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Halo #13
Halo: Mortal Dictata
Wars end. But hatred, guilt, and devotion can endure beyond the grave.
With the Covenant War over, the Office of Naval Intelligence faces old grievances rising again to threaten Earth. The angry, bitter colonies, still with scores to settle from the insurrection put on hold for thirty years, now want justice -- and so does a man whose life was torn apart by ONI when his daughter was abducted for the SPARTAN-II program. Black ops squad Kilo-Five find their loyalties tested beyond breaking point when the father of their Spartan comrade, still searching for the truth about her disappearance, prepares to glass Earth's cities to get an answer. How far will Kilo-Five go to stop him? And will he be able to live with the truth when he finds it? The painful answer lies with a man long dead, and a conscience that still survives in the most unlikely, undiscovered place.
With the Covenant War over, the Office of Naval Intelligence faces old grievances rising again to threaten Earth. The angry, bitter colonies, still with scores to settle from the insurrection put on hold for thirty years, now want justice -- and so does a man whose life was torn apart by ONI when his daughter was abducted for the SPARTAN-II program. Black ops squad Kilo-Five find their loyalties tested beyond breaking point when the father of their Spartan comrade, still searching for the truth about her disappearance, prepares to glass Earth's cities to get an answer. How far will Kilo-Five go to stop him? And will he be able to live with the truth when he finds it? The painful answer lies with a man long dead, and a conscience that still survives in the most unlikely, undiscovered place.
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 21, 2014
158 people are currently reading
3035 people want to read
About the author
Karen Traviss
130 books1,535 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 series RINGER, are set in the real world of today. A former defence correspondent and TV and newspaper journalist, she lives in Wiltshire, England. She's currently working on SACRIFICIAL RED, the third book in the Ringer series, and HERE WE STAND, book three in the NOMAD series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
October 20, 2014
I would have rated it 2 stars if it weren't for the last 1/4 of the book. It is the weakest book out of the trilogy, which is really too bad, since I loved the first two books.
I know a big complaint is the Halsey hate. And yes, this book is chock-full of it. Probably a little overboard, really.
There were two main fallacies with this book. Two things I really had to suspend disbelief with. The first thing: a Spartan II struggling with her emotions as she returns to her home planet and seeing her insurgent father... Come on. I kept trying to imagine John 117 in the same position and I had to laugh. There would have been no emotion. In fact, I don't think he would have hesitated putting an end to the insurgent, even if the guy was his own dad.
The second fallacy: one flipping Covenant battlecruiser... That is Staffan's grand plan. Send one battlecruiser to Earth to make a point? That thing would have been blown out of the stars before it could have even gotten close enough to start glassing Earth.
Sadly, these were the biggest parts of the book. And when you base a story on weak plot objectives, the whole story will suffer.
Now, what Karen Traviss did right was the last 1/4. The action was fun and awesome. It really started getting good at Vaz and Mal's capture and torture. Good character development on all sides.
Traviss is a good, solid writer, and I intend on reading her other books, but this one fell just a little short.
I know a big complaint is the Halsey hate. And yes, this book is chock-full of it. Probably a little overboard, really.
There were two main fallacies with this book. Two things I really had to suspend disbelief with. The first thing: a Spartan II struggling with her emotions as she returns to her home planet and seeing her insurgent father... Come on. I kept trying to imagine John 117 in the same position and I had to laugh. There would have been no emotion. In fact, I don't think he would have hesitated putting an end to the insurgent, even if the guy was his own dad.
The second fallacy: one flipping Covenant battlecruiser... That is Staffan's grand plan. Send one battlecruiser to Earth to make a point? That thing would have been blown out of the stars before it could have even gotten close enough to start glassing Earth.
Sadly, these were the biggest parts of the book. And when you base a story on weak plot objectives, the whole story will suffer.
Now, what Karen Traviss did right was the last 1/4. The action was fun and awesome. It really started getting good at Vaz and Mal's capture and torture. Good character development on all sides.
Traviss is a good, solid writer, and I intend on reading her other books, but this one fell just a little short.
November 28, 2014
Does this author know nothing about the HALO world at all??? Any vague conception of the persons involved or their personalities??? I can't even give this book a decent review because I am too busy scathing.
July 26, 2016
This is the final nail in the Kilo Five Trilogy and I am happy to see it go. From the beginning to its finale this series has felt like a parody of the Halo literature. Every character is two dimensional and with so many point of views it looses any kind of ability to relate to any of them. Everyone needs a witty one line but no character has any depth. Characters are created only to further the plot; which as a whole drags until the ending which is anticlimactic. Though I may be biased, I was sick of the narrow mindedness of reading about every character using Halsey as a scape goat for all their problems or dilemmas and the inaccuracies to her involvement in the Spartan II program. I find it poor planning in using the Deus ex machina of the Huragok... All in all I feel this whole series could have been one book and was just padded with long drawn out character development that is only reinforced by repetition.
