Bungie Universe
This topic has moved here: Subject: Halo: Glasslands. Thoughts? Comments?
  • Subject: Halo: Glasslands. Thoughts? Comments?
Subject: Halo: Glasslands. Thoughts? Comments?

Dumb people are just blissfully unaware of how very dumb they are.

I personally liked the book. The continuation of Ghost of onyx and the new story arks seems to be pretty interesting. I hope to see more of this post human-Covenant series.

What did you guys thing of the book?

  • 12.21.2011 9:07 PM PDT

I felt that nothing really got explained or elaborated on in it.

  • 12.21.2011 9:12 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

I liked it. It was good to view things from a different perspective.

  • 12.21.2011 9:18 PM PDT

My honor student can beat up your honor student.

I found it very entertaining in that it showed a different side of the Halo Universe. Karen Travis really built the post war era to be similar to the end of World War I and II. The lines separating friend from foe have vanished as each side tries to survive. Brutes working with Elites, Humans plotting against humans. Sounds a lot like post war Germany and Russia. Nothing is as clear as it used to be.

Each major faction is stepping out of the black and white areas and into the gray. ONI is trying to come out on top and preserve human dominance (using the shadiest techniques of course), the Elites are fragmented by religion and politics, the morals that people kept during the war are starting to fall apart, and on top of all of this, humanity has just found the largest repository of forerunner relics in recorded history. Makes for an interesting read to see how this plays out.

  • 12.21.2011 9:19 PM PDT

"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum

Ostentatious.

  • 12.21.2011 9:34 PM PDT

Waypoint Moderators aren't really Moderators, just power hungry and its goal is defend their beloved Halo at all costs. (Meaning that they wank Halo too much.)

BS Angel is alleged foe so, be wary of Waypoint and its moderators! Do not attempt to move to Waypoint. Enter your own risk.

*WARNING* IT IS MY OPINION.

One word: Terrible.

  • 12.21.2011 9:52 PM PDT

@spaboolly

Deplorable.

This subject has already been discussed to death in several other threads, so if you like it, I'll just agree to disagree.

  • 12.21.2011 9:54 PM PDT
  • gamertag: ALKIN3
  • user homepage:

I really enjoyed it, i found its story to be the strongest out of the the books that i have read, cryptum being second.

  • 12.21.2011 10:24 PM PDT
  •  | 
  • Exalted Mythic Member

____________(˜˜˜||˜˜˜˜||˜˜˜˜˜)_∏______
l | --------____.`=====.-.~:________\___|================[oo]
|_|||___/___/_/~```|_|_|_|``(o)----------<)

Not the best in the series, but a significant improvement over the comatose Cryptum and outright horrible Cole Protocol.

  • 12.21.2011 11:14 PM PDT
  •  | 
  • Exalted Mythic Member
  • gamertag: Mysten
  • user homepage:

Infection in Halo 3 isn't zombie killing; it's ethnic cleansing. Have you ever noticed that these "zombies" are just black Spartans?

I enjoyed it.

However, having already come to my own conclusion about the moral dilemma of the Spartan Projects and Halsey's and Mendez's involvement, and about ONI's, to say the least, shady techniques, I didn't feel like I got anything out of the book at the end.

Lucy's story arc was very touching and I had to resist every urge to simply skip the chapters involving Serin, Phillips and the ODSTs, Rul or those from Halsey's and Mendez's perspective to get back to it.

[Edited on 12.22.2011 1:55 AM PST]

  • 12.22.2011 1:54 AM PDT

I thought it was really cool that Kurt had a planet named after him in honor of his heroic sacrifice to save Blue Team and Dr. Halsey. ONI Research Facility Trevelyan. Even in spite of all of John-117's accomplishments, there has never been and never will be an entire planet erected in remembrance of him, as is the case with Kurt. I think that goes to show all who the best SPARTAN truly is.

  • 12.22.2011 2:09 AM PDT

http://www.halo-forum.com

Traviss ignored previously established canonic information in writing this book. For example, Lucy punching Halsey. WTF? That should have crushed her skull! Instead Traviss turned the Spartan IIIs into very un-super super-soldiers, glorified angsty teens with guns. She essentially disregarded all previous info on the IIIs. ONI apparently urgently needs engineers, but what happened to Vergil and all the other engineers from Ascendant Justice?

Aside from this she put so much focus into the (irrational) "I hate Halsey for saving our asses" plot that everything of real interest took a back seat. Forerunner Shield World in a Dyson Sphere; Interesting but ultimately ignored. ONI found a Halo; ignored, Spartan IVs; ignored, Infinity; ignored. Now I know that there's more books to come and these may be expanded on, however, after waiting 5 years for the story's next chapter we should have gotten something a bit more substantial than a passing mention.

