review of
Greg Bear's Halo Cryptum The Forerunner Saga
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 4-8, 2018


In general, I avoid reading bks that have obvious product tie-ins. In particular, I avoid bks that are written as game side-merchandise. I unintentionally made my 1st exception to that w/ Barrington J. Bayley's Eye of Terror. I gave that one of my very rare negative reviews. I didn't initially realize that there was a tie-in to Warhammer 40,000, a tabletop miniature wargame. I found Eye of Terror to be ridiculously gradiose in a shallow way. Judging by the 3 game novels I've now read, such epicness seems to be the norm. Since then I've read John Shirley's Bioshock Rapture wch I was a bit more open to it b/c of a special interest in Shirley.

Now, I've read one of Greg Bear's contributions to the genre. Honestly, I wd've thought that Bear was a successful enuf SF writer to not have to resort to such crassly commercial writing in order to a. make money, b. expand his readership. Maybe he accepted or sought the job as a challenge. Maybe he just really wanted to do it. Maybe he did it for his son. Whatever. I don't think it ranks w/ my favorite writing of his but I enjoyed it ok.

On p 4 the reader is informed that the bk is copyrighted 2010 by the Microsoft Corporation & then that "Microsoft, Halo, the Halo logo, the Xbox logo, 343 Industries, and the 343 Industries logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies." We're in big business country here.

On a more humorous & imaginative note the following page provides the reader w/ "AI Translator Note: The best tactical translations involve automatic conversion to immediately understandable terms and phrases, including colloquialisms. That tradtion has been followed in this work." (p 5)

The intro:

"THE FORERUNNER STORY—the history of my people—has been told many times, with greater and greater idealization, until I can scarcely recognize it.

"Some of the ideals are factually true. The Forerunners were sophisticated above all other empires and powerful almost beyond measure. Our ecumene spanned three million fertile worlds. We had achieved the greatest heights of technology and physical knowledge" - p 9

Lately, I've been somewhat preoccupied w/ families who sell their children. Such an action is totally antithetical to the ethical system I'm inculcated w/. As such, this following passage was strangely timely for me:

"And so at the end of my sixth year, frustrated beyond endurance by my stubbornness, my father traded me to another family, in another part of the galaxy, far from the Orion complex where my peoples were born." - pp 14-15

Many SF stoies take place off-Eath but return to Earth to add that touch of the familiar for the reader to identify w/:

"["]Nine thousand years ago, the Librarian established a research station in this system."

[..]

"This station was located on the system's third planet, known as Erde-Tyrene: a forsaken place, obscure, sequestered, and both the origin and final repository of the last of a degraded species called human." - p 17

It seems that the purpose of the game bks that I've read is to provide a rich historical background to the game itself:

"Ten thousand years ago, humans had fought a war against Forerunners—and lost. The centers of human civilization had been dismantled and the humans themselves devolved and shattered into many forms, some said as punishment—but more likely because they were a naturally violent species.

"The Librarian, for some reason, had espoused the human cause. My ancilla explained that either as a form of penance, or at the Librarian's request—the records were vague—the Council had given her charge of Erde-Tyrene and she had moved the last humans there. Under her care, some of the humans had stubbornly reevolved." - p 25

The protagonist, the rebellious young Forerunner, has been manipulated into going to Erde-Tyrene where he is to unwittingly unleash a major force. Getting to his destination is a hero's journey:

"The walk to the center of the white waste took longer than I expected, but soon enough it dawned on me that we were crossing a baffler—a place protected by geometric distortions—or, at the very least a dazzler, protected by delusions.

"A Forerunner had apparently long ago decided the waste should be hidden from curious eyes. I shaded my eyes and looked up at the blue lid of sky. That meant it probably couldn't be seen from above either." - p 41

"Chakas explained. "He wants you to blinker yourself. It helps.""

[..]

""Left!" Chakas shouted. "Left, now!"

"I hesitated, lifted my hands, and saw my two guides—several paces ahead of me—abruptly vanish, as if swallowed by empty air." - p 42

The hero learns:

"I was far from family, rate, and class, but what I read in those characters practically defined my attitude toward existence:

"You are what you dare." - pp 59-60

&, yeah, a monster becomes unleashed:

"Two pairs. Four arms, four hand-claws.

"Pushed up and aside, three meters wide, like a huge hat tossed on a table, was a restraining headpiece. A ridged conduit flowed down one side, presumably the back. Apparently, the head confined by that helmet had once trailed a thick, sinuous, articulated tail.

"A cage. A prison.

"Empty.

"The Didact said, "In the name of the Mantle and all I honor—I hope it is dead, I fear it is not. They have unleashed it."" - pp 119-120

Read the sequel & find more details! Was it an intelligent tree? Noooo.. but good guess!

