Ghosts of Onyx (Halo) by Eric Nylund
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Book Reviews of Ghosts of Onyx (Halo)
Book Review: Halo Ghosts of Oynx
Summary: 5 Stars
I thought that of the 4 Halo books I read, this one was the bestBook Review: Right out of left field.
Summary: 4 Stars
Awesome. Absolutely awesome.
What makes the Halo games so cool from a storytelling perspective is their post-modern treatment of "good" and "bad" guys. In Halo's predecessor's--games like Doom, Quake, Unreal--everything is black and white. You are good. The people you are shooting at are bad. In fact, they're not people at all. Their evil, nazi, death dealing aliens that want to suck the souls out of every child and kitten in the universe. Oh, and they don't have souls either.
In Halo, this is not the case. The "bad" guys are intelligent. They adhere to their religious beliefs. They speak, and have clear emotions. They're not shooting at you because they're bad. They're shooting at you because YOU'RE bad. And they know it. To top it all off, in the second game, you become them. How confusing and awesome is that.
As for the flood, I won't spoil that one for the seven people in the world who still don't know much about the game.
All that said, what makes Halo cool is not the combat and the multiplayer, it's the little stuff like that, the divergence from other shooters and the intense backstory that leaves so many questions unanswered. This book answers some of those questions and then poses even more. It gives more diverse perspectives from other marines and covenant forces (even some of the grunts) making the whole story even more confused and amazing.
This book also has the best drama of the whole Halo universe. Up 'til now Halo might have been graphic, beautiful, epic, and a bit dark in places, but it has never been tragic. With this book that is no longer the case. By the time you reach the end, you might even feel that the Master Chief is just a master chump. That's how powerful the characters become in this novel. The story doesn't hurt at all for its lack of he and Cortana.
All that said, I do have one gripe that moves this from a 10 star to a 4 star review. Though the content of the book was incredible and I had to read it in about three sittings, I was appalled at its editing. Microsoft has more money to play with than the Trump family, Russia and Forest Gump combined, and yet they couldn't splurge on hiring a real editor to clean up the conspicuous typos and syntax errors throughout the book. Hopefully it will be cleaned up before it's released as a cheaper paperback. Either way, though, it's still worth the time and money anyone's willing to spend on it.
Book Review: Read about the lives of other Spartans, their battles, and the world of Onyx.
Summary: 4 Stars
I just finished the Ghosts of Onyx and while I had some trouble properly visualizing the amazing world of Onyx, Eric Nylund still delivered a great story I just had to read to the end. Not much is written about John-117, but I got to read more of the other remaining Spartan IIs: Kelly, Linda, Will, Fred, and most of all Kurt.
There were times I didn't know if I wanted to call Kurt a hero or think of him as a creep (especially working with Ackerson and his cronies), but he did what thought was best to insure the creation and survival of Spartan IIIs and Earth. Once Ackerson finally admits the success of the Spartan IIs, he endeavors to make more of them - but something cheaper, faster, and more expendable. Kurt delivers the Spartan IIIs. Their armor suits are not as sophisticated as the Spartan IIs, but the children were trained to be just as tough, smart, and pack a killer punch. Problem is, once these "children" (barely in their teens) graduated from their training, they were sent off on a massive top secret suicide missions. The succeeded in their missions, but only a very few of the 300 super soldiers sent - if any at all - survived. And no one knew about it or could know of it - even honor them posthumously.
This book is about Kurt, the Spartan III project, and the world of Onyx. You'll learn of what happened to Dr. Halsey and Kelly after their hasty departure in the previous book. Training Chief Mendez (who helped trained the Spartan IIs) makes a return in this book, albeit I wish he was more involved. While I was at first not wanting to accept the new Spartan IIIs, by the end they proved that they are Spartans through and through.
Eric Nylund delivers another great book. While it's not my favorite, I still enjoyed it very much. Thanks Eric!
Book Review: Good Halo Read - Recommended
Summary: 4 Stars
"Ghosts of Onyx" is a solid addition to the Halo Universe! This is the third Eric Nylund Halo book (following The Fall of Reach (Halo, Bk. 1) and First Strike (Halo #3), the first and third books in the Halo series, respectively), and I enjoy his writing style very much.
No spoilers from me; unlike the other Halo books I have read, this one diverges from the games and does not focus on the Spartan II "John", the Master Chief, although he is mentioned quite a bit. This story follows a few of the other Spartan II soldiers (including following up on a plot hook left at the end of "First Strike") and a new group of super enhanced fighters, the Spartan IIIs. As before, we also get a look into the mindset of the Covenant leadership and start to gain a little insight into the "Forerunners" as well (although not really enough to satisfy me).
The action is not a constant as it was in the earlier books, with more time being spent on character and background development, but there are still plenty of hand to hand combat scenes as well as large scale ground and space battles.
Recommended for fans of the series since this really isn't a standalone story as it heavily references the events and characters in the Halo games and the earlier books.
Fans of military SciFi might also want to check out Old Man's War and The Forever War.
CFH
Book Review: Another Halo Page Turner...Indeed!
Summary: 4 Stars
Yes, another Halo novel, the fourth one, I believe. Here, we have combat with the Covenant, which is intense at times and very well depicted by veteran writer Eric Nylund who has written other great Halo novels as well. Most of the action here centers on and around the planet Onyx, which also contains Forerunner ruins which quite possibly contains useable advanced weaponry which the Spartans would like to find, to help defeat the Covenant. Well, things turn out to be much more complicated than at first glance, and there is also much intrigue mixed in, including a one Dr. Halsey, who may have an agenda of her own.
I must add that these Halo novels are very well written, and I am someone who reads a lot of science fiction. Nylund includes a lot of detail in an easy to read, flowing style. Character development is superb, as is the plot. These novels, along with the associated XBOX video games, are very near to becoming an integral part of our culture, like Star Trek and Star Wars already are.