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The Forerunner Saga #2
Halo: Primordium: Book Two of the Forerunner Saga
The second novel of the Forerunner Saga trilogy by science fiction legend Greg Bear—set in the Halo universe and based on the New York Times bestselling video game series!
One hundred thousand years ago. In the wake of the apparent self-destruction of the alien Forerunner empire, two humans—Chakas and Riser—are like flotsam washed up on very strange shores indeed. Captured by the Forerunner known as the Master Builder and then misplaced during a furious battle in space, Chakas and Riser now find themselves on an inverted world, where horizons rise into the sky and humans of all kinds are trapped in a perilous cycle of horror and neglect. They have become both research animals and strategic pawns in a cosmic game whose madness knows no end—a game of ancient vengeance between the powers who seeded the galaxy with life, and the Forerunners who expect to inherit their sacred Mantle of Responsibility to all living things.
In the company of a young girl and an old man, Chakas begins an epic journey across a lost and damaged Halo ringworld in search of a way home, an explanation for the warrior spirits rising up within, and the reason for the Forerunner Librarian’s tampering with human destiny. Their travels will take them into the domain of a powerful and monstrous intelligence—known as “the Captive” by Forerunners, and “the Primordial” by ancient human warriors, this being may not only control the fate of Chakas, Riser, and the rest of humanity, but of all sentient life across the galaxy…
One hundred thousand years ago. In the wake of the apparent self-destruction of the alien Forerunner empire, two humans—Chakas and Riser—are like flotsam washed up on very strange shores indeed. Captured by the Forerunner known as the Master Builder and then misplaced during a furious battle in space, Chakas and Riser now find themselves on an inverted world, where horizons rise into the sky and humans of all kinds are trapped in a perilous cycle of horror and neglect. They have become both research animals and strategic pawns in a cosmic game whose madness knows no end—a game of ancient vengeance between the powers who seeded the galaxy with life, and the Forerunners who expect to inherit their sacred Mantle of Responsibility to all living things.
In the company of a young girl and an old man, Chakas begins an epic journey across a lost and damaged Halo ringworld in search of a way home, an explanation for the warrior spirits rising up within, and the reason for the Forerunner Librarian’s tampering with human destiny. Their travels will take them into the domain of a powerful and monstrous intelligence—known as “the Captive” by Forerunners, and “the Primordial” by ancient human warriors, this being may not only control the fate of Chakas, Riser, and the rest of humanity, but of all sentient life across the galaxy…
402 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 28, 2011
269 people are currently reading
4566 people want to read
About the author
Greg Bear
230 books2,096 followersGreg Bear was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), parallel universes (The Way series), consciousness and cultural practices (Queen of Angels), and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin’s Radio, and Darwin’s Children). His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total.
(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)
(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 271 reviews
October 5, 2012
This book was terrible. There was no theme, no motivation for the characters, no amiable or sympathetic characters, and no point. The conflict was foggy and incomprehensible at best, the characters were dry, unrealistic, unlikable, and ill-defined. The setting was terrible, horribly explained, and changed every two pages or so. The description was sub-par to be polite, and it did not build up the world of the story at all. It kept describing creatures as humans when no humans have naturally growing pink and white hair and grey skin. There was an ape who both talked, and did not talk at the same time, which was not only very confusing, but annoying, and many characters had multiple names. I can think of at least three characters that had three names each, which is not reader friendly. The events in the book were unnecessary, and the action was disjointed, haphazard, and without purpose. There was no real beginning, middle, and end, and the motivations for conflict were not present. There was no rise in tension, no turning point, and no real resolution. The "story" for lack of a better term, didn't even follow enough logical sense to be classified as a crazy drug trip. At the risk of being redundant, it was absolutely terrible.
November 28, 2012
I just finished this book and I'm more than a little disappointed. The book tells the tale of Chakas, one for the two humans from the first Forerunner saga book. He lands on a Halo and spends the rest of the book walking around following a lady, who is nuts, and an old man. I'd say a majority of the book is them walking and looking for food and describing how hard that is. That and explaining that they don't really know what they're doing or where they are going. At the end, it gets interesting and explains more of the flood stuff. I get that these are supposed to be connected to the story arc of Halo 4 but there is some incongruity about the Bornstellar/Didacts' motives that don't gel as far as I could tell. Also the whole tying in of what the Monitors really are was kind of a real groaner moment for me. This combined with the heavy handedness of the anti-Katherine Halsey thread of the game & more current time books is mildly disappointing. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone unless you're a super die-hard Halo geek. Even then get ready for a series of descriptions or plot twists, that even with multiple re-readings for clarity, make little sense or occasionally come out of nowhere.
March 16, 2021
Wow.
That was not a good book.
This entire book, and I do mean the ENTIRE book, is complete and utter filler. It exists for no reason. It tells no story. It is a total waste of your time.
So, this book is entirely from the PoV from one of the human characters from the first book. Okay. Don't care. That's exactly what I'm reading the FORERUNNER TRILOGY for. Books about human characters. I kind of expect the books in my FORERUNNER TRILOGY to be about freaking FORERUNNERS dammit!!! So already, right off the bat, I was completely disinterested in this book. But then it gets worse. Nothing in the book happens for a reason. There is literally no reason whatsoever for anything in this book to be happening. Characters go on this big quest to do.... things... for reasons... and it's never really clear why they're doing it, where they're going, what they hope to accomplish, or what made them decide to go do it. They just do. Because reasons. If, at the end of the day, your characters entire motivation within a story can be summarized with "because reasons" you have utterly failed to write a compelling character. Throughout the ENTIRE book, I kept asking, "what is even the point of any of this?" Yeah, the author never actually gets to one. Things just happen. Nothing happens for any reason or toward any sort of purpose. No one does anything with any sort of motivation behind it. It's boring and frustrating. Plus, seriously, is there anyone out there who read the first book and was like, OMG I HAVE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS HUMAN CHARACTER WITHOUT A PERSONLITY!!!!
And, just like with the first book, everything in this one is just really, really terribly described, to the point where I often had to go back and reread sections to try and figure out exactly what was happening. I kept thinking I skipped a page, but I didn't. It's just that badly written.
You might be asking yourself why I read all the way to the end, and intend to read the third book after how much I completely hated this one. The answer is simple, my friends. Spite. So I can rub it all in my brother's face and tell him what terrible taste in books he has. So I can take something he enjoys, and pick it apart and tell him exactly why he's an idiot for enjoying it. It's my civic duty as an older brother. Sure, I may be in my mid-forties, and he his mid-thirties, but being an asshole of an older sibling is forever.
That was not a good book.
This entire book, and I do mean the ENTIRE book, is complete and utter filler. It exists for no reason. It tells no story. It is a total waste of your time.
So, this book is entirely from the PoV from one of the human characters from the first book. Okay. Don't care. That's exactly what I'm reading the FORERUNNER TRILOGY for. Books about human characters. I kind of expect the books in my FORERUNNER TRILOGY to be about freaking FORERUNNERS dammit!!! So already, right off the bat, I was completely disinterested in this book. But then it gets worse. Nothing in the book happens for a reason. There is literally no reason whatsoever for anything in this book to be happening. Characters go on this big quest to do.... things... for reasons... and it's never really clear why they're doing it, where they're going, what they hope to accomplish, or what made them decide to go do it. They just do. Because reasons. If, at the end of the day, your characters entire motivation within a story can be summarized with "because reasons" you have utterly failed to write a compelling character. Throughout the ENTIRE book, I kept asking, "what is even the point of any of this?" Yeah, the author never actually gets to one. Things just happen. Nothing happens for any reason or toward any sort of purpose. No one does anything with any sort of motivation behind it. It's boring and frustrating. Plus, seriously, is there anyone out there who read the first book and was like, OMG I HAVE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS HUMAN CHARACTER WITHOUT A PERSONLITY!!!!
And, just like with the first book, everything in this one is just really, really terribly described, to the point where I often had to go back and reread sections to try and figure out exactly what was happening. I kept thinking I skipped a page, but I didn't. It's just that badly written.
You might be asking yourself why I read all the way to the end, and intend to read the third book after how much I completely hated this one. The answer is simple, my friends. Spite. So I can rub it all in my brother's face and tell him what terrible taste in books he has. So I can take something he enjoys, and pick it apart and tell him exactly why he's an idiot for enjoying it. It's my civic duty as an older brother. Sure, I may be in my mid-forties, and he his mid-thirties, but being an asshole of an older sibling is forever.
April 12, 2022
I think your enjoyment of this novel can seriously depend on whether you read it yourself or whether you listen to the audiobook version, because the narrator of the audiobook is none other than Tim Dadabo, the voice of 343 Guilty Spark himself - near the end he even uses the flanger effect that Guilty Spark has on his voice in the games. In general he is an excellent narrator, he speaks with the same inflection when voicing Guilty Spark which is fun, but he does voices for every character and they're all very good - almost too good, his old man voice for Gamelpar is downright eerie.
But this review is about the book, not the audiobook.
The Forerunner Trilogy is pretty well known for being ludicrously dense and ambitious for a video game tie-in novel, so obviously if you're expecting an action packed romp this trilogy isn't for you.
I think I prefer Primordium to Cryptum, all-in-all. Both novels are essentially a long odyssey, the journey of one character that eventually leads to a climactic conclusion that shapes the lore of the series dramatically.
This means that until the final couple of chapters not much "happens" - where Cryptum followed Bornstellar's journey through the galaxy to become the IsoDidact (which I still don't understand fully), Primordium follows Chakas as he travels the length of Installation 07. I can imagine that if you're reading this book and not listening to the audiobook version while doing something else, much of this book would be kind of boring. I didn't find that to be the case, but I was also painting miniatures and stuff while listening to I didn't really have to worry about being bored.
Chakas is a great narrator, and the characters introduced in this book were very unique. In general, the amount of detail Greg Bear goes into describing the way the group of humans on Installation 07 had evolved, as well as the introduction of the Primordial was very interesting. In fact, any mention of the Primordial was really where the book shined. Bear does a REALLY good job (in my opinion) of introducing this extremely outlandish being that answers questions about the universe while also raising even more for you to think about.
I think what the problem a lot of people might have with Greg Bear's trilogy (again, I've only read two so far), is that they are more "interesting" books than they are "compelling". There is a distinct level of emotional detachment for the most part, and often events just happen without you realizing. It's like some things aren't described in great detail while massive plot points end up being almost footnotes. It seems like a deliberate writing style, if you ask me, and so I appreciate what Bear is doing here. Also I appreciate the way he weaved so many disparate elements of the lore into his own unique creation.
As a whole, I quite liked this and I'm excited to see where Bear goes in Silentium, which I of course will be reading next.
Side note: this takes place on the same Halo (Zeta Halo) that Halo: Infinite takes place on, so obviously now I need to replay the Halo: Infinite campaign. Maybe I will wait until I have finished the rest of the novels to do that, just to be safe.
But this review is about the book, not the audiobook.
The Forerunner Trilogy is pretty well known for being ludicrously dense and ambitious for a video game tie-in novel, so obviously if you're expecting an action packed romp this trilogy isn't for you.
I think I prefer Primordium to Cryptum, all-in-all. Both novels are essentially a long odyssey, the journey of one character that eventually leads to a climactic conclusion that shapes the lore of the series dramatically.