Some other general thoughts are that I don't like her colloquial writing style. For a military novel I would have expected more details, what guns were being used, what extra features does Mk VII have etc. It is just all too vague for my liking.

One thing she did get right, thankfully, was Lucy's character. I was happy with how that panned out.

  • 12.22.2011 5:41 AM PDT

In the days of old, there were legends of a land long lost to time. This land was known as Ranna'Mor. Ranna'Mor was said to contain in its borders 7 warriors. These warriors had once unleashed a veritable hell upon the ancient world, until they were locked away. My name is Toriad, and I am one of those warriors. Our return is approaching. Do not run away, do not cower in fear; take solace in your final days, for that is all we can do. -Legend of Ranna'Mor

Loved it, loved it, loved it! Karen did an excellent job at depicting a post-war era and developing individualism among the various species.

  • 12.22.2011 9:15 AM PDT
  •  | 
  • Fabled Legendary Member

ODST Expeditionary Force I The WorkPLace I Mythics
Technically Mythic
Posted by: Cobravert
I just saw a green monkey nut shot a small tan lizard(?) in a gunny sack.


Posted by: switch 104 sv
Traviss ignored previously established canonic information in writing this book. For example, Lucy punching Halsey. WTF? That should have crushed her skull! Instead Traviss turned the Spartan IIIs into very un-super super-soldiers, glorified angsty teens with guns. She essentially disregarded all previous info on the IIIs. ONI apparently urgently needs engineers, but what happened to Vergil and all the other engineers from Ascendant Justice?

Aside from this she put so much focus into the (irrational) "I hate Halsey for saving our asses" plot that everything of real interest took a back seat. Forerunner Shield World in a Dyson Sphere; Interesting but ultimately ignored. ONI found a Halo; ignored, Spartan IVs; ignored, Infinity; ignored. Now I know that there's more books to come and these may be expanded on, however, after waiting 5 years for the story's next chapter we should have gotten something a bit more substantial than a passing mention.

Some other general thoughts are that I don't like her colloquial writing style. For a military novel I would have expected more details, what guns were being used, what extra features does Mk VII have etc. It is just all too vague for my liking.

One thing she did get right, thankfully, was Lucy's character. I was happy with how that panned out.


It sounds as if you think this is a standalone book. I mean, I'm pretty sure that it was said this book is going to shed light on some things we'll be seeing in Halo 4. These little things that were briefly touched on in Glasslands could be major players in H4, or they could be explained in upcoming books. I don't see the point of bashing on the book for things that are normal in any multi-part series.

  • 12.22.2011 9:25 AM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

Deva Path


Posted by: DecepticonCobra

We are all going to get banned aren't we?


Posted by: chubbz

Posted by: switch 104 sv
Traviss ignored previously established canonic information in writing this book. For example, Lucy punching Halsey. WTF? That should have crushed her skull! Instead Traviss turned the Spartan IIIs into very un-super super-soldiers, glorified angsty teens with guns. She essentially disregarded all previous info on the IIIs. ONI apparently urgently needs engineers, but what happened to Vergil and all the other engineers from Ascendant Justice?

Aside from this she put so much focus into the (irrational) "I hate Halsey for saving our asses" plot that everything of real interest took a back seat. Forerunner Shield World in a Dyson Sphere; Interesting but ultimately ignored. ONI found a Halo; ignored, Spartan IVs; ignored, Infinity; ignored. Now I know that there's more books to come and these may be expanded on, however, after waiting 5 years for the story's next chapter we should have gotten something a bit more substantial than a passing mention.

Some other general thoughts are that I don't like her colloquial writing style. For a military novel I would have expected more details, what guns were being used, what extra features does Mk VII have etc. It is just all too vague for my liking.

One thing she did get right, thankfully, was Lucy's character. I was happy with how that panned out.


I don't see the point of bashing on the book


Then you clearly don't understand how important her "mistakes" are.

  • 12.22.2011 9:32 AM PDT

http://www.halo-forum.com

Posted by: chubbz

Posted by: switch 104 sv
Traviss ignored previously established canonic information in writing this book. For example, Lucy punching Halsey. WTF? That should have crushed her skull! Instead Traviss turned the Spartan IIIs into very un-super super-soldiers, glorified angsty teens with guns. She essentially disregarded all previous info on the IIIs. ONI apparently urgently needs engineers, but what happened to Vergil and all the other engineers from Ascendant Justice?

Aside from this she put so much focus into the (irrational) "I hate Halsey for saving our asses" plot that everything of real interest took a back seat. Forerunner Shield World in a Dyson Sphere; Interesting but ultimately ignored. ONI found a Halo; ignored, Spartan IVs; ignored, Infinity; ignored. Now I know that there's more books to come and these may be expanded on, however, after waiting 5 years for the story's next chapter we should have gotten something a bit more substantial than a passing mention.