"Next came flora, including dense arboreal forests. Many of the original trees had acquired a kind of long-term intelligence, communicating with each other over centuries using insects, viruses, bacteria, and fungi as carriers of genetic and hormonal signals, analogous to neurons. . . ." - p 132

How many people born in the 1980s or later remember the term "generation gap"? Well, I can personally attest that people such as myself growing up in the 1960s were so dramatically different from our parents, if only around issues such at the Vietnam War &/or expanded consciousness drug use, that we were practically like sea creatures becoming amphibians & looking back at those who couldn't come on land with disgusted amazement. But what about this?!:

"My parents were over six thopusand years old. My sister and I were barely twelve." - p 225

That's an interesting thought, Bear, but there's no way the parents & children would have as much in common as they do in this story. Let's philosophize, shall we?:

"In every natural circumstance, living things engage in competition. This is a prime directive for those who uphold the Mantle: it is not a kindness to diminsh competition, predation—even war. Life presents strife and death as well as joy and birth. But Forerunners in their highest wisdom also knew that unfair advantage, mindless destruction, pointless death and misery—an imbalance of forces—can retard growth and reduce the flow of Living Time. Living Time—the joy of life's interaction with the Cosmos—was the foundation of the Mantle itself" - p 267

You sd it, Bub. Personally, I think war has been done to death & that it's time for humanity to try something else. Apparently ants wage war so I reckon humans aren't the only idiots around but, really, have you ever noticed that most creatures seem to get by w/o it? Regardless of how violent some aspects of their life may be? Hawks, unlike their human counterparts, seem to be content w/ just feeding off the weak as sustenance calls for. They don't 'need' to wipe out all sparrows or mice, e.g..

"Somehow, solidity—a useful thing—returned. On the far side of that journey, looking back at where we had been, we saw—nothing. The portal had collapsed. We now drifted across an even greater void, without thrust or control, our power down to almost nothing. I saw a distant speckle of stars." - p 322

Imagine the hangover.

On p 343 there's a thanks to 343 followed by ads. Is it a conspiracy to overthrow humans by the Forerunners? Obviously. You thought 23 was ok, you either loved or feared 666. They are as little creatures in the meadow in contrast to 343.

"Greg Bear would like to thank the excellent team at 343, including Frank O'Connor and Kevin Grace, for their creativity, patience, and 24/7 assistance in beginning this monumental journey through the Halo origins story. Thanks to my son, Erik Bear, for introducing me to Halo in the first place, and for providing additional creative input and thorough fan advice." - p 343 ( )

Dreadful.

The protagonist is luggage floating in a sea of exposition, carried along by currents of mysterious origin, achieving nothing, influencing nothing. Despite the huge wodges of exposition, I was still completely baffled by the the denouement, having very little idea of who was doing what or why.
Just a huge waste of time. Presumably the Xbox game can't be this dull?

I long since gave up paying for books by Bear but at this point I think I will give up even reading him for free. ( )

As one who has played through the Halo games without memorizing the cut scenes, this is a pretty good piece of science fiction. Since it is authorized by Microsoft, it must be the official version of things, but regardless it is pretty good and I'll continue to read the series. ( )

Halo Cryptum-The Forerunner Saga
Ethan Oglesby
Opinion-
My opinion of this book is that it was really good. I love the Halo series and this book would be good for other people that love the Halo series too. It was a really long book and the story had a lot of characters and places to keep track of. It took me awhile to read it, but the story was very interesting and I enjoyed reading it every day.
Summary-
This book is about a young rebellious forerunner named Bornstellar. Bornstellar is a manipular and still has yet to become an adult Forerunner. A great military leader by the name of Chakas met Bornstellar and helped him become an adult Forerunner. Bornstellar wants to become a lifeworker (great builder) like his father. The lifeworkers are the forerunners that built the Labyrinth and are the most paid. Bornstellar has much to learn before he can be like his father.
In the beginning of the story the didact tells use a little part of the story and what’s going to happen to Bornstellar. When Chakas and his friend were on a boat fishing a big Forerunner with orange and black glowing sphere comes out of the ocean and drops Bornstellar on the boat Chakas, with a weapon, runs to the starboard side of the ship and yells “WHO ARE YOU”. Bornstellar stands up and says, “I’m a friendly don’t shot me, I need your help.” Chakas looks confused because he knows that the Forerunners are the bad guys. Bornstellar makes a truce with Chakas and Chakas agrees to help him. They both go back to a ship and they go to the librarian to figure out what to do first. They decide that he would have to go to Erde-Tyrene, to grow in the Djamonkin Center. After that he would have to go to San’Shyuum to learn about how to not be at war with others. Then he would go to the Didact to learn how to be a lifeworker like his father. Once he had finished everything Bornstellar was still considered a young 2,000 year old forerunner but he was a life worker. At the end the Didact says to Bornstellar that he created him and that the answer is at hand.

Greg Bear is a recognized science fiction author in his own right- recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards-- and his style and prowess shine in the first installment of the Forerunner saga. From the single page prelude on the novel is fascinating, fast paced, incredibly different, and beautifully constructed. The slow unveiling of aspects of Forerunner society and the world at the time before the Halos were deployed is impeccably designed, and the combination of the Didact and Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting allows a ‘coming of age story’ narrator with much more breadth and depth of character. There are any number of incredible quotes, and both the first lines and last lines of the novel are designed to enthrall, entrance, entice any fan of the Halo franchise. I cannot recommend this novel enough to science fiction fans, even those who are not fans the Halo games.

The Didact, the Librarian, the Master Builder, the Captive, Mendicant Bias… so many threads woven together into something beautiful. Bear does not reveal everything, but maintains a story that does not feel like he is deliberately hiding things from the audience. The tale flows naturally and slowly constructs a world different from our own on almost every level and yet, as with Battlestar Galactica, somehow destined to tie in to our own. ( )