Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe

Halo #7

by Frank O'Connor, Tobias S. Buckell, Jonathan Goff

When humanity expanded beyond the safety of Earth to new stars and horizons, they never dreamed what dangers they would encounter there. When the alien juggernaut known as the Covenant declared holy war upon the fragile human empire, millions of lives were lost—but, millions of heroes rose to the challenge. In such a far-reaching conflict, not many of the stories of these heroes, both human and alien, have a chance to become legend. This collection holds eleven stories that dive into the depths of the vast Halo universe, not only from the perspective of those who fought and died to save humanity, but also those who vowed to wipe humanity out of existence.

INTRODUCTION - Frank O’Connor
BEYOND - art by Sparth, words by Jonathan Goff
PARIAHB. - K. Evenson
STOMPING ON THE HEELS OF A FUSS - Eric Raab
MIDNIGHT IN THEHEART OF MIDLOTHIAN - Frank O’Connor
DIRT - Tobias S. Buckell
ACHERON- VII - art by Sparth, words by Jonathan Goff
HEADHUNTERS - Jonathan Goff
BLUNT INSTRUMENTS - Fred Van Lente
THEMONA LISA - Jeff VanderMeer and Tessa Kum
ICON - art by Robogabo, words by Jonathan Goff
PALACE HOTEL - Robt McLees
HUMAN WEAKNESS - Karen Traviss
CONNECTIVITY - art by Robogabo, words by Jonathan Goff
THE IMPOSSIBLE LIFE AND THE POSSIBLE DEATH OF PRESTON J. COLE - Eric Nylund
THE RETURN - Kevin Grace
FROM THE OFFICE OF DR. WILLIAM ARTHUR IQBAL

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Video Games, Short Stories, Action, Audiobook, Military Fiction

528 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 actually. This was, by far, the best Halo book I've read. 13/15 stories were well-written, expertly-paced, character-driven tales that kept me fully entranced. There were two that were similar in resolution, which was odd - the editor shouldn't have put them so close in the anthology. There were two I wasn't entirely fond of, but I didn't dislike them. Karen Traviss' "Human Weakness" wasn't bad, but, like her Star Wars novels, it was full of repetition (this leaves me wary of her continuation of the Spartan story-arc, but I'll give it a shot still). Tobias Buckell's story was good once you go into it (way better than the Cole Protocol novel), but the I'm-about-to-die-yet-I-have-time-to-regale-my-life-story trope is overused and cliche, especially in short stories..

All the other stories were great. My absolute favorite was "The Mona Lisa". It was, quite simply, one of the best short action stories I have ever read. I need to ramble for a minute about it; I loved it that much. The characters were amazing. Lopez' dark-humor and quick-decisions made her a reliable sergeant and extremely likeable; Benti was close to my heart - her enthusiasm, curiosity, but also desire to lead reminded me a lot of myself (I kept thinking - wow that sounds like me, wow that's what I would be like in that situation); Clarence's aloofness was mysterious enough to entice me and the hinting of something deeper between him and Benti was subtle enough to pick up on but didn't seem unnecessary to the plot - in fact, it entangled me deeper. What I find lacking in the Halo series is love-stories - or, at least attractions. Part of what humanizes characters for me in novels/stories/movies is when there are attractions or at least emotions between people. People in real life have feelings for one another, crushes or at least the feeling of kindred-spirits, which they often keep to themselves or try to contain, so why do action/sci-fi novels consistently omit or glide over this? Which leads me to Henry. Oh, I've been waiting for an Elite/human alliance in the series for long - and this one was PERFECT. Also, the humor in this story (cricket bat!), the banter, the quick-moving plot, the flat-out gore... I love this story.

My reading orgasm aside with "Mona Lisa", I also really enjoyed "Headhunters" and "Blunt Instruments". Essentially I love military stories about soldiers in the field, especially when they have a partnership or relationship that plays off their personalities - I love banter between friends/colleagues, and this anthology had plenty of that.

I'm so glad my friend Hunt lent me his stack of these novels. Onward to the Forerunner series, I suppose!

[Melisa Ramonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

UNA MUY BUENA RECOPILACIÓN / QUITE A GREAT ANTHOLOGY!

I'd like to spare two stories that, for me, were just perfect: "Mona Lisa", since the characters were extremely detailed and the story itself unraveled in fast-paced ultra-high-emotional bases and it was also a nightmarish depiction of what happens when the Flood attacks; and the "Biography of Preston Cole" (yes, the same guy from the Cole Protocol). The name of the story is actually different but I don't remember it (it was too long). The latter story was written by mr. Eric Nylund, who is to me THE author of the Halo franchise. His works pretty much installed the proper setting for what a Halo-related story should be, and as always, his writing is amazing. This depiction of the life and (possible) death of one of the greatest UNSC legends (aside from the S-IIs) is a compelling story full of detail and action, also, very entertaining to read. Nylund nails it every time he writes something Halo-related, no matter who is it about.

Actually, I think he's the only one "allowed" to properly write about John-117, hard fact.

I'd like to make a mention of honor for "Human Weakness", by Karen Traviss. Cortana is one of my favourite characters and I always wanted to read something like what she wrote for us in this story. I liked it very much too.

The four stars are because most of the other stories didn't "make the cut" by my standards, it's nothing personal towards the authors or anything. I just felt most of them pointless, except maybe for "Blunt Instruments". Still, an ESSENTIAL READING for every Halo fan :) I'm so pleased with this book that I already ordered it in hardback edition ^^

[Kaley CR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the 7 Halo novels I’ve now read (listened to) I’ve gotta say this one is the best quite easily.

Okay it’s an anthology (collections of short stories/novellas are anthologies, right?). And instead of googling this I’m gonna show off my ignorance and say I don’t even know whether anthologies (collections?) fall under the umbrella of the word “novel”. But of the 12 (or 11 depending on which version you read I think) stories included in this I would argue at least 4 of them are actually better than any of the previous Halo novels. I can’t rank them individually because it is hard, so instead I’ll give a quick blurb and score for each story in the order they’re presented in within the book:

(For the record I wrote this on my phone and will probably not go back and edit it for errors so any spelling mistakes, typos, etc are my bad)

1. Pariah by B.K. Evenson: 5/5

One of the most heartbreaking stories in the halo cannon thus far, this is a beautifully written and morally complex story of a previously unnamed character, Soren-066. Absolutely stunning little story, although my one nitpick is that it ends super ambiguously (a big trend of the stories in this book). Bokeem Woodbine of Fargo fame will be playing Soren in the Halo TV show which is very exciting, although I think he’s gonna be very different from his character in this book for a number of reasons that would be very obvious to anyone who has read this.

2. Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss by Eric Raab: 2/5

This one kinda sucks. Probably the only actively bad piece of Halo literature I’ve experienced. It’s just kinda gross and messy and doesn’t really go anywhere or add anything interesting outside of mentioning a new religion that some humans in this universe follow.

3. Midnight in the Heart of the Mithlodian by Frank O’Connor: 4.5/5

Great story written by one of the OG Halo people. He’s clearly a fan of Scottish football. A great story with a lot of hefty themes.

4. Dirt by Tobias Buckell: 4/5

Another great story that’s only held back by it’s confusing structure and weird choice to do it as a sort of frame narrative I guess? As a way to shoehorn The Rookie who was the star of Halo 3: ODST which came out the same year. Very compelling story overall though, Gage Yevgenny is a great character and the story of his entire military career was very interesting and ultimately kinda touching. Better than The Cole Protocol so Buckell is getting better (or had gotten better since this was 12 years ago)

5. Headhunters by Jonathan Goff: 3/5

Overall kind of a slight story but it’s a fun little romp. I guess I’ll be giving out spoilers because this story just sorta ends with the two characters dying to kill a bunch of Covenant. Heroic sacrifices aren’t bad literary devices in and of themselves I suppose, it’s just that they happen A LOT and this one just kinda feels unearned and a bit redundant in the long run. The Spartan IIIs seem like a bunch of cocky assholes.

6. Blunt Instruments by Fred Van Lente: 5/5

This is one of the best stories in here. For one thing the whole team survives which is UNHEARD OF in these Halo novels, a nice change of pace after losing so many characters I had come to love. Black Team are a great ragtag group of Spartans and I hope they turn up in future books.

