In 2010, sci-fi legend Greg Bear was asked to pen a trilogy of Halo novels that became the Forerunner saga, set 100,000 years in the past, before the Flood were eradicated, before the Master Chief and Cortana, before the world as we know it. Synopsis: One Hundred Thousand Years Ago, the galaxy was populated by a great variety of beings. But one species--eons beyond all others in both technology and knowledge--achieved dominance. They ruled in peace but met opposition with quick and brutal effectiveness. They were the Forerunners--the keepers of the Mantle, the next stage of life in the Universe's Living Time. And then they vanished. This is their story.
The novel opens on Erde-Tyrene (Earth), on a human steamboat as a Forerunner called Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting a chamanune called Chakas and a hamanune called Day-Chaser Makes Paths Long-stretch Morning Riser, who's following the orders of his armor's ancilla. After exploring an island near a large crater, Born stumbles across a Forerunner Cryptum: a vault where Forerunners are interred in a state of never-ending sleep and contemplation. Born encounters the AI monitoring the Cryptum and assumes that its occupant is to be revived. He hesitantly complies and reawakens the Forerunner inside. This Forerunner turns out to be the Didact. The Didact thinks that the Librarian woke because he's needed in the Forerunner-Flood war and he wants to know if "it" fired. They leave on some newly arrived ships and travel to a series of worlds that served as battlegrounds in the Forerunner's war against the humans, all of which show no signs of sentient or complex life, much to The Didact's dismay. He asks Born to accept a brevit mutation to gain some of the Warrior-Servant caste's traits and to allow access to his memories and those of his class, anticipating the urgency that his knowledge must not end with him. Born accepts, and gains access to the Didact's memories and learns that he holds deep regrets about his war with the humans. Turns out that the humans are fighting not only against the Forerunners, but the Flood as well.
Ironically, the humans and San'Shyuum were once allies and they used the Flood to domesticate animals that later (surprise surprise) mutated into the first Flood form and turned against them. The humans, fleeing their ravaged worlds, encroached upon Forerunner territory, who went to war as well. Although they lost to the Forerunners, the humans were able to defeat The Flood by injecting themselves with a formula that made their genetic material toxic to The Flood. The humans refused to tell the Forerunners how to beat The Flood when they returned. The Didact then takes Born and the humans to the San'Shyuum's homeworld where they have been in isolation since the end of the Human-Forerunner War. The cities are in turmoil as the Librarian's latest visit to procure "specimens" was seen as a sign for the San'Shyuum to rebel against the Forerunners. Some distance from the San'Shyuum's homeworld a portal appears and through it a large ring-shaped construct appears. The four are apprehended by the Master Builder, who is in the system to witness a test-firing of a new creation against the unruly San'Shyuum. Born is handed over to his swap-family and escorted home. During his trip home the Didact's memory tells him that the creation of the ring-shaped construct, called Halo, was the reason he was placed in the Cryptum. He opposed their creation in favor of save-haven "Shield Worlds." Shortly after coming home, Born hears his father arguing with a member of the Forerunner council and decides to confront his father about the true nature of the Halos. He confirms that 300 years ago, The Flood re-emerged in their part of the galaxy and the Forerunners were at a loss to combat them. He and the Master Builder decided to move forward with the construction of Halos.
To his horror, Born learns that Halo was test-fired on the human worlds he visited (at low power) and the Master Builder recently test-fired another Halo on the San'Shyuum's homeworld. The Forerunner Council learn of the Master Builder's actions and summon Born to a criminal trial against him. High above the Forerunner homeworld, 11 Halo rings sit, with the 12th missing for many years. The trial is interrupted by 032 Mendicant Bias, a rampant AI, who causes havoc with the Forerunner's computer and defense systems. Born and a group of others are rescued during the chaos in a small ship. Above them some of the Halo rings separate from the others and prepare to fire. The Forerunner fleet quickly assembles and begins attacking the renegade Halos, quickly destroying three of them, but a gigantic slipspace portal opens and seven other rings begin escaping through them. Born's ship manages to escape through the portal before the rings detonate, wiping out all Forerunner life in that part of the galaxy. Born is knocked unconscious during the slipspace jump and recalls Didact's memories: Mendicant Bias was an AI tasked with safeguarding the Halo constructs and overseeing their firing systems. After a test-firing over a human world, Mendicant Bias and the Halo disappeared with a long-feared creature held deep in a Precursor facility the humans had built over. Soon after, their ship arrives at The Ark. There he meets the Librarian, who sees him as her husband now. According to her, the Master Builder had the Didact executed shortly after triggering the Halo above the San'Shyuum homeworld. They hypothesize that the creature that escaped from the Precursor prison somehow corrupted Mendicant Bias, who attempted to gain control of all the Halos but only succeeded with five. The rest, as well as The Ark, were co-opted by the Librarian as vessels on which numerous life-forms across the galaxy could live. The novel ends with Born recalling the Didact's contact with the captured lifeform: it revealed itself to be the last of the Precursors and was planning revenge on the Forerunners who wiped them out in ages past.
