In March of this year (2013), Greg Bear polished off the Forerunner Saga and combined their fate to what was revealed in the games Halo 3, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Halo 4 in those hidden terminals. This time, extinction is the name of the game. Synopsis: In
the last years of the Forerunner empire, chaos rules. The Flood--a
horrifying shape-changing parasite--has arrived in force, aided by
unexpected allies. Internal strife within the ecumene has desperately
weakened Forerunner defenses. Too little, too late, the legal rate of
Juridicals is only now investigating possible crimes by the Master Builder and others. Evidence-gathering agents known collectively as
Catalog have been dispatched to collect testimony from the Librarian and
both Didacts: the Ur-Didact, treacherously abandoned in a
Flood-infested system, and the Bornstellar Didact, who accompanies the
Librarian as she preserves specimens against the dire possibility of
Halo extermination. Facing the imminent collapse of their civilization,
the Librarian and the Ur-Didact reveal what they know about the
relationship between the long-vanished Precursors and the Flood. the
Precursors created many technological species, including humanity and
the Forerunners. But the roots of the Flood may be found in an act of
enormous barbarity, carried out beyond our galaxy ten million years
before. Because of that barbarism, a greater evil looms. Only the
Ur-Didact and the Librarian--husband and wife pushed into desperate
conflict--hold the keys to a solution. Facing the consequences of a
mythic tragedy, one of them must now commit the greatest atrocity of all
time--to prevent an insane evil from dominating the entire universe.
The novel opens with a top secret investigation report from the ONIRF (Office of Naval Intelligence Research Facility) Trevelyan in which they plan to reconstruct the scattered fragments, some from 343 Guilty Spark and some from the Halos and the Ark. [Each chapter is in First Person POV (I voice) and presented as Strings and a name: String 1 Senior Juridical.] The Master Juridical demands that Haruspis grant him access to the Domain, which Haruspis does AFTER the Domain requests that Haruspis does so; the knowledge of the Domain burns into the Senior Juridical's mind. Above Erde-Tyrene, the first of three Catalog meets with the Librarian and IsoDidact (Bornstellar); the Flood attack and IsoDidact rushes off to battle, asking Catalog to guard his wife. During this, Librarian tells Catalog the tale of her early years with the Ur-Didact. From that, Catalog learns that just after the Forerunner-Human war, when their greatest enemy--Forthencho, Lord of Admirals--surrendered, Ur-Didact met the Primordial on Path Kethona and how the Old Council became corrupt under Faber's--the Master Builder--influence. The Old Council was unconcerned with the Flood and their Graveminds and thus wanted the Humans to suffer. The Builders on the Old Council demanded to build the Ark and the Halo array as a final resort against the Humans, but Ur-Didact demanded to build the Shield Worlds and Requiem--the greatest Shield World; Faber, by then, had nigh-complete control over the Warrior-Servants, and thus denied Ur-Didact his request. The Librarian asked her husband to place himself in exile in a Cryptum. Faber wanted to get rid of the Librarian and she, knowing of that, proposed to the Old Council to start an expedition to find out the origins of the Flood. They let her.
She arrives at Path Kethona in Audacity and begins to learn the truth. In a ship, Ur-Didact, aided by Sharp-by-Lightning, fight to survive behind enemy lines above Uthera Midgeerrd, with the second Catalog--who was damaged by Faber. Ur-Didact and the others discover Precursor artifacts in the Burn. With the Flood about to consume them, Ur-Didact and 2nd Catalog remain alive to destroy the ship. Continuing her story, the Librarian and crew discover Precursor structures in a village on Charum Hakkor and their knowledge of the Forerunner extermination of the Precursors. The Librarian suspects something on Path Kethona and knows she will find answers there. Amazed by the stuff on Path Kethona, the Librarian and crew discover the Digon, an old sect of Forerunners; the Librarian talks with Glow-of-Old-Suns and learns a bit about their history. Back with Ur-Didact, Catalog learns of both conversations Ur-Didact had with the Primordial, in which it's revealed that the Primordial is the Gravemind of all Gravemind's. Ur-Didact assumes that the Flood wanted to save the Humans for last and that his wife betrayed him to aide the Flood in preserving Humanity; he travels further into the derelict ship and is touched by a Flood. String 14 is contaminated and is sequestered for forensic examination and is thus not included in this record. The Librarian learns that since the Precursors didn't choose the Forerunners to inherit the Mantle, and so decided to purge the galaxy of Precursors; they turned into the Flood as revenge and the Librarian vows to continue that purge. Strings 16 through 20 contain descriptions of opposition--by this, I assume Bear means war--though in 17, 05-032 Mendicant Bias returns for a bit.