I was particularly impressed with the way the story delved into the lore of the Yanme’e (drones), a species I had really grown to not give a hoot about whatsoever until now. When the story first introduced Hopalong as a friend I was excited for another story of one of the lesser Covenant specifies being super sympathetic but the way this story twists that on its head is genius.

7. The Mona Lisa by Tessa Kum and Jeff VanderMeer(!!!): 5/5

Arguably the best Halo story ever (at least in 2009), which I guess makes sense considering it was co-written by the great Jeff VanderMeer. I say that but I’ve never actually read any of his books, I just love the film adaptation of Annihilation.

This story is just a nonstop ride, absolutely thrilling and at times terrifying, as well as just ultimately kinda heartbreaking because literally nobody (presumably) gets out alive. Benti and Lopez are two of the best characters this universe has ever gotten and neither of them survived (again, presumably). I was SURE Benti was gonna be the sole survivor of this story but she went out in a pretty damn powerful way, to be honest. Obviously Lopez’s fate is left ambiguous but cmon there’s no way she got out of there. In fact that’s my only real criticism of this book, the ending just kinda comes a bit abruptly, like they ran out of time - and it’s another ambiguous ending. Plus I didn’t really buy that “Henry” and Lopez would fight to the death at the end, and it was probably pointless anyways because they wouldn’t have been able to get out of the blast zone in time. It’s only a little criticism and even then it’s more of a personal preference of mine coming with the perspective of a decade of further Halo lore in which the Sangheili and humanity really do get along.

Gotta say I love the cricket bat.

Side note, how fun is it that the best story in this book is the 7th (if you don’t count the poems and stuff). Those Halo folks sure love the number 7.

8. Palace Hotel by Robert McLees: 3/5

This story is kinda like The Flood in that it is a literary retelling of something from the games - specifically Metropolis from Halo 2. It’s a fun listen because Steve Downes (the voice of Master Chief) reads it but the story doesn’t add anything of value and the whole “Chief knew this person in his childhood” part just really doesn’t seem plausible or in-character for him. I’m just a bit far fetched. The action sequences are fun enough though, and the marines are fun to hear from.

9. Human Weakness by Karen Traviss: 5/5

Maybe tied with the Mona Lisa as the best of the stories I’ve read thus far, maybe even better! Hard to say! Karen Traviss has gone on to write plenty of Halo novels so if they’re anywhere near as good as this I can’t wait to read them.

This is just an incredible story. Getting an entire story from an AI’s perspective as she pretty much starts to go insane due to the Gravemind’s influence is just incredibly compelling, made all the better by Jen Taylor (Queen)’s excellent reading. seriously even if you aren’t into audiobooks this one is worth a listen for Jen Taylor’s performance. She really IS Cortana.

Next day edit: I did some reading of other reviews of this book and apparently some people don’t like Human Weakness?? That’s bonkers to me, it’s so incredibly well written. Maybe it’s too ambitious? Or maybe having the benefit of Jen Taylor’s reading REALLY elevated it since she narrates the whole thing AS Cortana? Or maybe I just like the more introspective, philosophical stuff more than the action and military stuff.

10. The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole by Eric Nylund: 5/5

Another serious standout. The way Nylund tells this story as an email transcript is genius and Preston J. Cole is such a fascinating figure. I loved it.

11. The Return by Kevin Grace: 4.5/5

A great little story about a Sangheili coming to terms with his sins after The Great Schism. It’s told in a really unique way and deals with some hefty subject matter, but it is held back (moreso than the others) by it’s absolutely terrible ending - as in it doesn’t end. I guess it’s supposed to be ambiguous but I don’t think it really earned that and it never really gets followed up on as far as I can tell. Still what is there is excellent.

12. From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal by (author unknown): 2/5 I Guess? Seems almost unfair to rate it.

I couldn’t find the author of this online and I don’t have a physical copy of the book so I can’t say who wrote this but that’s okay because it’s a very short collection of emails about a post-Covenant humanity. It doesn’t really do much other than kinda make you interested in where they could go after Halo 3, but honestly I finished listening to this audiobook like 20 minutes ago and I already forget what happens in this one.

Apparently there are two more stories included in later versions of this book but I did not get them. Maybe after 37 Halo novels I will seek them out.

Also there’s some random poems and stuff strewn about in between the stories but I think the audiobook kinda skips them or I forgot that they even happened.

This seems like a good book to own a physical copy of. For what it’s worth the 4 stories I would say are my favs overall are Pariah, Blunt Instruments, The Mona Lisa, and Human Performance - with an honourable mention to the Preston J. Cole story.

On to the book 8, which is the start of the Forerunner trilogy in Greg Bear’s Halo: Cryptum. Apparently the books start getting a lot more ambitious after this and also - allegedly - even better. I’ve quite liked what I’ve read so far so that’s good news!

Time for some deep, deep lore.

[Samuel22212 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halo Evolutions is a book involving many of the incredible stories in the Halo universe.
When humanity expands beyond the stars in a feat of human technology that allows them to strech beyond the stars they find something that shouldnt have been found. An alliance of alien species who's orgins come from far parts of the universe believes humanity to be a plague of the glaxy and believe humans to be against their gods. This group of aliens called themselves the Covenant and is sworn to extinguish all parts of the human race.

So as the story goes these aliens start an intersteller war against humanity and the humans are losing. then there is hope as one human who is like all the rest with high tech body armor and weapondry but has one advantage... one hope for the human race... Luck. this alien slaughtering hero is known as master cheif and halo evolutions is about some of the advantures he and some other humans have.

i strongly reccomend this book it is a well written action packed book with so many details and creativity its a whole universe in itself and it gives you multiple perpectives to look at certain stories so you can experience it from both points of view making it really interesting and pull you into the book. i hope you read this book for yourselves and discover the universe of Halo Evolutions.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halo Evolutions’ is a collection of fifteen short stories and poems that come together as a series of snapshots to form a larger picture of the war between humanity and the alien alliance known as the Covenant. As with the games, humanity’s perspective on the war is the main one but time is also made for the perspective of the alien ‘Elite’ and I’d say that the end result is a fairly balanced one. It’s also interesting to see that while the Covenant are clearly defined as the aggressors, Earth’s administrative body (‘United Nations Space Command’) has a less than benevolent grasp on the outer colonies at the same time. This approach removes any sense of polarisation and makes for an earthier, more intriguing, read whichever story you’re reading. I couldn’t really get into the poetry though; nothing wrong with Jonathan Goff’s work as such, more a case of my natural preference for prose...

If you didn’t know it already, ‘Halo Evolutions’ really hits home with the message that war is hell. It really is you know, these stories all succeed in showing their readers the horrors of war and how it affects the combatants on both sides. In the midst of all the dirt and gloom though, this collection also shows that there is room for honour, love and even a little humour.

In a minute, I’ll be going through each story individually and giving some quick impressions that I had. Overall, ‘Halo Evolutions’ has a lot going for it in terms of spectacle and characters that you want to spend time with. I was left with the impression though that only fans will get the most out of this book as there is a lot of references to equipment and background history that could have done with more elaboration for the casual reader. A couple of stories are also only going to make sense if you’ve played the games already.

Anyway, here goes with the stories themselves:

‘Pariah’ By B.K. Evenson
A story of Soren-066, a Spartan-II program washout, and his attempts to integrate himself into the real world. following severely debilitating deformities.
This was an intriguing opener for me, purely because I’d read Evenson’s Dead Space tie-in novels and was interested to see how he fared in a shared universe. On the whole Evenson did really well with a sobering look at the dark side of the SPARTAN-II program and what can go wrong. Soren is an interesting character to follow over the course of the story, Dr. Halsey is as well but I couldn’t help feeling that long term fans would have got more out of this insight into her character.

‘Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss’ By Eric Raab

An ONI agent investigates a prison camp run by Jiralhanae and populated by human prisoners. Raab skilfully weaves the tribal workings of a Covenant slave race with the machinations of a UNSC soldier spying on them. The results were good up until an ending that came out of left field so much that it appeared only tenuously connected with the story itself rather than the shock ending it wanted to be.

