Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Halo: Glasslands” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Halo: Glasslands

(Halo #11)

Karen Traviss (Goodreads Author)

4.07 · Rating details · 5,107 ratings · 233 reviews

The Covenant has collapsed after a long, brutal war that saw billions slaughtered on Earth and her colonies. For the first time in decades, however, peace finally seems possible. But though the fighting's stopped, the war is far from over: it's just gone underground. The UNSC's feared and secretive Office of Naval Intelligence recruits Kilo-Five, a team of ODSTs, a Spartan ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 464 pages

Published October 25th 2011 by Tor Books

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Halo, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Video Game Novels/Trades

318 books — 331 voters

The Halo Series

36 books — 11 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.07 ·

Rating details

· 5,107 ratings · 233 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Halo: Glasslands

Oct 08, 2012 Broken_fingers rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Meh... Disappointment. This is my first Karen Traviss book. I will not be buying her next Halo book. She obviously hates a specific character and spends too much time on the subject, neglecting the characters previously established personalities, so that she can berate one specific character.

The Good: KIlo 5 story arc was really good.

The Bad: The Elites

The Ugly: Anything that brings up Halsey, and everything that happened in the Dyson Sphere, with the exception of the brief moment with Lucy.

Rea ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2014 Grant rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: No one. At all.

This review contains some spoilers, as well as some venting. You've been forewarned.

I have played every single Halo game ever produced.
I have been invested in the Halo community and universe for a full decade.
I have read and owned over a dozen Halo novels.

And out of all that, I have NEVER been more completely infuriated at any piece of lore than I was when I read this book.

To be fair, I had been skeptical, yet cautiously optimistic going into this. I had heard rumors that Traviss had done some t This review contains some spoilers, as well as some venting. You've been forewarned.

I have played every single Halo game ever produced.
I have been invested in the Halo community and universe for a full decade.
I have read and owned over a dozen Halo novels.

And out of all that, I have NEVER been more completely infuriated at any piece of lore than I was when I read this book.

To be fair, I had been skeptical, yet cautiously optimistic going into this. I had heard rumors that Traviss had done some tampering with previously established characters and their behavior, but I dismissed them as exaggeration. Quite the opposite, I discovered that they were a complete understatement of how much Karen Travesty has completely trashed one of the single greatest characters produced by the Halo universe, Dr. Catherine Halsey.

In all previous novels, Halsey is shown as cool, often cold, calculating, extremely intelligent and logic-driven, but who eventually comes to the revelation that her actions have destroyed the lives of her Spartans, and she devotes her life to saving them and herself from what she believes to be a losing war. In every last one, she is depicted as being cold or ruthless to outsiders, but extremely protective of the few friends she has--a few AIs and most importantly, her Spartans. Chief Mendez, while not buddy-buddy with her, is a close ally, and is never seen to go against her or her decisions. When Halsey learns of the Spartan-IIIs, she is genuinely concerned for them the same way that she was for the IIs, and intends to find out Mendez's part in the program. Halsey is depicted as being self-dependent, fully capable of handling herself, and a bit eccentric when it comes to grabbing onto interesting leads. Her hunches have almost always proven correct, and this serves as a vital point to her character and her extremely logical, rational thinking (again excluding her protectiveness of her Spartans). Her actions before the novels were morally grey, yes, but it was left to the audience to decide if they were good or evil, and her Spartans never had any resentment toward her over what had been done to them. In many cases they refer to her as their mother figure.

Then along came Traviss. This is the point where I become angry with her, and with 343 for allowing this book to be published under the name of the universe I love. Halsey is no longer cool, rational, and self-dependent. Traviss turns her into a crazy, sociopathic, whiny, uncaring, and wholly irrationally angry character with no concern for any person besides herself. She no longer cares about the Spartans, and views the Spartan-IIIs as being inferior to her IIs, of whom she no longer seems to be protective of or concerned for. Instead of relying on her wits and quick thinking, she is made out to be the outcast of the group, completely reliant on everyone else to keep her alive and safe. She now openly hates Mendez, and Mendez openly hates her in return. An extremely dramatic scene where Lucy speaks for the first time in eight years is--please pardon my language here--is completely shit on by the fact that an incoherently irrationally screaming Halsey is what finally gives Lucy the will to cry out. What had originally been a touching scene between a Lucy who was struggling to bring words to life and an Engineer who doesn't know what is wrong, but just wants to fix her (one of the few good moments of the entire book, I loved this scene until the end), is completely torn apart by a Halsey that is acting completely unlike anything that has ever been written about her. Traviss does not see Halsey's actions as being in the grey area, but rather demonizes her, describes her actions as one would describe those of a monster, and tries to beat this view into the readers' heads with a sledge hammer throughout THE ENTIRE BOOK. Literally, if I had to describe the plot of this book, I would say it's about turning Halsey into Satan, making all current characters in the Halo universe hate Halsey, and then inventing more characters to hate Halsey just for good measure. Halsey even hates herself, for crying out loud. IT DOESN'T END. EVER. THAT'S THE ENTIRE PLOT. Ghosts of Onyx set this up to be a terrific book, but either Traviss chose not to read a single bit of lore before writing her book, or chose to ignore all of it, because this completely tears the universe a new one, and shoves Halsey hatred down your throat every step of the way.

