Halo: Glasslands

Though the Covenant has collapsed, the war is far from over...

Anyone who has played the Halo games knows the events of Halo 3 and 4. But what they may not know is what happens in between the two. Halo: Glasslands is the first of the Kilo-Five Trilogy, which tells a bit of the story during the end of Halo 3 and sets up some of the events for Halo 4.

**Spoilers for the games may exist in this review.**

Kilo-Five is a team put together by the Office of Naval Intelligence (think the CIA, but much scarier) to incite a Sangheili (Elite, for those not versed in the lore) civil war. The plan is to do this so that the proud warrior race of the now defunct Covenant can't regroup and attempt to attack humanity once again. In other words, this is very much an espionage story.

While that is the main focus of the story, the creator of the Spartans, Dr. Catherine Halsey and her entrapment on the Forerunner Shield World Onyx (for full details, read Ghosts of Onyx) comes into play for Kilo-Five as well. And because the team has not only a Spartan, but also a washout of the Spartan-II program on it, things get personal.

As with the other books in the Halo series, the characters are definitely well developed. You really get a feel for their motivations throughout the story, not just the humans, but also the Sangheili characters as well. It is this level of development that makes the book so engrossing. Of course, the story itself doesn't hurt either.

In regards to the story, the level of detail is astounding. Like I already stated, Glasslands takes place during and after the events of Halo 3. There are even events from that game that are referenced in the book, so even though the Halo universe is huge, this book shows that everything is connected in some way. I love books that are part of a larger universe and this one fits the bill for that perfectly.

Halo: Glasslands gets 8½ stars

Ultimately, the book is very good. Action. Adventure. Espionage. It's all here. My only wish is that the book was longer, but that is why it is part of a trilogy. If you enjoy the Halo games or just good a good sci-fi read, you should definitely check this one out.

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