This means that until the final couple of chapters not much "happens" - where Cryptum followed Bornstellar's journey through the galaxy to become the IsoDidact (which I still don't understand fully), Primordium follows Chakas as he travels the length of Installation 07. I can imagine that if you're reading this book and not listening to the audiobook version while doing something else, much of this book would be kind of boring. I didn't find that to be the case, but I was also painting miniatures and stuff while listening to I didn't really have to worry about being bored.
Chakas is a great narrator, and the characters introduced in this book were very unique. In general, the amount of detail Greg Bear goes into describing the way the group of humans on Installation 07 had evolved, as well as the introduction of the Primordial was very interesting. In fact, any mention of the Primordial was really where the book shined. Bear does a REALLY good job (in my opinion) of introducing this extremely outlandish being that answers questions about the universe while also raising even more for you to think about.
I think what the problem a lot of people might have with Greg Bear's trilogy (again, I've only read two so far), is that they are more "interesting" books than they are "compelling". There is a distinct level of emotional detachment for the most part, and often events just happen without you realizing. It's like some things aren't described in great detail while massive plot points end up being almost footnotes. It seems like a deliberate writing style, if you ask me, and so I appreciate what Bear is doing here. Also I appreciate the way he weaved so many disparate elements of the lore into his own unique creation.
As a whole, I quite liked this and I'm excited to see where Bear goes in Silentium, which I of course will be reading next.
Side note: this takes place on the same Halo (Zeta Halo) that Halo: Infinite takes place on, so obviously now I need to replay the Halo: Infinite campaign. Maybe I will wait until I have finished the rest of the novels to do that, just to be safe.
January 23, 2019
This book was a real disappointment coming off the first in the Forerunner Saga which I thought was fantastic.
In this entry we follow the story of Chakas after he falls to the surface of a Halo caught up in the battle with the Master Builder and his forces.
He's pried from his broken protective suit, and tended to by a girl. After he's well enough to walk she takes him to her grandfather whose lived away from their village for some time, and the reason they don't violate her is because she tells them his spirit will kill them.
As it turns out this when the Master Builder was given permission to build the Halo's the Librarian demanded to be allowed to bring species from around the galaxy, to the Halo's as a means of preserving life since the weapons kill everything.
In the process she also made it so Forerunner and Human souls would attach themselves to the psyche of various individuals. Both Chakas and Grandfather (Gamelpar) have these souls in them, and they did battle thousands of years ago.
After the Master Builder destroyed Charum Hakkor, and brought the last Precursor to this Halo, they carried out experiments on the Humans because they were resistant to the Flood.
The book moved along at a snails pace as the three left following the girl's (Vinnerva) intuition to head in a specific direction which was directly towards where the experiments were carried out. They choose instead to go in the opposite direction, and so they wander, more or less aimlessly until being picked up and delivered to the heart of the Halo.
I started reading the books looking for more backstory, and while that certainly delivers, this was a pretty tiresome book that took a while to get through.
In this entry we follow the story of Chakas after he falls to the surface of a Halo caught up in the battle with the Master Builder and his forces.
He's pried from his broken protective suit, and tended to by a girl. After he's well enough to walk she takes him to her grandfather whose lived away from their village for some time, and the reason they don't violate her is because she tells them his spirit will kill them.
As it turns out this when the Master Builder was given permission to build the Halo's the Librarian demanded to be allowed to bring species from around the galaxy, to the Halo's as a means of preserving life since the weapons kill everything.
In the process she also made it so Forerunner and Human souls would attach themselves to the psyche of various individuals. Both Chakas and Grandfather (Gamelpar) have these souls in them, and they did battle thousands of years ago.
After the Master Builder destroyed Charum Hakkor, and brought the last Precursor to this Halo, they carried out experiments on the Humans because they were resistant to the Flood.
The book moved along at a snails pace as the three left following the girl's (Vinnerva) intuition to head in a specific direction which was directly towards where the experiments were carried out. They choose instead to go in the opposite direction, and so they wander, more or less aimlessly until being picked up and delivered to the heart of the Halo.
I started reading the books looking for more backstory, and while that certainly delivers, this was a pretty tiresome book that took a while to get through.
June 15, 2021
Absolutely brilliant. This book has made 343 Guilty Spark one of the most interesting characters in the Halo universe. The Primordial is now one of the best parts of the lore as well.
This book was thought-provoking, dark, cosmic, layered, emotional, and perfect. Yet another winner for this franchise. Chef's kiss.
This book was thought-provoking, dark, cosmic, layered, emotional, and perfect. Yet another winner for this franchise. Chef's kiss.
December 14, 2021
Halo: Primordium is the second novel in The Forerunner trilogy by Greg Bear. Preceded by Halo: Cryptum, those looking to pick up exactly where the first novel left off may be disappointed, as it takes a different approach with a change of pace, especially from the other Halo novels.
For those that didn't get to read Cryptum, it takes place 100,000 years before the events of the games and Master Chief's journey and focused around young Forerunner Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting (Bornstellar for short) and his adventure to Erde-Tyrene, which is now known as Earth. He meets two humans named Chakas and Riser who accompanies him on his quest and eventually become very important in the grand scheme of things. It's eventually revealed that Forerunners were actually created by the Precursors, who were thought to have been eradicated long ago. This isn't true, as it seems Timeless One has survived and wants revenge for his fallen Precursors.
Primordium is told in first person, though this time the protagonist is Chakas and some of the events of Cryptum are now told through his eyes. Interestingly, the Primordium starts with an ONI team finding and interrogating a Forerunner monitor duplicate of 343 Guilty Spark, asking questions about the Didact and what happened during the acient war between Forerunners and Humans. The monitor reveals that it was once a human named Chakas, thus begins his story being told from flashbacks primarily set on Halo installation 07, the ring under control by rogue AI Mendicant Bias who assaulted the capital.
It turns out Chakas crashed on this Halo in his escape pod trying to flee the assault on the capital and awakes to find two other humans taking care of him, Vinnevra and her grandfather Gamelpar. He wants to find his friend Riser and all three take off on the journey. Vinnevra's geas leads the group in a direction near the edge of Halo, but it turns out she led them to one of the "Palaces of Pain" (Flood research facility) instead of safety, so they decide to turn around and go in the opposite direction.
During their lengthy journey, they notice that the planet they are nearby is becoming perilously closer and closer. Chakas is then tasked with making sure that Halo doesn't collide with the nearby planet, and to do so, he needs to navigate and rotate the installation so that the planet will pass through the Halo ring.
I won't go any further into the plot, as this is where it really starts to get interesting and pick up. Just be warned, the first three quarters of the book is very slow and mostly about the three main characters walking across Halo and describing things they see. The last quarter of the book is fantastic and really becomes interesting at this point, but you do need to endure the rest to even get to this point. I genuinely had a "oh my god" moment near the end of the book that now is making me anticipate the third and final book in the trilogy and even puts a different spin on what I think of the games.
As I said, be warned that the majority of the book is filled with nothing but the group wandering across Halo, and just as it seems something interesting might happen, it doesn't and they move on. Aside from describing things Chaka sees, the author leaves quite a lot up to your own imagination while describing a time where humankind is not near the top of the chain
While the last bit of the book saved it for me, it wasn't as fluid and constant as Cryptum was. After every few chapters I took a break instead of wanting to continue on, as reading about Chakas walking for a dozen or two pages can only be interesting for so long. What Primordium does do right is bring you deeper into the Halo lore and ultimately gets you excited at the end and makes you anticipate the final book in the trilogy.
Overall, You'll need to be a diehard Halo fan to really enjoy this novel, and you might even need to learn some new vocabulary if you are newer to the Halo series to fully understand what is going on. While a good majority of the book feels more like a Fantasy journey instead of a Military sci-fi Thriller you expect from the Halo franchise. Halo: Primordium, mainly acts as a origin story of how an ancient human became the AI monitor 343 Guilty Spark we all know from the main Halo trilogy. While it’s not the best book of the Halo EU I would still recommend it to any Halo fan.
For those that didn't get to read Cryptum, it takes place 100,000 years before the events of the games and Master Chief's journey and focused around young Forerunner Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting (Bornstellar for short) and his adventure to Erde-Tyrene, which is now known as Earth. He meets two humans named Chakas and Riser who accompanies him on his quest and eventually become very important in the grand scheme of things. It's eventually revealed that Forerunners were actually created by the Precursors, who were thought to have been eradicated long ago. This isn't true, as it seems Timeless One has survived and wants revenge for his fallen Precursors.
Primordium is told in first person, though this time the protagonist is Chakas and some of the events of Cryptum are now told through his eyes. Interestingly, the Primordium starts with an ONI team finding and interrogating a Forerunner monitor duplicate of 343 Guilty Spark, asking questions about the Didact and what happened during the acient war between Forerunners and Humans. The monitor reveals that it was once a human named Chakas, thus begins his story being told from flashbacks primarily set on Halo installation 07, the ring under control by rogue AI Mendicant Bias who assaulted the capital.
It turns out Chakas crashed on this Halo in his escape pod trying to flee the assault on the capital and awakes to find two other humans taking care of him, Vinnevra and her grandfather Gamelpar. He wants to find his friend Riser and all three take off on the journey. Vinnevra's geas leads the group in a direction near the edge of Halo, but it turns out she led them to one of the "Palaces of Pain" (Flood research facility) instead of safety, so they decide to turn around and go in the opposite direction.
During their lengthy journey, they notice that the planet they are nearby is becoming perilously closer and closer. Chakas is then tasked with making sure that Halo doesn't collide with the nearby planet, and to do so, he needs to navigate and rotate the installation so that the planet will pass through the Halo ring.
I won't go any further into the plot, as this is where it really starts to get interesting and pick up. Just be warned, the first three quarters of the book is very slow and mostly about the three main characters walking across Halo and describing things they see. The last quarter of the book is fantastic and really becomes interesting at this point, but you do need to endure the rest to even get to this point. I genuinely had a "oh my god" moment near the end of the book that now is making me anticipate the third and final book in the trilogy and even puts a different spin on what I think of the games.
As I said, be warned that the majority of the book is filled with nothing but the group wandering across Halo, and just as it seems something interesting might happen, it doesn't and they move on. Aside from describing things Chaka sees, the author leaves quite a lot up to your own imagination while describing a time where humankind is not near the top of the chain
While the last bit of the book saved it for me, it wasn't as fluid and constant as Cryptum was. After every few chapters I took a break instead of wanting to continue on, as reading about Chakas walking for a dozen or two pages can only be interesting for so long. What Primordium does do right is bring you deeper into the Halo lore and ultimately gets you excited at the end and makes you anticipate the final book in the trilogy.
Overall, You'll need to be a diehard Halo fan to really enjoy this novel, and you might even need to learn some new vocabulary if you are newer to the Halo series to fully understand what is going on. While a good majority of the book feels more like a Fantasy journey instead of a Military sci-fi Thriller you expect from the Halo franchise. Halo: Primordium, mainly acts as a origin story of how an ancient human became the AI monitor 343 Guilty Spark we all know from the main Halo trilogy. While it’s not the best book of the Halo EU I would still recommend it to any Halo fan.
