Halo Silentium ebook
Halo: Silentium is the final book in Greg Bear's Forerunner trilogy, set millennia before the events of the game s.html" target="_blank">game s . It continues the story of the Didact and Librarian, as well as several other familiar characters from the first two books.
Similarly to Primordium, Silentium is a bit of a framed narrative - ONI has discovered some Forerunner artifacts and has extracted information from them and put it together in a way that tells the story. Since not everything is necessarily in chronological order or continuous, there are some jumps and abrupt transitions, but there's a purpose and meaning to each thread.
Some things that were hinted at in previous works are explained outright and in more depth, and new secrets about the Precursors, the Forerunners, the Humans, and the Flood are revealed. If you're a fan of the Halo universe, you know how the story is going to end. This only makes it more powerful though, in my mind, as you see the possible choices slowly focus down to one inevitable course of events.
The end left some things open and was a slight letdown, but shortly after the book was published it was revealed that there is actually a coda that expands upon the ending, making it more satisfactory. You can find out about that by going here. I don't think it's necessary for enjoying the story, but it certainly helps but a bow on things. There are still a few questions I'd like answered, however, and I look forward to finding out more in future stories.
In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed Silentium and tore through it in two sittings. By the last fifty pages or so I couldn't even put it down. If you're a Halo fan, this entire series is a must-read. Science fiction fans will certainly appreciate it as well.
Halo: Silentium is the final book in Greg Bear's Forerunner trilogy, set millennia before the events of the games. It continues the story of the Didact and Librarian, as well as several other familiar characters from the first two books.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly to Primordium, Silentium is a bit of a framed narrative - ONI has discovered some Forerunner artifacts and has extracted information from them and put it together in a way that tells the story. Since not everything is necessarily in chronological order or continuous, there are some jumps and abrupt transitions, but there's a purpose and meaning to each thread.
Some things that were hinted at in previous works are explained outright and in more depth, and new secrets about the Precursors, the Forerunners, the Humans, and the Flood are revealed. If you're a fan of the Halo universe, you know how the story is going to end. This only makes it more powerful though, in my mind, as you see the possible choices slowly focus down to one inevitable course of events.
The end left some things open and was a slight letdown, but shortly after the book was published it was revealed that there is actually a coda that expands upon the ending, making it more satisfactory. You can find out about that by going here. I don't think it's necessary for enjoying the story, but it certainly helps but a bow on things. There are still a few questions I'd like answered, however, and I look forward to finding out more in future stories.
In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed Silentium and tore through it in two sittings. By the last fifty pages or so I couldn't even put it down. If you're a Halo fan, this entire series is a must-read. Science fiction fans will certainly appreciate it as well.
This was a great story... Immediately gripping at the very beginning and holds onto you all throughout its pages, I am only sad that there are no more Forerunner tales to be told (that aren't prequels). The author has done a great job putting into words whatever grand outline was in that binder at Microsoft.
ReplyDeleteWOW! This was an incredibly good read. Greg Bear has done a remarkable job here, and I cannot imagine a more worthy conclusion to the Forerunner series.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved Cryptum, with its fresh insights into the mysterious Forerunners and its compelling narrative style, but hated Primordium, boring and needlessly drawn out as it was. For anyone who worried that Silentium might continue in the direction of Primordium, fear not! Silentium is more like Cryptum 2.0, an even better version of the book that got me hooked so thoroughly at the outset of the Forerunner series.
Avid Halo devotees will not be left wanting. Many mysteries that have long plagued Halo fans attain satisfying resolutions within this book, and I found myself with a heightened appreciation for the Forerunners, the Flood, and mankind. After my read-through, it became abundantly clear why the release date was pushed back; this book is a highly effective, deeply informative tie-in to Halo 4; it would have prematurely informed fans about many vital plot elements found in the game, thereby ruining the "aura of mystery" and the "appeal of the unknown" which permeated Halo 4's storyline.
Silentium has a substantially different narrative style from the previous two books. Instead of using one character as the chief storyteller (Bornstellar/Chakas), Bear uses a wide variety of characters (and styles) to tell the story. For fear of revealing too much of the plot, I won't go into detail about whom exactly these storytellers are. Most are familiar, and I'm sure many are easily guessed. Overall, I enjoyed this change. It lent a certain richness to the storytelling, as each character's strand combined to form a cohesive and compelling narrative tapestry. Pacing was also improved; with the constant cycling of perspective, I never found myself bored. There was also a heightened degree of urgency and suspense gained in this change, a la George R.R. Martin. Right as something important is about to happen, the perspective may change, urging you to read on to discover what happens next. Needless to say, I tore through this book in record time.