March 6, 2014
The Kilo-Five Trilogy is about the consequences, fallout, and morality of the Spartan-II program and to a lesser extent ONI. A huge focus of that arc involves pointing out that Dr Catherine Halsey did a terrible, condemnable thing by kidnapping children to become Spartans. Something many fans seem to take offence to, myself included at first. She's the mother of everything Halo, JOHN-117, Cortana, every story involving Spartans is a product of her program. Yet this trilogy is the first time that they put everything she's done under a microscope and say "wait, this wasn't all on the up an up". ONI signed off on it, Halsey had hubris enough to get away with it, in fact the entire Kilo-Five trilogy is about the good guys doing bad things for the right reasons. Everyone in Mortal Dictata, and the Kilo-Five trilogy hate Halsey for what she did, and they have very good reasons for doing so. She was allowed to get away with kidnapping, indoctrinating, and mutating children in order to protect the UNSC and prevent higher casualties. It was a pure for the greater good decision, that became fortunate when the Covenant arrived. What Mortal Dictata does best is showing the fallout of actions taken by those involved in the Spartan Program thirty years after it began. No one, not even the legendary Catherine Halsey could have predicted what her creations would become and how they'd feel if the life they'd forgotten was returned. It's all fun to play the badass super soldier saving the galaxy, but when the fighting stops, what do you do?
January 31, 2014
One of the best expanded universe writers alive. Every series would profit from a treatment from Karen Traviss.
Mortal Dictata is a book full of complex characters in complicated situations. While the Halo series may be best known for its addictive multiplayer and wacky alien midgets, the Kilo-5 trilogy highlights and explores the morally gray issues that are implied but go unaddressed within the games.
Mortal Dictata is a book full of complex characters in complicated situations. While the Halo series may be best known for its addictive multiplayer and wacky alien midgets, the Kilo-5 trilogy highlights and explores the morally gray issues that are implied but go unaddressed within the games.
August 16, 2022
Naomi Sentzke, my beloved
June 17, 2014
I haven't read the other books in the Kilo-Five series in quite a while, but I still remember a majority of what they were about. I had bought this book when it came out, along with the final book in the Forerunner series. Unlike the Forerunner series, which for some reason I just had trouble getting into with all three books, I love the Kilo-Five series. I was glad to finally be able to find the drive to actually read Mortal Dictata, and saddened to finish it. I'm not sure if I'll mention any spoilers in the next few sentences, so avoid it just in case.
The thing I love about Mortal Dictata (Kilo-Five in general) is how it focuses on people who aren't Master Chief. I love the story with him, but it is also great to read about other people in the war, before the war, and after the war, and how they were/are affected. This book does a great job of switching between the viewpoints of Kilo-Five, former Covenant members, and "civvies." The story was a great way to wrap up the series, even though the happy ending ended up becoming not so happy in a way. The final (numbered) chapter was lovely to read about how everyone in Kilo-Five was doing after the little adventure, but the last page or two of it really made me both happy and sad. It might be a bit cliche, but I still loved it. The Epilogue built upon something that was mentioned between two characters in one of the later chapters. I guessed who it was about, but it was still a great little end.
The main thing I love about the book, is that is shows the evil side of the whole Spartan program. It doesn't show it off as some lovely propaganda of faceless, anonymous bad asses saving planets. It delves into how it affected families who had their children abducted and replaced with clones without them even knowing, then having those clones die. It goes a bit into how a couple of characters came to the Spartan program and how not everyone came from happy families. It shows that what Halsey and others did - while something that saved who knows how many lives from the Covenant - was ultimately illegal and evil. It definitely makes you question the morality of the entire Spartan program.
It definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I thoroughly enjoyed the series. I look forward to checking out more books from Karen Traviss in the near future.
The thing I love about Mortal Dictata (Kilo-Five in general) is how it focuses on people who aren't Master Chief. I love the story with him, but it is also great to read about other people in the war, before the war, and after the war, and how they were/are affected. This book does a great job of switching between the viewpoints of Kilo-Five, former Covenant members, and "civvies." The story was a great way to wrap up the series, even though the happy ending ended up becoming not so happy in a way. The final (numbered) chapter was lovely to read about how everyone in Kilo-Five was doing after the little adventure, but the last page or two of it really made me both happy and sad. It might be a bit cliche, but I still loved it. The Epilogue built upon something that was mentioned between two characters in one of the later chapters. I guessed who it was about, but it was still a great little end.
