Hey so I bought Greg Bear’s ‘‘Cryptum’’ a few months back and I just couldn’t follow what was going on at all. I literally understood nothing of what they were talking about. Did anybody else have this problem? Can anybody tell me anything they think might help me please?
uhh, how often do you read?
I’m normally reading some book but I just couldn’t understand what was going on in this one.
Read through it and then re-read it.
Welcome to heavy Sci-Fi.
Haha I guess allI can do is try again. I love the other Halo books I’ve read, it’s just all the forerunner stuff confuses me.
I had that issue, initially, because it was my first hard sci-fi book. It felt more sophisticated than the other novels, and touched upon things that I had to re-read. I would go over a paragraph a few times - on occasions - so that I could understand and build up a picture in my head of what I was reading.
It was confusing, but welcoming at the same time. I think Greg Bear’s style was perfect for the Forerunners; portraying their incomprehensible technology, and more complex culture.
I had the same problem for pretty much the first third of the book and occasionally thereafter. Basically anything during the time they were still on Erde-Tyrene being the worst. For me, it wasn’t as much of an issue with following what was happening so much as not being able to picture it in my head. That’s a bit of a key thing to do when reading and the complete lack of description of anything other than vague shape sometimes made visualizing impossible. When the name of the book is Cryptum and I have no clue what a cryptum is in a physical sense after finishing the last page, that’s a problem.
Now, of course, Halo 4 and Spartan Ops have allowed me to retroactively fill in a few visual gaps left by the book, but that didn’t help at the time I read. Primordium and Silentium suffer from this issue far less. The descriptions don’t get more detailed, but the action takes place in more familiar locations. Bear’s writing style has a lyrical quality that can be quite impactful in the way a feeling is portrayed or how a character’s first impression of something is phrased. On the flipside, it’s way too enigmatic for its own good; I think he was going for sparse-is-poetic and hugged the fuzzy line between that and incoherence a bit too often.
All of that said, I thought the events portrayed in the book were quite compelling. The second act and especially the end do a far better job of letting you in I think. I believe I gave it a three out of five in my Amazon review, so nobody think I hated it. It’s a supremely interesting book, but it’s not enjoyment reading in any sense. You’re certainly not alone in finding the book quizzical in one regard or the other; some have come to think of that as a challenge, I still view it an unnecessary flaw and to the detriment of the book. Considering Steinbeck’s East of Eden is one of my all-timers, I’m no stranger to dense and involved fiction; it just must be done right.
> uhh, how often do you read?
I love ya, MB, but let’s not wax elitist. It’s unnecessary and counter-productive.
OP, Greg Bear’s style is absolutely a different beast than the other Halo books, as is the subject matter, really. It’s only natural that many people might have a harder time adjusting. I do agree that often times a reread can help a lot, and I would also recommend checking out various summaries to help fill in the gaps. And of course, if you ever have specific questions, you can always bring them to the forum; there’s a lot if very knowledgeable folks, almost all of whom are more than willing to lend a helping hand. 
Cheers,
Grim
it was a simple question. if he said “not often” then i would assume it was just because he doesn’t read often. if he said “often” then it is clearly the book he is having trouble with and could have gone from there.
Nothing was “elitist” about that simple question.
OP, I can understand where you are comming from. My introduction to reading hard Science Fiction was Dan Simmon’s Hyperion. I struggled through the first couple chapters, but persevered, mainly because it was a required for my Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature class. But in the end, I loved that book so much, I got the rest of the series and loved it.
I guess what I’m saying is, try to push yourself through a few chapters, you then may settle into the Forerunner universe.
If it’s the terminology you’re having trouble with, 343 Industries already posted a glossary of the terms here.
> If it’s the terminology you’re having trouble with, 343 Industries already posted a glossary of the terms here.
Thank you! I think this’ll help a lot
For me, it was a combination of getting used to Greg Bear’s writing and having trouble following the story. Cryptum was actually one of the first books that I have ever re-read, and I’m glad I did. I understand the story a whole lot more better.