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Posted by: ajw34307
This post contains minor spoilers for the Forerunner Saga.
Are you implying that the Bungie-era Halo novels had absolutely no major discrepancies or inconsistencies? Because I can tell you one thing, the Forerunner books are the most canonically faithful novels in the series. They're based directly off Halo 3's Terminals and expand on what is established in them.
It seems to me that the new books have butchered past canon and have held it in contempt
And where do you get this impression from? There are only 2 complaints about the Forerunner Saga, they are:
1) "Oh they butchered the Forerunners."
2) "I don't like the writing style."
Laugh at the people who say these things.
Firstly, nothing about the Forerunners has been 'butchered' at all.
From second-hand accounts, the fans built up this image of the Forerunners being perfect godlike beings who did good all the time. The people who think this are no more educated than the Covenant, since there is absolutely no evidence even suggesting they're as wonderful as people make them out to be. The only person who actually talks about the Forerunners is Guilty Spark, the rest is all Covenant interpretations.
So how does Halo 3 portray them? In the Terminals, the Librarian refers to the Mantle and puts the Forerunners in a dark light:
The Mantle. You still hold to that [fairy tale] after all that has happened? After this thing has consumed a million worlds?
Can't you see? Belief in the Mantle sealed our doom! Weakened our [protectorates], bred dependence and sloth. Our [so-called Guardianship] has stripped those we would keep safe of any capacity for self-defense!
Were we such noble [Guardians] when we drew our line and abandoned billions to the parasite?
I want to direct you to a key line:
Our so-called Guardianship has stripped those we would keep safe of any capacity for self-defense!
We have a perfect reflection of this action in the Forerunner Saga - their actions against the San'Shyuum and Ancient Humans. Janjur Qom was placed under quarantine, stripping them of their weapons and humanity were blasted back to the Stone Age - thus ridding them OF ANY CAPACITY FOR SELF-DEFENSE. The Librarian mocks the idea of the Forerunners being "noble guardians" because, in reality, they were not at all. The Forerunners exploited a loophole in their 'Mantle' which meant that they would protect all life by making sure they couldn't rise to power against them.
Nothing is changed, merely elaborated on and given substance. But people are so blinded by their preconceptions and throw a fit when the actual truth doesn't match theirs.
And the second point. Greg Bear is the very model of a classical sci-fi writer, which means that he's the kind of writer who wants you to actually think while reading rather than spoon-feed every detail to the reader like a fact file (AKA Karen Traviss style). It's supposed to be thought provoking, narrative driven sci-fi. It's not for everyone, I can understand that, and some things are quite hard to visualise at times, but it's infinitely deeper than some of Nylund's gung-ho action shoot-em-up fests.
Bear's story is so vast and complex that it's hard to get a handle on everything, which ties into the vastness of the Forerunners and how humans in the Haloverse are just now getting a handle on the basics of what they discovered. It also ties into Bornstellar, being an imperfect narrator telling the story means that we get his perspective as well as his thoughts on his culture, successes and failings, rather than a bland omniscient perspective that plagues some of the other books.
Cryptum is my favourite novel in the series, it's a coming-of-age journey into the unknown with an ancient evil pulling the strings in a cosmic game. The battle of the Capitol is by far the most visceral, awe-inducing scenes in the entire series. And until you actually read it then you can't appreciate it.
Haters gonna hate, the Forerunner Saga is the best thing to happen to the thematic integrity of this series since ODST.
If I may interject: While I tend to agree wholeheartedly with how books should make you think, Cryptum (and to a significantly lesser extent, Primordium) have very little of that. Cryptum in particular is a series of "and then we did this..." held together by an absolute truckload of canonical revelations and the minor mystery of what the Primordial is supposed to be.
I love character-driven novels, and I love narrative-driven novels. While Primordium manages to throw together a character-driven novel fairly well, There isn't a single interesting character or a trace of a narrative in Cryptum.