‘Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian’ By Frank O’Connor

An ODST suffering from cancer attempts to defend his ship after it is boarded by the Covenant looking for navigation data.
Imagine waking up after an operation to find that you’re the last person alive in the entire hospital... A ODST marine has a similar problem when the Covenant invade his ship while he’s under the anaesthetic. What he has to do next, in order to stop the location of Earth falling into Covenant hands, makes for some gripping reading. War is about the small sacrifices that go un-noticed but mean an awful lot; ‘Midnight’ lifts the lid on such a sacrifice in the best possible way.

‘Dirt’ – Tobias S. Buckell
The story of an dying ODST trooper who recounts his life throughout the war to Rookie, from his start on Harvest to his eventual death on an unknown colony at the end of the war. After reading ‘The Cole Protocol’, Tobias Buckell’s ‘Dirt’ was a story that I was looking forward to and I wasn’t disappointed. At the heart of it all, ‘Dirt’ questions what soldiers actually fight for and how it all boils down to just one thing in the end. ‘Dirt’ is the story of one soldier’s journey through a changing political landscape and how it changes him, Buckell is guilty of the infodump but most of the time he incorporates into the story so well that you won’t even notice that it’s happening. A story worth reading.

‘Headhunters’ – Jonathan Goff
A pair of Spartan-III Headhunters infiltrate a Covenant facility behind enemy lines.
This story started out looking like it was going to be a mine of trivia for the long term ‘Halo’ fan and not much else. Lots of background information on the SPARTAN III’s took the focus away from the story; not so bad if you’re there for the technical detail but not so good if you’re me. Towards the end though, Goff turns everything on it’s head in a moment of sheer genius that casts the title in an entirely different light. ‘Headhunters’ is a story that’s unbalanced but worth sticking around for the payoff.

‘Blunt Instruments’ – Fred Van Lente
‘Blunt Instruments’ follows a team of Spartans on a mission where a misunderstanding is likely to prove fatal... I liked this tale as it cuts to the chase and just gives you the facts, no messing around with the need to place it in some kind of context. The bit where everything suddenly makes sense is a real shock to the system!

‘The Mona Lisa’ By Jeff Vandermeer and Tessa Kum
A UNSC prowler is sent to investigate the Mona Lisa, a human prisoner ship left derelict in the debris of Halo Installation 0. This story of an encounter with the Flood, on an abandoned prison ship, ended up being the highlight of the book for me. Vandermeer and Kum (although Vandermeer has said that he was strictly playing second fiddle here) combine to place all the right kinds of emphasis on the story itself rather than the background history. Haunted spaceships are always cool and the ‘Mona Lisa’ is no exception with danger lurking round every corner. A taut pace is maintained throughout in an entertaining tale that has you wanting to find out more about the ‘Halo Universe’, not being put off by ‘information overkill’.

‘Palace Hotel’ By Robt McLees
A story about Master Chief during the Battle for Earth as he fights to push forward and stop the Covenant advances.
Master Chief’s actions in and around the campaign on New Mombasa left me feeling wanting more. His mission (kidnapping a Covenant Hierarch) is made out to be important but I never really got a sense of exactly why this was. His meeting a familiar face from the past also lost some of it’s emotional resonance as McLees seemed to expect his reader to have a closer connection with the characters than I actually did. Some great ‘all action’ combat scenes though!

‘Human Weakness’ – Karen Traviss
Cortana is broken by the Gravemind following the events of Halo 2. Having read and enjoyed a few of Traviss’ books, ‘Human Weakness’ was one of the stories in this collection that I was most looking forward to reading. It was a real shame then that this story, which explores the unique predicament of being an AI in the ‘Halo’ universe, was a disappointment. Much is made of the setting that the story takes place against but it was one where a prior knowledge of the game is needed if you are to get the most out of it. Apparently it’s quite a pivotal point.
Traviss also moves away from her strengths as a writer of military sci-fi (troop movements, engagements etc) to write a more introspective piece about the nature of artificial life. Ultimately, this is a move that didn’t work for me. The length of the story means that any sense of tension is dragged out and lost and I just didn’t get the sense that Traviss was as interested in the thoughts of an AI as much as she is in the thoughts of a regular grunt in a warzone.

‘The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole’ – Eric Nylund
The story of Vice Admiral Preston Cole, from his childhood through his supposed death. The one story that I thought would demand some prior knowledge ended up giving me everything I needed (via flashbacks etc) to know without coming across like a massive info dump. One of those stories where you get to spend time with a fully rounded character that you’re glad you got the chance to know a little better. Fans will no doubt appreciate this one more but as a character study it definitely works for the casual reader.

‘The Return’ – Kevin Grace
A Sangheili shipmaster returns to the glassed human colony world of Kholo years after the end of the Human-Covenant War. The war didn’t just affect humanity and the end of the war leaves members of the Covenant looking for a new purpose. The internal journey that an ‘Elite’ takes in this regard is worth following; especially as he is standing upon the results of what should have been his greatest achievement which has been soured... An interesting journey to follow but, again, one that assumes a reader must have a certain level of background knowledge (as to how the war ended) if they are to get the most out of it.

Overall, Of the 15 stories included in “Halo: Evolutions,” I dug 8 of them. And even with the stories that I didn’t necessarily like, there were none that I actively hated or that I regretted reading – another huge plus. Whether it’s Eric Nylund (!!!) writing an awesome “diary” retelling of the life and death of Preston Cole, or Jeff VanderMeer and Tessa Kum doing an “Aliens”-style take on the Flood, or B.K. Evenson delving into the trials of the “prodigal son” of Spartans, the majority of the stories here are not only compelling reads that serve to flesh out the “Halo” universe in cool new ways, but they also – and this is vital – don’t feel abridged or constrained by the anthology format. There’s no sense whatsoever that things are being rushed along or edited down to the point of triviality – each of the 8 stories here feel like they’ve been given the chance to properly build and expand at their own pace. More anthology editors should look at the way that “Halo: Evolutions” was written and structured – as a compendium of individual works, it’s about as good as you can find.

[Alejandra García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una gran antología sobre el universo de Halo. Aprovecha y toca temas, historias y tonos que tal vez en las novelas no se podrían tocar.

Las mejores historias son las más largas (duh), con la Mona Lisa en el top 1 sin duda, quién diría que una historia de miedo en el universo de Halo sería muy buena.
Fuera de eso, de repente hay poemas y las otras historias son más cortas. Éstas varian un poco en la calidad, pero siento que ninguna es mala en sí. Solo hay una que no me gustó mucho y es porque los personajes secundarios tienen mucha más personalidad que los cuatro principales. Pero fuera de eso, todas relatan historias muy interesantes y expanden el universo de Halo.
Por ejemplo, en una historia hacen mención sobre un culto religioso que llega a ser parte importante de Hunt the Truth, material promocional de Halo 5. Yo leí este libro después de jugar Halo 5, entonces fue increíble ver este tipo de detalles.
Sin nada más que decir, si te gustan los libros de Halo en general, esta es una gran antología que deberías leer.

Dato importante sobre Halo: Evolutions:
Este libro luego fue sacado en dos volumenes: Halo: Evolutions Vol I y Halo: Evolutions Vol II. La diferencia es que es el libro original dividido en 2 y cada volumen tiene una historia extra. Por si planeas conseguir el libro, sepas qué hacer.

[Jbergamini · Rating 5 out of 5]

This month I read the 500+ page book of science fiction short stories set in the Halo universe. It includes 4 poems and 11 short stories. To begin with, I'm going to talk about Dirt. The theme of this story is that if you have to choose between doing the right thing and being set for life, choose the right thing. The author's writing style is very straight forward; I could almost hear the ODST talking about his life as he lay dying. This and Human Weakness were my two of my favorite stories.
Speaking of Human Weakness, it is a story set in the Flood-infested, Covenant city-world of High Charity. The super smart, human AI Cortana is trapped with the Gravemind. Its theme is that hope will pull you through the hardest times. As a whole, Halo Evolutions is a confusing book if you don't already know the backstory to the Halo videogames. But even if you don't, I bet that it will still seem like a collection of good stories. A definate good book.

