Book Review: Halo: The Cole Protocol SPOILERS

The novel Halo: The Cole Protocol by Tobias S. Buckell continues the fight between the humans and the multi-species Covenant.

In the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its inner colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems.

Out beyond the Outer Colonies lies the planet Hesiod, a gas giant surrounded by a vast asteroid belt. As the Covenant continues to glass the human-occupied planets near Hesiod, many of the survivors, helped by a stonghold of human Insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroid belt for refuge. They have transformed the tumbling satellites into a tenuous, yet ingenious, settlement known as the Rubble--and have come face-to-face with a Covenant settlement of Kig-Yar. . . yet somehow survived.

News of this unlikely threat has spread to the warring sides. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the Spartan Gray Team, a three-man renegade squad whose simple task is to wreak havoc from behind enemy lines in any way they see fit. But the Prophets have also sent their best, an ambitious and ruthless Elite, whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality. . . and who will do anything to secure his Ascendancy and walk the Path.

All in all, a good read on a nice spring day. Tobias has demonstrated an ability to clearly define the action and set the stage for further war stories.

Book Review: Halo: Contact Harvest SPOILERS!

Halo: Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten, reveals how the Human-Covenant War, as seen in the Halo universe, got started. It is the year 2524. Harvest is a peaceful, prosperous farming colony on the very edge of human-controlled space. But we have trespassed on holy ground--strayed into the path of an aggressive alien empire known as the Covenant. What begins as a chance encounter between an alien privateer and a human freighter catapults mankind into a struggle for its very existence. But humanity is also locked in a bitter civil war known as the Insurrection. So the survival of Harvest's citizens falls to a squad of battle-weary UNSC Marines and their inexperienced colonial militia trainees. In this unlikely group of heroes, one stands above the rest, a young Marine staff sergeant named Avery Johnson.

The novel starts with a prologue showing Johnson, as a Marine, with his buddies taking down an Insurrectionist op in a diner. Johnson doesn't kill the target and the operation goes to hell when the Innie detonates the bomb. Next, the book goes to an AI on Harvest as it goes about its normal routine. Johnson, back on Earth, learns his auntie is dead and demands to be let back into service. Sure enough, he is assigned to Harvest and meets a Marine from the failed op, Nolan Byrne. On a Covenant vessel scouting for holy relics, a company of Jackals and one Grunt and Engineer, hijack a UNSC vessel and scavenge the ship. They decide to investigate it's point or origin: Harvest. As Johnson and Byrne settle old scores and being to settle into the routine of training new recruits (Jenkins, Mendoza, Bisenti), the Covenant comes ever closer to Harvest.

The novel deviates to two ambitious San 'Shyuum, the Minister of Fortitude and the Vice Minister of Tranquility learn of the large amount of "relics" found on Harvest and begin to plan a coup of the current Hierarchs using this as a fulcrum. To keep the Sangheili from using this discovery as a way to upset the balance of power, they utilize a Jiralhanae-controlled ship captained by Maccabeus and crewed by his pack of Jiralhanae (including a youthful Tartarus). The two began a secret attempt to seize the planet. This marks the beginning of the powerful alliance between the Jiralhanae and the San 'Shyuum, and the key to their eventual betrayal of the Sangheili leading to the Great Schism later in the war.

Needless to say, shit happens and the Humans and Covenant start fighting. The Jiralhanae glass Harvest while Johnson and the others try to hold them off, allowing the civilians to evacuate. They make a series of random jump and arrive at Earth to tell the UNSC what happened. Meanwhile, the San 'Shyuum perform a coup and rename themselves the Prophet of Truth, Regret, and Mercy and cover their tracks. At one point, they learn from the renegade Forerunner AI Medicant Bias that the Humans are the Reclaimers and thus the true heirs to the Forerunner knowledge.

All in all, a great first novel from a game designer who captures Johnson and the Haloverse as accurately as the games. Great pacing, tight plot, great characters makes a great novel.

Book Review: The Black Jewels I: Daughter of the Blood

Book One of the Black Jewels Trilogy, Daughter of the Blood, by Anne Bishop is an amazing tale of magic and dark fantasy where women rule the lands and the men serve. But not everything is that picturesque. Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life in her dazzling web of dreams and visions. Now the Dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself. But she is still young, still open to influence--and corruption. Whoever controls the Queen controls the Darkness. Three men, sworn enemies, know this. And they know the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are hate and love--and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining.

The novel opens with an a first person POV from a former Black Widow called Teresa. She foresees the coming of the Queen. She tells her son, Daemon and his Eyrien half-brother Lucivar that she's coming. Fast-forward 700 years and Lucivar is chained to a corrupt and evil Eyrien Queen and meets an extraordinary girl. He finds out what and who she is and tells her to stay away, no matter what thoughts she hears from people across all the realms. In Hell, the High Lord Saetan SaDiablo meets this child as well and tries to train her but she proves to be unable in Basic Craft, the lowest form of magic. Meanwhile, Daemon is sent away from the evil Queen Dorothea to an out of the way territory called Challiot where the little girl lives. We also meet an assassin named Surreal who was trained by the women of Red Moon houses and from Daemon. She helps Daemon when she can, even though she fears him and learns from Jaenelle that her mother is in Hell and is queen of the harpies, witches who died at a male's hand.

Daemon finds out about her and resolves his vow to become Witch's lover by helping Saetan guide her and shield her from harmful influences. It isn't an easy task, since all of Jaenelle's (the extraordinary child) family believes her to be insane and unable to perform Basic Craft. They don't recognize that she was born with 13 uncut black jewels, jewels that are the darkest form of power and ones that no one is ever born with. To get black jewels, one must be born with a red jewel. But Jaenelle was Dreams Made Flesh, a person who was created by the wishes of the downtrodden and the bullied. Jaenelle's family sends her to a "medical" place known as Briarwood where a select group of sick (read: perverted) men rape young girls. During the Winsol holidays, Jaenelle seemingly becomes complacent. In reality, and after Daemon told her not to dream weave unless she learned from the best (the best being the Weaver of Dreams, who is a large spider), Jaenelle has weaved a life-like mold of herself so that she can find solitude with her friends in the Shadow Realm (Kaeler). Daemon notices this and, secretly alerts his father, Saetan, to this fact. Saetan is non too pleased but is overjoyed with the amazing things that she can do.

Jaenelle is sent to Briarwood for the final time after she turns 13 and causes an incident at a final Winsol party. Daemon breaks free of the male-control ring known as the Ring of Obediance and shatters his mind in the process of freeing her. He uses his friend, Surreal, to help him,and Surreal kills the man who killed her mother. Jaenelle is healed but has not returned to her body. He professes his love for her and secretly vows to wait until she comes of age to be her lover. Cassandra, the previous Queen of the Darkness, takes her across the borders into Hell, where Saetan waits for her. He intends to help her and his son but Daemon seals the gate and is left with a damaged mind while Surreal takes him and flees to safety.

All in all, despite having come out in 1998, it still remains a powerful book that has a couple of erotic scenes and richly dark tales of magic and lore woven in. Anne Bishop is simply the best when it comes to fantasy.