Reviews

Meridian Divide by Cassandra Rose Clarke

casdelvo's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Blood, Gun violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

revbeckett's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 In the previous book of this duology, we left Evie, Victor, Dorian, and Saskia agreeing to ONI’s recruitment to return to their home planet Meridian to prevent the Covenant from finding whatever Forerunner artefact they’re looking for because if they do, they’ll leave and glass the planet. But even if they do find it first, the Covenant will still glass the planet, so Meridian is doomed no matter what. Yet the fate of humanity is more important than one planet. But first, they need to do some quick, intensive training. That’s where this book begins. 

 

The Covenant seem to come across as naïve morons against four even more naïve high schoolers when in the other books, the Covenant are a terrifying force to be reckoned with. This discontinuity makes the story barely believable. It also seems uncharacteristic of ONI to bet the entire fate of Meridian on the skills of amateur high schoolers, although they could just be desperate. Maybe I’m just being nit-picky; this is a young adult novel, after all. And to be fair, it’s not just the four of them against the Covenant. There’s also Meridian’s militia, a Spartan, and some UNSC marines. But most of their success seems to amount to dumb luck, but I suppose that’s necessary when you write a story that hinges on a quartet of immature teenagers acting as amateur soldiers. 

 

Their immaturity definitely comes out as a character flaw, especially during a part when they find out that the Spartan, Owen, lied to them about something in the previous book. The lie had to do with how long the Covenant has been on Meridian, and they’re all extremely upset about it. But the lie doesn’t compromise their mission or anybody’s lives, and Owen’s lie is easily justifiable because he was under orders not to reveal that information and it wasn’t relevant to their survival at the time. So basically their anger just amounts to their feelings being hurt, their young self-entitlement to being told everything, and their naïveté about the negative outcome that would’ve happened if the military did what these kids think they should’ve done. This isn’t a flaw of the book. Like I said, it’s just a character flaw. Usually, however, character flaws are written in a way where you sympathise or somewhat sympathise with the character, but I found myself siding with Owen instead of the main protagonists. It was an annoying part of the book to read just because they were so immature and petty about it and dwelling on it for too long. Saskia seems to be the only reasonable one out of them all. Maybe I would think differently if I were a young adult reading this, since I would be closer in age to Evie, Dorian, Victor, and Saskia. I don’t know if it’s my being older or my pragmatism that makes me side with Owen and ONI. 

 

All that being said, the ending is really good. I won’t say whether you find out what exactly the Forerunner artefact is and what it does, but there is an unexpected ending that brings in some later Halo lore you don’t see coming. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence and Cursing

joyolival's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the first one. It was a solid addition to the series, but I wish that they were able to continue with at least a third book as it ends in a real cliffhanger!

I loved watching the characters develop in their roles in the group as well as their individual personalities. The twists and turns weren't remarkable, but still an enjoyable read, especially for anyone who enjoyed the first book

ez_writes's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

robliophile's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

A noticeable downgrade from Battleborn, this book felt like it did a whole lot of nothing fast. It has an intriguing build-up toward the end, but there is no payoff as the third book was cut (unsurprisingly, I suppose). This book expects the character development of Battleborn to carry it as well as a healthy suspension of disbelief that a military would authorize children to take lead on ground operations just because they are from there and survived the initial invasion. I don't know, it left a decidedly underwhelming and sour note in my mouth.

mechamaya's review

3.0

Not sure what I expected from a Halo young adult series, but so far it's pretty underwhelming. Much less character growth than the first Battle Born, and in some areas, the characters seemed to grow less mature and more childish throughout this story. The ending... No spoilers but it's a bit strange. I guess we'll see where they take it, but it worries me how it might conflict with existing canon.

I'm not sure who this book is for, because I figure young adults would get more enjoyment out of the normal Halo books than these. And younger children might be more able to relate to the characters, but they probably wouldn't be interested in Halo in the first place. The characters are supposed to be roughly 18 now, but they still act like young children, even more so than in the previous book.