these glasslands chapters is being told via her inner monologue which presents a different Halsey than books like GoO which are written in the third person. I dont think this is a bad thing, unless you guys really wanted to to truly be a mindless steely cold robot of a person, no matter what atrocities she has committed for the greater good?

  • 10.12.2011 7:08 PM PDT


Posted by: Fatal Factor
I like it.

Some points about halseys character. Halsey has always been a woman of two halves. She exudes a steely, cold and convicted demeanour on the outside whilst internally being torn to shreds with conflict. The journal taught us that much, it being the first canon document written from her first person perspective, especially the parts of it that coincide with the events of Reach the game. She is a different person inside her head to what she allows to show outwardly, thats why she wrote the diary on old style paper only, so that no AI could secretly steal a copy.

So thats what were seeing here, a lot of the narrative in these glasslands chapters is being told via her inner monologue which presents a different Halsey than books like GoO which are written in the third person. I dont think this is a bad thing, unless you guys really wanted to to truly be a mindless steely cold robot of a person, no matter what atrocities she has committed for the greater good?


Um, her guilt has been portrayed in other books as well. It's her and Mendez suddenly disliking each other that we don't like.

  • 10.12.2011 7:11 PM PDT

Portrayed briefly yes, but nothing like it was in the journal or will be in glasslands. It seems to be shaping up the be a book of all sorts of personal guilts to me.

The halsey/mendez animosity is easy enough to explain. First, its not like theyre arch enemies or anything now and second, i dont know if you noticed but things got quite hectic in GoO leaving little time to have a domestic spat with Mendez. She may not have even been able to put the pieces together about Mendez until she had time to stop and think about it, such as the beginning of glasslands where she actually explains (to herself) how the pieces fit together and mentions how she now has all the time in the world to duke it out with him. Mendez apparent hostility is because he isnt stupid either and knows she has put 2 and 2 together and will not be happy about what he did, so he makes a preemptive strike. Perhaps just to clear the air and make it known that just as she wont accept anyone disrespecting her spartans, he will not accept anyone disrespecting HIS.

Put simply, theres a time and a place for Halsey to have a spat with Mendez over this, and ghosts of onyx aint it. Glasslands is though.

  • 10.12.2011 7:24 PM PDT

Um, so suddenly she hates him for not telling her something during a period when NEITHER saw each other?

So suddenly their quite pleasant relationship prior to that turns sour very quickly?

These things don't add up and I can put a number of quotes which places the feelings between the two as hinting toward a far worse dislike then a simple "grr new spartans."

  • 10.12.2011 7:47 PM PDT

So far I'm pretty disappoint.

  • 10.12.2011 8:39 PM PDT


Posted by: ThePredkiller2
So far I'm pretty disappoint.


Elab pleases.

  • 10.12.2011 9:03 PM PDT

Why hello there.

Microwave ovens are quite large.

WORT, WORT,WORT!

-NUMS!

A Halo Book with a focus on Elites? I may have to read it.

  • 10.12.2011 9:22 PM PDT

So, writing some stuff down while reading...

Hood is now suddenly not Lord anymore but Admiral? Promotion or degraded? Can somebody explain?
ONI did in fact cover up the real number of S2's. Always known within the community, now at least 343i is acknowledging this.
Halsey's Journal get a place within the canon itself (cool)
Elites have to be neutralized...as in? What? Dead or being neutral towards Humanity?
Female Elites have power within their families...when books like Cole Protocol and Legends showed it being a cast system in which male Elites are by far most important.
There are Brutes on the Seperatists side? Thats a big suprise! They got promoted above the Elites but some still were willing to serve under them?

So far the book is more interesting and less stupid than I'd expected. I still don't think it was a good idea to focus that much on Parangosky who is just VERY unlikable and to have the rumoured conflicts between Parangosky vs Halsey, BB vs Cortana, Mendez vs Halsey, Osman vs Halsey etc. To much conflicts and unlikable characters or situations for my taste.

Also, I don't really like Traviss' way of writing. The constant Zero-One-Zero stuff for instance, or the way she uses SO many characters at the same time at the start of the chapter. The new Elites also seem too....insecure and childish in the way they're portrayed. Not enough "Elite" so to speak.

Not saying I think what I've read so far is bad, just that if this is it, the book will definatly not rank amongst my favorites. Greg Bear and especially Nylund did a better job as far as I can judge at this moment.

  • 10.13.2011 2:41 AM PDT


Posted by: DonVinzone1
So, writing some stuff down while reading...