December 28, 2022
I rly liked the lore stuff in this but i didnt find myself very engaged with the actual narrative, at least not until the last third. The first book had an issue with characters that felt like plot pieces more than real people, and the sequel only exaggerated the problem. Chakas was fine, and i liked his interactions with the Lord of Admirals, but so often he just felt like a blank slate. Same with everyone else, nobody had much opportunity for actual character to show through. And for a lot of the book i had a difficult time understanding what was actually going on, and why.
But like i said, lore was cool. I loved the bits when chakas broke into the UNSC databases to make commentary on ‘modern’ earth.
Idk i just mostly didnt vibe with it
But like i said, lore was cool. I loved the bits when chakas broke into the UNSC databases to make commentary on ‘modern’ earth.
Idk i just mostly didnt vibe with it
August 12, 2023
Mi sbagliavo
September 9, 2018
The best book of the trilogy. Interesting planet and likable cast of characters.
April 30, 2021
That was... not good? There was a lot of wandering and meandering. Really putting myself through this still
October 24, 2020
Well, taking over two months to finish this book should say enough about how much of a slog it was to get through. I like taking notes throughout a story just to remind myself of the plot and parts I liked, and I literally wrote down, “this story sucks” several times. I lost count of how many times the gang was just wandering around the ring, with me having no real interest in what they were seeing or doing from the start. Even as a hardcore Halo fan who will buy anything with the Halo brand on it, this book was miserably hard and unrewarding to get through. The plot was unclear and lost in so much other nonsense going on. Really disappointed in this trilogy so far, and don’t have high hopes the third book will finish strong. Maybe I just had completely different expectations, but I really hoped this trilogy would have gotten into Forerunner history, culture, operations, relationships with precursors and humans, technology and so forth. It feels so immensely shallow in every department I can’t bring myself to give it more than 1 star. Additional plot notes below:
In the intro, Chakas appears to be an AI hundreds of centuries old in modern time. He claims to have once been a human. Interesting.
Chakas discovered he is marooned on a Halo ring with some other humans (claiming to be Tedesja, or people of the here in the old language), after he fell out of the ship with the Didact, Born and Riser. It switches back to him as an AI explaining how the Librarian left
a geas in him and Riser, and how Riser had come to him saying he would need his guidance. They both had dreams of a forerunner arriving searching for treasure. Chakas originally wanted to steal it from the forerunner to bring his sisters back from the temple, but he grew fond of the forerunner as they shared the same spirit.
Chakas is guided around by Vinnerva. She shows him how to eat scorpions and stuff. They talk about Halo. She introduces him to Gamelpar who is an old guy living in a forest that has the memory of an ancient human warrior as well. We learn Chakas has the memory of the Lord of Admirals. Gamelpar explains how humans were picked up, and placed on the Halo, and were visited by a Beast (primordial) and green eye thing. They take humans to the palace of pain. Chakas looked at the pod wreckage and found dead forerunners with armor hackers on it, suggesting civil war.
They wander around, and see massive forerunner ships repairing the damaged halo ring from the fighting. Vinnerva has a geas and helps guide them to where Riser may be. It points them in the direction of the old city, to which they must go around the village where Gamelpar is not welcome. They continue through the old city with walls to protect the inhabitants from other humans many years ago. The Lord of Admirals comments to Chakas that he had affection for Born. Lord of Admirals admits he also had affection for a warrior-servant he was in constant battle with.
To Gamelpar and Vinnevra, the old abandoned city speaks of glory days and happiness. To Chakas and the LOA, it speaks of forerunner treachery. They find a strange egg shaped structure in the city that is very large, and is possibly the Librarian’s way of speaking to people. Charum Hakkur once called the Eternal. The Halo starts to shake as if making new land, and they get to the edge of the halo where they see thousands of humans below. They notice the curled up spider looking Beast/Primordial on disk, perhaps in control of the human migration below. He moves them in a structure, perhaps the palace of pain.
Gamelpar, Vinnevra and Chakas move out from the chasm, away from where Vinnevra’s geas tells them to go. They find a crashed forerunner ship and ruins of a city. They move through mountains and a forest with thorny trunks that trap them on the other side with a lake. They move across the lake, with Vinnevra asking Chakas to take her life, if needed, to prevent going back to the palace of pain. I’m sorry, but the book really sucks right now. They row across the lake, seeing more dead forerunner bodies with no explanation. They find what appears to be an old human city, with sounds coming from inside.
They find a gravemind imprisoned that is made of forerunners. They hear cries for help. It is in a cage and a shield barrier as well. It shakes the whole city. They leave across the lake, and see two more bizarre shapes form up from the water. They see an illusion of a cone, perhaps used to power the Halo, as a vision of the Halo’s plan to heal itself.
In another forest, they find a shadow ape, forerunner and other different kinds of humans. One human is named Kirimt. The forerunner is named Genebender. They tell them to follow them to a village. Vinnevra can’t smell any of them but the ape. Genebender says he cannot return them to Erde-Tyrene, and that the power stations have been disabled on the ring. The ring is situated where the last human stand was made after Charrum Hakkur. Perhaps to destroy the last of their kind and precursor relics?
Chakas spirit tells him Genebender is more about unity than division. They see 7 or 8 types of humans gather in the hundreds in a large meeting hut. Master Builder was all about division and creating war within the humans. Supposedly Gene don’t want dat.
Lots of knowledge now. Humans are all scans. Genebender is really an ancilla who used to be a lifeshaper. He spills the whole story. Master Builder Halos vs Didact Shield Worlds. Humans found treatment and prevention against flood, or shaping sickness. Required infecting themselves, lost a third of their colonies. Didn’t attempt to infect forerunners this way. The ring they are on was used on Hakkur and san’shyuum system. Librarian pushed to use rings as preservation places for species, as well as the Arks. Many humans brought to Halo. Erde-Tyrene humans not brought because forerunners feared they had ancient human memories that could rise up against the forerunners. Humans tested in the “palace of pain” to see if they were immune. Results inconclusive. Genebender wants to scan (neutralize and imprint) the humans to keep their memories alive before he loses all power.
Chakas ran away from the Genebender thing. Gamelpar was dying, but did not want to be scanned. The ape understood as well, and did not allow him to be scanned. The image of the huts faded in and out, showing the false projection of clean nice huts, and the reality of overgrown grass and worn down structures. Riser supposedly is real, and resisted becoming a scan. Genebenders purpose was to prevent the Erde-Tyrene humans from taking over the halo. The librarians original plans were thrown quite out of whack by Faber. Armor and ships and weapons were disabled on the halo for some reason.
Chakas meets up with Riser. Their old humans have a memory, one is Forthenko, Lord of Admirals. The other is someone who imprisoned the Primordial and brought it to Charum Hakkur for questioning. It gave the humans useful information, as well as foretelling the fall of the forerunners and how humans will live on. Riser tells his story of how his ship crashed on the Halo, and the forerunners he was with tried to protect him, but had their armor lock up and kill one, and the others took their armor off and were killed by spores shot in the air (presumably by the Primordial). It appears the Primordial is infecting the forerunners with the flood sickness while they have a civil war. It supposedly also convinced Mendicant Bias (or another Halo monitor) to betray the forerunners. The humans interviewing the monitor (presumably Chakas) notice he has dual memories and are curious if this is a trap.
It is made clear that after humans were defeated at Chatham Hakkur, the Lifeworkers kept their genetic code to pass down through generations as they knew how to defeat the flood, and forerunners may need that same information. Lord of Admirals, Forthenko, was placed in Chakas. Yprin, who lives in Riser, was a rival of Forthenko and first discovered, revived, imprisoned and interrogated the primordial to find its secrets. It began leaking extraordinary answers. Yprin helped prepare human forces for the advanced forerunners. The composer is what made this possible. Chakas and Riser get a hold of themselves and continue with Vinnevra and Mara along Halo.
They get picked up by a forerunner ship, and taken to Lifeworker central where they find flood forms of forerunners contained in some type of armor.
Chakas talks with a monitor. Monitor says Lifeworkers rose up against builders? Lifeworkers working with humans, master builders trying to infect another set of humans for testing. Master builder brought back the Primordial, which in turn drove the Halo to the forerunner home world, attacked it, and escaped while civil war ensued on the planet. The forerunners appear to be losing this fight, and may want the humans to take over.
Forerunners only kept humans alive since they held the secret to immunity and a cure to the flood disease. It appears the group returns to Erde-Tyrene. Some monitors have betrayed forerunners and kept humans with the old human spirits to overthrow forerunners. Reason unknown. Lord of Admirals says the ring has an imminent collision with a planet, but wants to navigate then get back the old human fleet. Chakas wants to crash the ring and kill everyone to prevent more destruction from the ring.
With assistance from a flood looking forerunner, Chakas is guided to the cartographer and helps steer the ring out of the way of the planet. We also learn the primordial is called a gravemind, a collection of lives over millions of years. Didact confronts mendicant bias and accuses him of taking orders from someone other than forerunner. Mendicant says he has acted in the best interest of all, but Didact asks Chakas to help save the Halo.
Didact and Chakas shrunk the halo to fit through a portal to the lesser Ark for repairs. Didact was on a mission from Librarian to save the species and specimens on the ring. The loyal forerunners to the council who were infected then stood down, as did Chakas. Bornstellar is now the Didact as the original Didact served as his template. He explains the humans are safe and will go with the survivors where they will live pleasantly.
Didact takes Chakas to meet the primordial. He explains his physical form is already dead, and will become the keeper of biological records for humans and testing on the ring. Chakas will serve Didact and Librarian, and could only simulate motions of his old physical form. They are going to heart of the old mendicant bias.
Primordial mentions no immunity or cure to the flood. Only judgement, suggesting that the flood has the power to choose who they infect. Primordial said the Forerunners have been tested and failed, and the humans will be tested next. Didact then disintegrates the primordial?
It is then revealed that Chakas is 343 guilty spark? He takes over the ONI ship studying him, and instructs they must find librarian, Vinnevra riser and others.
In the intro, Chakas appears to be an AI hundreds of centuries old in modern time. He claims to have once been a human. Interesting.
Chakas discovered he is marooned on a Halo ring with some other humans (claiming to be Tedesja, or people of the here in the old language), after he fell out of the ship with the Didact, Born and Riser. It switches back to him as an AI explaining how the Librarian left
a geas in him and Riser, and how Riser had come to him saying he would need his guidance. They both had dreams of a forerunner arriving searching for treasure. Chakas originally wanted to steal it from the forerunner to bring his sisters back from the temple, but he grew fond of the forerunner as they shared the same spirit.
Chakas is guided around by Vinnerva. She shows him how to eat scorpions and stuff. They talk about Halo. She introduces him to Gamelpar who is an old guy living in a forest that has the memory of an ancient human warrior as well. We learn Chakas has the memory of the Lord of Admirals. Gamelpar explains how humans were picked up, and placed on the Halo, and were visited by a Beast (primordial) and green eye thing. They take humans to the palace of pain. Chakas looked at the pod wreckage and found dead forerunners with armor hackers on it, suggesting civil war.
They wander around, and see massive forerunner ships repairing the damaged halo ring from the fighting. Vinnerva has a geas and helps guide them to where Riser may be. It points them in the direction of the old city, to which they must go around the village where Gamelpar is not welcome. They continue through the old city with walls to protect the inhabitants from other humans many years ago. The Lord of Admirals comments to Chakas that he had affection for Born. Lord of Admirals admits he also had affection for a warrior-servant he was in constant battle with.