My only real criticism is tied directly to the aforementioned narrative change. I found myself far less attached to characters than I had been in Crpytum; my emotional capital was far less invested in any singular character. I personally found this to be an enjoyable element of Cryptum, and mourn for its loss here. That being said, the scope of Silentium's story is far larger than Cryptum's ever was, so expecting Bear to get me as attached to characters as he had previously is deeply unfair. I understand that, and accept it, but still thought it worthy of mentioning.
In the end, Silentium was a high-quality ending to the Forerunner series, and I don't regret a moment I invested in reading it. A big shout-out goes to Greg Bear for lending his skill and sci-fi know how to enriching the Halo universe. A weak middle book did not prevent him from concluding what he'd started so well in a laudable manner, and for that I thank him. Well done, sir, well done.
Finishing this fight,
Chris
A great climax to a story steeped in so much lore having been derived from multiple sources. The Halo games, secret terminals, other books, short stories, viral campaigns, etc. all drove fans to wonder where the answers to canonical questions were or if they had just read several frustrating red herrings over the course of the last decade. This book provides answers to nearly every question of the past concerning Halo legend. Although not every answer is out in the open, Greg Bear does a fantastic job here.
ReplyDeleteTo start, I was very disappointed with the first and second book in the Forerunner Series. I even gave the second book a 1 Star Review here on Amazon, in which I received a couple of negative comments, but fortunately most people did find it useful.
ReplyDeleteWhile the first two took me weeks to finish, this one took me just days. This novel finally digs into Forerunner history and explains so much material across the 10 years of the Halo Franchise. What started out in the hidden terminals across the Halo games is fleshed out and explained in great detail. I was so afraid that there would still end up being more questions than answers, but I can assure you, I had very few questions after reading this book. And any questions I had were due to my own memory from context covered is games, comics, and books past. A ten minute session on the search engines filled in what I had forgotten. I think Greg B. did pay attention to previous reviews, as a lot of the complaints myself and others had were not present in this final book. It has a great pace, and is clearly written and understandable.
While there is more story tell, I think 343 and Greg B. did a fantastic job without leaving a monumental cliff hanger at the end, but still leaving the reader with curiosity. And while I previously stated in a previous review that I am not a fan of Greg B. I now am. For an author to take a story and timeline as complex as this and convey it in a way that can be followed and understood shows a great depth of expertise in their craft. From H2 to H3, this novel in my opinion, finally cleans up the fragmented Halo storyline to create a more cohesive universe for games, books, and movies going forward. I'll be looking forward to the future of the Halo franchise.
Good work Mr. Bear! This is definitely required reading for any Halo fan, especially those who labored through Primordium. Excellent conclusion to the trilogy!
ReplyDeleteOne of the major weaknesses I've found in fiction generated from source material such as movies or games is that it tends to lean heavily on that source material. The author(s) are afraid to deviate from known material in fear that legions of loyal fans will rise up in ire at their creation, angry that their beloved fandom has been altered.
ReplyDeleteThe Forerunner Saga has managed to transcend that- although it is set in the Halo universe, it is readable without that as a major influence- as it focuses on a civilization that predates both the UNSC and the Covenant in-universe, it can almost be read without ever even having played a Halo game.
In this book, Silentium, keeps with the slow, grand pace that Greg Bear is fantastic at setting. In this and other series, Bear avoids the cheap tropes of science fiction and especially of this type of fiction- while it is easy to fall back on flashy prose and snappy, but hollow dialogue centering around massive space battles, Bear manages to create a series (and in this book especially) that relies more on a sense of grandeur, that emphasizes the tragedy of what is occurring between the two main characters, the Ur-Didact and his wife, the Librarian. I hesitate to expand upon the plot as most who are going to read this will know the generalities of what may occur, but without that previous exposure, one could reveal major spoilers. Silentium is an intense read- it only clocks in at over 300 pages, but it forces you to read slowly. For fans of the Halo universe, Silentium exposes much about the legendary Forerunner civilization that has been a driving point behind the war that comprises the original games' stories, in ways that are both repulsive and sympathetic.
If you've read the first books in this series, read this. If you've not, get the others, then work your way through all of them- rarely have I literally been unable to stop myself reading a book, but this is one time it happened, and I consider it time well-spent.
When I started reading, I wasn't entirely interested with the series. Piecing it back together from the end to the beginning, I see now what I was missing. This series truly answers so many questions that were elusive in the main series.
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