The main thing I love about the book, is that is shows the evil side of the whole Spartan program. It doesn't show it off as some lovely propaganda of faceless, anonymous bad asses saving planets. It delves into how it affected families who had their children abducted and replaced with clones without them even knowing, then having those clones die. It goes a bit into how a couple of characters came to the Spartan program and how not everyone came from happy families. It shows that what Halsey and others did - while something that saved who knows how many lives from the Covenant - was ultimately illegal and evil. It definitely makes you question the morality of the entire Spartan program.
It definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I thoroughly enjoyed the series. I look forward to checking out more books from Karen Traviss in the near future.
January 30, 2014
I am a fan of Karen Traviss' other works, namely her Gears of War series and Republic Commando, and definitely a fan of Kilo-Five. I largely enjoyed the conclusion to the series, and found only small grievances, and they were specifically to do with her writing style. A feature of how she writes alien dialogue (and by the end of the series, even in human dialogue) is almost constantly referring to human phrases and references. I'm not talking about the pop culture references. In Thursday War it became so common to become annoying, and it continues in Mortal Dictata with every conceivable race referring to human phrases that, even if they commanded a listening post, they still probably would have no knowledge of. Minor gripes in the grand scheme of things, but when reading books in a short timespan they become very obvious. The human characters had their own form, which was referring to what the other characters would say in that situation, which didn't happen often at all, but when it did seemed forcibly making the reader aware of how close the characters had come.
Aside from my personal opinion on that one matter, the plot was great, the characters were interesting, and even though it was very morality heavy, it was worth it to read the outcome of the series.
Haters of the Halsey-hate need to remember that there is more than one way to view questionable ethics.
Aside from my personal opinion on that one matter, the plot was great, the characters were interesting, and even though it was very morality heavy, it was worth it to read the outcome of the series.
Haters of the Halsey-hate need to remember that there is more than one way to view questionable ethics.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2016
I started this book 4 days ago, completely planning on finishing it the next day because I was really enjoying it. So 4 days later, I actually do end up getting back to it, but I had forgotten some of it. This led me to starting it almost completely over again. I'm not sure why I seemed to like this less the second time around....but it didn't hold my interest like it did the first time around. I should have finished this sooner, when I was clearly in the mood for it.
I liked the story. I think it was the characters that I couldn't relate to or feel for. It also had a modern feel, both in voice and even in its descriptions....it sounded like it could have happened today instead of the future. That didn't work for me. I wanted more world building.
I liked the story. I think it was the characters that I couldn't relate to or feel for. It also had a modern feel, both in voice and even in its descriptions....it sounded like it could have happened today instead of the future. That didn't work for me. I wanted more world building.
March 7, 2022
Karen Traviss really sticks the landing with the conclusion to the Kilo-5 trilogy. I really am sad that I won't get to spend more time with these characters - I love them all so much.
Out of all three books in the trilogy, this one is probably the most morally complex and emotionally impactful. We finally get to spend time with the father of someone who lost their child to the Spartan II program and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crying almost non-stop during both the flashback sequences and the conclusion to this plotlines.
This book also explores the interpersonal dynamics between Kilo-5 in a much deeper way than the previous two novels - to the point of almost introducing a romance between some characters (TWO romances, actually). I won't spoil anything the bond between the members of Kilo-5 is just really well written, I loved it.
Overall I have to say this is the best book in the trilogy and MAYBE the best Halo novel I've read thus far. It's truly a moving story that really puts everything UNSC and ONI has done under a microscope to show you just how messed up some of their actions are.
Plus there's an entire plotline about BB (an AI that rivals Cortana both in terms of importance to the plot and overall likeability from a reader's perspective) coming to terms with his existence as an AI and the seven year lifespan they are doomed to experience. Again, just truly compelling stuff. I think I use that word too much, but how else can you describe something you enjoyed reading?
All in all, I loved this trilogy. I can't believe that video game tie-in novels are capable of being this thoughtful and well-written. What a delightful surprise.
Here's hoping the next two novels in the Forerunner trilogy are able to keep my attention now that I've finished Traviss' trilogy.
Out of all three books in the trilogy, this one is probably the most morally complex and emotionally impactful. We finally get to spend time with the father of someone who lost their child to the Spartan II program and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crying almost non-stop during both the flashback sequences and the conclusion to this plotlines.
This book also explores the interpersonal dynamics between Kilo-5 in a much deeper way than the previous two novels - to the point of almost introducing a romance between some characters (TWO romances, actually). I won't spoil anything the bond between the members of Kilo-5 is just really well written, I loved it.
Overall I have to say this is the best book in the trilogy and MAYBE the best Halo novel I've read thus far. It's truly a moving story that really puts everything UNSC and ONI has done under a microscope to show you just how messed up some of their actions are.
