This is a collection of short stories written by different authors. Some have written other Halo books. Others are, or were, employees at Bungie directly involved with the Halo franchise, and there are more still.
I liked that many of the stories link up with various Halo novels and games. Since I've read every novel that's been published and played every game except Halo 5, it was neat to get new stories in those various settings.
I liked all the stories in this collection but my favorite was "Defender of the Storm" by John Jackson Miller. Miller has done a lot of comic book writting. I used to read the Mass Effect comics he wrote around 2010. I followed them closely because I thought they were well written. He's also done a lot of Star Wars comics including a Knights of the Old Republic series and Empire series I used to read as well. Those were good too.
"Defender of the Storm" is a story about a Forerunner caretaker of a gas-mining station positioned at a gas giant planet in some remote location in space. The story takes place during the last years of the war between the Forerunners and The Flood. The caretaker's loneliness is a familiar feeling to me. He is the only full time member of the station with new workers periodically coming and going whom basically look down on him. He talks to his ancilla (the A.I. in his protective suit like Cortana was to Master Chief) and observes conditions within and without the station. During some routine observations, a strange object appears in the storm of gas outside the station and then things change drastically. I love the ending of it too, but I won't reveal it.
The Halo universe really is my Star Wars for the 21st century. I like all the stories told in it and will read anything new that comes out.
I thought Star Wars was the Star Wars of the 21st Century.
My enthusiasm for Star Wars definitely wanned after Phantom Menace and was quickly picked up by Halo. Although, I did get a Gamecube in 2001 so I could play Star Wars Rogue Squadron II. I'm still a Star Wars fan. I read a lot of SW comics after that. It's just, I've never been that interested in the novels, for whatever reason. I'm a fan of Star Wars for the visuals mainly, I guess.
New ones have great visuals, it's just that FA was a rehashed plot with great characters and RO was an interesting universe-building plot where the robot had the most humanity of any character.
If the next one delivers on story AND characters, my mind will be sucked.
I'm still super impressed with the visuals of Phantom Menace. Amazing looking film, just lacks in the story and acting department. I liked Attack of the Clones for it's variety of locations and the battle with Grevious. I've largely forgotten about Revenge of the Sith. FA was great but derivative to the point it made me groan, but I still liked it. RO was better but who were those characters again? Pretty forgettable except that last scene with Vader. Much better screenplay though.
Yea, I'll be excited for the next one. For sure.
Not to mention, pod racing was awesome and on n64.
I honestly like Attack of the Clones the least. Partly cause whenever it was on Fox, it was replacing a show I wanted to watch. I resent that movie for how many times I wanted to watch Simpsons and was presented with that sand coliseum scene instead. To heck with that movie.
I thought Revenge of the Sith was actually pretty good, but I haven't seen it in forever.
Hopefully Episode VIII gives us more Master Chief backstory. I always wondered if Cortana was his sister.
It's a small galaxy, everyone's related. Like a small town in middle America.
I should write a Halo book, even though I don't know ANYTHING about the franchise. Here goes:
"Once upon a time, Master Chief deciced to hop in his tractor and ride around. And then he saved the day. The end!"
Here's a haiku:
Master Chief's mjolnir
Is lived in by Cortana
As one they save earth
I like that the people associated with the book also were part of creating the Halo Universe so everything sticks within that universe. I also think its cool that a video game's storyline can stick with you like that. That's something special.
I can't think of another game who's story has really stuck with me like Halo's. I mean, it's a scifi story, not crazy deep and all, but it conjures up all those novels I read in high school. Also, it's a positive tale of heroism and victory over impossible odds. That's always uplifting.