In String 21, Faber gives his testimony, which includes how he lies to the Master Juridical about sending Ur-Didact, Catalog, Sharp, and one other into the Burn just so he could rescue them and be a hero. Faber denies wanting to be a hero and doesn't see any problem with Ur-Didact coming back, even with IsoDidact. He's tricked into stating that he was aware that Flood had taken over ships but backtracks when Master Juridical claims that he refused to do anything about it. Mendicant Bias talks to Catalog about how he talked with Gravemind. String 25 contains five fragments of different events, the fifth being that Catalog is NOT immune to the Flood/Gravemind logic plague, as was 05-032 Mendicant Bias, and, as such, the Juridical Network has been suspended and Forerunners are advised to not access. Ur-Didact, on his homeworld Far Nomdagro, orders Catalog to send Bornstellar to him as soon as he lands with the Librarian. All three meet, and so do all three Catalog. Ur-Didact and IsoDidact don't fully match up anymore; Ur-Didact, angry, turns on the Librarian and IsoDidact, calling Librarian an enemy sympathizer because she loves her Humans. He tells Bornstellar that the Mantle isn't to be inherited by the noble, but to be taken by the strong. The Librarian attempts to calm him down, but he reacts and tells her that the Humans unleashed the Flood on countless civilizations and then to the Forerunners and tells Bornstellar and Librarian to look at what the Flood has done to him. Their gathering is broken as Bornstellar returns to orbit to ready Audacity while Ur-Didact takes as sphinx to the other side of Far Nomdagro. Ur-Didact yells at Bornstellar for wanted to use the Halo arrays and storms off, saying that the Librarian is his (Bornstellar's) because she chose his way, nor Ur-Didact's way.
The Librarian tells Bornstellar that Ur-Didact does this because of what the Flood and she did to him, though she remains uncertain as to what exactly pushed her husband over the edge. At the Ark, IsoDidact prepares the Halo arrays. On Installation 07, Ur-Didact uses the Composer to kill some humans and makes them the Promethean guards that the Master Chief fights in Halo 4. The Librarian, in conversation with Monitor Chakas, rants that her husband always kills the humans (her children). Monitor Chakas, upon return to the Ark, becomes slightly infected with the logic plague. IsoDidact learns of Ur-Didact's Composer and how he used it on the humans; they become the Promethean Knights. On Requiem, the Librarian confronts Endurance-of-Will and learns that Ur-Didact plans on using his new Prometheans to kill the Flood, then kill the Humans and every other suspect species until all bow to the new Forerunner Empire with Ur-Didact at its head and claim the Mantle. Revealing that she knew that Ur-Didact would've married her if they'd not met, the Librarian manages to convince Endurance-of-Will to help her stop Ur-Didact's insane plan.The Librarian confronts her husband; Ur-Didact tells her that the Humans deserve death for bringing the Flood to the Forerunner planets. The Librarian subdues him; she and Endurance place him in a combat Cryptum on Requiem. She tells Endurance that what she leaves will serve to protect Requiem and visitors and that the Ur-Didact mustn't control the Prometheans. She states that he will violate the Mantle in order to seize it, unless he's held back and allowed to find himself again. The Librarian gives Endurance the memory recording (the one John-117 encountered in Halo 4).
The Librarian and Catalog leave Requiem for Erde-Tyrene because she's broadcast to all Forerunner ships that she'd found a cure for the Flood. Monitor Chakas watches over IsoDidact as they head to the lesser Ark. After a slight peaceful lull, IsoDidact sends Chakas on his way, giving it control of Installation 04; Monitor Chakas is renamed 343 Guilty Spark by IsoDidact. Before Guilty Spark leaves, IsoDidact asks it if the choice to detonate the Halo rings were his choice, would he do it? Guilty Spark doesn't answer and IsoDidact believes that with the compartmentalization that will happen to Guilty Spark, the monitor won't remember any of this (this, of course, it false: see Halo: Combat Evolved). Offensive Bias returns to tell IsoDidact that 05-032 Mendicant Bias asked him (Offensive Bias) to return to the Ark to help it. On Erde-Tyrene, the Humans are dispersed, and the Librarian appoints Chant-to-Green as the next Lifeshaper. In the morning, Forthencho and three human warriors appear before the Librarian and tells her that the Domain is the Organon. He tells her that the rings have fired. She asks Catalog to stand witness as they send this information over the Juridical network. IsoDidact fires the rings, saying "Forgive us." String 39 ends the novel with 343 Guilty Spark, alone on Installation 04, thinking about the question and decides that it's not his decision as it's been done but the effects are off. He beings to succumb to the logic plague.