To Gamelpar and Vinnevra, the old abandoned city speaks of glory days and happiness. To Chakas and the LOA, it speaks of forerunner treachery. They find a strange egg shaped structure in the city that is very large, and is possibly the Librarian’s way of speaking to people. Charum Hakkur once called the Eternal. The Halo starts to shake as if making new land, and they get to the edge of the halo where they see thousands of humans below. They notice the curled up spider looking Beast/Primordial on disk, perhaps in control of the human migration below. He moves them in a structure, perhaps the palace of pain.
Gamelpar, Vinnevra and Chakas move out from the chasm, away from where Vinnevra’s geas tells them to go. They find a crashed forerunner ship and ruins of a city. They move through mountains and a forest with thorny trunks that trap them on the other side with a lake. They move across the lake, with Vinnevra asking Chakas to take her life, if needed, to prevent going back to the palace of pain. I’m sorry, but the book really sucks right now. They row across the lake, seeing more dead forerunner bodies with no explanation. They find what appears to be an old human city, with sounds coming from inside.
They find a gravemind imprisoned that is made of forerunners. They hear cries for help. It is in a cage and a shield barrier as well. It shakes the whole city. They leave across the lake, and see two more bizarre shapes form up from the water. They see an illusion of a cone, perhaps used to power the Halo, as a vision of the Halo’s plan to heal itself.
In another forest, they find a shadow ape, forerunner and other different kinds of humans. One human is named Kirimt. The forerunner is named Genebender. They tell them to follow them to a village. Vinnevra can’t smell any of them but the ape. Genebender says he cannot return them to Erde-Tyrene, and that the power stations have been disabled on the ring. The ring is situated where the last human stand was made after Charrum Hakkur. Perhaps to destroy the last of their kind and precursor relics?
Chakas spirit tells him Genebender is more about unity than division. They see 7 or 8 types of humans gather in the hundreds in a large meeting hut. Master Builder was all about division and creating war within the humans. Supposedly Gene don’t want dat.
Lots of knowledge now. Humans are all scans. Genebender is really an ancilla who used to be a lifeshaper. He spills the whole story. Master Builder Halos vs Didact Shield Worlds. Humans found treatment and prevention against flood, or shaping sickness. Required infecting themselves, lost a third of their colonies. Didn’t attempt to infect forerunners this way. The ring they are on was used on Hakkur and san’shyuum system. Librarian pushed to use rings as preservation places for species, as well as the Arks. Many humans brought to Halo. Erde-Tyrene humans not brought because forerunners feared they had ancient human memories that could rise up against the forerunners. Humans tested in the “palace of pain” to see if they were immune. Results inconclusive. Genebender wants to scan (neutralize and imprint) the humans to keep their memories alive before he loses all power.
Chakas ran away from the Genebender thing. Gamelpar was dying, but did not want to be scanned. The ape understood as well, and did not allow him to be scanned. The image of the huts faded in and out, showing the false projection of clean nice huts, and the reality of overgrown grass and worn down structures. Riser supposedly is real, and resisted becoming a scan. Genebenders purpose was to prevent the Erde-Tyrene humans from taking over the halo. The librarians original plans were thrown quite out of whack by Faber. Armor and ships and weapons were disabled on the halo for some reason.
Chakas meets up with Riser. Their old humans have a memory, one is Forthenko, Lord of Admirals. The other is someone who imprisoned the Primordial and brought it to Charum Hakkur for questioning. It gave the humans useful information, as well as foretelling the fall of the forerunners and how humans will live on. Riser tells his story of how his ship crashed on the Halo, and the forerunners he was with tried to protect him, but had their armor lock up and kill one, and the others took their armor off and were killed by spores shot in the air (presumably by the Primordial). It appears the Primordial is infecting the forerunners with the flood sickness while they have a civil war. It supposedly also convinced Mendicant Bias (or another Halo monitor) to betray the forerunners. The humans interviewing the monitor (presumably Chakas) notice he has dual memories and are curious if this is a trap.
It is made clear that after humans were defeated at Chatham Hakkur, the Lifeworkers kept their genetic code to pass down through generations as they knew how to defeat the flood, and forerunners may need that same information. Lord of Admirals, Forthenko, was placed in Chakas. Yprin, who lives in Riser, was a rival of Forthenko and first discovered, revived, imprisoned and interrogated the primordial to find its secrets. It began leaking extraordinary answers. Yprin helped prepare human forces for the advanced forerunners. The composer is what made this possible. Chakas and Riser get a hold of themselves and continue with Vinnevra and Mara along Halo.
They get picked up by a forerunner ship, and taken to Lifeworker central where they find flood forms of forerunners contained in some type of armor.
Chakas talks with a monitor. Monitor says Lifeworkers rose up against builders? Lifeworkers working with humans, master builders trying to infect another set of humans for testing. Master builder brought back the Primordial, which in turn drove the Halo to the forerunner home world, attacked it, and escaped while civil war ensued on the planet. The forerunners appear to be losing this fight, and may want the humans to take over.
Forerunners only kept humans alive since they held the secret to immunity and a cure to the flood disease. It appears the group returns to Erde-Tyrene. Some monitors have betrayed forerunners and kept humans with the old human spirits to overthrow forerunners. Reason unknown. Lord of Admirals says the ring has an imminent collision with a planet, but wants to navigate then get back the old human fleet. Chakas wants to crash the ring and kill everyone to prevent more destruction from the ring.
With assistance from a flood looking forerunner, Chakas is guided to the cartographer and helps steer the ring out of the way of the planet. We also learn the primordial is called a gravemind, a collection of lives over millions of years. Didact confronts mendicant bias and accuses him of taking orders from someone other than forerunner. Mendicant says he has acted in the best interest of all, but Didact asks Chakas to help save the Halo.
Didact and Chakas shrunk the halo to fit through a portal to the lesser Ark for repairs. Didact was on a mission from Librarian to save the species and specimens on the ring. The loyal forerunners to the council who were infected then stood down, as did Chakas. Bornstellar is now the Didact as the original Didact served as his template. He explains the humans are safe and will go with the survivors where they will live pleasantly.
Didact takes Chakas to meet the primordial. He explains his physical form is already dead, and will become the keeper of biological records for humans and testing on the ring. Chakas will serve Didact and Librarian, and could only simulate motions of his old physical form. They are going to heart of the old mendicant bias.
Primordial mentions no immunity or cure to the flood. Only judgement, suggesting that the flood has the power to choose who they infect. Primordial said the Forerunners have been tested and failed, and the humans will be tested next. Didact then disintegrates the primordial?
It is then revealed that Chakas is 343 guilty spark? He takes over the ONI ship studying him, and instructs they must find librarian, Vinnevra riser and others.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2024
Greg Bear’s second entry into the franchise, and the second story of the Forerunner Saga, is a rare experience of a novel. On the surface it could be construed as a middle entry of a trilogy that continues the journey of one of the characters from Cryptum: a meandering, slow-paced hike across a Halo that furthers the explanations teased at in the first novel - that of the ‘primordial’, or the ‘captive’ as they were introduced previously; a tale that ends with little in the way of development of the A-plot concerning Bornstellar and the fate of the Forerunners… a flawed interpretation.
As an avid reader of the Halo franchise, thus far, chronologically, the missing element amidst the grand space action and the interesting world building has been real, deep character exploration; a genuine interpretation of events from the (often flawed or incomplete) point of view of the main characters, navigating their (often dire) predicaments and therein trying desperately to find meaning to their suffering and fate.
Bear takes the characters of the main franchise, particularly the Didact and 343 Guilty Spark, and creates a vision of their backstories to the tune of epic space opera that leads the reader through hundreds of pages of wandering almost blind through misery, confusion, insufficiently described landscapes and phenomena, relationships, disease and situations that are so vastly out of their control. The author presents the reader with an opportunity to completely enter the headspace of these tortured characters and understand the Sci-Fi setting of the Halo array from those that are simply trying to survive in the universe of decisions made by characters we don’t know all that much about - because neither do the protagonists.
Primordium succeeds in telling story of grand intergalactic transformation and obliterative war whilst remaining a fundamentally human character analysis of being afraid of the not knowing of life. It blends high Sci-Fi elements of ancient evils with powers unknown, machines and corrupting diseases, super intelligent AI and plots of domination, whilst continuing the themes of thoughts and actions being predetermined; of being ‘written’ into a story with no authority over the self, no agency or free will to divert from an inevitable fate.
Bear routinely creates a headspace for the reader that personally created a spiritual relevance and significance to times of feeling cyclically stuck, not myself, starved, etc., which is masterfully placed adjacent to more ridiculous events like amalgamations of bodies rotting but driven to dominate under the instruction of a hive mind being.
It leaves the reader with a sense that questions pertaining to wider events have been addressed but that a journey of self-reflection has been made not just by the characters but by the reader themselves.
As an avid reader of the Halo franchise, thus far, chronologically, the missing element amidst the grand space action and the interesting world building has been real, deep character exploration; a genuine interpretation of events from the (often flawed or incomplete) point of view of the main characters, navigating their (often dire) predicaments and therein trying desperately to find meaning to their suffering and fate.
Bear takes the characters of the main franchise, particularly the Didact and 343 Guilty Spark, and creates a vision of their backstories to the tune of epic space opera that leads the reader through hundreds of pages of wandering almost blind through misery, confusion, insufficiently described landscapes and phenomena, relationships, disease and situations that are so vastly out of their control. The author presents the reader with an opportunity to completely enter the headspace of these tortured characters and understand the Sci-Fi setting of the Halo array from those that are simply trying to survive in the universe of decisions made by characters we don’t know all that much about - because neither do the protagonists.
Primordium succeeds in telling story of grand intergalactic transformation and obliterative war whilst remaining a fundamentally human character analysis of being afraid of the not knowing of life. It blends high Sci-Fi elements of ancient evils with powers unknown, machines and corrupting diseases, super intelligent AI and plots of domination, whilst continuing the themes of thoughts and actions being predetermined; of being ‘written’ into a story with no authority over the self, no agency or free will to divert from an inevitable fate.
Bear routinely creates a headspace for the reader that personally created a spiritual relevance and significance to times of feeling cyclically stuck, not myself, starved, etc., which is masterfully placed adjacent to more ridiculous events like amalgamations of bodies rotting but driven to dominate under the instruction of a hive mind being.
It leaves the reader with a sense that questions pertaining to wider events have been addressed but that a journey of self-reflection has been made not just by the characters but by the reader themselves.
March 26, 2024
Very different from the first book. Going from a forerunner point of view in that one to the point of view of an ancient human to sometimes that of a doubly ancient human and then all the way forward to present day was really interesting to delve into. It made keeping track of the story a little difficult at times but as the book progressed the puzzle pieces seemed to fall into place. It was a linear story but in a three dimensional way where you got to see everything happening at once and yet at different times. The language was a bit hard to process at times and made for difficult patches of rereading the same pages over and over but that hardly impacted the richness of the story. I’m excited to dive into Silentium after this and discover and wrap up the Forerunner saga. It’s been an incredible journey so far getting to see how these books and stories shape the halo universe, especially after the events of Halo 4. The Halo universe is such a rich and expansive realm and yet somehow it all meshes together so well. Getting to read books as good as these just makes me love the Halo universe all the more.