Plus there's an entire plotline about BB (an AI that rivals Cortana both in terms of importance to the plot and overall likeability from a reader's perspective) coming to terms with his existence as an AI and the seven year lifespan they are doomed to experience. Again, just truly compelling stuff. I think I use that word too much, but how else can you describe something you enjoyed reading?
All in all, I loved this trilogy. I can't believe that video game tie-in novels are capable of being this thoughtful and well-written. What a delightful surprise.
Here's hoping the next two novels in the Forerunner trilogy are able to keep my attention now that I've finished Traviss' trilogy.
January 29, 2014
This book was a spectacular wrap up to the story of Kilo Five. It dwells a bit on morality, but that's the whole point of Kilo Five's story. What do the hardest special forces think of what was done with the Spartan project? What does the brass think? What does the one psuedo-Civilian think? It also gives a good picture of what the rest of the galaxy is doing. I read another review that said they were disappointed that people who were heroes in previous books were painted as Demons in Karen's novels, but again, that's the point. The war is over and all the nasty, desperate, dirty little secrets are coming out. Was surviving worth it if you no longer have a right to count yourself as human? This is a beautiful book about very ugly things, but perhaps the most powerful scenes are the very first, and the very last.
February 14, 2014
I love all things HALO and this was a great book. Naomi met her biological father (cried like a baby) Admiral Osmond found out where she actually came from and we now know who donated BB's consciousness. AND none of my favorite characters died! Now I'm looking forward to the next story.
April 9, 2021
Best of the Kilo-Five trilogy and top tier Halo novel. Explores the implications of the Spartan II program and sheds a very human and emotional light on the Halo universe.
May 29, 2021
Very good! However the whole Jul Mdama story line got dropped for some reason? Very bizarre. Definitely teared up at the end though!
July 23, 2021
“The best way to stop worrying about your inevitable demise is to dwell on it morbidly until you’re so bored that you forget it.”
Theres something really interesting about the halo books and my relationship to them. A lot of the ones I disliked and wrote off as action set pieces for teenagers that liked the game, were the ones that people (on goodreads at least) seemed to like the most; the few that I've really enjoyed, were the ones that people (on goodreads at least) seemed to like the least. This is a long review. Probably my longest one yet. It may be rambley. I'm not exactly proofreading. I'm sorry if you're stupid enough to read the whole thing.
This book does something that the other Halo books don't. Which is to say, make a more nuanced plot that tries to talk about some serious ethical issues. Lets chat about some of them:
The whole series follows a CIA style plot to arm dissidents in order to cede dissent in a government. Sound familiar? It should!
The introduction and exploration of Staffan's character was great. Staffan believe that his daughter was kidnapped by the government and replaced with a clone. HE IS CORRECT. When we join him in the book he's a terrorist, a BIG terrorist as far as earth is concerned. But can you blame him? Again, turns out hurting innocents on the road to stopping terrorism only creates more terrorists. And it's hard to look at Staffan's character and say that anything he's doing is wrong. It's not right, sure... But he's sure as hell not the bad guy.
Naomi's character going through the process of finding her father, and more importantly, remembering the events of being taken from him, and trying to cope with what her life would have been and what it's become. What was taken from her in that.
Osman's OPPOSITE experience of finding out what her life was before she was taken. Being saved from a far worse life, in contrast to Naomi's.
Moreso elsewhere in the series but some here as well, the book also speaks to the Sangheili human relations. Being with Phillips with the Sangheili people, not as a prisoner in a war but as someone learning more about them was fascinating. They aren't just alien bad. They're creatures living their own lives. This series recognized that when few others did so.
This book speaks to SERIOUS issues. Some of which have easily applicable versions in our own society. Some don't, sure, but they're real ethical quandary's nonetheless.
Something that there is a lot of discussion about regarding this book is the way that it demonizes Halsey. And, yeah? It does? What's your point? Did you think she was a MORALLY GREY character beforehand? She kidnapped children and put them through torturous conditions to turn them into military indoctrinated killing machines. What is morally grey about that?
"oh but Matthew, she did that because humanity was at stake" NO MORON, you read the books, don't give me that shit. She did that because some people living on a rock far away from earth wanted rights, and the government didn't want to GIVE THEM THOSE RIGHTS.
It may SEEM morally grey because the covenant almost wiped out humanity. But she didn't do that because of the covenant. Maybe if the SPARTAN-2 program had been started during the covenant war you could argue that, but it wasn't, and I don't think you can argue that any of the things she did were anything less than evil.
