Released on 2 October 2012, Halo: The Thursday War is the third entry into the Halo Universe for Karen Traviss, the first being a short story called Human Weakness and the novel Glasslands. It picks up where Glasslands left off. Synopsis: Welcome to humanity’s new war: silent, high stakes, and unseen. This is a
life-or-death mission for ONI’s black-ops team, Kilo Five, which is
tasked with preventing the ruthless Elites, once the military leaders of
the Covenant, from regrouping and threatening humankind again. What
began as a routine dirty-tricks operation―keeping the Elites busy with
their own insurrection―turns into a desperate bid to extract one member
of Kilo Five from the seething heart of an alien civil war. But troubles
never come singly for Kilo Five. Colonial terrorism is once again
surfacing on one of the worlds that survived the war against the
Covenant, and the man behind it is much more than just a name to
Spartan-010. Meanwhile, the treasure trove of Forerunner technology
recovered from the shield world of Onyx is being put to work while a kidnapped Elite plots vengeance on the humans he fears will bring his
people to the brink of destruction.
The novel opens with a first person POV from ONI head, Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky as she receives news about Professor Evan Phillips going dark and Captain Serin Osman going to extract him. On Sanghelios, Evan Phillips is with Avu Med 'Telcam. He's wounded and stranded in the Forerunner complex. 'Telcam's going to perform his coup that minute. On Venezia, ODSTs Vasily "Vaz" Beloi and Malcolm Geffen get recalled by Sgt. Lian Devereaux because Osman's pulling out to get Phillips. On the way to Sanghelios, Mal tells Naomi Sentzke, Spartan-010, and the rest of Kilo Five that the terrorist leader on Venezia is Staffan Sentzke, Naomi's father. On the UNSC Infinity, Parangosky notes that the crew isn't die-hard loyal to Captain Andrew Del Rio--and from what I've seen in Halo 4, I can hardly blame them--but his first officer, Commander Thomas Lasky, might get a reward for his quiet patience later (as seen in Halo 4 when he becomes the Captain of the Infinity because of Del Rio's stupidity). On/In Onyx, Jul 'Mdama ruminates about his fate while ONI scientist Irena Magnusson tries to use reverse psychology on him to get him to tell them what he knows. On Sanghelios, Raia 'Mdama grows worried as Jul's absence continues. Phillips finds out that he's a hostage from 'Telcam. Kilo Five's in orbit around Sanghelios. BB's running a scan on the planet, starting with Ontom, but BB's having trouble penetrating the Forerunner complex. Raia becomes restless and threatens 'Telcam. Phillips learns that there's more than one Shield World. He touches one of the walls and it tells him to find someone or seek something beyond, or higher, or better. Phillips thinks he might've primed a Halo. Vaz, Mal, Naomi and BB, via Devereaux, land on Sanghelios. They learn that Phillips is in the Forerunner complex and they enter. Phillips is lost in the temple and holocaptures a ton of Forerunner hieroglyphs.
Phillips, running out of time, tries to use his trick with arums to open some doors and touches the first symbol on the list. 'Telcam, Raia, and the majority of the Servants of Abiding Truth attempt to flee Sanghelios. Their forces bear down on the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and his keep, especially when other keeps seemingly rise up against 'Vadam for allowing human soldiers to set foot in a sacred temple. Vaz, Mal, Naomi and BB can't find Phillips. Turns out that Phillips is 80 kilometers away from Ontom, near Nes'alun Keep, in the state of Acroli. He comes across slave Unggoy who take him to the nearby keep. Prone to Drift escorts Jul for a walk on Onyx. Phillips is found and everyone rushes to get him. BB updates Parangosky on Infinity and both she and Admiral Lord Terrence Hood head out to lend the Arbiter a hand, though Parangosky has more devious means for their trip. Del Rio and Lasky get Infinity to Sanghelios; Osman and company have retrieved Phillips. The civil war on Sanghelios continues to rage. On Onyx, Jul learns more about the Forerunners. Kilo Five boards Infinity. Hood opens fire on the rebels while Kilo Five attempts to extract 'Telcam. Raia and Forze are shot down and die. Prone warns Jul about the Didact. Scanning the recordings, Kilo Five learns that the word "not" is placed next to the symbol for Didact. Jul finds out that the Didact is on Requiem and tells Phillips about the Didact being locked away. Jul manages to escape Magnusson's hold and uses the failing transport system to flee the Shield World. Parangosky's pissed about that and removes Magnusson from command of Onyx and learns about Requiem. Jul makes it to another Sangheili world and updates people on the war and about the Didact. Vaz and Naomi insert on Venezia. Jul learns that Forze and Raia are dead. The elders and Jul find the coordinates for Requiem and plan to go there, which give the impression that Karen's third Halo novel will lead directly in to Halo 4.