March 1, 2022
This novel was very enjoyable, but not as much as a page turner for me as the first book, Cryptum, which was primarily about the Didact. This novel is from the POV of Chakras, a human from Earth, who joined Bornsteller on quest in the preceding tale. Chakras is alone & marooned on a Halo, in the company of some other primitive humans. They embark on a journey through different sections of the ring. For my attention span, I found certain parts of the journey in the first half a bit boring. Then it does pick up and become quite interesting, filling in more details of Forerunner lore as it goes along. It does answer certain questions I had, playing the Halo series, so I’m glad I finally read it.
August 31, 2024
This was a book with a really cool premise and had all the momentum going for it from the previous book, but it ends up being a boring exposition dump that tried to explain too much from the wrong story.
The first book read like a mystery novel, this one was less than exciting story about the Humans. This book obviously wanted to tell Chakas’ story and build from the mystery of the first book, but it ended up also wanted to give deep, deep, lore drops onto the reader and set the stage for a bunch of other things to come and I don’t think this was the story to do that. This needed to be a more isolated story that didn’t explain everything that was happening. The first book let things unfold and when a question arose it didn’t sent answer it immediately. I think the story suffers by not having an actual plot to properly support the information it gave.
There were some cool moments in the audiobook version, especially the end. I already knew the “twist” so it wasn’t super crazy to me but still really cool nonetheless to hear. I think Chakas and Riser are really interesting characters, but unfortunately that got stuck exposition barfing most of the story.
Overall this was the weakest out of the franchise so far, but I really enjoyed the first novel in the trilogy so I’m hoping the finale and bring it all together in a really great way.
The first book read like a mystery novel, this one was less than exciting story about the Humans. This book obviously wanted to tell Chakas’ story and build from the mystery of the first book, but it ended up also wanted to give deep, deep, lore drops onto the reader and set the stage for a bunch of other things to come and I don’t think this was the story to do that. This needed to be a more isolated story that didn’t explain everything that was happening. The first book let things unfold and when a question arose it didn’t sent answer it immediately. I think the story suffers by not having an actual plot to properly support the information it gave.
There were some cool moments in the audiobook version, especially the end. I already knew the “twist” so it wasn’t super crazy to me but still really cool nonetheless to hear. I think Chakas and Riser are really interesting characters, but unfortunately that got stuck exposition barfing most of the story.
Overall this was the weakest out of the franchise so far, but I really enjoyed the first novel in the trilogy so I’m hoping the finale and bring it all together in a really great way.
January 14, 2013
This isn't a book that you can casually just pick up and get into, and expect to know everything about it, even if you're a hardcore science fiction fan. You'd have to have an extensive understanding of the whole Halo universe to even get any of the references which I eventually got by reading up the Halo Wikia, which is something that I do regularly for all of my science fiction or fantasy reads especially after getting into a bit of trouble remembering all the lore and background, which is happening a lot more often now that I've been jumping around between all the various series that I have been reading and not finishing, and then suddenly deciding to pick up again a few months later.
Primordium involves a lot of walking around. I mean of the type that usually happens in high fantasy novels, but you wouldn't exactly expect to happen in the science fiction genre. I mean seriously, 50% of the book involves walking around this massive construct called a Halo, finding random dead aliens and remains of crashed warships and then more walking. Not a lot happens aside from that for over half the book. I probably should have read more Halo books prior to this but hey, I didn't want to invest the time into something that I wasn't really interested in to begin with (unlike the Warhammer 40k-verse, which is frigging awesome by the way), and I wanted a peek at the Halo-verse. I was not impressed with what I read.
So around the halfway mark through my reading of the novel after blundering around blindly and trying to get through the endless walking and poking of dead corpses, I finally did some research into the Didact, Forerunners, the Primordial and pretty much everything (including spoilers). Imagine my surprise when the story started to become interesting for some reason and when I continued reading it was still boring despite knowing pretty much everything about the lore but it finally perked up during the final third of the book. The final third of the book hinted at points that actually piqued my interest and made me keep reading to find out more. The ending left everything off on a cliffhanger and strangely enough I want to find out more despite how bland most of the book was. My interest wasn't due to the actual book itself on its own merits but rather due to the fact that I wanted to find out more about the lore from where it left off. Otherwise the book is totally forgettable.
More book reviews like this can be found at Lanun Reviews.
Primordium involves a lot of walking around. I mean of the type that usually happens in high fantasy novels, but you wouldn't exactly expect to happen in the science fiction genre. I mean seriously, 50% of the book involves walking around this massive construct called a Halo, finding random dead aliens and remains of crashed warships and then more walking. Not a lot happens aside from that for over half the book. I probably should have read more Halo books prior to this but hey, I didn't want to invest the time into something that I wasn't really interested in to begin with (unlike the Warhammer 40k-verse, which is frigging awesome by the way), and I wanted a peek at the Halo-verse. I was not impressed with what I read.
So around the halfway mark through my reading of the novel after blundering around blindly and trying to get through the endless walking and poking of dead corpses, I finally did some research into the Didact, Forerunners, the Primordial and pretty much everything (including spoilers). Imagine my surprise when the story started to become interesting for some reason and when I continued reading it was still boring despite knowing pretty much everything about the lore but it finally perked up during the final third of the book. The final third of the book hinted at points that actually piqued my interest and made me keep reading to find out more. The ending left everything off on a cliffhanger and strangely enough I want to find out more despite how bland most of the book was. My interest wasn't due to the actual book itself on its own merits but rather due to the fact that I wanted to find out more about the lore from where it left off. Otherwise the book is totally forgettable.
More book reviews like this can be found at Lanun Reviews.
May 25, 2024
This book was both more confusing and duller than its predecessor. There was some exposition that seemed important, but none that couldn’t have been explained in the first or third book. The last 3 hours or so are important and quite good, but it doesn’t justify a novel-length book. Assuming the third installment is substantial, this series could easily have been a duology.
There are some things I really liked, though. The framing device of this story, 343 Guilty Spark explaining his origin to ONI agents, is brilliant. I really liked that this was 343’s origin, it really adds depth to the world. It would be better if the story wasn’t so dull, but that’s neither here nor there.
Greg Bear is also very skilled with his prose, and I enjoy reading his descriptions of the Halo ring and the general atmosphere.
And lastly, the descriptions and small stories of the humans’ mythology was absolutely wonderful. We don’t get much of it, but what we do get is very charming. One passage that sticks out to me is the tale of the first human: “Perhaps we carry all the old spirits, like the great first human whose forefinger was tall as a tree, and who held the souls of all his children for all generations to come within that finger.” I want more of this. We get glimpses, but never a fleshed-out story. Instead of all the walking and tedious journeying, Bear should have focused on the mythology.
Now onto what I didn’t like. Somehow there’s both way too much and way too little exposition. We get an explanation for the flood, the human/forerunner war, and the Halo rings, but we get almost zero information on what a gaes is, how “Old Spirits” work, and what kind of power the forerunners have. The Librarian “placed” a gaes into the humans, but how? With magic? Forerunners seem very magical, which I think is great, but it’s never explained. I wouldn’t mind if the answer was magic, but I don’t think it is and I’m not sure what it is if it’s not magic.
Bear also has a few dubious, borderline offensive, passages. Early on, Chakas describes one of the women characters using a derogatorily negative stereotype that’s played for laughs. Later, he uses the R-slur in its original meaning. The former could be dismissed as Chakas’ personal bias, and the latter could maybe be excused because it wasn’t meant as a slur, but both of those explanations are weak and rather ignorant. I’m not dismissing Bear as an author altogether, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Overall, this book was a waste of time.
There are some things I really liked, though. The framing device of this story, 343 Guilty Spark explaining his origin to ONI agents, is brilliant. I really liked that this was 343’s origin, it really adds depth to the world. It would be better if the story wasn’t so dull, but that’s neither here nor there.
Greg Bear is also very skilled with his prose, and I enjoy reading his descriptions of the Halo ring and the general atmosphere.
And lastly, the descriptions and small stories of the humans’ mythology was absolutely wonderful. We don’t get much of it, but what we do get is very charming. One passage that sticks out to me is the tale of the first human: “Perhaps we carry all the old spirits, like the great first human whose forefinger was tall as a tree, and who held the souls of all his children for all generations to come within that finger.” I want more of this. We get glimpses, but never a fleshed-out story. Instead of all the walking and tedious journeying, Bear should have focused on the mythology.
Now onto what I didn’t like. Somehow there’s both way too much and way too little exposition. We get an explanation for the flood, the human/forerunner war, and the Halo rings, but we get almost zero information on what a gaes is, how “Old Spirits” work, and what kind of power the forerunners have. The Librarian “placed” a gaes into the humans, but how? With magic? Forerunners seem very magical, which I think is great, but it’s never explained. I wouldn’t mind if the answer was magic, but I don’t think it is and I’m not sure what it is if it’s not magic.
Bear also has a few dubious, borderline offensive, passages. Early on, Chakas describes one of the women characters using a derogatorily negative stereotype that’s played for laughs. Later, he uses the R-slur in its original meaning. The former could be dismissed as Chakas’ personal bias, and the latter could maybe be excused because it wasn’t meant as a slur, but both of those explanations are weak and rather ignorant. I’m not dismissing Bear as an author altogether, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Overall, this book was a waste of time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2012
Never having been a 'gamer', I'd only heard of "HALO". Looking for something sf-positive to read, found this book and the "Cryptum", both written by Greg Bear. Enjoyable and fast-to-read books for me. So much enjoyed that I've ordered the first of Eric Nylund's Halo books as well as the new one by Karen Traviss, "The Thursday War".
I see "Silentium" isn't to be published and available till March of next year. sigh** I WILL WISH TO READ IT. Whether I'll like the novels of the earlier HALO series, I will soon see.
Terrific first two books of trilogy written by Greg Bear, to me. I rate them both higher than they are being given other places. The first novel has the main character travel to several different planets and there are several different species of high interest to the apparent or supposed happenstance of the novels. The main three characters had me totally immersed in what was written about their times.
This second book took another of those three main characters and was VERY interesting as to what happened in the HALO world. Enjoyable two books. Greg Bear can really write and write well.
I see "Silentium" isn't to be published and available till March of next year. sigh** I WILL WISH TO READ IT. Whether I'll like the novels of the earlier HALO series, I will soon see.
Terrific first two books of trilogy written by Greg Bear, to me. I rate them both higher than they are being given other places. The first novel has the main character travel to several different planets and there are several different species of high interest to the apparent or supposed happenstance of the novels. The main three characters had me totally immersed in what was written about their times.
This second book took another of those three main characters and was VERY interesting as to what happened in the HALO world. Enjoyable two books. Greg Bear can really write and write well.
