Book Review: Halo: Glasslands SPOILERS!

I've recently read the novel Halo: Glasslands by bestselling novelist Karen Traviss. Set between the flight from the Ark at the end of Halo 3 and the memorial scene in Halo 3, Glasslands and Traviss draw you into a world dealing with the after effects of war.

On Earth, the Office of Naval Intelligence sends out a team lead by a failed SPARTAN II candidate with a mixed-bag team compromised of a Spartan II named Naomi, two ODSTs called Val and Maz, an AI named BB, and a Sangheili (Elite) linguistics expert to sell weapons back to the Elites hoping they'll start a war with The Arbiter Thel 'Vadam. They do this all while killing Brutes and Jackals and planting fake footage of them attacking Elite ships.

Meanwhile, in the Dyson Sphere that used to be Onyx, the remaining Spartan 2s and 3s with their trainer Franklin Mendez and Spartan creator Catherine Halsey explore the world they were trapped in during the events of Halo: Ghosts of Onyx by Eric Nylund. They're trying to find a way out as well as new Forerunner technology while thinking that the Flood have overrun the galaxy or that the Halos have all fired and wiped out all life. They find a way out eventually with help from three original Forerunner-made Engineers.

On Sanghelios, the homeworld of the Elites, a group of Elite terrorists have started making plans to fight the Arbiter for dismissing the Forerunners as gods and for promoting peace with the humans. The three plots come to a head when one of the Elites is kidnapped by the ONI group before they race off to arrest Halsey for stealing war assets.

Admiral Hood invites Vadam to attend the memorial where they agree that The Master Chief is dead (as of the trailer for Halo 4, we know that's not true, but the characters believe this). The novel comes to a close as Halsey is shipped off to work with others on the Spartan-4 project while the captured Elite helps human technicians with acquiring Forerunner technology from the now open Dyson Sphere. The linguistics expert goes to Sanghelios as a guest of the Arbriter and the Elite Terrorists strike, signaling the end of the book.

A good book that provides enough detail and character moments as well as recaps of the storyline from the other Halo works for the average reader to easily follow along.

A New Year

It's a new year, readers, and things are looking up for this writer. I hope it's worked out for all of you as well. It's a cold winter where I live and with new books being churned out via the publishing houses, I decided it was time for a read of a new book. My first impression was that I needed a terminology to understand the lingo.

This may or may not be helpful advice, but if you're writing a novel and your critique group peers don't understand a word of what you're saying, try creating a terminology and had it out/email it to the members of your group. It not only saves time and lots of questions on the feedback, it serves as a reminder to you so you don't use the same abbreviation twice and have it mean two different things.

The easiest part of writing a terminology is creating the lingo/slang that will be the seen throughout the majority of your WOP (work in progress). the slang can be anything such as an insult one group of people say to another or a way for two lovers to communicate their affections without saying/revealing too much.

For the creation of a world, it's best to have a unique calendar for your planet with months all labelled and all days within that month tallied up. Hours and days in a week count as well.

These are only suggestions. Take them as you will. Just keep writing and having fun with your WOP.

Update on both novels

With the term winding down, I can finally get back to writing. And with that said, I have an announcement to make. I am halfway through adding a new chapter/scene to my first book and it's one of many. Likewise, I'm almost at the half-way mark for book two.

Book one is currently at 35,570 words, while book two is currently at 23,610 words. That puts Shadows of Calassa at 143+ pages and The Human Trap at 98+ pages.

I did participate in NaNoWriMo but that went downhill quickly with term projects piling up at my side as I attempted this writing behemoth. Now, maybe next year, I'll just reserve my writing time for when I'm at home such as the weekends or school nights when I have no homework.

A suggestion to new and old writers: join a critique group if you're just coming out of NaNoWriMo. The story you slaved away on may have potential and sharing it with a group of trusted colleagues is the positive thing to do. Granted, I cheated and worked on both books at once, but there's no rule that says it has to be a completely new book you must start during November, just that you try and attain the goals of writing 150,000 words during the month.

Remember: as much as you care about your story and love what you've written, don't be afraid to let words go, or scenes, or characters. Sometimes that can strengthen a story more than it will harm. If it doesn't work without that scene, then try getting advice as to what specifically isn't working there and determine if it can be salvaged or integrated into the novel proper.