[Jared Shilts · Rating 5 out of 5]

personal response: As a major fan of the series of the Halo books, I have only praise for this entry into the collection of books. Halo: Evolutions is a collection of stories with varying plots and settings.

plot: Humanity has expanded its reach to the outlying planets in the galaxy. It has colonized thousands of worlds and developed a unified government to keep control over the worlds. The central government, known as the United Nations Space Command (U.N.S.C.), has made many breakthroughs in both their science and combat technologies. Two of these advancements include translight engines that are capable of speedy travel in space and the development of “smart” AI, an artificial intelligence that is created from a human brain. During the turn of the twenty sixth century, the U.N.S.C. finds itself in an intergalactic civil war with the Insurrection, a force of disgruntled civilians and ex-U.N.S.C. soldiers. The war drags on for many years, leading the Office of Naval Intelligence (O.N.I.) to approve the creation of genetically enhanced super soldiers that are known as Spartan-IIs. By the time of their deployment, the Human race makes first contact with sentient alien life forms known as The Covenant. Instantly admitting that they will stage a crusade against humanity, The Covenant begins destroying whole planets that contain humans and only sparing planets that contain “holy artifacts”. The Covenant believes that their gods were the Forerunners, a race of higher beings that perished 100,000 years ago to a contagious parasite called the flood. After 27 years of The Covenant’s bloody campaign, they find themselves at Reach. Reach is the U.N.S.C’s main military forward operating base and was home to the Spartan-IIs. The Fall of Reach, which it later is formally known as, lasts for months and is inevitably another loss for the U.N.S.C. Humanity’s last chance for survival is resting at the edge of the universe. What lies there is Halo, the greatest of The Covenant’s artifacts and a galaxy spanning super weapon that was used by the Forerunners to destroy The Flood. The last ship that escapes Reach is The Pillar of Autumn and houses one of the last Spartan-IIs, the legendary Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. John is accompanied by Cortana, a smart A.I. that was created from the mind of the Spartan II creator Catherine Halsey. The Pillar of Autumn is forced to land on the ringworld because it has been taking fire from Covenant ships led by Supreme Commander Thel Vadamee. On the Earth-like ring, the Master Chief finds himself fighting thousands of Covenant troops alongside the survivors of the Autumn’s landing. In the midst of the battle, the parasitic Flood reemerges after millennia to reenact its takeover of the galaxy. Finding himself outmanned, outgunned, and out of luck; the Master Chief attempts to escape Halo and destroy it by blowing up the ship he came in on. Achieving that, he then proceeds to save any stragglers that managed to find their way off the ring in time to live along with survivors of Reach. By the time the survivors make their way back to Earth, the last planet that humanity exists on, they learn of a Covenant invasion. Meanwhile, in the moon sized Covenant city of High Charity, Thel Vadamee is prosecuted for his failure to protect Halo from destruction. Many want his death, but the leaders of the Covenant, the Prophets of Truth, Regret, and Mercy; give him the rank of Arbiter. The Arbiters of past were involved in The Covenant during great times of distress. The Covenant now has trouble with a group of heretics that wish to destroy it. The Arbiter kills the heretic leader and earns modest respect from the prophets even though the title of Arbiter also bears its wearer the ultimate goal of being a martyr for The Covenant. During the Invasion of Earth, the Master Chief is tasked with killing The High Prophet of Regret. The plan is short lived when the prophet’s starship leaves Earth. Chasing his ship the Master Chief along with another contingent of average soldiers find themselves on another Halo ring. When the Spartan completes his mission of killing the prophet, he is taken by The Gravemind. The Gravemind is a collection of all of The Flood’s victims and their memories. It has also captured The Arbiter after he was betrayed by the High Prophets. Using the knowledge from the minds of its victims, The Gravemind tells the Master Chief and The Arbiter that The Covenant wish to activate Halo. The Gravemind teleports the Spartan to High Charity to retrieve the Activation Index, the key to make Halo work. It also sends The Arbiter to Halo’s control room to stop the activation if the Spartan fails. When John-117 is hunting down The Prophet of Truth for the Index, he realizes that The Gravemind had manipulated him. The giant biomass of death uses the ship that the humans used to get to Halo and crashes it straight into High Charity with intent to infect its population of millions. The Master Chief discovers that The Prophet of Truth split his forces, his main military leader Tartarus taking the Index to Halo and he planning to attack Earth with his last forces. Seeing no other option, Master Chief pursues the prophet’s ship, leaving The Arbiter to prevent the ring’s activation. With the assistance of his species prisoners and some human survivors, The Arbiter makes his way to the Control Room of Halo. Tartarus manages to ignite the ring but before it is actually approved The Arbiter and his ragtag group make their way into the Control Room. The ensuing battle leaves Tartarus deceased and the activation postponed. What The Arbiter and his party discover is that the “other installations are on standby and ready for activation from The Ark”. When The Prophet of Truth’s ship arrives near Earth, The Master Chief escapes the vessel while in Earth’s orbit. This leaves him plummeting into jungles of West Africa. The Spartan is salvaged by U.N.S.C. forces. He is informed that The Arbiter has allied himself with the humans. They then develop a plan to capture the prophet that has also taken position in Africa. What the Chief and his troops discover is that Truth is planning to go to The Ark, the construct responsible for creating the Halo rings. From there he can activate ALL of the rings. Before the U.N.S.C. can stop the prophet, the Covenant leader moves his ships into the now active portal to get to The Ark. That is not the only bad news, as The Gravemind has found his way to Earth. As the primary U.N.S.C. force is gearing up for the Ark battle; the Master Chief, Arbiter, and a contingent of his race work on culling the potentially catastrophic outbreak of Flood. After the threat of outbreak has been settled, the joint force of humans and aliens take their warships through the portal to The Ark. Throughout the next day, the U.N.S.C. faces off on The Covenant one every front. Making his last stand, The Prophet of Truth settles his last troops in the Ark’s activation room. During the battle to kill Truth, The Gravemind arrives at The Ark and is again willing to make a temporary truce in order to stop the prophet. Accepting, The Master Chief and The Arbiter rush to the Control Room. They discover that there is still time to stop the rings. Managing to kill Truth and stop the Ark from lighting, The Gravemind is more than pleased. He now seizes the opportunity to attack every sentient biomass he can find. Escaping from its clutches just in time, John and The Arbiter see that The Ark has been building a replacement ring for the one he destroyed. The Master Chief realizes that he can destroy The Gravemind by prematurely activating the new Halo ring. In order to do such a thing, however, the Spartan has to rescue Cortana from the Flood infested ruins of High Charity after he was forced to leave her. When he finds Cortana, the Master Chief and The Arbiter rendezvous at the Control Room of the new Halo ring. At the final moment of their plan, they are betrayed by 343 Guilty Spark, an ancient Forerunner AI task with guarding Halo. The brief struggle sees the construct destroyed and Halo is finally activated. With a short amount of time to get back to their ship The Forward Unto Dawn, The Master Chief and Arbiter race for their lives. Making only by luck, the two great warriors speed their ship to the now closing portal back to Earth. But the portal has closed too quickly, separating the two halves. The front of it, containing The Arbiter, makes it safely back to Earth. The Master Chief’s side of the Dawn could not make it through the portal in time and unbeknownst to everyone he had survived. The last we see of the Master Chief is his ship careening towards a mysterious planet that then lights as the ship draws nearer.

characterization: Halo: Evolutions contains many primary characters. But it's most known and popular is undoubtedly The Master Chief. He began his career as a child when Dr. Catherine Halsey had noticed his potential. She believed that he had a sense of luck that went unparalleled to anyone else. After the child, John, agreed to become a Spartan; he was taken to the planet Reach to begin his physical training. John soon made allies with people that would later become teammates. During the most grueling task of becoming a supersoldier, the augmentation process, John lost many of his peers. He believed that he himself was responsible for their deaths. When John is informed that he could not have saved them either way, he prioritizes his next objective. Later in life, when he is a seasoned warrior, John shows sympathy for the A.I. Cortana. The main reason he does this is because Cortana was created from Halsey and John shares a semi-maternal relationship with her. This is the most prominent when John is forced to leave Cortana at High Charity when he is in pursuit of The Prophet of Truth.

setting: The book itself spans the whole galaxy; from the heavily industrialized Reach to the Flood infested corridors of the late High Charity. The timeline that the book takes you in is that of the twenty sixth century. Humanity has made drastic improvements in science and technology. They use this to colonize worlds once deemed uninhabitable. The Halo rings are galactic super weapons that are the size of a small moon. By far the most crucial impact for setting here is that whoever controls Halo can literally destroy all sentient life in the galaxy. The Master Chief used the ring to destroy the Gravemind and, once again, save the human race.

recommendation: This was by far my favorite of the Halo books. I would say that this book is perfect for readers that have completed the first three Halo games. In many ways, the book is a novelization of the original trilogy of games, but yet a collection of the previous books. People that are old enough to comprehend the immense storyline behind this title could read this book. As for a gender recommendation, the action packed combat scenes seem to me that they are perfect for male readers.

rating: I will give Halo: Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe a 5 out of 5

[Matthew Ochal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay okay okay i know but hear me out.