June 2, 2015
I enjoyed this far more than the first one in this story-arc. I found the last one entirely boring, from what I remember, but for some reason I picked up the second book over a year later. And I really enjoyed it, mainly because instead of just following the characters as they follow another character (aka, the last book), the people in this story make their own path. (Which is interesting thematically, if you think about it, as they are the ones with inborn (or implanted) directional prodding from an outside entity.) What was also more interesting about this story was the setting – it reminded me, somewhat oddly I admit, of the Dark Tower, quite possibly because they are on a quest through a rather barren landscape full of strange cities, people and creatures, and their goal is lofty but nevertheless important despite the fact they don't really know where they're going. It’s possible I just wasn’t in the mood for the first novel when I read it, but this one drew me in. The two main characters also grow and change as they progress through the story, which is something of which Karen Traviss should take note…
February 20, 2012
Halo: Primordium continues to delve into the history of the Halo universe offering quite a few surprises along the way. Die-hard Halo fans will definitely love discovering more about The Flood, the Precursor and what Chakas ultimately becomes. The cliffhanger ending also gives an enticing glimpse of how the story might tie in with the forthcoming Halo 4 game. More casual readers might find the slow pace a bit daunting, but it’s well worth persevering till the end. If you are looking for an action-packed adventure then you'd be better off looking at some of the other novels in the Halo franchise. Read full review
February 26, 2013
Like the previews one it was good but a bit slower with less things going on which made it a bit dull. It was still a good read since it covered much of the plot holes of the first book but I feel there could of been a lot more to it. Nevertheless I'm still excited for the third and final one coming out this march! I would recommend it only if you've already read the first one Halo: Cryptum.
January 26, 2013
Got 50 pages into it and put it aside. Did not grab me at all.
August 19, 2024
Man this hurts to give such a low rating.
I really did enjoy Cryptum and how it sets up the trilogy, as well as how it is as its own story. I saw the negative reviews for this book and was really hoping it wasn’t true and at first I was relieved, since the first third of this book is actually pretty good; I liked seeing more of Chakas and his character, I liked the set up with the Librarian and what she meant to other characters and what she could end up meaning for Chakas, etc. but then it just completely lost its footing.
For me, the most annoying part about this book is the lack of a thematic through-line. With the discussions of the Librarian and the conflict within Chakas given the new context of her, as well as other’s opinions around him, I thought for sure this would lead into a religious theme, more specifically exploring and maybe even answering the question of “what does it mean for believers when their god leaves them to suffer?”, which could be explored in a potential crisis-of-faith arc for Chakas. It’s set up, she’s described internally and externally as this goddess-like figure and Chakas does start to go through an internal conflict….but then it just kinda gets dropped? Like by the end Chakas had said he’d fought to remain faithful to her, and then as Guilty Spark he didn’t really have much choice in the matter, since he was made to serve her,….and…that’s it!
What’s particularly annoying about this is the fact that like 50% of this book is just him wondering around until Vinnevra’s gaes takes them to the plot apparently is, before they leave that area, before being dragged back into it. I mean they walk around for what might’ve been weeks or months. What a perfect time to explore this theme and arc; when the character is literally wondering around, struggling and fighting to survive, with the Libarian’s gaes on Vinnevra seemingly doing nothing but leading them to the Palace of Pain, or of nowhere at all. But alas, I guess I should’ve just replayed Halo 2 again if I wanted a crisis-of-faith arc done well…sigh!
And that’s another thing, the pacing is in absolute shambles. Like I said, the first third starts off pretty okay: the current motivation is set up: they want to get off the ring, before Vinnevra takes them where her gaes is leading her. Before we wonder purposely aimlessly around the ring, occasionally being dragged into specific locations for some lore exploration and being taken to who-knows-where, before at last the actual plot begins. Um. 300 pages in.
And then it gets immediately resolved.
Like, the humans agreeing/being dragged into fighting the forerunners, the planet passing through the ring, the Didact finding them and helping to save the ring to preserve the life on board, him confronting the captive, Chakas being turned into Guilty Spark AND them leaving to go onto the Ark all happens within the span of like 70 pages. Going from wondering around the ring to this all of a sudden just happening gave me straight up whiplash, I genuinely didn’t even know what was happening at first.
What’s extremely frustrating is that, even after all that time dicking around, I still have quite a lot of questions. Like: how did the Master Builder actually die? Or is this seriously a case of: potentially interesting villain getting killed off screen.
How does this old spirit actually work? How does a gaes actually work?
Again this is just annoying to me because I really did like Cryptum, and it hurts me to give this book a low rating because I do like the way it’s written, in the sense that I like the descriptions, especially ones that go into actual philosophy (before dropping any potential thematic through-lines those might have.)
Whatever, whatever. I’ll probably end up reading this again but hopefully Silentium will deliver. Please please deliver.
I really did enjoy Cryptum and how it sets up the trilogy, as well as how it is as its own story. I saw the negative reviews for this book and was really hoping it wasn’t true and at first I was relieved, since the first third of this book is actually pretty good; I liked seeing more of Chakas and his character, I liked the set up with the Librarian and what she meant to other characters and what she could end up meaning for Chakas, etc. but then it just completely lost its footing.
For me, the most annoying part about this book is the lack of a thematic through-line. With the discussions of the Librarian and the conflict within Chakas given the new context of her, as well as other’s opinions around him, I thought for sure this would lead into a religious theme, more specifically exploring and maybe even answering the question of “what does it mean for believers when their god leaves them to suffer?”, which could be explored in a potential crisis-of-faith arc for Chakas. It’s set up, she’s described internally and externally as this goddess-like figure and Chakas does start to go through an internal conflict….but then it just kinda gets dropped? Like by the end Chakas had said he’d fought to remain faithful to her, and then as Guilty Spark he didn’t really have much choice in the matter, since he was made to serve her,….and…that’s it!
What’s particularly annoying about this is the fact that like 50% of this book is just him wondering around until Vinnevra’s gaes takes them to the plot apparently is, before they leave that area, before being dragged back into it. I mean they walk around for what might’ve been weeks or months. What a perfect time to explore this theme and arc; when the character is literally wondering around, struggling and fighting to survive, with the Libarian’s gaes on Vinnevra seemingly doing nothing but leading them to the Palace of Pain, or of nowhere at all. But alas, I guess I should’ve just replayed Halo 2 again if I wanted a crisis-of-faith arc done well…sigh!
And that’s another thing, the pacing is in absolute shambles. Like I said, the first third starts off pretty okay: the current motivation is set up: they want to get off the ring, before Vinnevra takes them where her gaes is leading her. Before we wonder purposely aimlessly around the ring, occasionally being dragged into specific locations for some lore exploration and being taken to who-knows-where, before at last the actual plot begins. Um. 300 pages in.
And then it gets immediately resolved.
Like, the humans agreeing/being dragged into fighting the forerunners, the planet passing through the ring, the Didact finding them and helping to save the ring to preserve the life on board, him confronting the captive, Chakas being turned into Guilty Spark AND them leaving to go onto the Ark all happens within the span of like 70 pages. Going from wondering around the ring to this all of a sudden just happening gave me straight up whiplash, I genuinely didn’t even know what was happening at first.
What’s extremely frustrating is that, even after all that time dicking around, I still have quite a lot of questions. Like: how did the Master Builder actually die? Or is this seriously a case of: potentially interesting villain getting killed off screen.
How does this old spirit actually work? How does a gaes actually work?
Again this is just annoying to me because I really did like Cryptum, and it hurts me to give this book a low rating because I do like the way it’s written, in the sense that I like the descriptions, especially ones that go into actual philosophy (before dropping any potential thematic through-lines those might have.)
Whatever, whatever. I’ll probably end up reading this again but hopefully Silentium will deliver. Please please deliver.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2013
One of the things that irked me most about Halo: Cryptum was that it lacked a necessary human element. It was so mired in Forerunner jargon and rarified worldbuilding that it lacked the sort of lived-in soul that is present in almost every other piece of Halo fiction, game, comic, or otherwise. Cryptum’s sterile yet dusty tale of treasure hunting and tragedy was interesting, but not gripping; it was high adventure, but not dangerous. Greg Bear’s follow up, titled Primordium, is a much better novel in almost every regard. Shame it suffers from the Two Towers syndrome, though.
Primordium snatches the Point of View torch away from Bornstellar, the foolish young Forerunner forced to mutate into the Didact, and plants it in the capable hands of Chakas, the young earthling who was sucked into the whole Forerunner collapse along with Bornstellar. Chakas is a brooding, angry chum whose geas (a vision, or set of visions, implanted in him by the notorious Forerunner called “The Librarian”) has him constantly on edge. During the first book his geas was just a series of bad memories relating the tragic outcome of a war ten thousand years past. However, it becomes more willful during the course of the novel, developing a distinct personality and agenda in a relationship that will be quite familiar to Halo fans: that of the brooding personality forced to deal with the ego living in their head. Master Chief and Cortana, except in this case, the bloke living in Chakas’ head is actually bound to his DNA and deep-set in his brain.
As with Cryptum, the scientific prowess of the Forerunner is such that it becomes ridiculous to bother considering. It’s magic, folks, Bertrand Russel and all; thankfully the concept of living with someone much smarter but less capable is not foreign to fans. Or, at least, not as foreign as the janky Forerunner worldbuilding that was foisted on us in the previous novel. The developing relationship of Chakas and the Lord of Admirals is a key point of the novel; Primordium shares many similar themes with Cryptum, chiefly among them submission to destiny. Chakas can’t stop the Lord of Admirals from showing him things, from explaining things, and he can hardly control it on the few occasions when the alter-ego tries to seize control of Chakas’ body. However, where Cryptum was about the responsibility to society, to doing what’s right no matter the risks, Primordium is much more personal. This is, quite simply, a novel of survival and searching for one’s friend.
It opens with Chakas having crash-landed on one of the Master Builder’s Halo Rings immediately following the climactic closure of its predecessor. Missing are Bornstellar, the Didact, and Chakas’ only other human comrade, the hobbit-like Riser. Terrified that Riser might be in danger, Chakas sets out on a quest to find his companion, paying no heed to the dangers he encounters along the way. His singleminded quest is demonstrative in allowing the Lord of Admirals to develop and provide the reader with wonderfully worked in tidbits of history and mechanics; it even goes so far as to dabble in sociology and anthropology. But what surprised me most about this book was its remarkably different tone from that of Cryptum, which was so devoid of danger that it felt almost sterile and lifeless; by comparison, Primordium is claustrophobically dangerous, well-populated with horrors fit to bear the Halo monicker, and, in the end, memorable. I can remember MUCH more of Primordium than I can of Cryptum, and I’ve read Cryptum TWICE. Staying is power is a great judge of character, as you well know; in this second entry, Bear brings it.
Now, well-read SF fans might have recognized some similarity shared between Primordium and Larry Niven’s seminal Ringworld. You’d be correct. In fact, it isn’t much of a stretch to say that Primordium takes some of the most interesting aspects of Ringworld and its immediate sequel, Ringworld Engineers, and uses them to construct a Halo narrative. Indeed, we’ve got the hapless, helpless crew crashing down. We’ve got a narrator who doesn’t really understand the severity of his situation because critical information is always being withheld. We’ve got lots of talk about impossible machinery, and enough jargon to make a man wish for some simple tanjin’ language. There’s the inevitable search for companions, the discovery of ignorant but charming(?) natives with strange cultures who have no real knowledge of what sort of world they live on. Present are the trip to the place where the ringworld’s material has been laid bare, to abandoned cities (though the Halo’s isn’t compacted with garbage), and, of course, the rush to save the ringworld from imminent collapse. Don’t forget that the main characters are so far beneath the mysterious creators (Forerunner, Pak, who can tell the difference? Neither have noses!) that they can’t see the purpose or grand scale. Primordium is a Ringworld Lite, I think. But is that a good thing?