All in all, a well-paced novel that builds into the lead up to Halo 4, alongside Greg Bear's Forerunner Saga trilogy. Great character development, superb pacing and prose, great action, Halo: The Thursday War is the best addition to the Halo franchise and Karen Traviss deserves all the praise.
The novel opens with a first person POV from ONI head, Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky as she receives news about Professor Evan Phillips going dark and Captain Serin Osman going to extract him. On Sanghelios, Evan Phillips is with Avu Med 'Telcam. He's wounded and stranded in the Forerunner complex. 'Telcam's going to perform his coup that minute. On Venezia, ODSTs Vasily "Vaz" Beloi and Malcolm Geffen get recalled by Sgt. Lian Devereaux because Osman's pulling out to get Phillips. On the way to Sanghelios, Mal tells Naomi Sentzke, Spartan-010, and the rest of Kilo Five that the terrorist leader on Venezia is Staffan Sentzke, Naomi's father. On the UNSC Infinity, Parangosky notes that the crew isn't die-hard loyal to Captain Andrew Del Rio--and from what I've seen in Halo 4, I can hardly blame them--but his first officer, Commander Thomas Lasky, might get a reward for his quiet patience later (as seen in Halo 4 when he becomes the Captain of the Infinity because of Del Rio's stupidity). On/In Onyx, Jul 'Mdama ruminates about his fate while ONI scientist Irena Magnusson tries to use reverse psychology on him to get him to tell them what he knows. On Sanghelios, Raia 'Mdama grows worried as Jul's absence continues. Phillips finds out that he's a hostage from 'Telcam. Kilo Five's in orbit around Sanghelios. BB's running a scan on the planet, starting with Ontom, but BB's having trouble penetrating the Forerunner complex. Raia becomes restless and threatens 'Telcam. Phillips learns that there's more than one Shield World. He touches one of the walls and it tells him to find someone or seek something beyond, or higher, or better. Phillips thinks he might've primed a Halo. Vaz, Mal, Naomi and BB, via Devereaux, land on Sanghelios. They learn that Phillips is in the Forerunner complex and they enter. Phillips is lost in the temple and holocaptures a ton of Forerunner hieroglyphs.
Phillips, running out of time, tries to use his trick with arums to open some doors and touches the first symbol on the list. 'Telcam, Raia, and the majority of the Servants of Abiding Truth attempt to flee Sanghelios. Their forces bear down on the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and his keep, especially when other keeps seemingly rise up against 'Vadam for allowing human soldiers to set foot in a sacred temple. Vaz, Mal, Naomi and BB can't find Phillips. Turns out that Phillips is 80 kilometers away from Ontom, near Nes'alun Keep, in the state of Acroli. He comes across slave Unggoy who take him to the nearby keep. Prone to Drift escorts Jul for a walk on Onyx. Phillips is found and everyone rushes to get him. BB updates Parangosky on Infinity and both she and Admiral Lord Terrence Hood head out to lend the Arbiter a hand, though Parangosky has more devious means for their trip. Del Rio and Lasky get Infinity to Sanghelios; Osman and company have retrieved Phillips. The civil war on Sanghelios continues to rage. On Onyx, Jul learns more about the Forerunners. Kilo Five boards Infinity. Hood opens fire on the rebels while Kilo Five attempts to extract 'Telcam. Raia and Forze are shot down and die. Prone warns Jul about the Didact. Scanning the recordings, Kilo Five learns that the word "not" is placed next to the symbol for Didact. Jul finds out that the Didact is on Requiem and tells Phillips about the Didact being locked away. Jul manages to escape Magnusson's hold and uses the failing transport system to flee the Shield World. Parangosky's pissed about that and removes Magnusson from command of Onyx and learns about Requiem. Jul makes it to another Sangheili world and updates people on the war and about the Didact. Vaz and Naomi insert on Venezia. Jul learns that Forze and Raia are dead. The elders and Jul find the coordinates for Requiem and plan to go there, which give the impression that Karen's third Halo novel will lead directly in to Halo 4.
All in all, a well-paced novel that builds into the lead up to Halo 4, alongside Greg Bear's Forerunner Saga trilogy. Great character development, superb pacing and prose, great action, Halo: The Thursday War is the best addition to the Halo franchise and Karen Traviss deserves all the praise.