Some other general thoughts are that I don't like her colloquial writing style. For a military novel I would have expected more details, what guns were being used, what extra features does Mk VII have etc. It is just all too vague for my liking.

One thing she did get right, thankfully, was Lucy's character. I was happy with how that panned out.


It sounds as if you think this is a standalone book. I mean, I'm pretty sure that it was said this book is going to shed light on some things we'll be seeing in Halo 4. These little things that were briefly touched on in Glasslands could be major players in H4, or they could be explained in upcoming books. I don't see the point of bashing on the book for things that are normal in any multi-part series.

I acknowledged in my post that there would be more novels. My point is that although it was expository it still should have been more detailed.

  • 12.22.2011 10:08 AM PDT
  •  | 
  • Fabled Legendary Member

ODST Expeditionary Force I The WorkPLace I Mythics
Technically Mythic
Posted by: Cobravert
I just saw a green monkey nut shot a small tan lizard(?) in a gunny sack.


Posted by: switch 104 sv
Posted by: chubbz

Posted by: switch 104 sv
Traviss ignored previously established canonic information in writing this book. For example, Lucy punching Halsey. WTF? That should have crushed her skull! Instead Traviss turned the Spartan IIIs into very un-super super-soldiers, glorified angsty teens with guns. She essentially disregarded all previous info on the IIIs. ONI apparently urgently needs engineers, but what happened to Vergil and all the other engineers from Ascendant Justice?

Aside from this she put so much focus into the (irrational) "I hate Halsey for saving our asses" plot that everything of real interest took a back seat. Forerunner Shield World in a Dyson Sphere; Interesting but ultimately ignored. ONI found a Halo; ignored, Spartan IVs; ignored, Infinity; ignored. Now I know that there's more books to come and these may be expanded on, however, after waiting 5 years for the story's next chapter we should have gotten something a bit more substantial than a passing mention.

Some other general thoughts are that I don't like her colloquial writing style. For a military novel I would have expected more details, what guns were being used, what extra features does Mk VII have etc. It is just all too vague for my liking.

One thing she did get right, thankfully, was Lucy's character. I was happy with how that panned out.


It sounds as if you think this is a standalone book. I mean, I'm pretty sure that it was said this book is going to shed light on some things we'll be seeing in Halo 4. These little things that were briefly touched on in Glasslands could be major players in H4, or they could be explained in upcoming books. I don't see the point of bashing on the book for things that are normal in any multi-part series.

I acknowledged in my post that there would be more novels. My point is that although it was expository it still should have been more detailed.


But why? If we're going to see more of these things in future books/games, why do you want to know more? The point of the book was to set up future installments of this story, and it did that perfectly.

  • 12.22.2011 10:34 AM PDT


Posted by: chubbz

Posted by: switch 104 sv
Posted by: chubbz

Posted by: switch 104 sv
Traviss ignored previously established canonic information in writing this book. For example, Lucy punching Halsey. WTF? That should have crushed her skull! Instead Traviss turned the Spartan IIIs into very un-super super-soldiers, glorified angsty teens with guns. She essentially disregarded all previous info on the IIIs. ONI apparently urgently needs engineers, but what happened to Vergil and all the other engineers from Ascendant Justice?

Aside from this she put so much focus into the (irrational) "I hate Halsey for saving our asses" plot that everything of real interest took a back seat. Forerunner Shield World in a Dyson Sphere; Interesting but ultimately ignored. ONI found a Halo; ignored, Spartan IVs; ignored, Infinity; ignored. Now I know that there's more books to come and these may be expanded on, however, after waiting 5 years for the story's next chapter we should have gotten something a bit more substantial than a passing mention.

Some other general thoughts are that I don't like her colloquial writing style. For a military novel I would have expected more details, what guns were being used, what extra features does Mk VII have etc. It is just all too vague for my liking.

One thing she did get right, thankfully, was Lucy's character. I was happy with how that panned out.


It sounds as if you think this is a standalone book. I mean, I'm pretty sure that it was said this book is going to shed light on some things we'll be seeing in Halo 4. These little things that were briefly touched on in Glasslands could be major players in H4, or they could be explained in upcoming books. I don't see the point of bashing on the book for things that are normal in any multi-part series.

I acknowledged in my post that there would be more novels. My point is that although it was expository it still should have been more detailed.


But why? If we're going to see more of these things in future books/games, why do you want to know more? The point of the book was to set up future installments of this story, and it did that perfectly.
Not revealing too much about a new concept is one thing, giving next to no information is another. Seriously. How do they have Mark VIIs? Where did they get the forerunner upgrades for the Infinity? How the hell did they find Installation 03? What are the insurrectionists planning? I don't expect them to detail each and everything however I expect more than a couple of sentences. Karen barely gave us enough info that we could start speculating about those things.