I’m not sure, to be honest, but the above sentiment was what I came away from it feeling. I’m a HUGE Ringworld fan; I’ve read the first book three or four times and the entire series (including the awful Ringworld Throne) twice. In fact, I got into Ringworld because of Halo, so I’ve always been well-cognizant of the connection the two share, and I think I’m quite pleased to see it so blatantly acknowledged. Bear does a good job of it, too. Like Luis Wu, Chakas has to work out how to understand directions, how to survive when good food isn’t at hand. In fact, Bear does a better job of that than Niven’s cadre. None of the Primordium gang has an auto-doc or replicator that can make food from any material provided; they don’t have flying transport. Indeed, they don’t even have shoes! Bear does a superb job in making ever-present the claustrophobic tension of surviving on a flimsy ribbon in space where human reason and comprehension are so unreliable that wanderers might as well break down and follow their gut.
This, of course, is literal; much of the book is spent with the readers following one character’s geas, which “pulls” her in the right direction. Having nothing better to ride hopes on, and some experience with the infallibility of the Librarian’s strange geas, Chakas follows along with it. This is perhaps the one real point of criticism that I have with the novel; it does seem meandering and aimless, and often (this is the Two Towers Syndrome: overlong and aimless). It’s also another point that mirrors Ringworld and a common complaint about Niven’s novel, too. However, Bear smartly plays with the rules of the Librarian’s geas as a plot device, which allows for the introduction of some horror into the novel. Through Chakas’ eyes we see plenty of Flood-based nightmares, and we catch a glimpse of the bizarre, beetle-like Primordial for which the book takes its name.
It strikes me that having a central enemy was a wise decision for Primodium; a lack of focused enmity was strongly felt in Cryptum, with no clear cause for Bornstellar et. al. to unite against. The presence of the Primordial, a Lovecraftian horror from the depths of space, gives us a clear point of gravity to “get the hell away from” for the obvious reasons: It delights in suffering and terror and its presence spells death for all in its thrall.
I admit to being quite skeptical going into Primordium after the disappointment I felt with Cryptum’s mediocrity. I’m used to my Halo books being vibrant and full of action and life, if not stellar quality of prose. Cryptum traded bombast for a well-written narrative at, I think, severe cost. Thankfully, Primordium, with all of its meandering, is a better book. Bear rattles the chains of the trilogy, summoning the troops for a wonderful homage to Niven’s Ringworld books and spins a soulful, human story about tragedy, discovery, and the nature of wisdom at the same time. The restoration of perspective to a human focal point is a massive change for the positive, and the installation of the Primordium as a true villain is, I think, going to be very helpful going into the final arc of the trilogy. If you’re a Halo fan and you made it through Cryptum, I really recommend continuing into Primordium. And if you’ve already read Primordium, may I suggest Ringworld?
Primordium snatches the Point of View torch away from Bornstellar, the foolish young Forerunner forced to mutate into the Didact, and plants it in the capable hands of Chakas, the young earthling who was sucked into the whole Forerunner collapse along with Bornstellar. Chakas is a brooding, angry chum whose geas (a vision, or set of visions, implanted in him by the notorious Forerunner called “The Librarian”) has him constantly on edge. During the first book his geas was just a series of bad memories relating the tragic outcome of a war ten thousand years past. However, it becomes more willful during the course of the novel, developing a distinct personality and agenda in a relationship that will be quite familiar to Halo fans: that of the brooding personality forced to deal with the ego living in their head. Master Chief and Cortana, except in this case, the bloke living in Chakas’ head is actually bound to his DNA and deep-set in his brain.
As with Cryptum, the scientific prowess of the Forerunner is such that it becomes ridiculous to bother considering. It’s magic, folks, Bertrand Russel and all; thankfully the concept of living with someone much smarter but less capable is not foreign to fans. Or, at least, not as foreign as the janky Forerunner worldbuilding that was foisted on us in the previous novel. The developing relationship of Chakas and the Lord of Admirals is a key point of the novel; Primordium shares many similar themes with Cryptum, chiefly among them submission to destiny. Chakas can’t stop the Lord of Admirals from showing him things, from explaining things, and he can hardly control it on the few occasions when the alter-ego tries to seize control of Chakas’ body. However, where Cryptum was about the responsibility to society, to doing what’s right no matter the risks, Primordium is much more personal. This is, quite simply, a novel of survival and searching for one’s friend.
It opens with Chakas having crash-landed on one of the Master Builder’s Halo Rings immediately following the climactic closure of its predecessor. Missing are Bornstellar, the Didact, and Chakas’ only other human comrade, the hobbit-like Riser. Terrified that Riser might be in danger, Chakas sets out on a quest to find his companion, paying no heed to the dangers he encounters along the way. His singleminded quest is demonstrative in allowing the Lord of Admirals to develop and provide the reader with wonderfully worked in tidbits of history and mechanics; it even goes so far as to dabble in sociology and anthropology. But what surprised me most about this book was its remarkably different tone from that of Cryptum, which was so devoid of danger that it felt almost sterile and lifeless; by comparison, Primordium is claustrophobically dangerous, well-populated with horrors fit to bear the Halo monicker, and, in the end, memorable. I can remember MUCH more of Primordium than I can of Cryptum, and I’ve read Cryptum TWICE. Staying is power is a great judge of character, as you well know; in this second entry, Bear brings it.
Now, well-read SF fans might have recognized some similarity shared between Primordium and Larry Niven’s seminal Ringworld. You’d be correct. In fact, it isn’t much of a stretch to say that Primordium takes some of the most interesting aspects of Ringworld and its immediate sequel, Ringworld Engineers, and uses them to construct a Halo narrative. Indeed, we’ve got the hapless, helpless crew crashing down. We’ve got a narrator who doesn’t really understand the severity of his situation because critical information is always being withheld. We’ve got lots of talk about impossible machinery, and enough jargon to make a man wish for some simple tanjin’ language. There’s the inevitable search for companions, the discovery of ignorant but charming(?) natives with strange cultures who have no real knowledge of what sort of world they live on. Present are the trip to the place where the ringworld’s material has been laid bare, to abandoned cities (though the Halo’s isn’t compacted with garbage), and, of course, the rush to save the ringworld from imminent collapse. Don’t forget that the main characters are so far beneath the mysterious creators (Forerunner, Pak, who can tell the difference? Neither have noses!) that they can’t see the purpose or grand scale. Primordium is a Ringworld Lite, I think. But is that a good thing?
I’m not sure, to be honest, but the above sentiment was what I came away from it feeling. I’m a HUGE Ringworld fan; I’ve read the first book three or four times and the entire series (including the awful Ringworld Throne) twice. In fact, I got into Ringworld because of Halo, so I’ve always been well-cognizant of the connection the two share, and I think I’m quite pleased to see it so blatantly acknowledged. Bear does a good job of it, too. Like Luis Wu, Chakas has to work out how to understand directions, how to survive when good food isn’t at hand. In fact, Bear does a better job of that than Niven’s cadre. None of the Primordium gang has an auto-doc or replicator that can make food from any material provided; they don’t have flying transport. Indeed, they don’t even have shoes! Bear does a superb job in making ever-present the claustrophobic tension of surviving on a flimsy ribbon in space where human reason and comprehension are so unreliable that wanderers might as well break down and follow their gut.
This, of course, is literal; much of the book is spent with the readers following one character’s geas, which “pulls” her in the right direction. Having nothing better to ride hopes on, and some experience with the infallibility of the Librarian’s strange geas, Chakas follows along with it. This is perhaps the one real point of criticism that I have with the novel; it does seem meandering and aimless, and often (this is the Two Towers Syndrome: overlong and aimless). It’s also another point that mirrors Ringworld and a common complaint about Niven’s novel, too. However, Bear smartly plays with the rules of the Librarian’s geas as a plot device, which allows for the introduction of some horror into the novel. Through Chakas’ eyes we see plenty of Flood-based nightmares, and we catch a glimpse of the bizarre, beetle-like Primordial for which the book takes its name.
It strikes me that having a central enemy was a wise decision for Primodium; a lack of focused enmity was strongly felt in Cryptum, with no clear cause for Bornstellar et. al. to unite against. The presence of the Primordial, a Lovecraftian horror from the depths of space, gives us a clear point of gravity to “get the hell away from” for the obvious reasons: It delights in suffering and terror and its presence spells death for all in its thrall.
I admit to being quite skeptical going into Primordium after the disappointment I felt with Cryptum’s mediocrity. I’m used to my Halo books being vibrant and full of action and life, if not stellar quality of prose. Cryptum traded bombast for a well-written narrative at, I think, severe cost. Thankfully, Primordium, with all of its meandering, is a better book. Bear rattles the chains of the trilogy, summoning the troops for a wonderful homage to Niven’s Ringworld books and spins a soulful, human story about tragedy, discovery, and the nature of wisdom at the same time. The restoration of perspective to a human focal point is a massive change for the positive, and the installation of the Primordium as a true villain is, I think, going to be very helpful going into the final arc of the trilogy. If you’re a Halo fan and you made it through Cryptum, I really recommend continuing into Primordium. And if you’ve already read Primordium, may I suggest Ringworld?
February 24, 2025
Halo: Primordium is book two in the Forerunner Saga; it’s set almost immediately after the first book, Halo: Cryptum. Primordium follows Chakas, one of Bornstellar’s companions from Cryptum, after he crash lands on a Halo ring. Chakas and his newfound friends, Gamelpar and Vinnevra, set out to find Chakas’s friend Riser, who may also have crashed on the ring, and escape the ever worsening-situation to find a way home.
Halo: Primordium is similar to Halo: Cryptum in the sense that it’s quite different, almost weird when compared any other Halo book out there. Greg Bear has made quite the series. After reading Primordium, I must say that I did enjoy it more than Cryptum. A lot more happens in this book, while Cryptum feels like nothing really happens until the very end.
Vinnevra and Gamelpar are interesting characters, along with the Lord of Admirals and Yrpin Yprikushma to a lesser extent. I’m thinking the Lord of Admirals and Yprin Yprikushma will play a larger role in the third and final book of the Forerunner Saga. The Primordial, an ancient Precursor bent on revenge(?) for the genocide of its species at the hands of the Forerunners millions of years ago, makes for a mysterious and ominous villain with links to the Flood. Lore-wise, The Primordial is an incredibly interesting character to me. I think that Greg Bear did a good job of writing it. Its death is quite satisfying as well.
One other thing I found interesting in Halo: Primordium is how the Flood are depicted. Yes, they are terrible monsters controlled by the Gravemind, but they don’t make a massive appearance in the story directly, until near the end, of course. There are victims of the Flood who are “Composed” by a Forerunner device that removes their “Essence” and can transport it to a new body. Interestingly enough, even when these infected victims are given a new body, they’re still infected by the Flood and start to rapidly decompose or mutate. It seems that the Forerunner and Human victims are aware of their plight as well, which is horrifying to me. From a lore perspective, it is quite interesting as the general consensus is that the Flood kills their victims while infecting them in most cases with a few exceptions.
In conclusion, just like Halo: Cryptum, I had a difficult time reviewing this book. It’s different from other Halo media but is interesting from a lore perspective. After reading two out of the three books from the Forerunner Saga, I really don’t think this series is a must-read; it would be safe to skip this one if you aren’t overly interested in the lore. There are better Halo books out there. After some thought, I give Halo: Primordium a 3/5 stars.
