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A review by melniksuzuki
Halo: Battle Born by Cassandra Rose Clarke
4.0
The year is 2548 and the Covenant has been carving a warpath through the colonies of humanity. On the colony of Meridian, four teenagers must learn to survive with the help of Beta Company Spartan-III as their town is invaded by the alien hegemony in search of Forerunner technology buried beneath.
Battle Born follows four Meridian teenagers: Evie Rousseau, the techie of the group and the daughter of a college professor and a Marine; Victor Gallardo, Evie's friend whose parents ran a resort while his older sisters are Marines in the UNSC; Dorian Nguyen lives with his uncle and nephew/cousin (Dorian and the narration calls Remy Dorian's nephew but he is Dorian's uncle's son, which should make him Dorian's cousin; it's weird) due to his parents being deployed and is a member of a local band and is a bit of a hothead who has problems with the UNSC due to feeling abandoned by his parents, the pilot of the group; and Saskia Nazari, the daughter of weapon contractors, she feels like a pariah due to not being native to Meridian.
Luckily, despite being a YA novel about teenagers, we are spared from having to dredge through teenage and school melodrama before the Covenant shows up; from the first chapter we see hints of the Covenant preparing their invasion and it is only a few chapters later that the Covenant invade in full. It also helps that the story starts on the weekend. Really, the only melodramatic thing that I can think of is Victor's crush on Saskia. It is almost mentioned any time a chapter is focused on his narrative, even after the Covenant appeared. Made me want to just slap him upside the head and scream, "Priorities, you idiot!" Though I do feel if that if any romances happen, I would be all in for Evie/Dorian due to how natural their interactions were. Them staying friends and comrades would also work.
I have to say my favorite scene was Evie and Victor's encounter with the Jackel at the onset of the invasion. It truly felt like something from a horror movie. I also like how the Covenant is using Locusts to unearth the artifact. Nice to see something from Halo Wars appear outside the games, especially since another author might have used Scarabs in their place.
Overall, I quite enjoyed Battle Born. It was a nice view of a Covenant invasion from the civilians' view. There were a few places that were a bit contrived, like how the energy shield projector didn't seem to be as defended as you would have thought, but nothing that broke the suspension-of-disbelief for me. Just made me stop for a second and shrug.
Battle Born follows four Meridian teenagers: Evie Rousseau, the techie of the group and the daughter of a college professor and a Marine; Victor Gallardo, Evie's friend whose parents ran a resort while his older sisters are Marines in the UNSC; Dorian Nguyen lives with his uncle and nephew/cousin (Dorian and the narration calls Remy Dorian's nephew but he is Dorian's uncle's son, which should make him Dorian's cousin; it's weird) due to his parents being deployed and is a member of a local band and is a bit of a hothead who has problems with the UNSC due to feeling abandoned by his parents, the pilot of the group; and Saskia Nazari, the daughter of weapon contractors, she feels like a pariah due to not being native to Meridian.
Luckily, despite being a YA novel about teenagers, we are spared from having to dredge through teenage and school melodrama before the Covenant shows up; from the first chapter we see hints of the Covenant preparing their invasion and it is only a few chapters later that the Covenant invade in full. It also helps that the story starts on the weekend. Really, the only melodramatic thing that I can think of is Victor's crush on Saskia. It is almost mentioned any time a chapter is focused on his narrative, even after the Covenant appeared. Made me want to just slap him upside the head and scream, "Priorities, you idiot!" Though I do feel if that if any romances happen, I would be all in for Evie/Dorian due to how natural their interactions were. Them staying friends and comrades would also work.
I have to say my favorite scene was Evie and Victor's encounter with the Jackel at the onset of the invasion. It truly felt like something from a horror movie. I also like how the Covenant is using Locusts to unearth the artifact. Nice to see something from Halo Wars appear outside the games, especially since another author might have used Scarabs in their place.
Overall, I quite enjoyed Battle Born. It was a nice view of a Covenant invasion from the civilians' view. There were a few places that were a bit contrived, like how the energy shield projector didn't seem to be as defended as you would have thought, but nothing that broke the suspension-of-disbelief for me. Just made me stop for a second and shrug.