Hood is now suddenly not Lord anymore but Admiral? Promotion or degraded? Can somebody explain?
ONI did in fact cover up the real number of S2's. Always known within the community, now at least 343i is acknowledging this.
Halsey's Journal get a place within the canon itself (cool)
Elites have to be neutralized...as in? What? Dead or being neutral towards Humanity?
Female Elites have power within their families...when books like Cole Protocol and Legends showed it being a cast system in which male Elites are by far most important.
There are Brutes on the Seperatists side? Thats a big suprise! They got promoted above the Elites but some still were willing to serve under them?

So far the book is more interesting and less stupid than I'd expected. I still don't think it was a good idea to focus that much on Parangosky who is just VERY unlikable and to have the rumoured conflicts between Parangosky vs Halsey, BB vs Cortana, Mendez vs Halsey, Osman vs Halsey etc. To much conflicts and unlikable characters or situations for my taste.

Also, I don't really like Traviss' way of writing. The constant Zero-One-Zero stuff for instance, or the way she uses SO many characters at the same time at the start of the chapter. The new Elites also seem too....insecure and childish in the way they're portrayed. Not enough "Elite" so to speak.

Not saying I think what I've read so far is bad, just that if this is it, the book will definatly not rank amongst my favorites. Greg Bear and especially Nylund did a better job as far as I can judge at this moment.


I slightly agree with the Elites being childish. Saying that, I don't want them to speak in their formal tones of 'brother' and stuff like that every minute of every day. But yeah, I think there were one or two instances that made me 'eugh'.

As for the confusion and dislike of Halsey's personality and the deal with Mendez, while I suppose it can be agreeable to an extent, you have to understand that Halsey probably considered Mendez a very close and trusted friend, and to find out he was training a whole new generation of Spartans without telling her, is definitely going to tick her off. Especially with the Spartans pretty much being her children, and the guilt she had harboured up all those years, etc.

Overall, I found these excerpts really enjoyable, with only a few choice dislikes, but nothing to set me off from the book. There were a few incidents where I thought it could be written better, but Traviss' writing so far is really going well with me. Can't wait!

  • 10.13.2011 3:56 AM PDT

Yes. Deal with it.

Human interpersonal relationships are not as simple as you would perhaps like.
Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron
Um, so suddenly she hates him for not telling her something during a period when NEITHER saw each other?

So suddenly their quite pleasant relationship prior to that turns sour very quickly?

These things don't add up and I can put a number of quotes which places the feelings between the two as hinting toward a far worse dislike then a simple "grr new spartans."

  • 10.13.2011 4:16 AM PDT

One thing to say. Admiral Hood has always been his rank, but he is also a descendent of the ancient british nobility, a hereditary lord. So admiral hood is his correct salutation, and lord hood is a more colloquial term spoken perhaps by people who know him personally. "Lord" isnt even a military rank,but Fleet Admiral is, and its the top one too.

Also i too am quite surprised that it is implied that there are separatist brutes, and even if there are that the elites want anything to do with them......my impression was that the elites were taking great pleasure in hunting down and exterminating every last stinking long-hated brute after the schism. Curiouser and curiouser.....all will be explained in good time i expect.

Posted by: DonVinzone1
So, writing some stuff down while reading...

Hood is now suddenly not Lord anymore but Admiral? Promotion or degraded? Can somebody explain?
ONI did in fact cover up the real number of S2's. Always known within the community, now at least 343i is acknowledging this.
Halsey's Journal get a place within the canon itself (cool)
Elites have to be neutralized...as in? What? Dead or being neutral towards Humanity?
Female Elites have power within their families...when books like Cole Protocol and Legends showed it being a cast system in which male Elites are by far most important.
There are Brutes on the Seperatists side? Thats a big suprise! They got promoted above the Elites but some still were willing to serve under them?

So far the book is more interesting and less stupid than I'd expected. I still don't think it was a good idea to focus that much on Parangosky who is just VERY unlikable and to have the rumoured conflicts between Parangosky vs Halsey, BB vs Cortana, Mendez vs Halsey, Osman vs Halsey etc. To much conflicts and unlikable characters or situations for my taste.

Also, I don't really like Traviss' way of writing. The constant Zero-One-Zero stuff for instance, or the way she uses SO many characters at the same time at the start of the chapter. The new Elites also seem too....insecure and childish in the way they're portrayed. Not enough "Elite" so to speak.

Not saying I think what I've read so far is bad, just that if this is it, the book will definatly not rank amongst my favorites. Greg Bear and especially Nylund did a better job as far as I can judge at this moment.

  • 10.13.2011 4:24 AM PDT


Posted by: Fatal Factor
One thing to say. Admiral Hood has always been his rank, but he is also a descendent of the ancient british nobility, a hereditary lord. So admiral hood is his correct salutation, and lord hood is a more colloquial term spoken perhaps by people who know him personally. "Lord" isnt even a military rank,but Fleet Admiral is, and its the top one too.