I apologize to those reading the reviews for the length and anger of this post, but it is born out of a love for the Halo universe that I can't stand to see torn down by ignorant authors who would rather tell the reader how to feel about a character as opposed to building a character and letting the audience think of them what they will. I am not sorry to 343, or to Karen Traviss. I have read hundreds upon hundreds of books of all genres, and never once have I not finished one that I started, it's just not the way I am. But this book makes me so mad, I stopped reading it just to write this review. I had to skip parts because they were so bad, and I have NEVER done that before. I doubt I will be able to finish it. I will certainly not be reading her sequels. My last hope remains ghat 343 will declare it non-canon, and this book will fall to obscurity where it belongs.

If all of that was to much to stomach, and you only skipped to the bottom to see when my angry tirade would end, then just know that I am extremely invested in Halo lore, and was completely disappointed by this novel, both as a book and as part of the Halo universe. I would not recommend it or its sequels to anyone under any circumstances whatsoever. I only wish I hadn't bought them already. ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Oct 27, 2012 Bom1221 rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Honestly painful for me to read. The whole book seems completely forced, from the interactions between the characters, to the aside comments from their thoughts, to their ensuing actions. Towards the end, I just skipped the small parts/comments which I knew were going to be generic or repetitive that had to do with what the characters were feeling or thinking, because it was all under the same basic idea. Either:

How can I face what I have done?
What is left to humanity?
What will they think of me ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Apr 07, 2019 Ben Brown rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: halo

Now THIS is how you start a trilogy.

Heck, more than that – THIS is how you write a “Halo” novel.

I won’t spend that much more time bagging on Greg Bear’s “Forerunner Saga,” since a.) I’ve already spent 3 reviews doing my fair share of that, and b.) life’s too short. That being said…man, what a refreshing change of pace “Glasslands” is from the stilted, emotionally disengaged nature of Bear’s novels. I can’t begin to emphasize how nice it is to read a book that has a clear plot, characters that a ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Apr 07, 2014 Anthony rated it did not like it

For reasons that are beyond me, I cannot understand why the people at Microsoft and 343i would sign a contract with an author who had gained notoriety after her work on Star Wars. I’ll give credit where credit is due, and that is her work in Halo Evolutions and Republic Commandos Hard Contact have their strong points… but there’s nothing special about them.

Glasslands was effectively the shattering of established Halo lore, created by Nylund, Staten and Buckell. Furthermore, the sound concept was For reasons that are beyond me, I cannot understand why the people at Microsoft and 343i would sign a contract with an author who had gained notoriety after her work on Star Wars. I’ll give credit where credit is due, and that is her work in Halo Evolutions and Republic Commandos Hard Contact have their strong points… but there’s nothing special about them.

Glasslands was effectively the shattering of established Halo lore, created by Nylund, Staten and Buckell. Furthermore, the sound concept was poorly executed. Keeping an enemy destabilised is one thing, but to do it to a newfound ally is another thing. True that said ally played a huge roll in wiping out a number of Earth’s colonies, but that ally still retains ample amounts of power. So that is something that is considered as a “sound” concept in my eyes.

This could’ve been turned into a brilliant and enthralling story had it been in more capable hands. Instead it is “overshadowed” by the crucifixion of Doctor Halsey and the destruction of well-known characters.

The espionage plot is poorly executed and poorly thought out as it has shocktroopers, one washed out Spartan, a Spartan-II, an AI and a linguist to be sent on a mission to destabilise the Elites and keep them splintered so that they do not become a sizeable enemy for the UNSC… did that just sound as stupid as it was being read?

Yes, yes it is.