AND even then, this book is not "pure Halsey hate". There's quite a bit of reference to how morally wrong the spartan-2 program was. But theres also times that the book recognizes that even though it was morally wrong, it had its benefits. It had its benefits when the covenant showed up obviously. But it also turned out to be a better fate for some of those involved. Those such as Osman who would have likely otherwise stayed on the street, hell maybe ended up dead before even reaching adulthood.
This book isn't about the shades of grey of the SPARTAN program. It's about the things the government does when they think nobody is looking. What lines should and shouldn't be crossed. Whether it's right to do bad things in hopes that they might lead to a simpler future. And it's the only Halo book so far that tries to actually lay out what happens on BOTH sides of those lines instead of just saying people good aliens bad. I commend it for trying.
Four and a half stars.
Theres something really interesting about the halo books and my relationship to them. A lot of the ones I disliked and wrote off as action set pieces for teenagers that liked the game, were the ones that people (on goodreads at least) seemed to like the most; the few that I've really enjoyed, were the ones that people (on goodreads at least) seemed to like the least. This is a long review. Probably my longest one yet. It may be rambley. I'm not exactly proofreading. I'm sorry if you're stupid enough to read the whole thing.
This book does something that the other Halo books don't. Which is to say, make a more nuanced plot that tries to talk about some serious ethical issues. Lets chat about some of them:
The whole series follows a CIA style plot to arm dissidents in order to cede dissent in a government. Sound familiar? It should!
The introduction and exploration of Staffan's character was great. Staffan believe that his daughter was kidnapped by the government and replaced with a clone. HE IS CORRECT. When we join him in the book he's a terrorist, a BIG terrorist as far as earth is concerned. But can you blame him? Again, turns out hurting innocents on the road to stopping terrorism only creates more terrorists. And it's hard to look at Staffan's character and say that anything he's doing is wrong. It's not right, sure... But he's sure as hell not the bad guy.
Naomi's character going through the process of finding her father, and more importantly, remembering the events of being taken from him, and trying to cope with what her life would have been and what it's become. What was taken from her in that.
Osman's OPPOSITE experience of finding out what her life was before she was taken. Being saved from a far worse life, in contrast to Naomi's.
Moreso elsewhere in the series but some here as well, the book also speaks to the Sangheili human relations. Being with Phillips with the Sangheili people, not as a prisoner in a war but as someone learning more about them was fascinating. They aren't just alien bad. They're creatures living their own lives. This series recognized that when few others did so.
This book speaks to SERIOUS issues. Some of which have easily applicable versions in our own society. Some don't, sure, but they're real ethical quandary's nonetheless.
Something that there is a lot of discussion about regarding this book is the way that it demonizes Halsey. And, yeah? It does? What's your point? Did you think she was a MORALLY GREY character beforehand? She kidnapped children and put them through torturous conditions to turn them into military indoctrinated killing machines. What is morally grey about that?
"oh but Matthew, she did that because humanity was at stake" NO MORON, you read the books, don't give me that shit. She did that because some people living on a rock far away from earth wanted rights, and the government didn't want to GIVE THEM THOSE RIGHTS.
It may SEEM morally grey because the covenant almost wiped out humanity. But she didn't do that because of the covenant. Maybe if the SPARTAN-2 program had been started during the covenant war you could argue that, but it wasn't, and I don't think you can argue that any of the things she did were anything less than evil.
AND even then, this book is not "pure Halsey hate". There's quite a bit of reference to how morally wrong the spartan-2 program was. But theres also times that the book recognizes that even though it was morally wrong, it had its benefits. It had its benefits when the covenant showed up obviously. But it also turned out to be a better fate for some of those involved. Those such as Osman who would have likely otherwise stayed on the street, hell maybe ended up dead before even reaching adulthood.
This book isn't about the shades of grey of the SPARTAN program. It's about the things the government does when they think nobody is looking. What lines should and shouldn't be crossed. Whether it's right to do bad things in hopes that they might lead to a simpler future. And it's the only Halo book so far that tries to actually lay out what happens on BOTH sides of those lines instead of just saying people good aliens bad. I commend it for trying.
Four and a half stars.
September 28, 2024
I'm not sure what the point of this book, and the entire trilogy, really was. Here are some ideas:
- To serve as a sequel to Ghosts of Onyx -- but that plotline is slow, plodding, drawn-out, and all the characters involved disappear after the first few chapters of The Thursday War.
- To explain how Jul 'Mdama discovered the existence of the Didact and the shield world Requiem -- but he is played off as a villain despite being one of the more sympathetic characters in the entire trilogy, only to completely disappear at the end of The Thursday War.
