- Wolverfrog
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- Fabled Legendary Member
I didn't really see this as a book created with the purpose of building the universe after Halo 3. I mean, the majority of the book was set before March 2553, which we see at the end of the game.
The way I see it, we'll see all that come Halo 4.
This was just a nice little novel exploring some finer points after the war ended; it fleshed out the 'cold war' environment well, some lovely characters were created in the ONI team, and the situation of those within Trevelyan was explored nicely.
I think that what we're perceiving now as a lack of detail will be elaborated upon with the next game, and we'll look back to Glasslands and see all the foreshadowing and portents.
Is it a great book? I don't think so, it's just good. It may be my favourite Halo book, but that's hardly a title of distinction considering most of them read like fan fiction with far too much dull 'cool' action and bland characterisation thrown in for good measure.
Maybe it's because I wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest. Before the book I was hardly even a fan of Halo, not since Reach. Started reading the book on a whim and found myself engrossed in the universe for the first time in a while. If I'd been looking forward to it since announcement like a lot of you, perhaps I'd have been disappointed by the lack of monumental, game-changing events.
As it is, I'm happy with a story that was well told and sucked me in for a couple of hours. Complaining about content 'not there' is a silly thing to do, because that's all obviously going to be explored later. If there had been major conflict ions with established canon like Reach, then I could understand the irritation.
But there weren't, aside from a few inconsistencies with a couple of characters. So it's not a big deal.