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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Finally, the efforts of reading the first two books in the trilogy click into place.
I'd recommended just going to Halopedia if you were (like me) looking for the deepest, oldest lore of the Halo universe
I'd recommended just going to Halopedia if you were (like me) looking for the deepest, oldest lore of the Halo universe
'This is not irony; it is echo.'
The third and final entry in The Forerunner Saga, Greg Bear's vision for this game-series tie-in succeeds in fleshing out (or in many cases, creating) a rich lore that acts now as canonical tapestry for the expansive Halo universe. Further though, Silentium and the rest of the trilogy stand triumphant as discrete works of simply excellent science fiction. Bear brings a grandeur and depth to the overall series, recapturing a sense of wonderment and mystery that is reminiscent of the original video game but does so whilst revealing a satisfying explanation (particularly with this last novel) for the actions, motivations, histories and ultimately the fates of the peoples and races of the Halo universe.
In summary, Silentium traverses millennia in a sweeping narrative that brings together the arcs of the main cast of the trilogy; the final actions of the Ur-Didact, Iso-Didact, Librarian, Master Builder and Chakas - as well as detailed accounts of pivotal events from their pasts - are cleverly characterised not as an exhaustive encyclopaedia of events but through the point of view of Catalog, a narrative voice/characterisation device in the form of a collective mind of 'Juridical' beings, somewhere between AI and humanoid, that serve the ecumene by documenting 'testimony' for the preservation of just rule under the guidance of the Mantle.
Through this unique lens the audience learn primarily of the events that led to the present-time (in the novel) motivations of the Lifeshaper and the Didact for their experiences and what they witness through their interactions with, respectively, an ancient Forerunner colony refusing to evolve given the grievous sins of their collective past, and the Precursors themselves in the form of ancient Gravemind, The Timeless One. The worlds, events and character interactions are terrifying and haunting in their exploration of themes of malice, sin, the destructive power of fear, greed and exploitation and, simply, death and decay. Although this is frequently tempered, in particular with the story of the Lifeshaper and the ancient Forerunners but also through the Bornstellar-Didact, with an appreciation for beauty in all things, sacrifice and courage, and in the virtue of preservation of life in the face of manipulation, despair and futility.
At times, certainly in comparison to the latter two entries in the trilogy, the direction feels much more like a traditional tie-in rather than standalone storytelling, in that although still a delight, studio fact-checking over novelisation with free-flowing author input is evident. That said, with the trilogy's inception and development conceived around the development and release of a new direction for the game franchise, it is easy to forgive the more 'tidying-up' aspect of character arcs and pacing towards the end: it is still outstanding, uncompromising writing.
In short the trilogy is essential reading for Halo lore fans but excellent, fully-realised sci-fi perfectly appropriate for any fans of the genre as a whole. In particular, Silentium over its two predecessors really nails down the atmosphere of the entire franchise like nothing else I have read so far: a grand vision of a sprawling space adventure but with a keen balance between humanised struggles and hard sci-fi concepts. Personally, it revealed finally what in many ways was an obscured piece of the Halo narrative puzzle: the boundless hatred that ultimately evolved the Precursors, the creators of us and our adversaries, into the all-consuming Flood, a hive-mind being of a singular, corruptive, complete evil, is locked in an endless battle, despite it's utter dominance and superiority at every turn, with a solace; the Lifeshaper best describes this as a beautiful force of inner workings in living things being involved in the whole, grander picture, that ultimately always finds a way:
'My love and expertise lies in the immensity within - the unbounded inner roil of a cell, the tight-packed jostling of hundreds of thousands of molecules cooperating and competing at once, all unaware that their activities, massed together, open doorways to even greater immensities: you, me, all living things.
The greatest galaxies are nothing without our inner immensity, which opens our eyes to the light, our senses to their warmth, and our minds to their challenge.'
The third and final entry in The Forerunner Saga, Greg Bear's vision for this game-series tie-in succeeds in fleshing out (or in many cases, creating) a rich lore that acts now as canonical tapestry for the expansive Halo universe. Further though, Silentium and the rest of the trilogy stand triumphant as discrete works of simply excellent science fiction. Bear brings a grandeur and depth to the overall series, recapturing a sense of wonderment and mystery that is reminiscent of the original video game but does so whilst revealing a satisfying explanation (particularly with this last novel) for the actions, motivations, histories and ultimately the fates of the peoples and races of the Halo universe.
In summary, Silentium traverses millennia in a sweeping narrative that brings together the arcs of the main cast of the trilogy; the final actions of the Ur-Didact, Iso-Didact, Librarian, Master Builder and Chakas - as well as detailed accounts of pivotal events from their pasts - are cleverly characterised not as an exhaustive encyclopaedia of events but through the point of view of Catalog, a narrative voice/characterisation device in the form of a collective mind of 'Juridical' beings, somewhere between AI and humanoid, that serve the ecumene by documenting 'testimony' for the preservation of just rule under the guidance of the Mantle.