- To describe the fall-out of the morally gray ethics of the SPARTAN-II program -- but that is handled in such a haphazard way that other reviewers have pointed out. It's barely even considered morally gray at this point, and these novels just beat the reader over the head with the message that it's bad, bad, bad, and completely loses the plot when comparing Catherine Halsey -- a sympathetic character up until this point -- to fucking HITLER.
- To set up ONI as the true villains in the universe, including Osman and Parangosky despite their constant attempts to scapegoat all things evil to Halsey. In this case -- success.
- To introduce the Kig-Yar ("Jackals") as a growing threat in the universe -- but the only individual who could band the race together to create any kind of threat makes only a few appearances in Mortal Dictata and is then unceremoniously (and stupidly) tossed aside.
Only ONE scene in the entire trilogy carries with it any tension -- when Mal and Vaz are in danger of being discovered as double agents on Venezia -- but it dissipates so quickly that it's almost like unfulfilling sex. Other than that, never are the main characters in any real danger.
The origins of Black-Box ("BB") are touted as some big mystery with an upcoming payoff and then fizzles out with a completely uninteresting "reveal".
This isn't really a trilogy, nor is it a sufficient bridge from Halo 3 to Halo 4 -- the Forerunner Trilogy did a better job of that -- it's just a collection of very loosely interconnected stories with some of the same characters throughout. The only reason I'm giving this book two stars is because I enjoy the Halo universe and it expanded it. Kind of. Not really.
This trilogy should have been only one novel.
Recommended for nobody except the most curious Halo fans.
- To serve as a sequel to Ghosts of Onyx -- but that plotline is slow, plodding, drawn-out, and all the characters involved disappear after the first few chapters of The Thursday War.
- To explain how Jul 'Mdama discovered the existence of the Didact and the shield world Requiem -- but he is played off as a villain despite being one of the more sympathetic characters in the entire trilogy, only to completely disappear at the end of The Thursday War.
- To describe the fall-out of the morally gray ethics of the SPARTAN-II program -- but that is handled in such a haphazard way that other reviewers have pointed out. It's barely even considered morally gray at this point, and these novels just beat the reader over the head with the message that it's bad, bad, bad, and completely loses the plot when comparing Catherine Halsey -- a sympathetic character up until this point -- to fucking HITLER.
- To set up ONI as the true villains in the universe, including Osman and Parangosky despite their constant attempts to scapegoat all things evil to Halsey. In this case -- success.
- To introduce the Kig-Yar ("Jackals") as a growing threat in the universe -- but the only individual who could band the race together to create any kind of threat makes only a few appearances in Mortal Dictata and is then unceremoniously (and stupidly) tossed aside.
Only ONE scene in the entire trilogy carries with it any tension -- when Mal and Vaz are in danger of being discovered as double agents on Venezia -- but it dissipates so quickly that it's almost like unfulfilling sex. Other than that, never are the main characters in any real danger.
The origins of Black-Box ("BB") are touted as some big mystery with an upcoming payoff and then fizzles out with a completely uninteresting "reveal".
This isn't really a trilogy, nor is it a sufficient bridge from Halo 3 to Halo 4 -- the Forerunner Trilogy did a better job of that -- it's just a collection of very loosely interconnected stories with some of the same characters throughout. The only reason I'm giving this book two stars is because I enjoy the Halo universe and it expanded it. Kind of. Not really.
This trilogy should have been only one novel.
Recommended for nobody except the most curious Halo fans.
July 6, 2025
This book had me all over the place. I’m not quite sure what to rate it. Here’s why. This book did a phenomenal job of delving deeper into the morality of the Halo universe and the actions that we see characters take in the previous novels. The stories during the Human-Covenant War were all concerned with survival and doing what must be done, this story and the entire Kilo-Five trilogy breaks down those choices and events and shows the moral repercussions of them. That I really enjoy. There’s some really great, heavy moments that show that the events that were glossed over or only showed one side had a much darker, deeper moral impact than we saw before.
Things I didn’t like: this book can get really slow at times. After finishing the trilogy it just might be the author, because I’ve felt this way with all of them now. There’s really great scenes and chapters, then there can be really slow chapters that completely lose my attention and I found myself not even listening. It sometimes hurt the pacing of the story and if there was really critical story information during a really boring interlude that I wasn’t paying attention to I’d have to just deal with it. Maybe it’s just a skill issue on my end though.
Overall I’m giving this a 4/5 instead of my original score 3/5 because while there are almost equal parts great to not great chapters, the actual subject matter, overall story, and moral content really intrigued me. This is a side of Halo that a lot of people forgot about. Yes Halo is aliens and war and ooh-rah, but it’s also false flag operations, immoral illegal science experiments, lies and deception. It’s the side of Halo we don’t see in the games yet is always there in the backdrop. I really enjoyed this trilogy for that reason. Would recommend to the average Halo fan wanting more out of this amazing universe.