For the first time, I actually like Greg's final (for now) Forerunner novel. He manages to capture the epic of Halo. Great characterizations, wonderful scenes/strings, and decent pot development. A sad yet wonderful ending to the Forerunners. I can't wait to see what Tor and the Halo publishing teams have planned next.
The novel opens with a top secret investigation report from the ONIRF (Office of Naval Intelligence Research Facility) Trevelyan in which they plan to reconstruct the scattered fragments, some from 343 Guilty Spark and some from the Halos and the Ark. [Each chapter is in First Person POV (I voice) and presented as Strings and a name: String 1 Senior Juridical.] The Master Juridical demands that Haruspis grant him access to the Domain, which Haruspis does AFTER the Domain requests that Haruspis does so; the knowledge of the Domain burns into the Senior Juridical's mind. Above Erde-Tyrene, the first of three Catalog meets with the Librarian and IsoDidact (Bornstellar); the Flood attack and IsoDidact rushes off to battle, asking Catalog to guard his wife. During this, Librarian tells Catalog the tale of her early years with the Ur-Didact. From that, Catalog learns that just after the Forerunner-Human war, when their greatest enemy--Forthencho, Lord of Admirals--surrendered, Ur-Didact met the Primordial on Path Kethona and how the Old Council became corrupt under Faber's--the Master Builder--influence. The Old Council was unconcerned with the Flood and their Graveminds and thus wanted the Humans to suffer. The Builders on the Old Council demanded to build the Ark and the Halo array as a final resort against the Humans, but Ur-Didact demanded to build the Shield Worlds and Requiem--the greatest Shield World; Faber, by then, had nigh-complete control over the Warrior-Servants, and thus denied Ur-Didact his request. The Librarian asked her husband to place himself in exile in a Cryptum. Faber wanted to get rid of the Librarian and she, knowing of that, proposed to the Old Council to start an expedition to find out the origins of the Flood. They let her.
She arrives at Path Kethona in Audacity and begins to learn the truth. In a ship, Ur-Didact, aided by Sharp-by-Lightning, fight to survive behind enemy lines above Uthera Midgeerrd, with the second Catalog--who was damaged by Faber. Ur-Didact and the others discover Precursor artifacts in the Burn. With the Flood about to consume them, Ur-Didact and 2nd Catalog remain alive to destroy the ship. Continuing her story, the Librarian and crew discover Precursor structures in a village on Charum Hakkor and their knowledge of the Forerunner extermination of the Precursors. The Librarian suspects something on Path Kethona and knows she will find answers there. Amazed by the stuff on Path Kethona, the Librarian and crew discover the Digon, an old sect of Forerunners; the Librarian talks with Glow-of-Old-Suns and learns a bit about their history. Back with Ur-Didact, Catalog learns of both conversations Ur-Didact had with the Primordial, in which it's revealed that the Primordial is the Gravemind of all Gravemind's. Ur-Didact assumes that the Flood wanted to save the Humans for last and that his wife betrayed him to aide the Flood in preserving Humanity; he travels further into the derelict ship and is touched by a Flood. String 14 is contaminated and is sequestered for forensic examination and is thus not included in this record. The Librarian learns that since the Precursors didn't choose the Forerunners to inherit the Mantle, and so decided to purge the galaxy of Precursors; they turned into the Flood as revenge and the Librarian vows to continue that purge. Strings 16 through 20 contain descriptions of opposition--by this, I assume Bear means war--though in 17, 05-032 Mendicant Bias returns for a bit.
