So, here's Halo: The Thursday War. Enjoy.
PART ONE: THE DESCRIPTION
Sangheilios threatened by civil war. Human colony worlds laying desolate, glassed by the very warring Sangheili who now must be stopped from rising again. The Forerunner Shield World Onyx-Trevelyan, a treasure trove of Forerunner technology is now being harvested and plugged into a high-security project called Infinity, a Human warship nearly six kilometers long that is only now reaching completion.
Admiral Margaret Parangosky, head of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), is itching to test Infinity out for a Thursday War, an early practice session that will test the ship's combat capabilities on the Arbiter's enemies.
Meanwhile, black-ops team Kilo-Five, led by Parangosky's protégé Serin Osman, searches for their friend, civilian Professor Evan Phillips, on a Sangheilios ripping itself to pieces. Invited to Sangheilios by the Arbiter, Phillips has narrowly escaped a deadly encounter between the Arbiter's archenemy, Avu Med 'Telcam, and a Brute terrorist unit.
Saved from an enemy bullet only by the damaged AI BB's fragment chip, Phillips searches Forerunner artifacts and temples for anything pointing to remaining Halos, while outside the war between 'Telcam and the Arbiter explodes into action.
On an entirely different front, the terrorist Human colony of Venezia prepares for the perfect moment to strike a killing blow to Earth and the UNSC, allying with former alien soldiers and building up a supply of ships and weapons from the corners of the galaxy. And at the head of this terrorist nation is a man with an all-too-familiar name: Staffan Sentzke, father of Spartan Naomi-010.
Adding to the chaos threatening to consume the galaxy, held captive on the Shield World Onyx-Trevelyan, the Sangheili rebel Jul 'Mdama plots revenge on Humanity, and uncovers a Forerunner secret that could turn the tide forever.
PART TWO: THE REVIEW
>The motivations and events leading up to Jul 'Mdama's transformation of a simple Sangheili to the leader, 'The Didact's Hand' of the cultist Covenant Remnant present in Halo 4.
>A taste of what AI Rampancy is like, described by BB.
>The intentions and history of Dr. Catherine Halsey leading into Halo 4's story-lines, though she is only interacted with once in the book's duration.
>The backstory, creation and debut of the UNSC warship Infinity, and why it plays such an important role in Halo 4.
>More understanding of the Forerunners and the Huragok Engineers.
The book picks right up where its predecessor left off, carrying on the Human-Sangheili Arbiter-'Telcam wars, bringing them into further development, along with continuing the story of Naomi, the daughter of the terrorist leader Steffan Sentzke. Steffan resorted to terrorism as a vengeful move against the UNSC, who he rightly assumes kidnapped his daughter, cloned her and gave him the short-living clone back as a substitute, while his real daughter was turned into a super soldier.
Hence the reason why a lot of people hate the UNSC, Humans included.
As a good sequel should, Halo: The Thursday War brings more action and furthers the war between Humans and former Covenant factions. Whereas the first book has two or three small firefights, its sequel has several, bigger ones, including a shootout and a huge Sangheili vs. Sangheili siege taking place in the capitol of Sangheilios--Vadam Keep.
As with the first book, I enjoyed the well described battle scenes, well-developed characters, intricate, complicated plot lines all cleverly connected, and the deep style of writing. I was also happy with how it literally starts on the same day as the last chapter of the first book, leaving no empty space to figure out 'what happened here?'
Another noteworthy change to the story is how Admiral Margaret Parangosky takes over the 'bad-to-the-bone old lady' role that Dr. Halsey primarily occupied in the first book, seeing things from her view and never seeing things through Halsey's even once. Parangosky is the true example of a sin-eater.
Guilty for the terrible things she's done or has had to do, she is no less determined to keep doing the dirty, behind-your-back tricks again and again for Humanity's dominance, not caring who she has to fire, execute, annihilate or imprison to achieve it. As much as I would not care to meet or know her if she was real, I have to admire her total self-confidence, determination and intelligence.
Though most of the other characters do have their own rough side, they all have their good side--particularly the members of Kilo-Five. Osman expresses remorse at having to do certain things, like destroy a ship from long range while hers is invisible, and also wonders if she is cut out for, or wants the title of Admiral, which she could very well inherit from Parangosky.
Vaz, despite looking like a Russian mobster and not giving a darn if every alien dropped dead, still has a tender, almost fatherly affection for Naomi, trying his best to help and comfort her as she comes to grips with the reality of her terrorist father.
Probably the best of the bunch, though, is Professor Evan Phillips. Clever smart-aleck personality aside, Phillips is the only character who shows any remorse or feeling for the deaths of Sangheili. He has spent much of his young life studying Sangheili language and culture, and now he is seeing it actively destroyed by the very people he has to work with. Reckless and quite the dare devil, Phillips shows deep concern for the damaged fragment of his AI friend BB, and tries to comfort him, while at the same time helping out Sangheili females keep other Sangheili warriors out of their keep. Like the others, he is willing to see the Sangheili die out, but unlike the others, he has no desire or taste for it.
Even Jul 'Mdama shows a bit of a good side, hating on Humans every step of the way, but worrying for his wife and children and trying with everything in him to return to them at the same time.
As with all of Karen Traviss' work, I enjoyed seeing the presentation of multiple viewpoints, angle and perspectives going on, along with the great character and story development, and the heightened sense of reality and threat pervasive in the book that keeps you hooked.
PART THREE: CONTENT REPORT
As with the previous book, Halo: The Thursday War has a great deal of language, ranging from d word to d word to g d word--leaving only the f bomb unused. There is a good bit of violence, more than the predecessor, including a shootout, a terrorist bomb strike, a long, bloody siege battle and several smaller firefights. Obviously because of explosions etc. People and aliens are blown up, dismembered or shot. Most of the Sangheili believe the Forerunners to be Gods. Vaz jokes to Naomi about a lady that was 'unfaithful' to him. One Human scientist creates a Genetically Modified crop that has the potential to wipe out Sangheilios, while Parangosky goes the more direct approach and blows Sangheili forces to smithereens with Infinity. Parangosky fires and imprisons a scientist for a mistake.
As is always the case with ONI, deception is used freely and dirty political tricks such as arms dealing to another side or controlling a war occur. I suggest the book for mid to late teens and adults. The author herself has said the books are not for kids, so as should always be the case, I recommend parents check into the book before letting their children read it.
PART FOUR: RATING AND CONCLUSION
Five stars. It's an exciting book with clever, funny or deadly characters, all well developed. There's loss, gain, defeat and victory, emotional struggle and the threat of more to come from both sides of the war that makes up the story and fills in the missing four years between Halo 3 and Halo 4. There are cool fights, complex political and military strategic maneuvers, and aliens.
As a Halo fan, I could not be more happy. Karen Traviss, my favorite author, making a trilogy about my favorite sci-fi universe=awesomeness. My only complaint is that I now have to wait until January of 2014 to read her next installment, 'Mortal Dictata'.
So do yourself a favor and read Halo: The Thursday War!
Until then, I hope you've enjoyed this fourth book review on No Spoilers Allowed!
Peace.
Matt~