We don’t need to be in the military or the intelligence community to know that, that is a very dumb thing to do. Sending conventional soldiers to do the dirty work of an infiltrator… genius. For those who need an analogy, it’s like sending a team of 75th Rangers to do the job of a CIA Special Operations Group team.

Furthermore the writing style does not bode well with a military sci-fi novel. Nylund set the right tone with the neutral and near impartial prose as well as military jargon laced dialogue. Instead, Traviss uses a liberal arts tone, and commits the ultimate sin of a professional writer, “telling not showing.” I think the fourth wall was broken a few times, but by that point I was droning.

There’s a lot wrong with this novel, and I could write an anthology about it all, but I think that’s just about everything in a nutshell. Don't get me started on the other books… because I don't plan on reading them any time soon. I’d rather read Twilight to be honest.
...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Nov 22, 2012 Tina rated it liked it

Shelves: guilty-pleasure, space-opera-bad, silly-sci-fi, fun

Better. That's the word I have for this novel. It's better than its predecessors (forerunners? hahaha!) and also better than Traviss' Star Wars novels. Her writing is tighter and her characters have more depth. Her stories were always addictive, don't get me wrong, but this one was closer to "well-done" as opposed to "entertaining". Her pacing was spot on, actually. There wasn't a lot of action in this novel, but I didn't mind that - I really enjoyed the small cast of characters and the backgrou ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 08, 2011 Mike rated it liked it · review of another edition

4 stars for the stuff with Kilo-five, 2 stars for the stuff with Halsey = 3 stars.

Halo: Glasslands is billed, or was when I first came across it, as a bridge between Halo 3 and the upcoming Halo 4. It is also a sequel Eric Nylund’s Ghosts of Onyx (a fact I didn’t know). As a result there are some pretty steep prerequisites for Glasslands name you have played Halo 3 (not unlikely if you are reading a Halo novel) and have read Ghosts of Onyx. A working knowledge of Halo: Reach might also be benefi 4 stars for the stuff with Kilo-five, 2 stars for the stuff with Halsey = 3 stars.

Halo: Glasslands is billed, or was when I first came across it, as a bridge between Halo 3 and the upcoming Halo 4. It is also a sequel Eric Nylund’s Ghosts of Onyx (a fact I didn’t know). As a result there are some pretty steep prerequisites for Glasslands name you have played Halo 3 (not unlikely if you are reading a Halo novel) and have read Ghosts of Onyx. A working knowledge of Halo: Reach might also be beneficial. All that being said if you don’t have a strong working knowledge of the Halo universe, past and present, Glasslands is going to be an impenetrable night mare. I barely match these requirements so this novel was close to a stretch for me.

Penned by Karen Traviss, best known for her work over in the Star Wars Universe, Glasslands follows several apparently disparate plot threads that seem to have little to no connection. Opening after the majority of the events of Halo 3 (the novel actually overlaps with the end cutscene at one point) the novel follows the aftermath of the Covenant war and the battle against the Flood. The Covenant government is in shambles with hardline traditionalists balking against the control of the Arbiter. As things move towards peace it is these traditionalists and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) that seek to keep things off balance. To that end ONI has set up Kilo-Five, a team of ODST troops, a Spartan, and a crafty AI to keep the Covenant government off balance. Meanwhile Catherine Halsey and another team of Spartans are trapped in a “slipspace bubble” (bigger on the inside) crammed with Forerunner technology.

Unfortunately none of these plots really gel together in a meaningful way. While the interruption of one perspective often stymies interest generated by another. In terms of action and excitement the sections featuring Kilo-five are the best. ONI, not the most honorable of institutions, plays some mean tricks to so discord amongst the Covenant while stumbling across the growing disloyalty of the colony world Venezia. In truth this section, when combined with the sections taking place on the Covenent homeworld could, and likely, should have formed an entire novel on its own. The counter perspectives of the ONI team and the Covenent makes for tense reading and some twisty plotting that, at its best, head me on the edge of my seat. Unfortunately the impact, and forward progress, of these sections is torpedoed by the sections featuring Halsey and company trapped on Onyx.

If you had told me that the exploration of a new world full of ancient and mysterious technology could be boring I’d have probably laughed at you. Not so much anymore. This section of the novel drags. Nothing happens for pages and pages while the to leading character bicker over past mistakes. The exploration of the shield world doesn’t intersect with the other part of the novel until late and, in what I think is a boneheaded move, completely derails everything that was happening in those sections of the novel. What could have been an interesting and exciting novel of politics and espionage is instead rendered impotent by what feels like an editorial fiat.