Things I didn’t like: this book can get really slow at times. After finishing the trilogy it just might be the author, because I’ve felt this way with all of them now. There’s really great scenes and chapters, then there can be really slow chapters that completely lose my attention and I found myself not even listening. It sometimes hurt the pacing of the story and if there was really critical story information during a really boring interlude that I wasn’t paying attention to I’d have to just deal with it. Maybe it’s just a skill issue on my end though.
Overall I’m giving this a 4/5 instead of my original score 3/5 because while there are almost equal parts great to not great chapters, the actual subject matter, overall story, and moral content really intrigued me. This is a side of Halo that a lot of people forgot about. Yes Halo is aliens and war and ooh-rah, but it’s also false flag operations, immoral illegal science experiments, lies and deception. It’s the side of Halo we don’t see in the games yet is always there in the backdrop. I really enjoyed this trilogy for that reason. Would recommend to the average Halo fan wanting more out of this amazing universe.
March 22, 2022
Un buen cierre para la trilogía, pero este libro abandona algunos arcos que eran centrales en los primeros dos. El estilo de la autora brilla en las escenas más crudas, es lo suyo, no se por qué se desperdicia en seguir expresando odio hacía un personaje que ya ni siquiera interactúa en la novela.
La historia trata de abarcar varios puntos de vista, pero deja olvidados otros. Si la historia se iba a centrar en la resolución de una situación en específico, se hubiera podido profundizar aún más en esa relación.
La historia trata de abarcar varios puntos de vista, pero deja olvidados otros. Si la historia se iba a centrar en la resolución de una situación en específico, se hubiera podido profundizar aún más en esa relación.
October 18, 2023
Woah. This was the book Traviss wanted to write, and you can feel it. It grips you, it makes you want to cry, it even deals with the ramifications of the first Halo novel over a decade before. Putting aside some of Traviss’ questionable philosophy that finds its way in towards the end, this just might the highlight of all the Halo books I’ve read so far.
February 4, 2024
The primary thing I pulled away from the first 1/2 of the book is the author has found peak depression in a Halo book. That’s a real accomplishment considering the early books (except First Strike). The second half was high quality Halo. This one is not for me unless the first half were to get lopped off.
July 1, 2024
I lost interest very early on, and it never pulled me back in. The first book was fascinating, the second book was alright, but this was just a meh it felt it didn't need to be made, they should of left it at 2 books and moved on! Which is a real bummer to say as i love Karen Traviss when she writes gears of war novels, but here. Honestly i just don't think that she can write halo.
March 19, 2025
puffff durísimo el libro que mal lo he pasado pero podría pasarme horas hablando de esta trilogía
January 12, 2025
Great book. Loved how they wrapped up all of my questions about BB and Naomi in satisfactory ways. Although it did contain a passage that is possibly the most egregiously incoherent technobabble I've ever heard in sci-fi, it was entertaining and I found it to be a fitting end to a great trilogy.
June 1, 2018
Mortal Dictata, by Karen Traviss, proved to be an exceptional novel and provided a climactic finish to the Kilo-5 trilogy. Like all the other novels in the series, the story centers around the special operations unit Kilo-5 and their missions in a dangerous galaxy with one main objective: cause more chaos. Before diving into the summary of the book, it is important to talk about the state of the Halo universe. If you have already read my other reviews, this information is not new: 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. While many books shy away from too much darkness, Mortal Dictata provides the reader with a sense of what it is like to work in an intelligence agency. From shady double crosses and hidden agendas, Mortal Dictata is a sort of twenty fifth century navy seal team six type novel as some of Earth’s best work to dismantle alien political systems from the inside. In this novel, the series turns to a more personal note with a pretty simple plotline: spartan Naomi’s father grew resentment towards Earth when he suspected that they had kidnapped his child and is preparing to take an old covenant corvette and turn as many major Earth population centers to molten slag as possible. The squad manages to ultimately thwart his plans and Naomi talks him over to the side of the U.N.S.C., leading to him ultimately sacrificing himself for his daughter. The story is relatively simple because it is meant to show the terrible, horrendous side of the spartan program where the other books support the spartan program. As said in my other reviews, Traviss has some great lines that really can teach us something or adjust our outlook on the world, "“Humans would never tell the simple truth when a lie was available....” (67) This line is pretty cynical, but it sometimes does apply. The author also includes many hilarious lines that help connect humans five hundred years in the future to human behavior now with these sort of inner sarcastic monologues, "“And knowing my luck … that’ll be the Engineer sign for “Your mom’s a skank.” (375) Overall, I would recommend this book for anyone who is a big fan of the halo series and anyone looking for a story that doesn't shy away from questioning mortality. However, without the other books as context, one could get pretty lost in the Halo universe.