Most of the stories in this were not great. Not BAD but not great. Ranging from 2-3 stars.

BUT! BUT BUT BUT!
The longest story in this collection was written by none other than Jeff Vandermeer. The very same dude who wrote Annihilation! And let me tell you, THAT SHORT STORY FUCKING SLAPPED! Easily a 4 star for that story alone. Really really a great time there.

The rest of it drags the rating down. But im in too deep to stop now

[Trevor Corbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most story collections, this is a mixed bag. Thankfully, there were more stories that were engaging than not; and those that were engaging were incredibly interesting.

[Alex Caravaggio · Rating 4 out of 5]

After not touching this book for years, I decided to give it a good with Halo Infinite around the corner. Boy, it did not disappoint! I had this thought that any story not centered around Master Chief or Cortana would be tough to get into, but this collection of stories proved that totally wrong. In fact, I found the two stories with Chief and Cortana to be some of the dullest. This collection of stories took me through a beautiful development of Halo lore and culture from the barbaric brutes to the horrific flood. I loved the journey all-around, with the highlight being the Mona Lisa story of the flood. It kept me on my toes, and read like a brilliant horror movie/story. Also props to Eric Nylund for his unique “Analysis” writing style to tell the story of Admiral Cole. I was thoroughly impressed by the majority of these stories, and would certainly recommend. I’m keeping spoilers and notes below for my own reference:

Halo Evolutions
1 - story about Soren-66. His upbringing as a 6 year old when his mom got sick and died, while his stepfather was too afraid to take her to the hospital because of his illegal crops. Soren attempted to murder his stepfather, but failed and lived in the woods for a few weeks. Eventually, the stepfather got sick and died and Soren buried both his mother and step father. He was given two critical choices by Halsey. One was to join the spartan program, the other was to go through the enhancements. Halsey’s justification was to have a sample within the experiment, but Deja suspected it was to help Halsey clear her own conscious. Soren came out with fingers deformed, and one leg 6” shorter than the other. He got taken out of active duty, made a paper pusher, and attempted to steal a longsword with a rebel which failed. He also fought spartan Randall during the attempt. It crashed and he was listed as MIA, as Halsey thought about her renewed commitment to the betterment of her Spartans. Cool story.

2 - why did brutes lose and end up on planet? What is the backstory? Why the shame? Typos all through story. Pretty wild short story. Very descriptive with the brutes snacking on and hunting humans on this remote planet. An ONI agent fell out of a tree while collecting information on the brutes, and was imprisoned. There was great description of the Parabus clan vs Ceretus and some cool development on their conflict with the former being more natural and the latter more religious towards the great journey. It ends with the Triad religious guy shooting the ONI agent as they were heading to be rescued, because his followers all thought he was already gone for a greater cause. I guess these brutes just were hanging out because the chieftain was a coward and enjoyed defecting. Decent story and certainly paints a more vicious picture of brute culture.

3 - Baird on The Heart of the Midlothian. He had surgery for cancer while the ship was en route to Algolis, to see if there were any civilian survivors after a covenant attack, and to see if the prototype weapon was secure. He wakes to find that the ship jumped into a trap, was boarded, and everyone was killed except him and his smart AI. There’s a scene where he gets stabbed with an energy sword, but survives, and concocts a tricky plan to get the covenant on the bridge to allow him to reconnect the smart AI and self destruct the ship. I think it was done very well, and the story made me feel for the ODST in the short pages it had.

4 - Dirt. Fantastic story of Gage from Harvest, who started out in the Colonial Military before the UNSC. An innie bomb in a bar convinced him and his friend Felicia to signup for the ODST. They had a long career of fighting and running as outer colonies fell. Gage lost his humanity, stopped getting close to people and learning names since they often died. He finally met back up with Felicia after a Spartan rescued them on a planet. Felicia cooked up an op with Gage and Eric to recover gold from a bank to fund their retirement while ODSTs were recovering artifacts from the covenant. There was a fight when they found children and couldn’t decide to take the children or gold. Felicia died protecting Gage while Gage cooked up his own plan to take the artifacts and run to give another pelican time to save the civilians. He had enough running, and wanted to protect this dirt and the future standing on it. He never thought much of the dirt at Harvest, actually wanting to get away from it which he later regretted when the covenant killed his father on the planet. But finally, he had his chance to set off a nuke to kill covenant and greedy ODSTs alike while the rookie ODST could run away and continue fighting the covenant on Earth. It was very cleanly done with a great focus on dirt as the theme of the story. Loved it.

5 - Roland and Jonah, Spartan IIIs from onyx. Beyond that, they were part of the secret beta 5 program, and were Headhunters which were specialized pairs of SIIIs made for incredibly daring missions. Most missions ended in mass destruction, death or both. Jonah was headstrong and took a lot of joy in his role and in killing. Their mission this time around was to blow some covenant digging machinery (looking for artifacts) on a faraway planet, and clear some space for the remaining Spartan IIIs to wreak havoc. Everything was going well as they blew a jackal sniper out of a tree, and killed with efficiency in their active camo armor. Jonah woke up to Roland getting stabbed with an energy sword from a squad of commando elites, with Roland saying “clear” as he died. After some taunting, Jonah let the elites charge him and blew up the primed explosives on the reactors. This was a really cool story of the kinship of Spartan IIIs and the headhunter program, as well as extra detail on their types of missions.

6 - spartan black team. Females 1 and 2, males 3 and 4. They were tasked with eliminating a “Beacon” energy device that was being fed rocks from the surface of the planet, which extracted energy and shot it into space to power covenant ships. Jackals were using drones to dig and recover rocks for the machine. It had 4 legs the Spartans needed to blow. Two met a drone they named Hopalong that appeared to be helpful, and claimed the drones were enslaved and would help the humans defeat the jackals and hunters. After showing them a secret path, Hopalong recovered a cube device dropped from a killed jackal, which he used to release the restraints on all drones. The Spartans has to act quickly to disengage their hunters, set the charges and retreat. Two went back to rescue three after he was dropped from the air and broke his ankle. They loaded on a train and got out of there. Not sure what year this took place, but they had energy shields so I’m curious who black team was. I liked this story as it showed the trickery of the drones who were actually a penal colony (unsociable) and were being put to work by the jackals. The action and teamwork with the Spartans was great.

7 - brilliant story occurring in the aftermath of the destruction of halo. The Red Horse ship was sent to recover survivors and investigate the aftermath of the explosion. They found a pod with a hysterical civilian survivor who later died, saying he came from the Mona Lisa. A squad was sent to that prisoner ship, which was later discovered to be a testing facility for the flood infection on both human and covenant prisoners. Doctor Smith worked for ONI, and was not truthful to Benti and Lopez on the purpose of that ship. He wasn’t just trying to study the virus and find a cure. He was trying to see if they could harness the flood for themselves as a weapon. Obviously it all went wrong, as there was a prison break and elite and human prisoners trying to work together. Lopez and Benti’s mission was then to confirm all navigation data was destroyed. The story was wonderfully tense and exciting, like a horror movie, as the authors brilliantly described the dark terrors and bloody walls and flickering lights. The mystery of the elite stomping the chest of the infected human later to be discovered he was trying to destroy the infection form. The betrayal of Clarence (being an ONI agent, ensure no survivors made it) made it tense at the end. I loved the relationship of Henry the elite with Rimmer and Benti. It was great all the way until the end where Henry was carrying a wounded Benti, Clarence shot Rimmer, and Benti pushed herself and Clarence into the attacking flood to give mama Lopez and Henry a chance to escape. After Maccraw took the last pod, Lopez attempted to shoot Henry but ran out of ammo. The story ends with them in a standoff, Red Horse firing a nuke, and a covenant ship nearby. This story read like a brilliant horror story with squad members slowly getting picked off by a mysterious enemy seeking to takeover and gain their knowledge to keep spreading. From a halo cannon perspective, I am curious how the flood escaped halo in the first place. They claim the covenant prisoners on the Mona Lisa first had it, so perhaps some covenant actually escaped Halo? Regardless, Rebecca was a neat creepy and cold hearted AI that always knew more than she led on, with no intent of bringing back the human recon team. Loved this story and more background on ONI ops!