That being said this is the first novel of trilogy that from my understanding will lead into Halo 4. Assuming I’m correct (Halo 4 will supposedly be released sometime this year) I’ll likely be back for the remainder. I grew quite attached to Kilo-five and I still hold out that we will see a return to to their actions early in the novel. This really feels like two novels (or a novel and a short story) jammed together for no apparent reason. Hardcore Halo fans are the only people I can really recommend this novel this novel. Here’s hoping for a more consistent quality improves in future novels. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2012 Alexander rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

It wasn't bad, but it was no "Fall of Reach". I realllllllly enjoyed Karen Traviss' work with the Star Wars Republic Commando series, and I'm frustrated that George Lucas is such a money-grubbing asshole because her work on Mandalorian culture was top-notch world building.

Halo Glasslands takes place after Halo 3 / after Ghosts of Onyx. It picks up with Catherine Halsey and Chief Mendez and various leftover Spartan IIs and Spartan IIIs trapped in a Forerunner Dyson sphere. Also introduced is a te ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 13, 2012 Timothy rated it did not like it

I was really hoping for much more from this. I had enjoyed all the previous Halo books, but this was lacking. I though the overall story was ok and the characters were interesting, but nothing really happened. It was introspective and dealt with the aftermath of the war, but I wasn't really interested in psychological evaluation in a book based on a video game. Still I'd have given it a better score, maybe even up to three stars, but the book the ends with a cliff hanger and seems to set up a mo ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 28, 2016 I.F. Adams rated it really liked it

Yet another guilty pleasure (do I have any book series that *aren't...?). Set after the "Halo Wars" of video game fame. A surprisingly fun cloak-and-dagger romp as the covenant and UNSC snipe at each, with dissent and insurrection simmering within each side. I think what I find fascinating about the whole mess, is that from a video game with a modest plot, they've put together a remarkably coherent and complex geo-political universe and *thats* what takes it from another meh tie in to something ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 22, 2020 Roy Graham rated it liked it

oops I tripped and read this

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 25, 2018 Marcus V rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I found the book “Glasslands” by Karen Traviss to be a very good book. The story revolves around a black operations squadron by the name of Kilo-5, operating in a very dangerous time. Humanity is in the 25th century and we have spread among the stars, controlling the sol system, the Epsilon system, and many others. Under the leadership of the United Earth Government, an evolution of the United Nations, and the protection the U.N.S.C, the United Nations Space Command, humanity is in a prosperous I found the book “Glasslands” by Karen Traviss to be a very good book. The story revolves around a black operations squadron by the name of Kilo-5, operating in a very dangerous time. Humanity is in the 25th century and we have spread among the stars, controlling the sol system, the Epsilon system, and many others. Under the leadership of the United Earth Government, an evolution of the United Nations, and the protection the U.N.S.C, the United Nations Space Command, humanity is in a prosperous age. But in recent times, rebellions have arisen and the U.N.S.C. is barely keeping the insurrection. But in truth, a larger threat lurks beyond the boundaries of our empire. With 40 some worlds, each a major population center, our civilization managed to attract some unwanted, extraterrestrial attention. The covenant is a space faring empire, comprised of a collection of alien races intertwined in a caste system. With superior weapons and technology, they burned world after world in their pursuit of Earth, with their goal, total annihilation of our civilization. But after many sacrifices on both sides, the covenant shattered from within as two of its leading species, the Sangheili and the Jiralhanae went to war. Only one thing stalled the aliens before their empire’s inevitable fracture: the Spartan Program. The spartans were a group of children, abducted secretly from their homes across the galaxy by agents of the Office of Naval Intelligence (O.N.I.). These children were trained for years in the art of warfare, becoming the best fighting force that humanity had ever seen. Then, the children went through a series of painful biological upgrades that caused seventy percent of the children to die. But, the survivors were forged into a nearly unstoppable group of warriors, that when outfitted with the hyper advanced Mylnior power armour, These super soldiers spearheaded the war effort against the covenant, buying the U.N.S.C. valuable time pull together. The story “Glasslands” takes place shortly after the events of halo 4 and focuses on the main character and future director of O.N.I., Serin Osman. Sarah Osman was a former spartan, and she suffered serious injuries due to the biological upgrades that killed many spartans, but she eventually recovered well enough to rise to the rank of Admiral. The story goes down a few paths, being the antics of the orbital drop shock troopers, Osman’s path of revenge, and Naomi’s lost father. The other members of Osmin’s crew aboard the prowler, Port Stanley, are: the O.D.S.T.s Devernanox, Mal, and Vaz, as well as the Sangheili expert Philips. The crew of Port Stanley are sent on a secret mission to aid the Servants of Abiding Truth, a renegade Sangheili group, while Earth officially supported the Arbiter, the Sangheili leader who saved humanity during the human-covenant war. The idea of this mission is to keep the Sangheili in chaos so that they cannot threaten Earth while humanity rebuilds its crippled fleet. The group starts aiding the servants and uncovers a plot to assassinate the Arbiter. When war spreads across Sanhelios like a plague, Kilo-5 helps keep the fight going, but is forced to pull back when Dr. Phillips is kidnapped by the servants. The Author, Karen Travis, focuses on telling a much more personal story rather than an action driven narrative that most of the halo books maintain. The story is very nice because it also highlights another previously unexplored side of the galaxy and sheds some light on some of the horrible acts of the calculating Doctor Halsey, the engineer of the Spartan Program, as well as fills in several small plot holes. The author effectively writes from a third person perspective, and effectively captivates the horrors of war using descriptive language. I really enjoyed this book because of the more calculated approach to the Halo universe as well as a more stealth operations feel. The author acknowledges many small details in her writing and often gives more than required amounts of background information, ““The Engineer began dismantling the helmet at a breakneck speed, stacking the components—faceplate, lining, mikes, data processor, even micro fans—on the nearest flat surface, a hydroplane-like structure on a small vessel.” (357) The author also delivers many memorable lines and life lessons throughout the novel, ““Revenge might give you a warm feeling, but unless it delivers some lasting results you might as well have a nice cup of mocha instead.” (129) Overall, the book Glasslands is a great book for anyone who has read the rest of the Halo novels, but for anyone new to the Halo series, this book is not a great read. Overall, the story is a nice change of pace and fleshes out the universe as a whole, and I am very much glad that I read it.

