Book Review: Halo: Kilo Five 3: Mortal Dictata SPOILERS!

A special treat for you patient viewers. Two books came int he mail last week and I spent my time reading them to review. This is one of them.

On 21 January 2014, Karen Traviss, 343 Industries, and Tor Book published the final installment of the acclaimed, gripping, and well-written Kilo Five trilogy. This time, the gloves come off as Staffan Sentzke attempts to recover a Sangheili shpi to glass Earth, but will Kilo Five stop him, or will Naomi-010 be unable to prevent her father from seeking vengeance? Synopsis: Wars end. But hatred, guilt, and devotion can endure beyond the grave. With the Covenant War over, the Office of Naval Intelligence faces old grievances rising again to threaten Earth. The angry, bitter colonies, still with scores to settle from the insurrection put on hold for thirty years, now want justice--and so does a man whose life was torn apart by ONI when his daughter was abducted for the SPARTAN-II program. Black ops squad Kilo-Five find their loyalties tested beyond breaking point when the father of their Spartan comrade, still searching for the truth about her disappearance, prepares to glass Earth's cities to get an answer. How far will Kilo-Five go to stop him? And will he be able to live with the truth when he finds it? The painful answer lies with a man long dead, and a conscience that still survives in the most unlikely, undiscovered place.

The novel opens with Staffan Sentzke ruminating on his life thus far. Then, it shifts to the past to explore what it felt like to have a child kidnapped, then Staffan's reaction to it, the clone-Naomi that died, and how he was convinced that the UNSC did this. Presently: Naomi-010 and Vasily Beloi attempt to situate themselves into Venezia's captial--New Tyne--when Naomi is recalled for fear that someone will link her and Staffan as family, so Malcolm "Mal" Geffen takes her place. Together, Mal and Vaz manage to gain an entry into the local militia. Meanwhile, Avu Med 'Telcam hires Kig-Yar shipmistress Chol Von to track down Sav Fel--the renegade Kig-Yar who stole Pious Inquisitor from the Sangheili rebels during the civil war on Sangheilios months ago--but she has plans to return the Kig-Yar navy and kick some pride back into her people. Sav Fel, however, sold Pious Inquisitor to Staffan and they tested the ventral beam on a collection of Forerunner ruins; this greatly upsets the aging Huragok Sometimes Lists, and Staffan finds other places to test it out on before parking PI in darkness above Venezia. Staffan invites Mal and Vaz aboard because of their expertise as renegade UNSC marines who've flown Covenant vessels. Black Box (BB) and Admiral Serin Osman keep ONI queen--Admiral Margaret O. Parangosky--up to date. However, Mal and Vaz get picked up by Staffan and a couple of his people--plus Staffan's son Edvin--and BB alerts Port Stanely. Mal and Vaz are interrogated, but Vaz loosely tells Staffan that Naomi is alive and fine. Because of this, Staffan wants to keep them alive so he can learn the truth or meet Naomi.

Naomi and Devereaux rescue the two marines and capture Staffan. Meanwhile Chol Von tracks Sav Fel to Venezia and kidnaps him. They attempt to board PI--now called Naomi--but Sometimes Lists engages Slipspace and flees. Port Stanley gives chase and catches up to them. Staffan, having learned everything from Naomi, BB, and the marines about the kidnapping and being brainwashed and indoctrinated by Halsey into the SPARTAN-II program (though Halsey's name is left unsaid), agrees to help his daughter retake the ship. Naomi, Mal, Vaz, and a portion of BB split from Staffan, Sometimes Lists, and rig PI to self destruct. BB lets Staffan and Sometimes Lists go so long as they vanish completely; Staffan agrees to fade and sends Vaz a holographic imagery display that shows the night time sky of Naomi's glassed homeworld. Chol Von and her crew--plus her plans for the Kig-Yar--are destroyed with the ship. In the end, Serin works up the courage to view her files and learns that her mother was a prostitute and that the only person who cared for her was a teacher--one Mrs. Alkmini Leandro--who's still alive on Cascade. Serin decides the crew needs some down time and goes to meet her former teacher, who's overjoyed that Serin survived and made something of herself. During this, Vaz attempts to help Naomi get over reuniting with and losing her father while Evan Phillips and Lian Devereaux go on a date. The novel ends with a letter to Admiral Margaret O. Parangosky detailing how he can't stand to go on and commits suicide because of the SPARTAN-II Project; the letter belongs to Dr. Graham J. Alban who's brain was preserved for Black Box (BBX-8995-1) a.k.a. BB.

All in all, a wonderful ending to a great trilogy that captures the very real feeling of post-war turmoils and skeletons-coming-out-of-the-closet scenarios. Props to Karen Traviss for braving the Halo universe. A must read for every fan. 

Book Review: Halo: The Thursday War SPOILERS!

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.