Also i too am quite surprised that it is implied that there are separatist brutes, and even if there are that the elites want anything to do with them......my impression was that the elites were taking great pleasure in hunting down and exterminating every last stinking long-hated brute after the schism. Curiouser and curiouser.....all will be explained in good time i expect.

Posted by: DonVinzone1
So, writing some stuff down while reading...

Hood is now suddenly not Lord anymore but Admiral? Promotion or degraded? Can somebody explain?
ONI did in fact cover up the real number of S2's. Always known within the community, now at least 343i is acknowledging this.
Halsey's Journal get a place within the canon itself (cool)
Elites have to be neutralized...as in? What? Dead or being neutral towards Humanity?
Female Elites have power within their families...when books like Cole Protocol and Legends showed it being a cast system in which male Elites are by far most important.
There are Brutes on the Seperatists side? Thats a big suprise! They got promoted above the Elites but some still were willing to serve under them?

So far the book is more interesting and less stupid than I'd expected. I still don't think it was a good idea to focus that much on Parangosky who is just VERY unlikable and to have the rumoured conflicts between Parangosky vs Halsey, BB vs Cortana, Mendez vs Halsey, Osman vs Halsey etc. To much conflicts and unlikable characters or situations for my taste.

Also, I don't really like Traviss' way of writing. The constant Zero-One-Zero stuff for instance, or the way she uses SO many characters at the same time at the start of the chapter. The new Elites also seem too....insecure and childish in the way they're portrayed. Not enough "Elite" so to speak.

Not saying I think what I've read so far is bad, just that if this is it, the book will definatly not rank amongst my favorites. Greg Bear and especially Nylund did a better job as far as I can judge at this moment.


Ah thanks for clearing that up. The whole discussion about "Lord" being a rank they had here a while back made things a bit unclear to me.

As for the Brutes: very, VERY curious indeed. Grunts being on Separatist side: understandable. But the only reasons I see for Brutes being on their side is if they are either enslaved or were smart enough to save their @$$es.

Also to the other guy: I also not rather have the Elites be all formal all the time. But the way they are portrayed here....meh a bit too much humanity and too much as if we are reading a conversation between some teens....

  • 10.13.2011 4:41 AM PDT

Time for the OP to weigh in.

I don't think Halsey is acting quite the way we're used to, which is annoying. This doesn't necessarily mean that she's being mischaracterized, however. It may just be the fact that she's in a new environment, surrounded by complete unknowns, where before Halsey had operated within her massive range of knowledge. Now, she's confused and a little lost, I guess. As for the animosity between her and Mendez...maybe it is the product of the author simply wanting more drama in the Dyson sphere, but I don't think it's completely out of the question, or as vulgarly unreasonable as some think. Mendez's thoughts on Halsey during the SPARTAN-II Program could have been dwelling in him for a long time without him actually baring any of it.

On to the ONI-Sangheili debacle. I understand ONI's worries about the Sangheili turning on them, but don't they realize the consequences of sowing the seeds of insurgency with religious fundamentalists? If the insurgency succeeds, how many days after Thel and other rational Sangheili are either killed, exiled, or turned will the theocratic maniacs attack humanity? Maybe Traviss is trying to draw a somewhat cheap parallel to the CIA funding bin Laden to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, only to become our enemy later. Peace with fundamentalists never lasts, either. History has shown repeatedly that even if you meet the demands of a theocratic power and attempt to make peace, inevitably they will always destroy any treaties they've made.

I'm not willing to say this book is bad yet, but some of the machinations that Traviss is putting into motion seem to be driven by creating drama than dramatic creativity.

  • 10.13.2011 9:55 AM PDT

ONI are fully aware of the outcome of installing religious fundies as the head of the sanghelli race. They have no intention of honouring the "you leave us alone and we leave you alone agreement, and i suspect neither do the fundamentalists. Thats why ONI is sending in osman, the prof, nicole 101 and BB to crush the sanghelli whilst they fight amongst themselvs. The truce is a ruse.

Ill agree that were probably going to see more drama-ish interpersonal character interaction that perhaps were used to though. Travis is a character driven book writer and most of the books so far have been story and event driven. Thats ok though, theres nothing wrong with that though is there? Karen is a good writer, and if you prefer stories and events then thats what greg bear is for :).
Posted by: CavemanBCE
Time for the OP to weigh in.

I don't think Halsey is acting quite the way we're used to, which is annoying. This doesn't necessarily mean that she's being mischaracterized, however. It may just be the fact that she's in a new environment, surrounded by complete unknowns, where before Halsey had operated within her massive range of knowledge. Now, she's confused and a little lost, I guess. As for the animosity between her and Mendez...maybe it is the product of the author simply wanting more drama in the Dyson sphere, but I don't think it's completely out of the question, or as vulgarly unreasonable as some think. Mendez's thoughts on Halsey during the SPARTAN-II Program could have been dwelling in him for a long time without him actually baring any of it.