...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 10, 2013 Eric rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

The first thing that I should mention is that I will have to re-read Ghosts of Onyx. I had started reading the book, but had taken a rather long break midway through. When I went back to it, I picked up where I left off instead of going back to the beginning. That said, I enjoyed how Glasslands was connected to Ghosts of Onyx.

I thoroughly enjoyed the different viewpoints of characters, those more recognizable than others and even ones introduced in the book (or that I simply don't remember readi ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 10, 2015 Sterling rated it did not like it

This is supposed to continue the story of the Ghosts of Onyx by Eric Nylund, except for one reason or another the story was handed off to Karen Traviss... I have nothing against her as an author as this is the first book of hers that I've read. Unfortunately she didn't deliver. After finishing the book I could care less about the Thursday War. I got connected to the characters that Eric created, and they didn't even get fleshed out in Grasslands. I ended up skipping chapters out of boredom and c ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 29, 2012 Robert rated it did not like it

I've read a number of books by Karen Traviss; I've read a number of books based in the Halo Universe. On both counts, Glasslands ranks near the bottom. Page upon page upon page of dull exposition, short descriptors, and glacial plot development all leading up to a decent 50 pages and...that's the end. Buy the sequel, folks! I'm a sucker for completionism so I'll probably be purchasing The Thursday War someday to see what happens to Kilo squad. But, after slogging through this one, I'm not planni ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 02, 2012 Ashwin rated it it was ok

The book would have been much better if the author hadn't spent the major part of the book just vilifying Dr Halsey, it's clear that Karen Travis hasn't done much of any homework on the previous books before setting out to write this one, the characters and their behaviour in general is completely different from the other books in the series.

4 Stars for the human-covenant stuff & minus 2 stars for Dr Halsey story line = 2 stars
...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 18, 2020 Christina Javene rated it it was amazing

I blasted through this 17-hour audiobook like nobody's business. The Halo universe immediately engrossed me from the time I started playing Combat Evolved when I was, like, ten, and I just absolutely ate up Eric Nylund's "Fall of Reach" shortly afterward. Karen Traviss has reignited my awe of the worldbuilding in the Halo series, deftly balancing political intrigue and endearing character development and deeply interesting worldbuilding and badass action scenes. The Kilo-Five trilogy is set betw ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 20, 2018 Niklas Braun rated it really liked it

So this book felt like a filler book. Not much actually happened. However, a lot of plot lines were advanced, and I really enjoyed the writing. So I'm not sad about it. But I hope the next one has some real sh*t go down. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 14, 2011 Fred Hughes rated it it was amazing

In the eigth book in this series we have 3 interwoven stories.