8 - somewhat bland story of master chief crash landing on earth in halo 2. It picks up with him getting out of the pelican crash from the scarab shot, and meeting up with Commander Palmer (“the” Palmer I’m assuming?) to meet at a rendezvous point with the rest of her squad. This story showed John being stern and serious, as he always is. There was no development of cortana. They recovered two warthogs with John working with these marines, and later met up with the rest of the squad. The LT was a female that John actually remembered from his childhood, and making a promise to marry 2 weeks before Halsey came and took him for training. John, knowing his spartan duty, did not indulge any information about the spartan program that could be viewed negatively and told her not to bring personal items. He was later briefed on the scarab/wraith patrol, and smiled. I didn’t get much out of this story. Maybe that he first met Palmer here and still remembers bits of his childhood? Not much else.

9 - Cortana above high charity with the gravemind. Honestly this story was not very exciting either. It describes more of her struggles with the gravemind who wants to consume all - both organic and sentient life - to be the possessor of all knowledge. He tries to persuade cortana to giving in to him, as he can give her all knowledge as she desires. Cortana resisted with her strongest feeling being towards John and his promise to her, and that since he would never let her down, she can’t let him down. It is fascinating how human Cortana can be, and perhaps that is the biggest takeaway from this story. We already know her connection with John and how at times she seems to be the more human one. The gravemind harvesting all memories of those fallen to the flood is quite interesting. I would love to know more about his past, it makes for an interesting character. His main motivation seems to be total assimilation of all life forms on earth and their knowledge. He tried to relate to cortana in this way. She proved her bond with John was stronger than any desire for knowledge, and is terrified of descending into rampancy. The gravemind assures her of eternal peace and knowledge, and Cortana works the whole story to resist this, slowly losing parts of her memory like Ackerson and absorbing some of the gravemind’s like fallen soldiers. Cortana works to primarily protect the information of the Ark. He also reminds her of how Halsey appeared to hold some data back from her to lengthen her life span. I’m not sure what this data is, but it leaves the door open for another story. It ends with John finding her like he did in Halo 3. Good story, but I’m personally more interested in the history of the gravemind than cortana’s battle with him since we know her connection to humans already.

10 - story of Preston Cole. This fills in the gaps from Contact Harvest and who Vice Admiral Cole was. He was a simple boy raised by farmers. Never extraordinary physically, but had an extraordinary mind. He initially fought insurgents and made his name there, but struggled against one ship called the Belicose. His first marriage faltered due to his extended service, so he married another woman later found out to be an innie. After splitting with her, and later being led to believe her ship was destroyed while being pursued by the UNSC, the Belicose helped Cole on two occasions. Cole later cooked up some calculations to jump within the gravitational pull of a planet, and “supposedly” used this maneuver to escape a battlefield after dropping nukes in the planet and telling his fleet to escape. All covenant ships were destroyed. It is rumored that we is living among innies, UNSC and others far outside UNSC space to be a farmer again, and look up at stars he does not recognize. I thought this was good backstory into who Cole was, why the UNSC needed him, and also some of his personal struggles as he had to fight grueling fight after grueling fight (taking wins but at staggering losses). I am curious if he will show up in Halo canon again. And what of his children?

11 - story of an elite shipmaster returning to the human world of Kholo to find his new purpose. Originally under command of the prophet of conviction, he executed the glassing of the planet and in burning the mark of the covenant on the planet, showing it was cleansed. After the prophet and jiralhanae betrayal, he killed the prophet of conviction aboard his ship, and rallied the elites to his cause (which he was still working on). As he ventured the glassed grounds of Kholo, he saw the destruction he wrought and felt it was due to lies and misguidance by the prophets. Now all Sangheili would need to think for themselves and find their own path, and he intended to begin with his crew. He killed some jackals attacking humans on the planet, and found some pictures with forerunner relics and symbols he could pursue. He proceeded to capture a surviving human, and intended to question him as his followers found new meaning.

[Joseph Renicker · Rating 5 out of 5]

What would you give to be something more than human? Halo: Evolutions is a science fiction distant future book of war stories. Most of the conflicts in the story can’t happen in real life but some can. The story takes place on alien planets. The story is based around a boy named Soren, who is given the opportunity to leave his planet and all the pain with it for a better chance at life. The boy chooses to leave the planet and be part of an experiment.

Soren is now on a UNSC space ship and his name is changed to Soren-66. He is inducted into an experiment that if done correctly could make Soren a superhuman. The first part of the experiment is training for the battlefield, because if it works the participants will be sent to war. Soren makes a few friends but knows that he is slightly more intelligent than all the others, he is also the only one who knows of the experiment. Most of the other boys outcast him. He speaks to the conductor of the experiment, Dr.Halsey, she also can tell that he is slightly better than all the boys and notes that he will be the best of his class if the experiment goes well. The training is over and it is now time for the main part of the experiment the par that will turn the participants into superhumans.

Overall I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, it's definitely one of my new favorites. The very different look at the familiar Halo universe made for some great stories. The authors
All came together to make exciting stories and interesting characters and it turned out amazingly.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read if you're a Halo fan. It's possibly the best book they've released after The Fall of Reach. Since it's a collection of short stories, I'm going to say a couple of quick things about each one.

Beyond, Acheron-VII, Icon, Connectivity

Pariah - This story looks back at the creation of the Spartan IIs and focuses on Soren-66. It's a good story, but there were a couple things about Soren that didn't seem to quite fit with the rest of the Spartans, which makes sense, I suppose, considering what happens, but still left me unsatisfied.

Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss - Connor Brien, ONI operative, is sent on a reconnaissance mission on a human colony that's been attacked by the Covenant. I liked this story for the most part - it gives you some insight into the Brute culture and also has some interesting twists.

Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian - Written by former Bungie employee Frank O'Connor, this story about ODST Baird shows just how tough they are. It's a great story, especially considering the Frankie is not generally a fiction writer, but his knowledge of the Halo universe is clearly evident.

Dirt - One of my favorite stories, by far, Dirt follows the journey of one man into hell and back, beginning with his enlistment to him joining the ODSTs, to his death. There's a lot of emotion in this story, and it's very well-written, which is to be expected by Halo veteran Tobias S. Buckell.

Headhunters - Covering a mission of a duo of Spartan IIIs, this story gives us a deeper look into that program and how the soldiers perform. I thoroughly enjoyed it - remember, Spartans always finish their mission.

Blunt Instruments - This story takes a look at Spartan Black, a squad of Spartan IIs working for ONI on top-secret, high-priority missions. It's a story of betrayal and triumph, and reminds you of just how awesome Spartans are.

The Mona Lisa - The creepiest story of the bunch, I bet you can guess what it includes as a result. A squad of marines go to inspect the prison ship Mona Lisa, which for some reason is found amidst the wreckage of Installation 04. Masterfully written suspense, and a lot of great twists. I enjoyed this from beginning to end. It's also the longest story in the collection, which gives it more time to build up the characters, who really get you attached.

Palace Hotel - I think this is my favorite story out of them all. It was written by Bungie employee Robt McLees and takes place during Halo 2. I don't want to give any more details away, so I'll just say - read it!

Human Weakness - Set between the end of Halo 2 and the middle of Halo 3, we get to find out what happened to Cortana that made her seem so broken and hurt when we finally rescue her. It's incredibly emotional and very well-written, and offers some great insight into the Halo universe.

The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole - Eric Nylund returns to the Halo world with this story chronicling the life of Admiral Cole of 'Cole Protocol' fame. We learn who he was, who he became, and how he died. Definitely one of the top stories of the collection.

