Scan barcode
A review by revbeckett
Halo: Broken Circle by John Shirley
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
‘Broken Circle’ tells the story of the war between the Sangheili and the San’Shyuum—or the Elites and the Prophets as we know them by, respectively—a few thousand years before the events of the first Halo game, starting in the year 865 B.C. on the human timeline. As you might be able to guess, what starts the conflict is the San’Shyuum’s search for Forerunner relics on the Sangheili home world, Sanghelios. If you’re a Halo veteran, then you already know the Elites and Prophets are allies in the first game and partway through Halo 2. This book tells the tale of how they joined forces and formed the Covenant.
You follow the tale of an Elite named Ussa ‘Xellus who still fights and refuses to join the Covenant after a decade of most Elites joining them through an oath of service called the Writ of Union. If you remember the Shield Worlds from the Forerunner saga before this, Ussa is led to one of them and aims to move his fellow rebels there as refuge from the Covenant.
You also gain some neat insights into Sangheili and San’Shyuum cultures. My favourite thing about this book is that it shows you that the Sangheili are not mindless monsters, contrary to our first encounter with them in the first game, Halo: Combat Evolved, but that they are a people. They are a people with their own culture, custom, and liturgies who didn’t just blindly join the Covenant like we’ve thought but experienced their own divisions about the matter. There are even divisions within the San’Shyuum race. What is perhaps most interesting is that there were already doubts about the so-called Great Journey both within and without the Covenant early on in their history.
On the San’Shyuum end, you also follow the story of a San’Shyuum named Mken ‘Scre’ah’ben, aka the Prophet of Inner Conviction, who is tasked to bring females back to High Charity and to find a particular Forerunner relic on their home world, Janjur Qom, which none of them have been to for over a millennium because of their space ventures in search of “holy” relics to embark on the Great Journey utilising the notorious Halo Array as well as the divisions mentioned earlier. Both sides—Ussa among the Sangheili rebels and Inner Conviction as he searched for the Luminary artefact—meet betrayals that lead to intense events between the rebels and the Covenant.
The latter part of the book surprisingly jumps thousands of years into the future during the more familiar time period of the games. But it makes sense that it does this after telling the story of the conflicts between the San’Shyuum and the Sangheili and it serves a purpose, which is to tell the ramifications of the end of that conflict. You also read some interesting revelations about the beginnings of the Great Schism that took place within the Covenant during Halo 2.
I only have one minor complaint: the author writes that the Elites’ blood is dark blue or “purple-blue,” but everyone who’s played Halo knows their blood is just purple—a dark purple. Another time he describes a character wearing a blue uniform that symbolises Sangheili blood, but it’s not; it’s just purple! He actually describes their blood as being just purple only one time, so there’s inconsistency. This isn’t the only Halo book that makes that mistake. The editors of these books don’t do their job very well. This error isn’t enough to knock down my rating; it’s just an annoying lore inaccuracy.
The book has a satisfying ending and John Shirley did a really good job with combining all the events from the far past to the future. I’d say this is one of the best Halo books in the series.