In the first story we find Doctor Halsey, creator of the Spartan (augmented human soldiers) program and some of her Spartans and some Spartan II’s (newer version) hiding from the end of the world. They have found themselves inside a large Dyson Sphere. The sphere has a breathable atmosphere, buildings which are all abandoned, and flora and fauna unlike anything seen on Earth.

While investigating their surroundings they are reminded tha In the eigth book in this series we have 3 interwoven stories.

In the first story we find Doctor Halsey, creator of the Spartan (augmented human soldiers) program and some of her Spartans and some Spartan II’s (newer version) hiding from the end of the world. They have found themselves inside a large Dyson Sphere. The sphere has a breathable atmosphere, buildings which are all abandoned, and flora and fauna unlike anything seen on Earth.

While investigating their surroundings they are reminded that they only have provisions for 15 days and beyond that time they are going to have to find something to drink and eat. When they discover a tall tower, all in black, the mysteries of the Dyson Sphere just compounds. Who built the sphere ? where are they now ? why isn’t there any furniture in any of the buildings ? and particularly why is everything so clean, not a spec of dust anywhere ?

When one of the Spartans disappears in the black tower their fellow Spartans and Doctor Halsey work to discover the secrets of the world they have found themselves in.

In the second story; with the defeat of the Covenant (our mortal enemy) the war appears over however there are just too many radical factions still out there. In particular the warriors used in the battle by the Convenant called the Sangheili are definitely a potential future hazard.

So Admiral Parangosky has hired Captain Osman to create tension with the various Sengheili clans to incite an internal conflict. The classic thinking being that if the Sangheili are involved in a civil war they are less likely to get organized and attack mankind. So outfitted with a stealth ship, and a top notch crew, Osman goes out to Sangheili to see what trouble she can stir up.

The third story is about Shipmaster Jul who is a Sangheili. He is still bitter about the defeat of his people by mankind and believes that mankind will not just let everyone get back to peace but in fact will eventually attack them.

So you can imagine what happens when one of the high ranking Sengheili, called the Arbiter, calls for a peace treaty with Earth. Jul will have none of it and plots with other Sengheili with like thinking to assassinate the Arbiter and if possible also the high ranking Earth officer sent to negotiate the peace treaty.

As you can imagine story 2 and 3 are closely linked.

Karen Traviss does an incredible job of continuing the action and wide ranging thinking that has been the Halo series. There are wonders inside the Dyson Sphere to discover and they are eventually. Truly a great read that stands on its own.
...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2012 Tristan Norton rated it really liked it

This book is a science-fiction novel based in the Halo universe and set after the human-covenant war which lasted twenty-five years and has left both sides weak. The covenant, once a powerful juggernaut made up of multiple alien races has fractured. The Sangheili cast out their religious leaders, The San'Shyuum, for lies which led them to the verge of wiping out the human race. The Sangheili and humans agreed to a cease-fire, but there are still people on both sides who disagree with the leaders This book is a science-fiction novel based in the Halo universe and set after the human-covenant war which lasted twenty-five years and has left both sides weak. The covenant, once a powerful juggernaut made up of multiple alien races has fractured. The Sangheili cast out their religious leaders, The San'Shyuum, for lies which led them to the verge of wiping out the human race. The Sangheili and humans agreed to a cease-fire, but there are still people on both sides who disagree with the leadership's decision to end hostilities. Thus team Kilo-five is created by ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) and sent to provoke a Sangheili civil war in any way possible. On the other side, Sangheili extremists still loyal to the old ways search for ways to dethrone their leader, The Arbiter, and gain power in order to crush the remainder of humanity. I really liked this book for two reasons. One, that the mood and overall genre of the book is very different from other Halo fiction books. Not saying I don't like the tone of the other books, I actually really enjoy all Halo fiction. But while books like The Flood and First Strike are very concentrated on fantastic battles between fleets of destroyers and carriers and incorporate complex hand-to-hand combat sequences, this kind of action isn't present in Glasslands. Thus this makes Glasslands more of a drama with some action than an action adventure like previous novels. Second, this book is a spinning web of moral conflictions and twists. The main characters on both sides are doing the opposite of what moral beliefs say is right but the book still makes you want to root for these people. Also, on the side is a third faction made up of Dr.Catherine Halsey, Chief Petty Officer Mendez, three Spartan II's, Kelly, Fred, and Linda, and five Spartan III's, Olivia, Ash, Lucy, and a couple of others all trapped in a Forerunner shield world called Onyx. Dr. Halsey's mental struggles with the morality of what she has done, i.e. kidnapped six year old children and turned them into augmented super-soldiers but in doing so probably saved humanity and the universe from utter obliteration, are refreshing and interesting. Overall, a good book and one I recommend to read, even if you haven't read any Halo fiction or played any of the games. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 13, 2012 Ben Smith rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, halo

