Am I the only one who finds Greg Bears novels to be a bit disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed reading them, and perhaps my high expectations are the real problem. But for me I was expecting to read a novel that would completely engross me in the Forerunner world, their society, their technology, their politics, their way of life and inevitable give the chance to discover just what happened during the Forerunner-Flood war. But for me, I feel like the books haven’t done that, especially the second one. They seem determined to create more questions and mystery that they ever answer, which is just becoming frustrating. I don’t feel that having them written from a first person perspective was the right thing, it doesn’t allow for a vast view of the Forerunner empire, we haven’t yet experienced the Forerunners war with the flood in any great detail. For me, it feels like the most interesting and important part of the Forerunner story is being very vaguely touched on, I just want more!
Maybe its just me, maybe the rest of you feel that Greg Bear has fleshed out the Forerunner legend perfectly, but I don’t. I’ll read the third one when it hits the shelves, but the Forerunner trilogy will be at the bottom of my list when it comes to Halo novels…
Personally I found Cryptum to be very engrossing. I think Bear does a good job at telling a personal story which I felt worked very well as a constant during the events if a vast space opera. It was strange at first seeing descriptions and thoughts from a first person perspective within the context of a Halo novel, but as I say, I enjoyed it.
Primordium however… I have to agree that it seems to stir up a lot more questions than it answers. Maybe that was the plan, to enrich the third novel more with a wealth of answers…hmm okay maybe not, but we can hope right?
Strangely enough I found the human character Chakas less relatable than the forerunner Bornstellar, which probably didn’t help my enjoyment of Primordium, or maybe I didn’t enjoy it as much because I didn’t read it as religiously as Cryptum. I think I’ll give it another read, I at least owe that to Greg, as I have enjoyed his other novels (not just Halo) very much.
As for the third novel, I’m like to pick it up anyway, I’m a sucker for all Halo fiction!
Well I don’t think it’s really fair, we all had such a high expectation on Forerunners, it was almost impossible for him to satisfy that expectation. I enjoyed Cryptum, but I felt that Primordium was really only a build up to the end, the beginning and middle were just them walkin around Halo.
Primordium was a bit hit and miss, but Cryptum was a great read. A new level of sophistication for the franchise. I think the Forerunner race was done justice, personally. Their culture is quite interesting, and complex. The first book most certainly touched upon many aspects of Forerunner society.
The third book will delve into the whole Forerunner-Flood war, for sure. You don’t need to worry about that. They’re rightfully building up the events that lead to that fight.