Re-reading the Halo books
Mar. 19th, 2010 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athenaltenaI've been re-reading one of the Halo books I had from a few years ago, and I forgot how well it was written. I know that tie in material to games can be of dubious quality, but this one, Ghosts of Onyx, is quite well written, and the others by the same guy have been quite good.
One thing I like about it is that it brings to the forefront some of the more uncomfortable questions in that universe that they can't really touch on in the games, such as the origins of the Spartans and how unethical the way they came about was. It sort of reminds me of Gunslinger Girl in the way that the characters in the story acknowledge how screwed up it is but keep doing it anyway since they see it as being for the greater good, and there's one character in particular who tries to set things right since she was there at the beginning.
I also think that the opening scene of the book has a hell of a gut-punch right at the end, since right after reading about a huge battle where only two people survive out of about 200 you learn right at the end that they're both 12 years old. Ouch. Well written, but damn that stings when it hits you.
One thing I like about it is that it brings to the forefront some of the more uncomfortable questions in that universe that they can't really touch on in the games, such as the origins of the Spartans and how unethical the way they came about was. It sort of reminds me of Gunslinger Girl in the way that the characters in the story acknowledge how screwed up it is but keep doing it anyway since they see it as being for the greater good, and there's one character in particular who tries to set things right since she was there at the beginning.
I also think that the opening scene of the book has a hell of a gut-punch right at the end, since right after reading about a huge battle where only two people survive out of about 200 you learn right at the end that they're both 12 years old. Ouch. Well written, but damn that stings when it hits you.