A somewhat good novel, despite the slow and often repetitious scenes of the first-person point of view style that Greg Bear adopts for this book. I, personally, can't stand first person POV novels and I really had to force myself to finish this book in three days because the Honor Harrington review I did took way to long to read and write. Still, it's a good addition to the Halo universe and helps to build up the Forerunners before they "ascended." Fans of the Halo novel, graphic novel, and game series will love this one.
The novel opens on Erde-Tyrene (Earth), on a human steamboat as a Forerunner called Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting a chamanune called Chakas and a hamanune called Day-Chaser Makes Paths Long-stretch Morning Riser, who's following the orders of his armor's ancilla. After exploring an island near a large crater, Born stumbles across a Forerunner Cryptum: a vault where Forerunners are interred in a state of never-ending sleep and contemplation. Born encounters the AI monitoring the Cryptum and assumes that its occupant is to be revived. He hesitantly complies and reawakens the Forerunner inside. This Forerunner turns out to be the Didact. The Didact thinks that the Librarian woke because he's needed in the Forerunner-Flood war and he wants to know if "it" fired. They leave on some newly arrived ships and travel to a series of worlds that served as battlegrounds in the Forerunner's war against the humans, all of which show no signs of sentient or complex life, much to The Didact's dismay. He asks Born to accept a brevit mutation to gain some of the Warrior-Servant caste's traits and to allow access to his memories and those of his class, anticipating the urgency that his knowledge must not end with him. Born accepts, and gains access to the Didact's memories and learns that he holds deep regrets about his war with the humans. Turns out that the humans are fighting not only against the Forerunners, but the Flood as well.
Ironically, the humans and San'Shyuum were once allies and they used the Flood to domesticate animals that later (surprise surprise) mutated into the first Flood form and turned against them. The humans, fleeing their ravaged worlds, encroached upon Forerunner territory, who went to war as well. Although they lost to the Forerunners, the humans were able to defeat The Flood by injecting themselves with a formula that made their genetic material toxic to The Flood. The humans refused to tell the Forerunners how to beat The Flood when they returned. The Didact then takes Born and the humans to the San'Shyuum's homeworld where they have been in isolation since the end of the Human-Forerunner War. The cities are in turmoil as the Librarian's latest visit to procure "specimens" was seen as a sign for the San'Shyuum to rebel against the Forerunners. Some distance from the San'Shyuum's homeworld a portal appears and through it a large ring-shaped construct appears. The four are apprehended by the Master Builder, who is in the system to witness a test-firing of a new creation against the unruly San'Shyuum. Born is handed over to his swap-family and escorted home. During his trip home the Didact's memory tells him that the creation of the ring-shaped construct, called Halo, was the reason he was placed in the Cryptum. He opposed their creation in favor of save-haven "Shield Worlds." Shortly after coming home, Born hears his father arguing with a member of the Forerunner council and decides to confront his father about the true nature of the Halos. He confirms that 300 years ago, The Flood re-emerged in their part of the galaxy and the Forerunners were at a loss to combat them. He and the Master Builder decided to move forward with the construction of Halos.
To his horror, Born learns that Halo was test-fired on the human worlds he visited (at low power) and the Master Builder recently test-fired another Halo on the San'Shyuum's homeworld. The Forerunner Council learn of the Master Builder's actions and summon Born to a criminal trial against him. High above the Forerunner homeworld, 11 Halo rings sit, with the 12th missing for many years. The trial is interrupted by 032 Mendicant Bias, a rampant AI, who causes havoc with the Forerunner's computer and defense systems. Born and a group of others are rescued during the chaos in a small ship. Above them some of the Halo rings separate from the others and prepare to fire. The Forerunner fleet quickly assembles and begins attacking the renegade Halos, quickly destroying three of them, but a gigantic slipspace portal opens and seven other rings begin escaping through them. Born's ship manages to escape through the portal before the rings detonate, wiping out all Forerunner life in that part of the galaxy. Born is knocked unconscious during the slipspace jump and recalls Didact's memories: Mendicant Bias was an AI tasked with safeguarding the Halo constructs and overseeing their firing systems. After a test-firing over a human world, Mendicant Bias and the Halo disappeared with a long-feared creature held deep in a Precursor facility the humans had built over. Soon after, their ship arrives at The Ark. There he meets the Librarian, who sees him as her husband now. According to her, the Master Builder had the Didact executed shortly after triggering the Halo above the San'Shyuum homeworld. They hypothesize that the creature that escaped from the Precursor prison somehow corrupted Mendicant Bias, who attempted to gain control of all the Halos but only succeeded with five. The rest, as well as The Ark, were co-opted by the Librarian as vessels on which numerous life-forms across the galaxy could live. The novel ends with Born recalling the Didact's contact with the captured lifeform: it revealed itself to be the last of the Precursors and was planning revenge on the Forerunners who wiped them out in ages past.
A somewhat good novel, despite the slow and often repetitious scenes of the first-person point of view style that Greg Bear adopts for this book. I, personally, can't stand first person POV novels and I really had to force myself to finish this book in three days because the Honor Harrington review I did took way to long to read and write. Still, it's a good addition to the Halo universe and helps to build up the Forerunners before they "ascended." Fans of the Halo novel, graphic novel, and game series will love this one.