In String 21, Faber gives his testimony, which includes how he lies to the Master Juridical about sending Ur-Didact, Catalog, Sharp, and one other into the Burn just so he could rescue them and be a hero. Faber denies wanting to be a hero and doesn't see any problem with Ur-Didact coming back, even with IsoDidact. He's tricked into stating that he was aware that Flood had taken over ships but backtracks when Master Juridical claims that he refused to do anything about it. Mendicant Bias talks to Catalog about how he talked with Gravemind. String 25 contains five fragments of different events, the fifth being that Catalog is NOT immune to the Flood/Gravemind logic plague, as was 05-032 Mendicant Bias, and, as such, the Juridical Network has been suspended and Forerunners are advised to not access. Ur-Didact, on his homeworld Far Nomdagro, orders Catalog to send Bornstellar to him as soon as he lands with the Librarian. All three meet, and so do all three Catalog. Ur-Didact and IsoDidact don't fully match up anymore; Ur-Didact, angry, turns on the Librarian and IsoDidact, calling Librarian an enemy sympathizer because she loves her Humans. He tells Bornstellar that the Mantle isn't to be inherited by the noble, but to be taken by the strong. The Librarian attempts to calm him down, but he reacts and tells her that the Humans unleashed the Flood on countless civilizations and then to the Forerunners and tells Bornstellar and Librarian to look at what the Flood has done to him. Their gathering is broken as Bornstellar returns to orbit to ready Audacity while Ur-Didact takes as sphinx to the other side of Far Nomdagro. Ur-Didact yells at Bornstellar for wanted to use the Halo arrays and storms off, saying that the Librarian is his (Bornstellar's) because she chose his way, nor Ur-Didact's way.
The Librarian tells Bornstellar that Ur-Didact does this because of what the Flood and she did to him, though she remains uncertain as to what exactly pushed her husband over the edge. At the Ark, IsoDidact prepares the Halo arrays. On Installation 07, Ur-Didact uses the Composer to kill some humans and makes them the Promethean guards that the Master Chief fights in Halo 4. The Librarian, in conversation with Monitor Chakas, rants that her husband always kills the humans (her children). Monitor Chakas, upon return to the Ark, becomes slightly infected with the logic plague. IsoDidact learns of Ur-Didact's Composer and how he used it on the humans; they become the Promethean Knights. On Requiem, the Librarian confronts Endurance-of-Will and learns that Ur-Didact plans on using his new Prometheans to kill the Flood, then kill the Humans and every other suspect species until all bow to the new Forerunner Empire with Ur-Didact at its head and claim the Mantle. Revealing that she knew that Ur-Didact would've married her if they'd not met, the Librarian manages to convince Endurance-of-Will to help her stop Ur-Didact's insane plan.The Librarian confronts her husband; Ur-Didact tells her that the Humans deserve death for bringing the Flood to the Forerunner planets. The Librarian subdues him; she and Endurance place him in a combat Cryptum on Requiem. She tells Endurance that what she leaves will serve to protect Requiem and visitors and that the Ur-Didact mustn't control the Prometheans. She states that he will violate the Mantle in order to seize it, unless he's held back and allowed to find himself again. The Librarian gives Endurance the memory recording (the one John-117 encountered in Halo 4).
The Librarian and Catalog leave Requiem for Erde-Tyrene because she's broadcast to all Forerunner ships that she'd found a cure for the Flood. Monitor Chakas watches over IsoDidact as they head to the lesser Ark. After a slight peaceful lull, IsoDidact sends Chakas on his way, giving it control of Installation 04; Monitor Chakas is renamed 343 Guilty Spark by IsoDidact. Before Guilty Spark leaves, IsoDidact asks it if the choice to detonate the Halo rings were his choice, would he do it? Guilty Spark doesn't answer and IsoDidact believes that with the compartmentalization that will happen to Guilty Spark, the monitor won't remember any of this (this, of course, it false: see Halo: Combat Evolved). Offensive Bias returns to tell IsoDidact that 05-032 Mendicant Bias asked him (Offensive Bias) to return to the Ark to help it. On Erde-Tyrene, the Humans are dispersed, and the Librarian appoints Chant-to-Green as the next Lifeshaper. In the morning, Forthencho and three human warriors appear before the Librarian and tells her that the Domain is the Organon. He tells her that the rings have fired. She asks Catalog to stand witness as they send this information over the Juridical network. IsoDidact fires the rings, saying "Forgive us." String 39 ends the novel with 343 Guilty Spark, alone on Installation 04, thinking about the question and decides that it's not his decision as it's been done but the effects are off. He beings to succumb to the logic plague.
For the first time, I actually like Greg's final (for now) Forerunner novel. He manages to capture the epic of Halo. Great characterizations, wonderful scenes/strings, and decent pot development. A sad yet wonderful ending to the Forerunners. I can't wait to see what Tor and the Halo publishing teams have planned next.
