Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Feb 15, 2011, 09:34:10 PM
Sounds great! Maybe I should pass on Evolutions 1 and 2, stick with my original Evolutions, and pick up Cryptum. I can't wait to hear what you have to say about it!
I'd say that'd probably be best. You can always buy the seperate volumes at a later date.
Well I finished Cryptum. It was an extremely addictive read. Took me about 3 days. It was also completely unlike anything I expected. It's nothing like any of the other Halo media. It's representation of the Forerunner and the events leading upto Halo is completely unexpected. It does retcon some aspects of the Terminals so that might annoy those who really loved the Terminal but I didn't try and find them so it doesn't bother me.
I'm happy I spent the money on it. I'd recommend others to read it too. Just be warned...it's so very different.
EDIT: I scratched out this review at work today:
I'm a huge fan of the Halo literature. In fact, it was Eric Nylund's fantastic novel The Fall of Reach that solidified my love and interest in the series. So I eagerly await each release of a novel or a comic, pouncing it on it like an AI staved of knowledge. They offer 343 Industries an opportunity to delve deeper into the history and lore of the series than the games ever could do. My excitement at the announcement of the Forerunner trilogy isn't hard to imagine. I bet many of you felt the same.
Until now we've had very little knowledge of the Forerunners. Odd hints and tips dropped in the novels, the games and etc. The most we'd ever had was in the Terminals in Halo 3. I had no idea what to expect when Cryptum finally made its way into my hands. I'd avoided the previews and only glanced at the discussion threads as I awaited my copy. What Cryptum gave me was unlike anything I had expected to find.
Cryptum is the story of a young Forerunner called Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting. It's told from his first person perspective as he finds himself trapped in a series of events set in motion by the Librarian, forever entangling him with the Didact. Those of you who are familiar with the Terminals will recognize those names.
It does retcon some of what the Terminals had revealed but nothing particularly drastic. The basics are in there but the details are different. In fact, Cryptum took a lot of what I thought I knew about the Forerunners, the image I had built up in my head of them, and completely twisted it and distorted it to completely surprise me. What we'd known prior to Cryptum was barely a scratch upon the surface.
Whereas the previous Halo novels have been more about war and survival, Cryptum started off as an adventure. For Born it was all about this adventure that eventually led into a huge mystery and then became a political conflict and finally culminated into conflict. It was a series of events that continued to escalate. Much in the same way Born grew and matured throughout the novel.
The Forerunners have an interesting way of growth and maturity. It's not just age, it's about methods and rituals and technology that changes appearance, mental pathways and inherent knowledge. His is in many ways the reader. He begins the novel as a youngster, ignorant in the ways of the Forerunners, much as we the reader are unaware of much of their society and history.
The Librarian is absent for much of the novel but the Didact plays a large part throughout the majority of the novel. He is our window into the past and into the adult society of the Forerunners. Cryptum isn't actually the beginning of the story. It is set over 300 years after the Flood are first encountered by the Forerunners and after 50 years since the first Halo was tested.
By the end of the novel we're left with as many questions as we got answers. Cryptum certainly revealed a lot about this time in the franchise's past but it's also opened up a whole new mystery through these details. The first and foremost, for me at least, is given what we've learnt about humanity and their relation with the Forerunners why do we eventually became the Reclaimers. Why are we able to access their technology given what happened between our races.
I'd wager Born has something to do with this. But I wont spoil that.
And of course, the bombshell ending. Greg Bear sure left us with a treat on the very last page. The very last paragraph even. Those few sentences have created more mystery than possibly the rest of the novel combined. Greg Bear, what a tease.
As I turned those last pages, I didn't want it to end. I'd learned so much and had so many more questions to ask. Cryptum was unlike any other Halo novel I'd read which is something I fear may cause people to turn their nose at the novel. Also those who prefer the Terminals may dislike the discrepancies within Cryptum.
I'm reluctant to give it a numerical score (as I think I will for most of these reviews) but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. I struggled to put it down, I'd read it at work, when I got home. I just wanted to find out more. And I know the wait for the 2nd novel will be agonizing. Those of you who are interested in the Forerunner period and the history of the franchise will enjoy Halo: Cryptum. Just be sure to go into it with an open mind and an expectation that this isn't Halo as we've known it.