The Return - The only story that takes place after Halo 3, we get a look at an Elite Shipmaster that has been betrayed by his prophets and is seeking direction and guidance. Another good look into the mind of the Covenant, it started off strong, but I personally wasn't a big fan of the ending.

From the Office of Doctor William Arthur Iqbal - While this also takes place after Halo 3, I wouldn't call it a story. It's a communique that talks about the Forerunners and the mark they've left on humanity. It sets the stage for what might happen in the wake of the Human-Covenant war.

All in all, it's a great collection for Halo fans and a very solid read. If you're a science fiction fan in general, don't hesitate to pick it up either, you may find a whole new universe that you enjoy.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

When humanity expanded beyond the safety of Earth to new stars and horizons, they never dreamed what dangers they would encounter there. When the alien juggernaut known as the Covenant declared holy war upon the fragile human empire, millions of lives were lost but, millions of heroes rose to the challenge. In such a far-reaching conflict, not many of the stories of these heroes, both human and alien, have a chance to become legend. This collection holds eleven stories that dive into the depths of the vast Halo universe, not only from the perspective of those who fought and died to save humanity, but also those who vowed to wipe humanity out of existence.

This was a fantastic group of short stories set in the halo universe, Each one fills in the gaps in the halo universe. I really enjoyed the fact that we got away from the Spartans for a while, and we focused on the humam aspects of the war. Thats not to say there wasn't stories about Spartans, because they was, it's just that the Spartans where made to be more human, to make you care for them more! And that's the key to this collection of short stories, it not only fills the gaps, but helps you to see and understand that, this war against the covenant, effected everyone and the average soldier, was just as strong and brave as a 6ft Spartan, super soldier. Each story was a peak behind the curtain, my favourite of these stories was "The Mona Lisa" it's a very creepy and at times scary story, the best way to explain the story without any spoilers, is simply dead space, which i hope from that you can make out what kind of story it is. Overall the collection is amazing and perfect for all halo fans and new, i can't reccomend this collection more.

4/5 Stars GoodReads ⭐⭐⭐⭐

98/100 GingerPoints 🔥

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most short story collections, this is hard to review. There's a couple of clunkers mixed in here, but also some real gems. Some of the editorial choices were odd, like allowing two stories with essentially the same ending (hero sacrifices himself with a grenade to take out enemies in the process) into this collection. They were close to each other in the book, which just highlighted the repetition for me.

My three favorites:

1. The Mona Lisa by Jeff Vandermeer and Tessa Kum, which tells the story of a Flood encounter dressed in the tropes of a zombie story, but more explicitly than I've seen done in the franchise before.

2. The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole, by Eric Nylund, is a sort of biography of Cole retold via 'primary source' documents. Way more compelling than I expected, and like his other Halo fiction this just reminds me that I need to pick up more of Nylund's books.

3. Human Weakness by Karen Traviss shows us in much more detail than the games what happened between Gravemind and Cortana. It gives a surprising amount of insight into both characters' fears and motivations.

Oh, and it probably goes without saying, but just in case: if you're not a fan of the Halo franchise, don't bother with this book. With few exceptions you'll be lost the entire time.

[LGM-30 stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fantastic at making you feel like you're in the Halo universe. Most of these stories gave me the vibe of living in the 2006-2010 era, but not in a bad, outdated sort of way. Even if the focus of the franchise has shifted considerably since Evolutions' publication in 2009, it still proposes today a world of wonder and mystery beyond the events of 2552.

Perhaps the biggest reason for that is the number of stories that focus on the conflicts within the human diaspora, especially given the emergence of the Insurrection and all of the moral quandaries therein. "Dirt" by Tobias S. Buckell probably serves as the best example of this in a story centering not on a Spartan. Though I've not always liked Buckell's writing in the past, it is exceedingly good here, as following the long military career of a disillusioned CMA Soldier-turned-ODST allows the reader to really garner what the context is. Though I don't believe for a second that the mortally-wounded narrator could speak their entire life story in a few minutes, it doesn't bother me so much because the world feels real and lived-in, and the moral conflict at the center of the story gives it a wonderful sense of thematic urgency. The answers here are clear, even if the actions taken by the protagonist are not easily anticipated.

Less obvious are the answers in the wonderfully-nuanced "Pariah" by B.K. Evenson. Everything about this story was a punch to the gut with a battering ram, and its end left me in absolute awe. Knowing the "details" of the Spartan II program is so much different than actually experiencing them through the perspective of this poor, poor character. Pretty much abused by every single person he's ever met all the while still pressing on, Soren has my sympathy and is perhaps my new favorite character in the Halo canon. His predicament not only shows the personal cost of constant fortitude in the face of unabating challenges, but also the larger costs of humanity's defiant survival and/or propagating mass political causes. It examines the mindsets of both perpetrator and victim, and for that, "Pariah" is my favorite from the whole of Evolutions.

There are some honorable mentions I'd like to make for similar reasons, though none quite as extensive as the previous two. First and foremost, "The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole" by Eric Nylund is a masterful expansion of the Halo universe. Full of birds-eye-view speculative predictions of the future, all made on the basis of existing history and presented in such a way as to blend into it, this is the sort of storytelling I hunger for. Perhaps part of the reason why I loved it so much was that the story had a biographical focus (which I love) on a fictional character from Missouri (my home state). Even so, it fits right in with Halo, and I honestly wish that someone could write an extended "biography" of Admiral Cole. Ditch turning his life into a novel — I want an academic-ish retelling of an entirely-fabricated life that happened in a time 350 years from now. Hell, I'll write it if I have to. I just loved this story that much.


Similarly, "Palace Hotel" is a pretty nice addition to the Master Chief's lore (though I'm not actually certain if it was truly new, given the trailers for Halo 3). Like "Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian" by Frank O'Connor and "Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss" by Eric Raab, it was a decent story with a significantly-better-than-decent ending. Meanwhile, "Headhunters" by Jonathan Goff remained solid throughout and was thoroughly enjoyable despite its predictable ending (it feels like 75% of the narrators in this anthology sacrificed themselves). As such, in all cases here, I'm glad I read these stories.

There are a few exceptions, though. The most glaring one is "The Mona Lisa" by Jeff VanderMeer and Tessa Kum, which has been hyped up to oblivion by just about any Halo fan with a platform. I, on the other hand, kind of passively disliked it for the most part. This isn't to say that it's a bad story, but to include a 120-page narrative in an anthology of SHORT stories was pretty annoying. I just wanted it to be over, which was a feeling compounded by just how uninteresting the story was. Sure, there's some cool imagery, but most of it was description that didn't really need to be written, and I had no reason to care about the characters, save for maybe Foucault. In fact, I pretty much actively disliked all of the characters in "The Mona Lisa," as they served as nothing more than a mouthpiece for the both-sides-ism, anti-government, anti-politics themes imposed on the story by their authors. Unlike most of the other stories in Evolutions, this one didn't really offer any valuable insight into the Halo universe or realistic, transferrable themes. It was just an unnecessary, unnuanced story that — now that I think about it — I can say that I actively disliked.

Overall, the majority of Halo: Evolutions is an extremely enjoyable flashback to a better time in the franchise's storytelling. Its best bits don't rely just on nostalgia, though it does make me feel that as well. Although I'm subtracting a star from my rating because of the 120-page drag, don't be fooled — this is a book that deserves to be read, if only for the world-building.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to get short stories of so many aspects of the universe and well done keeping them consistent. Also loved the artwork.

[Mateo Llano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“They told me to fight, and that’s what I’ve done”
-Preston J. Cole

[Ben Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like any collection of short stories there are obviously some that you could skip, but two stand out to me as ones that I keep coming back to. (Not to say that there aren’t other good stories: Pariah and The Impossible Life & Possible Death Preston J Cole)

Dirt: Clichéd at times, this story conveys complicated abstract ideas around the Insurgency (terrorists or freedom fighters?) that hit home when delivered as part of such a personal account. Gage, Eric, and Felicia’s varied reactions to the bombing at the nightclub and the belief that no matter how many dead, it will still be the UNSC to blame… Despite being a fictional story, is a painfully real argument. In the same way that Gage’s inability to abandon those that his friends had demonized. It’s grounded. It’s real personal dilemas that people face. Ideals and movements shouldn’t ever matter as much as the real people we can help or hurt.