Halo: Glasslands is an okay Halo book, but I don't think it matches up to the level of some of the previous Nylund books in the series like Fall of Reach. First of all, there is a lot less action going in this one. Traviss focuses less on fight scenes and combat, and more on dialogue between different characters. On this note, I feel she did a lot better with her own newly created characters (i.e. Kilo-Five, the ONI black-ops team) than with preexisting characters from previous novels. Traviss h ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Nov 02, 2011 Daena rated it liked it

Shelves: nook

This story picks up after Onyx. I was hoping the Master Chief would make an appearance, but he didn't. I thought perhaps he would land on this Dyson sphere, but that would be too easy and it would reveal the storyline for Halo 4 too early.

Between Halsey and Parangosky: I think Parangosky is more monstrous, letting children fight her war. At least Halsey invested time in her Spartans and didn't use them as suicide troops.

Update: 2/14/14

So, the second time through I still find Parangosky is more ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 23, 2012 Reem Alshatti rated it it was amazing

I absolutely love Karen Travis for writing this book for the halo series. I found her writing style to be very clear. only a few hard lines. (I'm a young reader not on a very high level yet)

I was very satisfied with how the story had gone on after the destruction of Installation 00 and the halo event. It fulfilled my needs as a fan! I've been waiting for so long to find out what happened after the array and I did!

I was also glad that the story went out between both Human and Sangheili perspectiv ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2018 C.T. Phipps rated it it was amazing

Shelves: space-opera, halo

Halo remains one of my favorite sci-fi franchises. The setting is a book, comic, and video game series featuring military characters doing battle with an alien theocracy known as the Covenant. The Kilo-5 novels, which starts with Glasslands, chronicles the events following Halo 3 when the Master Chief has disappeared, the Covenant has been defeated, and an uneasy peace exists between humanity with the various former Covenant races.

The premise is the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) has decide Halo remains one of my favorite sci-fi franchises. The setting is a book, comic, and video game series featuring military characters doing battle with an alien theocracy known as the Covenant. The Kilo-5 novels, which starts with Glasslands, chronicles the events following Halo 3 when the Master Chief has disappeared, the Covenant has been defeated, and an uneasy peace exists between humanity with the various former Covenant races.

The premise is the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) has decided to start arming insurgent alien religious groups with weapons to rise up against the strongest remaining Covenant state. Admiral Parangosky, leader of ONI, believes this is the only way to guarantee humanity's survival against future aggression despite the current leadership being friendly with humanity. Given the author Karen Traviss' familiarity with real-life blowback from doing the same with the future Taliban during the Soviet-Afghanistan War, I can only assume the foolishness of this action was deliberate.

Meanwhile, Doctor Catherine Halsey is marooned with a group of Spartans on a Forerunner shield-world, unaware of the events of Halo 3. Doctor Halsey is attempting to make up for her crimes in creating the original Spartans by protecting them from the destruction of the galaxy at the hands of the Flood. Not knowing this has been prevented, the group slowly begins turning against her as Chief Mendez vents his decades of guilt over the same project she's trying to atone for. It gets worse for Doctor Halsey as Captain Serin Osman, a Spartan-II program "washout", plots revenge against her for the kidnapping and body-horror she endured.

As these events go on, Sangheili (one of the Covenant races) Jul'mdama has grown to hate and loathe humanity. Refusing to believe his current government's path is the right one, he chooses to ally with the very same religious fanatics currently being armed by ONI. It's a twisted collection of plots, subplots, and counter-plots which all come together in a prequel for the events of Halo 4.

What's interesting is all of this is built on the organic foundation of Halo's politics and faction rather than anything typical of video game sci-fi like ancient artifacts or some dastardly villain setting plans in motion. It all flows from the fact, post-Halo 3, just about everyone working together to defeat the Prophet of Truth and Flood still hated each other.