On to the ONI-Sangheili debacle. I understand ONI's worries about the Sangheili turning on them, but don't they realize the consequences of sowing the seeds of insurgency with religious fundamentalists? If the insurgency succeeds, how many days after Thel and other rational Sangheili are either killed, exiled, or turned will the theocratic maniacs attack humanity? Maybe Traviss is trying to draw a somewhat cheap parallel to the CIA funding bin Laden to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, only to become our enemy later. Peace with fundamentalists never lasts, either. History has shown repeatedly that even if you meet the demands of a theocratic power and attempt to make peace, inevitably they will always destroy any treaties they've made.

I'm not willing to say this book is bad yet, but some of the machinations that Traviss is putting into motion seem to be driven by creating drama than dramatic creativity.


[Edited on 10.13.2011 10:28 AM PDT]

  • 10.13.2011 10:22 AM PDT


Posted by: Fatal Factor
ONI are fully aware of the outcome of installing religious fundies as the head of the sanghelli race. They have no intention of honouring the "you leave us alone and we leave you alone agreement, and i suspect neither do the fundamentalists. Thats why ONI is sending in osman, the prof, nicole 101 and BB to crush the sanghelli whilst they fight amongst themselvs. The truce is a ruse.

Ill agree that were probably going to see more drama-ish interpersonal character interaction that perhaps were used to though. Travis is a character driven book writer and most of the books so far have been story and event driven. Thats ok though, theres nothing wrong with that though is there? Karen is a good writer, and if you prefer stories and events then thats what greg bear is for :).


First and briefly, I love character interaction and subtle psychology. See my two threads I've posted here on the BU (The Importance of Helmets in Halo: Reach, Some (relatively) brief thoughts on Emile-A239). What I don't really care for, and many people can agree, is frivolous drama that spurts up for no apparent reason. That's all.

Next, ONI is being exceptionally bold and exceedingly ruthless. I know their intentions, I was merely stating that if they dismantle secular, rational politics within Sangheilios, and theocracy (originally clandestinely supported by ONI) succeeds, then the UNSC better prepare for war. With both sides severely weakened (I'd be willing to bet that humanity is currently worse off, tech-wise, population-wise), the outcome of that war is unclear. I think that ONI's attempt to muddy the waters of Sangheili politics could backfire with obscene consequences.

  • 10.13.2011 10:46 AM PDT

Posted by:ScubaToaster
Posted by: HipiO7
This man, this man right here put it so eloquently that I actually cancelled my own 2000+ word long post.
/slow clap for respect


:)
The person who said participating is important, not winning, obviously never won anything.

I'm surprised nobody has said anything about the Huragok fleeing both sides of the remnant of the Covenant. I dont understand why/how they would do that.

  • 10.13.2011 11:38 AM PDT

Oh hey there

Posted by: petarded2
It's a metaphor for the 07s' lack of identity. too old to be newfa­g, yet too new to be oldfa­g, we wander b.net in search of a home, forever trying to be something we are not.

*Fights the urge to read it until the whole novel comes out.*

  • 10.13.2011 11:41 AM PDT

Yep, you are very probably right there bro. I highly doubt that ONIs little scheme is gonna be plain sailing.

And heres hoping Travis can characterise properly for the whole book without needless drama!

  • 10.13.2011 11:41 AM PDT

Joshua Piper

Well the Prophets, what's left of them leave the brutes later on so perhaps there is a link there? The Prophets were after all the first species to encounter the Huragok after the conclusion of the Forerunner-Flood war, so they might have established over time a kind of geas or other ways of controlling them

They did have sole to access to some advanced tech for several thousand years prior to the Human-Covenant war.

Or else this could be a sign that the forerunners or rather something forerunner has awakened/returned that is drawing the engineers out into deep space. It could be for shadowing of a kind for the events of Halo 4. After all isn't the novel supposed to tie in some way to the new trilogy?

Just my thoughts.

  • 10.13.2011 11:46 AM PDT

Yeah, I hope the departing Huragok is explained and not just mentioned.

  • 10.13.2011 5:13 PM PDT

And, I should also say, I hope that the departure of the Huragok is important, not some trivial thing.

  • 10.14.2011 8:46 AM PDT
  •  | 
  • Exalted Legendary Member

Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.

I'm actually looking forward to Grasslands and the Human/Elite plot. I dig the Elite arguments which was predictable and realistic. Was anyone seriously thinking that after 2 generations of war every single Elite would drop all stereotype and preconceptions about humans and group hug? Of course not.


ONI has a logical argument, they obviously distrust anything not Human after the same 2 generation war and want to keep the Elites disunited and therefore less of a threat.

  • 10.15.2011 2:09 PM PDT