The Mona Lisa: Perfect short story leading up to Halloween! It’s hard for me to engage with horror/thriller scenes in books; the action and suspense is at my own pace. Not the case with this one. It leaves you in the dark and suspense. Action scenes are rapid and bloody combined with the confusion and mistakes that characters make from a first person perspective make their panic tangible. And yet, it’s still simply a gory monster story that’s fun to read.

Two short stories with very different tones. While the rest of the book is largely forgettable (good enough to be worth the read at least), these two stories make it worth the five stars.

[freddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

INDIVIDUAL RATINGS
Pariah: 7/10 | ★★★★

Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss: 7.29/10 | ★★★★

Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian: 7/10 | ★★★★

Dirt: 8/10 | ★★★★½

Headhunters: 3.29/10 | ★★

Blunt Instruments: 6.07/10 | ★★★½

The Mona Lisa: 10/10 | ★★★★★
Jeff Vandermeer, you absolute madman, you've done it again. My favourite of the collection, without a doubt.

Palace Hotel: 6.71/10 | ★★★½

Human Weakness 10/10 | ★★★★★
Cortana + Gravemind-centric. So, so very good.

The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole: 5/10 | ★★★

The Return of Kevin Grace: 7/10 | ★★★★

From the Office of Dr William Arthur Iqbal: 3/10 | ★★
(This one was so incredibly short that it almost feels unfair to rate it, but it didn't really offer much, so... 2 stars.)

OVERALL RATING
CAWPILE rating: 7.43/10
STAR rating: ★★★★

CAWPILE rating says this should be 4 stars, but I'm bumping it up to ★★★★★ for The Mona Lisa and Human Weakness. Probably my favourites of all the Halo fiction I've read; this collection is worth giving a shot just for those tbh.

(Will add notes to the rest of the short stories later!)

[Samuele Martinelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing collection of short stories! It has different sections:
The first one concerns the period before, and right after the first game Halo CE
The second sections seems to be at the same time and right after Halo 2 (one story actual retells the same events of the game albeit in a different manner)
There is a section at the same time of Halo 3
And the latter is the period right after the Bungie Games Trilogy (in fact I suggest to read this book only after playing the first three Halo games)

The stories expand the Halo universe a lot, and in many different directions... I couldn't put my finger on which story is my favorite but I liked them all, in different manners
I wished there were more stories on the point of view of the Covenants (there is only one) but otherwise very well made. Some stories a little bit expected, some bring major plot twists at the end that can make you gasp.
The stories are so well written that even if they are short they make you actually care for the characters and the events, and even make you wonder what is of them after the story itself.

Not a book for people that do not already love Halo or have not played the games (there are other ones to read if you are a new comer interested in this universe). But a pleasurable read for the already fans.

[Lukas Kawika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one! There's a lot of great little stories in this collection, my own personal favorite among them being the Flood horror story coauthored by Jeff Vandermeer, who you'll likely otherwise recognize as the author behind Annihilation, which was another sci-fi favorite of mine.

Going into this collection I was mainly worried about the cohesion of the stories, fearing that jumping around in such short bites would leave me without knowing the characters or really understanding the stories themselves, but there's no problem like that in the slightest here. Each section is self-contained, clear, and concise, and all of these individual portions could certainly turn out to be seeds for greater stories told further down the line - and some of them already are! There's a look into the space between 2 and 3 when Cortana is caught in the clutches of the Gravemind aboard High Charity, then a story detailing the background of a Spartan named Soren, who I've heard plays into the new TV series...

Definitely worth a read if you're between subseries within the Halo books here. Lots of good stuff.

[Entre.paginas.y.libros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro son relatos esenciales del universo de Halo escritos por diversos autores. Se pueden encontrar todo tipo de historias que te permitirán comprender la funcionalidad de algunas cosas que pueden que hayan quedado inconclusas en otros libros o no se hayan profundizado.

Hay algunos relatos que me parecieron a aburridos y un poco meh, pero hay otros que simplemente son literatura 🚬 especialmente lo más largos.

Mi relato favorito fue “La Mona Lisa”, sin duda es una gran historia que te eriza la piel, no pretende asustarte con lo que sucede porque esa no es la finalidad del relato, pero de cierta manera lo logra.

También me gustaron los relatos de “Debilidad humana” que trata sobre Cortana y sobre la función de las inteligencias artificiales. Otro relato que me gustó mucho fue el de la vida de Preston J. Cole, me encantó conocer más a fondo sobre este increíble personaje.

Si son muy fans de la saga de Halo, este libro es imprescindible para conocer más acerca de este mundo. Te narra historias que tienen mucho que ver con los libros y te hace comprender mejor todo el universo creado.

[Sab Parayno · Rating 5 out of 5]

best tale from the book: "Mona Lisa" about a team of UNSC troops sent out to explore a seemingly empty ship only to discover it has been taken over by the Flood. even if you are not a Halo fan, you would probably enjoy this one. nts: write screenplay based off of it.

honorable mentions: "Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss" about human prisoners and brutes' brutality, "Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian" about a man who sacrifices his life to protect the location of earth from Covenant forces, and "Blunt Instruments" about a team of Spartans who were stuck in a tight situation that led to the trust and deception of the Yanme'e (bugs).

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, yeah, this was probably my favorite book in this series so far, and I'm the first to admit that I don't usually especially care for short stories. I especially enjoyed The Mona Lisa, but there were several good stories. A few felt rushed, and some unfinished or incomplete, though I don't think some suffered for it. The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole was a terrific origin story and was much more interesting that I thought it would be (much better story than the Cole Protocol.)

I highly recommend this one! I did drop one point because a couple of the stories were just 'meh' but the ones that were good were fantastic.

[Joe Pranaitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow were to start, first this anthology has so many good stories spanning both the Covenant war and it's aftermath that it's hard to pick just one to talk about, it should also be noted that the Flood dose make an appearance as well in a story that has an 'Aliens' type feel and we do read about the life and possible death of Admiral Cole who if you've read the rest of the books and or played the games you would know of the Cole protocol. I highly recommend this book for all science fiction fans.  

[Mark Muckerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally speaking, a short story anthology from mixed authors is going to get 3 stars: You get some hits (Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian, Dirt, The Mona Lisa), some misses (The Return), and some right up the middle.

Overall it's a good read, and always a fun "journey of discovery" to see what different authors do when contributing to a pre-existing and much loved canon of work.

The stories are strong and the writing is good. An easy read in total, and as an anthology it's perfect to pick up and set down without losing the thread.

A solid gold win at used-bookstore prices!

[Jamison Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to give this five stars even though not every story in this anthology is flawless. They ain't all bangers! But the stories that do stand out are at the absolute peak of Halo's storytelling. The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J Cole is outstanding! So much detail in the Halo universe is introduced through the framing of an historical document about a really interesting guy! Other standouts include Stomping On The Heals of a Fuss, Dirt, Mona Lisa, and Return. If you're a Halo fan or just a fan of military science fiction, this is absolutely worth reading!

[Lightgazer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Сборник рассказов от разных авторов. Почему-то в аудиокниге отсутствуют поэмы.
Мне особенно понравились следующие рассказы:
Blunt Instruments - раскрывает интересные подробности о второстепенной расе конвента, жуках.
The Mona Lisa - это космический ужастик в стиле чужих, группа солдат на корабле где посходит что-то непонятное. Жанр не оригинальный, но рассказ делает много оригинальных ходов.
The Return - рассказ о том что чувствуют Сангхели после войны.

[Martin Zoul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Další kniha série HALO byla tentokrát pojata jako soubor povídek.

Bohužewl musím v krátkosti říct, že to bylo zatím nejhorší HALO kniha co jsem četl. První povídka vypadala celkem nadějně, ale pak přišli horší a horší až mě to donutilo v knize skákat, což obyčejně nedělám , i když mě kniha nebaví.

Ve výsledku mě bavili všehovšudy asi 4 povídky z nichž nejlepší byla ta závěrečná o Prestonu Coleovi. Kniha za mě nic víc než absolutní průměr.

5/10