I've been a big fan of Karen Traviss and her writing since her days writing for the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I loved her Republic Commando books and even had a neat little pen-pal relationship with her on RPG.net for a short while. I even sent her a package of my books back when I was a very-very crappy writer. Hehe. While I didn't always agree with her portrayal of characters in those books, I've rarely met an author who was nicer to her fans. I also felt she was a great fit for the Haloverse as she does excellent military science-fiction depictions.

The Kilo-5 team is an interesting collection of individuals and I have to say I enjoyed spending time with them. I enjoyed how they're able to wrap themselves in the comforting warmth of patriotism and doing what was necessary even as the narrative makes it clear they're somewhat deluding themselves. As we see in Halo 4, their actions will have terrible consequences for humanity but they trust their superiors to know what they're doing even as the book slowly unravels that trust.

I was particularly fond of Spartan-II Naomi who came off as an adorable cutie despite being raised as a supersoldier. I also enjoyed the character of Black Box as the A.I. vacillated between ruthlessly manipulative and supportive. Captain Osman is also a somewhat tragic character as she has allied herself with ONI out of misguided rage and personal loyalty but the consequences of such may well be her becoming the same sort of person who created her tragedy in the first plans.

Some fans may have difficulty with the treatment of fan favorite Doctor Halsey who is called out repeatedly for her kidnapping of children to create the Spartans. I believe Karen Traviss is aware of just how hypocritical Chief Mendez and Admiral Parangosky are being, though, attempting to project guilt from their own sins on her.

Indeed, Doctor Halsey says Mendez's remorse is an illusion since he repeated the crime without her a decade later. Much of the book depends on irony and self-justification which is something which fits into spy fiction as we see everyone attempting to play off their shady deals as the right thing to do, no matter how dishonorable or brutal those actions may be. The other guy is always bad and thus anything done to them is justified.

I especially liked that we got into Doctor Halsey's head about the fact she's just lost her daughter, Miranda Keyes, and that she doesn't have any beliefs or remaining loved ones to provide her comfort during this time. The fact the UNSC is turning on her during this just makes it a double gut-punch. Doctor Halsey may have done some awful things but she was a humanized character and the engine which enabled her actions moves on without her. Some of the writing is overwrought with Doctor Halsey talking about being a soulless being but I can't help but assume she's confronting her own guilt.

This is a entertaining military science fiction novel but sometimes goes a bit overboard in depicting its characters reactions. I think they'd be a bit more subdued personally with their self-righteousness given the moral ambiguities of their work but, despite this, I think it was really entertaining and encourage Halo fans to pick up the trilogy before playing Halo 4. Sadly, the next volumes of the trilogy weren't quite as good.

9/10 ...more

flag Like · see review

Dec 30, 2011 Sean rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Glasslands was a low point in the series of books inspired by the Halo games. Everything the author was trying to do seemed a little too deliberate and it felt like too much time was spent tossing around English puns rather than developing the enthralling plot I expected.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2012 Robert Thompson rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 04, 2015 Adrian Bermejo rated it liked it

Halo:Glasslands was a good book. It had lots of action, suspence, and exciting moments. Some pretty big words, and lots of detail.Some big words here and there. But, overall, a good book although it's really slow. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 30, 2019 George Friend rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I found this book a little tough to get into at first. By the end it was hard to put down. Really enjoyed the characters and their stories.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2012 Jamie McFarlane rated it liked it

A bit dull and not much happened.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 29, 2013 Callum Shephard rated it did not like it

If you want to see the worst way in which to behave in relation to writing for an expanded universe you need only look at the works of Karen Traviss. Infamous for her borderline preaching, infighting with other authors, bloated tumorous additions to series’ plotlines for the sake of pure self-satisfaction, mass fan insults and a sheer lack of research or respect for the canon; how she retains not only a career but also a fandom is a complete mystery.

Having written for both the Star Wars expanded ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Teays Valley Readers: A Good Book for People Who Love Science Fiction Novels.	2	6	Oct 26, 2017 06:12PM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Science Fiction

100 users

Fiction

37 users

Games > Video Games

14 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

9 users

Sports and Games > Games

8 users

Action

6 users

Novels

6 users

War > Military Fiction

6 users

Space

6 users

Audiobook

5 users

See top shelves…

About Karen Traviss

Karen Traviss

1,164 followers

#1 New York Times best-selling novelist, scriptwriter and comics author Karen Traviss has received critical acclaim for her award-nominated Wess'har series, and her work on Halo, Gears of War, Batman, G.I. Joe, and other major franchises has earned her a broad range of fans. She's best known for military science fiction, but GOING GREY and BLACK RUN, the first books in her new techno-thriller seri ...more