A very nice companion/prequel novel to Halo Infinite.
Seeing the audio logs being expanded into a full length novel was interesting and worked quite weA very nice companion/prequel novel to Halo Infinite.
Seeing the audio logs being expanded into a full length novel was interesting and worked quite well in my opinion. It didn't run into as many of the issues as The Flood had, which truly rehashed an existing story while adding more to it. Here we actually got to see things play out that were simply mentioned in the campaign and we also learnt about everything that happened in-between.
At times this felt like a typical novel and other times, particularly at the start, it felt more like a survival diary. This was due to the multiple POVs and the time jumps between chapters, I actually quite liked that though as it allowed us to explore many months of these characters journeys. The story was gritty, violent and really showed the emotion that these people were feeling being stuck out in the field alone for months, with no chance of rescue and fighting against terrible odds. It shines a far better light on the despair and hopelessness of the Zeta Halo conflict that we are thrown into in Halo Infinite.
There's no doubt that Troy Denning does the military SciFi Halo books the best but at times the amount of description he includes can become a bit laborious so I'm really glad we got to see Kelly Gay write this story. It was simply a different style and more simplified when it came to the fight scenes. Effectively adding more variety to the Halo novels which is always great!
I do think Gay really shows off her writing skills when she's able to have far more creative control over the overall narrative however. Here I'm referring to her Rion Forge trilogy which is truly exceptional and definitely my favourite set of Halo books. I just feel she was a bit constrained here which is obviously no fault of her own.
We do see the Endless and various other important lore things in the story but do note that we don't really learn much new. We just get to see it all through different point of views but it does help give the feeling that there's far more to learn when it comes to the Endless which is very exciting....more
Troy Denning has delivered yet another solid entry to the Halo universe that any fan of Halo is sure to enjoy.
When Divine Wind was announced I was cauTroy Denning has delivered yet another solid entry to the Halo universe that any fan of Halo is sure to enjoy.
When Divine Wind was announced I was cautiously optimistic. The story as a whole, saving the galaxy from the activation of the Halo Array from the Ark has been done twice before in Halo 3 and Halo: Hunters in the Dark and I was worried this story wouldn't deliver anything new. On one front my worries were valid. You effectively know how this story ends in terms of the major plot points which takes away a lot of tension and mystery.
However, I must admit that this was still a very rewarding and relevant story. It continues the plot points and character stories that Denning has set up and explored in Last Light to Retribution and more recently Shadows of Reach (and the short story Sacrifice). We get to follow characters and groups that we have grown to love and admire including Veta and her Ferrets, Castor and his Keepers and The Banished. We are also introduced to a new group that is quite interesting (although whether their existence is justified in the Halo lore is a contentious issue - see the short story Sacrifice) and seeing a Prelate in a mainline full length novel is a very nice way to expand and cement odd bits of lore. Oh and the connections to Halo Wars 2, very nice.
All these groups have their own motivations and it's fun seeing how they all interact with each other. One problem I have here though is the book is quite short so we don't get quite enough exploration of these interactions or a very detailed look at the operations of some of the less mentioned groups. I really did crave more. But in saying this I was less of a fan of Denning's Shadow of Reach because the longer length novel felt like it dragged on a lot so maybe I should just appreciate this short, concise yet still good story.
Overall, the story is solid, it furthers Denning's stories and characters in a believable and enjoyable way. In one sense it feels like a conclusion to all these threads but there is still lots left open for future stories. I look forward to anything else Denning contributes to the Halo Universe....more
This book is very Troy Denning and I say that in both the best and worst possible ways. Denning writes compelling and descriptive stories that fit welThis book is very Troy Denning and I say that in both the best and worst possible ways. Denning writes compelling and descriptive stories that fit well within the Halo universe and this is no different. That is why it gets a high score of 4/5, however, I don't believe it to be deserving of a 5/5 as Denning's less desirable writing attributes are also very prevalent.
Starting with the good and great. Mr Denning knows how to write Blue Team. Blue Team feels like the well oiled fighting machine that they are and each person's distinct character is present from Fred's humour to Linda's zen and lone wolf nature. I also love John's inner monologue and realisations about his mortality and his influence on others due to his legendary status.
I also believe Denning is able to write the alien sections of his books beautifully, whether that's the Covenant, Keepers of the One Freedom or The Banished. I love the inter- and intra-politics between all the different alien factions present and also how The Banished are fleshed out beyond what we've seen in Halo Wars 2. My only complaint here is how good these chapters are yet how few there are. I was craving more, so much more.
A couple of other quick notes on good things. Denning also writes secondary characters very well. Well enough that they greatly contribute to the world building and story and sometimes even play on the reader's emotions. Bella Disztl is a great example. It was also nice to see the story threads of Halo 5 still being present without being abandoned, even if they're not the primary focus here.
While there's plenty more good in this story, there's definitely a bit of bad, and sometimes even too much of a good thing that I need to dedicate some time to.
Denning loves to truly immerse the reader in his written environments and scenes and he achieves this with both quality and quantity of descriptions. Don't get me wrong, the descriptions are mostly to a high quality but the length of them can really hamper the experience. I'm sad to say but I'd genuinely describe the first 30% of this book as a slog. It feels like 1 thing happened and then a bit of walking/fighting and it took me hours just to read that. I actually groaned when I saw the next chapter was a UNSC one instead of Banished in these early stages. It reminded me of Denning's Halo: Oblivion. That book had fantastic elements and overall it was quite solid but my god, it was slow and long winded.
Continuing on Denning's descriptions, as good as they are, sometimes it is really hard to envision the environment/what is happening. There's so much talk of the geology (holy sh*t you actually have to be a geology major to be able to understand half of this), the landscape, directions and so on and you just to accept you won't know exactly what's going and tell your brain to create a dumbed down interpretation of everything. I'm sure some people won't have this issue but I've definitely seen it echoed by others before so I know it's not just a me thing.
Also somewhat related to the above complaints are the combat scenes. While they are written very well, surprisingly well for a book since I think action lends itself to the visual far better, there's just a bit too much. Or put better, there's not too many combat scenes but each scene is too long. The writing is good but I really don't want to read about every Banshee being shot down when there's literally 30 of them chasing Blue Team.
So overall, Denning has delivered another good Halo book. It is definitely superior to Oblivion but I don't believe it reaches the levels of Last Light, Retribution and definitely not Silent Storm. Silent Storm is literally a master piece (although it did fall prey to the issues of descriptive environments being very hard to visual like Oblivion and Shadows of Reach). If it was pruned down I think it could easily be a 5/5.