  • 12.22.2011 11:20 AM PDT
  •  | 
  • Fabled Legendary Member

ODST Expeditionary Force I The WorkPLace I Mythics
Technically Mythic
Posted by: Cobravert
I just saw a green monkey nut shot a small tan lizard(?) in a gunny sack.


Posted by: Sniffy66

Not revealing too much about a new concept is one thing, giving next to no information is another. Seriously. How do they have Mark VIIs? Where did they get the forerunner upgrades for the Infinity? How the hell did they find Installation 03? What are the insurrectionists planning? I don't expect them to detail each and everything however I expect more than a couple of sentences. Karen barely gave us enough info that we could start speculating about those things.


My point still stands. Why would she reveal information that is supposed to be spread out over the course of a series? All of the questions you asked are valid, but we can still speculate on it without having any more information.

  • 12.23.2011 8:27 AM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

Deva Path


Posted by: DecepticonCobra

We are all going to get banned aren't we?


Posted by: chubbz

Posted by: Sniffy66

Not revealing too much about a new concept is one thing, giving next to no information is another. Seriously. How do they have Mark VIIs? Where did they get the forerunner upgrades for the Infinity? How the hell did they find Installation 03? What are the insurrectionists planning? I don't expect them to detail each and everything however I expect more than a couple of sentences. Karen barely gave us enough info that we could start speculating about those things.


My point still stands. Why would she reveal information that is supposed to be spread out over the course of a series? All of the questions you asked are valid, but we can still speculate on it without having any more information.


Um the point of a novel is to explain, not introduce everything in one novel then spend two novels explaining the first.


Cryptum was the first forerunner novel yet a large amount was explained about them. We know what they look like (roughly), how tall they are, how strong there ships are,what they are made of,etc.

What Sniffy said about Glasslands is 100 percent true; while Karen might be good at explaining characters and what not, she is horrible with concepts and lore.

She didn't attempt to explain how the ONI has been getting so much forerunner tech seeing how the first major cache they had is the portal. All the other little pockets they ether closed off,couldn't access, or (nearly all) had to be destroyed.
We could say she changed the strength of Spartan IIIs to being that of an ODST, She made full grown adults look and act like children, created the entire hate of halsey based off maggie not liking her,etc.

That is some of the issues that people have trouble with. As for Mark VII it should have gotten more than 2 sentences on it, the spartan IV project could have gotten more elaboration also.

Then you have the issue with a sphere the size of earth's orbit dropping out of slipspace and not putting a strain on it whatsoever. Which i find to be an unforgivable flaw seeing how that is far larger then the ark and 12 halos. So see clearly doesn't know anything about slipspace either.


Regardless of how good Karen might be with characters, it isn't worth the mishaps she created in the novel. I feel like the book would have been better if it was done by the author of "The Return".

  • 12.23.2011 8:51 AM PDT

"You are who you dare"

You owe it to yourself to get out and be someone. Get to work!

-Leader of The Citadel

The overall story was not what I would have wanted for the lore of Halo after Halo 3.

Things just went back to backstabbing each other far to quickly for my liking. Realistic, yes, but you'd think if Humanity were brought to extinction and ONI no longer had any real power or influence (simply because everyone hates their guts) the backstabbing could be put on hold for a bit...

  • 12.23.2011 2:33 PM PDT

@accordingto343

Your one stop shop for all of 343's fabulous errors and ridiculous notions in the Halo lore.

Well, it triggered me to create a thread called "343 can no longer be trusted with Halo canon", so take a wild guess.

  • 12.23.2011 3:49 PM PDT

GoVader501?

Seriously?

  • 12.23.2011 4:18 PM PDT

@accordingto343

Your one stop shop for all of 343's fabulous errors and ridiculous notions in the Halo lore.

Yup.

  • 12.23.2011 4:25 PM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

Five exclamations marks are a good signifier of an insane mind. As is trying to hide from Death in an airtight room. Silly wizard.


Posted by: chubbz

Posted by: Sniffy66

Not revealing too much about a new concept is one thing, giving next to no information is another. Seriously. How do they have Mark VIIs? Where did they get the forerunner upgrades for the Infinity? How the hell did they find Installation 03? What are the insurrectionists planning? I don't expect them to detail each and everything however I expect more than a couple of sentences. Karen barely gave us enough info that we could start speculating about those things.


My point still stands. Why would she reveal information that is supposed to be spread out over the course of a series? All of the questions you asked are valid, but we can still speculate on it without having any more information.

As it is we have very little to work with. Good foreshadowing would be when we are told these things but enough things are left up in the air so that we can make theories and guesses about it. The introduction of many elements here are bad foreshadowing. We are told about them but know next to nothing. We can't speculate about a few sentences.

  • 12.23.2011 4:45 PM PDT