Through this unique lens the audience learn primarily of the events that led to the present-time (in the novel) motivations of the Lifeshaper and the Didact for their experiences and what they witness through their interactions with, respectively, an ancient Forerunner colony refusing to evolve given the grievous sins of their collective past, and the Precursors themselves in the form of ancient Gravemind, The Timeless One. The worlds, events and character interactions are terrifying and haunting in their exploration of themes of malice, sin, the destructive power of fear, greed and exploitation and, simply, death and decay. Although this is frequently tempered, in particular with the story of the Lifeshaper and the ancient Forerunners but also through the Bornstellar-Didact, with an appreciation for beauty in all things, sacrifice and courage, and in the virtue of preservation of life in the face of manipulation, despair and futility.
At times, certainly in comparison to the latter two entries in the trilogy, the direction feels much more like a traditional tie-in rather than standalone storytelling, in that although still a delight, studio fact-checking over novelisation with free-flowing author input is evident. That said, with the trilogy's inception and development conceived around the development and release of a new direction for the game franchise, it is easy to forgive the more 'tidying-up' aspect of character arcs and pacing towards the end: it is still outstanding, uncompromising writing.
In short the trilogy is essential reading for Halo lore fans but excellent, fully-realised sci-fi perfectly appropriate for any fans of the genre as a whole. In particular, Silentium over its two predecessors really nails down the atmosphere of the entire franchise like nothing else I have read so far: a grand vision of a sprawling space adventure but with a keen balance between humanised struggles and hard sci-fi concepts. Personally, it revealed finally what in many ways was an obscured piece of the Halo narrative puzzle: the boundless hatred that ultimately evolved the Precursors, the creators of us and our adversaries, into the all-consuming Flood, a hive-mind being of a singular, corruptive, complete evil, is locked in an endless battle, despite it's utter dominance and superiority at every turn, with a solace; the Lifeshaper best describes this as a beautiful force of inner workings in living things being involved in the whole, grander picture, that ultimately always finds a way:
'My love and expertise lies in the immensity within - the unbounded inner roil of a cell, the tight-packed jostling of hundreds of thousands of molecules cooperating and competing at once, all unaware that their activities, massed together, open doorways to even greater immensities: you, me, all living things.
The greatest galaxies are nothing without our inner immensity, which opens our eyes to the light, our senses to their warmth, and our minds to their challenge.'
I liked it. I was pessimistic after the first two but this really stuck the landing.
This one did a better job of using the bystander POV. Mostly because now we're seeing the UrDidact, the IsoDidact and the Lifeshaper directly so we get an actual view of how the Forerunner-Flood war is progressing. In the first two books, the POV characters didn't have any idea what was going on around them but here we have characters that are driving the plot and capable of reacting meaningfully.
And the presentation of the action was better too. The battles are shown in a way that you get the broad overview of what happened but the execution is left up to the imagination. Which I liked because considering the Flood and Forerunners are almost capable of warping physics as a weapon, I think it's good to preserve some mystery and wonder to how the tech works.
And I liked the overall story resolution with Forerunner-Flood war.
This one did a better job of using the bystander POV. Mostly because now we're seeing the UrDidact, the IsoDidact and the Lifeshaper directly so we get an actual view of how the Forerunner-Flood war is progressing. In the first two books, the POV characters didn't have any idea what was going on around them but here we have characters that are driving the plot and capable of reacting meaningfully.
And the presentation of the action was better too. The battles are shown in a way that you get the broad overview of what happened but the execution is left up to the imagination. Which I liked because considering the Flood and Forerunners are almost capable of warping physics as a weapon, I think it's good to preserve some mystery and wonder to how the tech works.
And I liked the overall story resolution with Forerunner-Flood war
Spoiler
The Flood being a Lovecraftian threat is pretty cool and the idea that the Flood were able to warp physics to gradually shut down Forerunner tech or the idea of the logic plague is cool. In the games, the Flood are a threat but they're still basically zombies in space. Here the Flood doesn't just infect species, the Flood basically infects reality itself.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gives a fantastic insight as to the origins of this story, and to the Halo universe as a whole.
So much exposition. That’s all this story is. To be fair, having it from the Librarian’s perspective this time around is VERY interesting, but I just can’t stand Bear’s writing. Having to read this book felt like a chore, and the last entry was so terrible that Bear no longer has my trust. I’m a little sad to give up on the third book, but exciting to dedicate my reading time to other books instead.