Read the forerunner saga? Who found the sci-fi jargon a bit hard to handle? I did - but I still loved it. I really believed I was trying to understand a civilsation millions of years beyond my understanding of the world. Or, did it confuse you and make the story hard to follow sometimes? I know the first time around I was utterly confused about the Ur/Iso Didact imprint/evolution, and I had to go back again. I don’t real a lot of hard sci-fi (which this isn’t really), so that might be a factor. Good writing, bad writing? What was everybody elses thoughts on the series?
I also found Book 2 an absolute drag right up until the end.
Wasn’t really all that hard for me to understand. Then again I’m used to authors like Clarke and Asimov.
To be honest, I didn’t have any issues with the Sci-Fi jargon. Equating transformation to a higher rate with pokemon evolution, gaes with Code Geass, and the Ur-Didacts imprint with the neccesities from The Belgariad helped to wrap my head around things. All in all, Bears’ writing was fantastic, though I do agree with your comment concerning Primordium’s pacing.
If you want a real example of confusing Sci-Fi jargon and technobabble, read William Gibsons Neuromancer.
nope… wish more of halo was like this.
I didn’t really get confused from things like imprinting the Didact into Bornstellar, but I did get confused when I didn’t pay as much attention to certain parts and that came back to bite me. And book two was a huge drag until the end, which was very fun. Not bad, just uber boring.
H.G wells will always have a place in my heart. For an 1898 book, his story, War of the Worlds was ahead of its time.
The Forerunner Trilogy isn’t too jargony, but it may start to tip out into the introductory areas of “Hard Sci-Fi” at some points. I wouldn’t really label its entire genre listing as that, but it may occasionally reach that point for some readers. The only thing I found a bit hard to handle, as someone else has pointed out, is that book two starts off/continues well into the half way point as nothing but a fairly boring trek across a Halo ring.
Although I agree with the OP that It could be difficult and confusing to follow at times, I feel it added to the sagas authenticity, and cemented the Forerunners as an ultra advanced race beyond our modern day comprehension.
On the subject of harder reading- has anyone here read works by H.P Lovecraft? Particularly “The Moutains of madness”.
Now that was a difficult digest.
It is a brilliantly imagined work though and very memorable.
Common vocabulary was a lot more colourful and expansive back in those days and some of the words used are so obsolete that it’s hard to trace their meanings now.
I did find the first book almost unreadable… But then I got used to it and the 2nd/3rd books were a breeze.
No, I never found it very difficult to understand, except in Primordium when Chakas was narrating.
The first book was quite hard when I read it for the first time back in 2012. But I find that the second and third were much easier for me.
And I agree, the pacing for Primordium was one of the books major flaws. But it was really exciting when action happened and major details were revealed (e.g. confrontation with the Primordial and the Lord of Admiral’s and Yprins’ debate).
Only time I found it difficult was when Chakas was narrating and his and the characters’ tribal terminology and worldview struggled to adapt to the vastness of the universe he was trying to convey. Which was deliberate of course.