Halo: Primordium is similar to Halo: Cryptum in the sense that it’s quite different, almost weird when compared any other Halo book out there. Greg Bear has made quite the series. After reading Primordium, I must say that I did enjoy it more than Cryptum. A lot more happens in this book, while Cryptum feels like nothing really happens until the very end.
Vinnevra and Gamelpar are interesting characters, along with the Lord of Admirals and Yrpin Yprikushma to a lesser extent. I’m thinking the Lord of Admirals and Yprin Yprikushma will play a larger role in the third and final book of the Forerunner Saga. The Primordial, an ancient Precursor bent on revenge(?) for the genocide of its species at the hands of the Forerunners millions of years ago, makes for a mysterious and ominous villain with links to the Flood. Lore-wise, The Primordial is an incredibly interesting character to me. I think that Greg Bear did a good job of writing it. Its death is quite satisfying as well.
One other thing I found interesting in Halo: Primordium is how the Flood are depicted. Yes, they are terrible monsters controlled by the Gravemind, but they don’t make a massive appearance in the story directly, until near the end, of course. There are victims of the Flood who are “Composed” by a Forerunner device that removes their “Essence” and can transport it to a new body. Interestingly enough, even when these infected victims are given a new body, they’re still infected by the Flood and start to rapidly decompose or mutate. It seems that the Forerunner and Human victims are aware of their plight as well, which is horrifying to me. From a lore perspective, it is quite interesting as the general consensus is that the Flood kills their victims while infecting them in most cases with a few exceptions.
In conclusion, just like Halo: Cryptum, I had a difficult time reviewing this book. It’s different from other Halo media but is interesting from a lore perspective. After reading two out of the three books from the Forerunner Saga, I really don’t think this series is a must-read; it would be safe to skip this one if you aren’t overly interested in the lore. There are better Halo books out there. After some thought, I give Halo: Primordium a 3/5 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2024
If I was being facetious, I could summarise this book as 'human walks around Halo Ring commandeered by a former Precursor and a Forerunner AI he's brainwashed - stuff happens'. And it is true, yet more than Cryptum, I found myself engrossed in Primordium far more.
To quickly touch on the prose itself (which also applies to Cryptum and Silentium), the late Greg Bear's style of writing is excellent, and I didn't grow weary of it - although the word 'perverse' definitely wins the word bingo in this trilogy.
From a story point of view, I was hooked. Following the travails of Chakas after he's unceremoniously dumped on Zeta Halo, which at the time is under the control of the Primordial and the Forerunner Ancilla (A.I) he's turned to his cause; Mendicant Bias, I loved the sense of growing horror as we discover what exactly has been going on this Halo ring. The Primordial in particular, though we only see glimpses of him and a rather terrifying interrogation near the end of the book, was pretty damn scary. Imagine a being, belonging to a race responsible for the creation of yours, turned only to the eternal suffering of the universe as we know it? Absolutely scary. The mentions the 'Palace of Pain'; Flood testing facilities where human and Forerunner alike are used as test subjects, filled me with dread.
Chakas as a character is a sympathetic one; he tries to do what's right even if he doesn't particularly want to do it. He's exposed to forces beyond his control, and it's tragic to see what becomes of him at the end when he's essentially forced to become digitised - as a result of the sheer trauma his body is put through. I enjoyed the aloofness of Riser, which somehow complemented his wisdom.
But really, the lore element here that hooks me most is that humanity used to be a vast, spacefaring interstellar empire millions of years ago - until they encountered the Flood and were eventually defeated by the Forerunners. The preserved consciousnesses of some of these prehistoric humans, kept within Chakas and Riser, allow for interesting dialogue even when there aren't many characters on a page. Reading the descriptions of Charum Hakor, our interstellar capital, captivated my imagination so strongly, especially picturing beautiful Precursor architecture crossing the skies above. Stuff like this is where Halo really shines, lore-wise.
Overall, an enjoyable read and certainly much better than Cryptum.
To quickly touch on the prose itself (which also applies to Cryptum and Silentium), the late Greg Bear's style of writing is excellent, and I didn't grow weary of it - although the word 'perverse' definitely wins the word bingo in this trilogy.
From a story point of view, I was hooked. Following the travails of Chakas after he's unceremoniously dumped on Zeta Halo, which at the time is under the control of the Primordial and the Forerunner Ancilla (A.I) he's turned to his cause; Mendicant Bias, I loved the sense of growing horror as we discover what exactly has been going on this Halo ring. The Primordial in particular, though we only see glimpses of him and a rather terrifying interrogation near the end of the book, was pretty damn scary. Imagine a being, belonging to a race responsible for the creation of yours, turned only to the eternal suffering of the universe as we know it? Absolutely scary. The mentions the 'Palace of Pain'; Flood testing facilities where human and Forerunner alike are used as test subjects, filled me with dread.
Chakas as a character is a sympathetic one; he tries to do what's right even if he doesn't particularly want to do it. He's exposed to forces beyond his control, and it's tragic to see what becomes of him at the end when he's essentially forced to become digitised - as a result of the sheer trauma his body is put through. I enjoyed the aloofness of Riser, which somehow complemented his wisdom.
But really, the lore element here that hooks me most is that humanity used to be a vast, spacefaring interstellar empire millions of years ago - until they encountered the Flood and were eventually defeated by the Forerunners. The preserved consciousnesses of some of these prehistoric humans, kept within Chakas and Riser, allow for interesting dialogue even when there aren't many characters on a page. Reading the descriptions of Charum Hakor, our interstellar capital, captivated my imagination so strongly, especially picturing beautiful Precursor architecture crossing the skies above. Stuff like this is where Halo really shines, lore-wise.
Overall, an enjoyable read and certainly much better than Cryptum.
May 27, 2019
Certainly not as readable as Cryptum but still worth it for any Halo fan!
The story is told from the perspective of Chakas, who mysteriously "falls from the sky" onto one of the halo installations. Here, he meets two important human characters named Vinnevra and Gamelpar, who have been living on the Halo surface for quite some time, mysteriously, with other humans. This halo has geography, scenery, and animals like that of earth. These three characters then set off to find Riser, and the true story begins to unfold from there. The reader learns a great deal about the captive (aka the primordial), the fate of forerunners after Cryptum, the flood, and much more.
What kept me reading this book was the mystery of the dead forerunners, the allusions to the captive, the AI story-line from the future, and the hope of seeing Riser again who I thought was a fun character in Cryptum. The payoff was great and overall this book added some good backstory to Halo. I did think the ending was a little disappointing for some characters (as in, emotionally sad), but it was still well done.
There were a few things I didn't like about Primordium, though. This was not an easy book to read, especially for the first 180 pages or so. Way too much description and not enough dialogue. What made the first book more readable was the dialogue and humor. This book did not have that, and I found myself frequently bored/uninterested with the characters towards the beginning of the book. Another thing was the lack of an interesting plot. The story really begins to pick up after page 200 or so, as the reader gets more backstory, but even then there is still so much filler and unnecessary descriptions that it was hard to read.
Definitely not as enjoyable as Cryptum but a good read for any Halo fan, nonetheless. Looking forward to reading book 3!
The story is told from the perspective of Chakas, who mysteriously "falls from the sky" onto one of the halo installations. Here, he meets two important human characters named Vinnevra and Gamelpar, who have been living on the Halo surface for quite some time, mysteriously, with other humans. This halo has geography, scenery, and animals like that of earth. These three characters then set off to find Riser, and the true story begins to unfold from there. The reader learns a great deal about the captive (aka the primordial), the fate of forerunners after Cryptum, the flood, and much more.
What kept me reading this book was the mystery of the dead forerunners, the allusions to the captive, the AI story-line from the future, and the hope of seeing Riser again who I thought was a fun character in Cryptum. The payoff was great and overall this book added some good backstory to Halo. I did think the ending was a little disappointing for some characters (as in, emotionally sad), but it was still well done.
There were a few things I didn't like about Primordium, though. This was not an easy book to read, especially for the first 180 pages or so. Way too much description and not enough dialogue. What made the first book more readable was the dialogue and humor. This book did not have that, and I found myself frequently bored/uninterested with the characters towards the beginning of the book. Another thing was the lack of an interesting plot. The story really begins to pick up after page 200 or so, as the reader gets more backstory, but even then there is still so much filler and unnecessary descriptions that it was hard to read.
Definitely not as enjoyable as Cryptum but a good read for any Halo fan, nonetheless. Looking forward to reading book 3!
June 26, 2025
I could best describe Primordium as a road trip interlude in the poorly named "Forerunner Saga" that follows Chakas, one of the human characters from the first novel, as he and a small band of other humans aimlessly wander the surface of a Halo for really no other reason than to build up the looming threat of the Flood and the Primordial in the background, while also alluding to Mendicant Bias' betrayal of the Forerunners through a couple of scenes that don't fully get the message across due to Chakas and the other humans' limited ability to understand the events unfolding around them.
As an IRL historian, I did enjoy the pokes at the fossil record via the inclusion of human subspecies/near humans on the ring, some of which were mentioned in previous novel, but which were much further expanded upon in this one. When friends asked me what the book was about, I could tell them with a straight face that it was about "An African, an Aboriginal, a Hobbit, and a Sasquatch going on a quest."
Once again, this is a very skippable novel, especially given that it dwarfs the other two in the series only to be mostly filler. A few extra vignettes in Silentium could have done the same job, and arguably done it better without all the bloat.
As an IRL historian, I did enjoy the pokes at the fossil record via the inclusion of human subspecies/near humans on the ring, some of which were mentioned in previous novel, but which were much further expanded upon in this one. When friends asked me what the book was about, I could tell them with a straight face that it was about "An African, an Aboriginal, a Hobbit, and a Sasquatch going on a quest."
Once again, this is a very skippable novel, especially given that it dwarfs the other two in the series only to be mostly filler. A few extra vignettes in Silentium could have done the same job, and arguably done it better without all the bloat.
December 25, 2023
This is one of those books where I agree with all of the criticisms, but I still enjoyed it. It takes a while for this one to get going, and it's jarring switching to a different character from the first book. There isn't much plot until the very end, and it's really more of an origin story with a couple of hints for things to come. While all of these are true, I enjoyed the characters Chakas meets throughout the story, and I really appreciated his battle to remain himself while he's fighting with the changes he's going through in the book. To me, this is a testament to Bear's character work, as in the first book I didn't dislike Chakas but I was much more engrossed with Bornstellar. Here I felt a lot more for him individually, his struggles, and his role in the greater Halo story. While I was able to guess what was happening at the end, it didn't take away from my enjoyment. This one did really feel like a middle book. The pace is slow for most of the book, the plot is little until the end, and the development is complicated. It's hard to recommend this if you aren't a Halo fan already, or really loved the first book. Maybe the third book will change my opinion on this, but as of now this really is only applicable to Halo fans. There's good sci-fi to be had here, but it's less complex or nuanced as much of the other popular options. If you love Halo, read it though! 4/5 stars.
Quick hits:
+ Character work is great.
+ Nods to Halo fans that also tie to the story.
+ The ending sets up an exciting future.
- The books has many valid criticisms: slow pace, little plot, etc. They're definitely there but didn't ruin my enjoyment.
Quick hits:
+ Character work is great.
+ Nods to Halo fans that also tie to the story.
+ The ending sets up an exciting future.
- The books has many valid criticisms: slow pace, little plot, etc. They're definitely there but didn't ruin my enjoyment.
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