Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe (Halo, #7.5) by Tobias S. Buckell

Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe (Halo, #7.5) Reviews

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  Kakashi Hatake

  It bothered me that two of the authors referred to the Elites as MEN and another author referred to the young Elites as BOYS. It's even worse because the terms are being written as if it were a covenant member writing them. For example, a Covenant prophet refers to an Elite and his warriors as "The elite and his MEN..." Ummmm... There are so many other words/terms that would have worked here. Just on the top of my head: Warriors, army, battalion, followers, brethren, etc...
  Then in the story that follows an Elite refers to his own species as BOYS when they are young. Ummmm... really? How in the world did this writers get to write in the halo universe?
  Man and boys refer to HUMANS, not animals or aliens. I don't know how lazy you have to be to write this trash and get it past editors and all the beta readers. Pathetic, lazy writing.
  
  The story, Palace Hotel, is nice, however it has one huge flaw. It's not cannon. So essentially it's a fan fiction story. Why the heck am I paying for fan fiction? I want cannon stories. If I wanted fan fiction I would go online and find some free, fan fiction stories.
  I don't get why anyone would write a story that DIRECTLY contradicts what we saw in the game. A good writer uses the world already established and builds and enriches said world. Well, nobody told Rob McLees this, apparently. He wrote a nice story, too bad it goes against all cannon and makes it fan fiction. Facepalm*
  
  Nonetheless, it does have a few good stories in there so I gave it a few stars.
• 
  Alex Caravaggio

  The only story in this volume that wasn’t in my other copy was “Wages of Sin”, so I will comment on that story.
  
  It is written from the perspective of the Prophet of Discovery. The story is about is reconciliation of all his wrongs in the war - how they should have worked to include humans in the covenant, how they never should have trusted the brutes, how right the arbiter was after the truth was known, and how the high prophets knowingly led all of the covenant into a lie. He believes his race will live on, grunts will fight with whoever is strongest, jackals will follow the money, and perhaps some brutes will stick by the prophets because of their knowledge and technology. Overall, this was a neat perspective as he admitted to being a false prophet while High Charity was consumed. He willingly faced his death by the flood.
• 
  Matt Pfarr

  I'll just put the same comments I did on Volume I as they still apply:
  
  A fairly decent of short stories in the Halo universe. If you love the lore like me than you will likely enjoy them. They are not quite groundbreaking though in terms of literature.
• 
  Suzie Q

  I will break down my review for each story, with the assumption that most readers will have a basic knowledge of the Halo universe. I have left out the poetry and the (essay?) Icon, just because I really have nothing to say about them, positive or negative:
  Blunt Objects
  Fire Team Spartan: Black are on a mission on one of the Covenant occupied human colonial worlds. Their mission: to destroy giant beehive-like machines called Beacons that the Covies use to mine Helium-3, which is then used for fuel. Once the He-3 is depleted, the planet is glassed, leaving it an uninhabitable hunk.
  In the penthouse of one of the only stable buildings, Spartan: Black comes across a badly injured insect-like Covenant creature known as a bugger, whom they follow into the Beacons to help destroy it and free the rest of the buggers from the servitude forced upon them by the rest of the Covenant.
  Here's the thing about this story that bothered me. While members of the Spartan:Black team have their misgivings about following this bugger (Hopalong, as Black-Two called it), they still readily follow him into what could very well possibly be a trap. Sure they have their doubts, but would Spartans really take that risk without more information?
  The Mona Lisa
  The UNSC ship Red Horse is among the debris field that was once the first Halo destroyed by Spartan-117 near the gas giant Threshold. They bring aboard a civilian escape pod to find that it contains a fatally injured man who, in his insane final ramblings, reveals that he is from the story's titular freighter. Sergent Lopez is sent to lead a team to investigate what happened aboard The Mona Lisa, which was converted to a penal ship, and to find out why it is near Threshold in an area which has been classified and is crawling with Covenant.
  Lopez and her crew arrive, expecting to see the signs of a prison riot. Instead they find Covenant Elites, unarmed and without armor. The Elites are scared, but of what? In a short matter of time, Lopez's team discovers that The Flood, which had been previously unknown to them, are running rampant aboard the freighter. What's more, Lopez discovers that the ONI's treachery runs deep.
  Palace Hotel
  Spartan-117 finds a surprise on the battle field in New Mombasa!
  Honestly, this story felt like, at best, mediocre fan fiction. I got the impression the author didn't know much about Halo aside from knowledge one can gain from reading the Halowiki. There are also some writing errors that made it hard to read, mainly shifting POV's and awkward dialogue.
  Human Weakness
  What happened between the time that Cortana was left with Gravemind and Master Chief practically got killed (or, in my case when I played Halo 3, got killed about 100 times)trying to rescue her? Well, here you have it. This story was the reason I gave this book three stars instead of two. The imagery alone (Cortana floating in an ocean of information) made this story a great read.
  Wages of Sin
  The Minister of Discovery writes out the confessions of lies and deceit committed by the Covenant Hierarchs in the name of The Great Journey. Another great read, and it makes one loathe the Hierarchs no less, and justifies none of what they have done. Good anti-Covenant propaganda.
  The Return
  Two decades after destroying a human colony, an Elite Shipmaster returns on a pilgrimage to discover what the gods want of him and his fellow Sangheili now that it has been revealed that the basis of their faith has been proven false. He reminisces and regrets the act he committed in the name of the Prophets, and he seeks to make himself worthy. I found this story interesting, and it was written a way that made it a quick but memorable read.
  
• 
  Trinity Lizalde

  I love the whole multiple short stories in one book deal. Mostly all the stories are a good read. I recommend this for a seasoned Halo science fiction reader. I could imagine if you've never played the games and read the first 3 Halo novels this book may not make any sense. Fanboys/girls only.
• 
  Krissys

  Evo 2 is the same book as Evo 1 except for a single novella that was added to it that wasn't in 1. I rated it four stars because I'm a fan of the Halo world and single story or not I'm a sucker for more.
• 
  Alec

  So this just had one story extra that was that in the first book. Apparently I don't read user reviews well. So yeah that happened. Anyways, pretty much all the stories are solid. Good read.
• 
  Graham Maxwell

  A fair and imaginative array of short stories set in the Halo universe. Some patchier or more worthy than others based on author, subject or maybe my own personal biases :)
• 
  Jett R.

  All of the authors are great