April 19, 2020
The only word for this book is
weak
. The characters. The plot. The climax. Overall, the only reason I kept reading it was so I could get to the next book by a new author (finally). It’s unfortunate that Traviss decided to play the morality card instead of the action card with this book, because where her writing really excels is in action scenes. She is very good at battles and fights, but not very good at everything else; this would have been completely fine if she actually stuck to what she was good at. For example, Glasslands wasn’t too bad and the second half of the Thursday War I remember as being quite entertaining (because it was a battle), but this novel just plodded on and on and on about the same morality crap she’s been rambling about since the first novel but now it’s in the limelight but brings nothing new to the story at all. Traviss tried to force us to not only think about the morality of the Spartan program the whole novel, but she did it in such a heavy-handed way I felt pummeled by it. And bored as hell.
My favorite part about the Halo novels is learning about the alien cultures – the best sections of the first two Traviss novels were the parts in the Sangheili perspective because it was different and interesting to see a depiction of the Elite’s home world and culture. This novel unfortunately turned the focus back on boring old humans. It did have a bit in the Kig-Yar perspective, but even that felt a little forced – Chon was much too human in her thoughts. Also, there was no explanation for Sometimes Sinks’ behavior other than conjecture by the characters which made the whole finale reek of deus ex machina. And where the hell did the Elites all go? There is a grand total of one in this entire novel! And he’s in it for like two pages.
This novel reads like an afterthought. Thursday War had a great final battle scene – where did that momentum go? Oh right, all the nonsense about Halsey and the Spartan program fizzled it out like a bucket of water thrown on a fire.
My other problems with the novel carry over from its predecessors in the Kilo Five series.
Repetition. You don’t need to explain every time BB connects with a computer about how fast he can travel through it, how much Halsey is a terrible person, and how awful the Spartan project was to those poor children who are now bad-ass super soldiers. Yeah, it sucked for them and the parents. We know. Yeah, we realize the government did something super shady. SO WHAT? The government has been doing super shady things since the beginning of time. Is this novel supposed to be arguing that super shady government dealings are… bad? No shit, Sherlock, let’s move on please. Except we don’t. The shady government program from thirty years prior is the focus of this novel, much to its detriment because I don’t give a f*ck about that.
The characters are cardboard cutouts. Instead of using pages and pages to denounce Halsey and rant about the Spartan program, why not spend some time having the characters, I don’t know, INTERACT? For example, we are told that Dev and Phillips have something going on, but we never see it. We never see them flirting or even having a conversation. We are teased about Vaz and Naomi but we're never given a logical resolution
Now to head into what I liked about the novel. Hmm… nothing? Honestly. I can’t think of a single thing I actually enjoyed other than BB. All the stuff I liked about the last two novels was gone.
My favorite part about the Halo novels is learning about the alien cultures – the best sections of the first two Traviss novels were the parts in the Sangheili perspective because it was different and interesting to see a depiction of the Elite’s home world and culture. This novel unfortunately turned the focus back on boring old humans. It did have a bit in the Kig-Yar perspective, but even that felt a little forced – Chon was much too human in her thoughts. Also, there was no explanation for Sometimes Sinks’ behavior other than conjecture by the characters which made the whole finale reek of deus ex machina. And where the hell did the Elites all go? There is a grand total of one in this entire novel! And he’s in it for like two pages.
This novel reads like an afterthought. Thursday War had a great final battle scene – where did that momentum go? Oh right, all the nonsense about Halsey and the Spartan program fizzled it out like a bucket of water thrown on a fire.
My other problems with the novel carry over from its predecessors in the Kilo Five series.
Repetition. You don’t need to explain every time BB connects with a computer about how fast he can travel through it, how much Halsey is a terrible person, and how awful the Spartan project was to those poor children who are now bad-ass super soldiers. Yeah, it sucked for them and the parents. We know. Yeah, we realize the government did something super shady. SO WHAT? The government has been doing super shady things since the beginning of time. Is this novel supposed to be arguing that super shady government dealings are… bad? No shit, Sherlock, let’s move on please. Except we don’t. The shady government program from thirty years prior is the focus of this novel, much to its detriment because I don’t give a f*ck about that.
The characters are cardboard cutouts. Instead of using pages and pages to denounce Halsey and rant about the Spartan program, why not spend some time having the characters, I don’t know, INTERACT? For example, we are told that Dev and Phillips have something going on, but we never see it. We never see them flirting or even having a conversation. We are teased about Vaz and Naomi but we're never given a logical resolution
Now to head into what I liked about the novel. Hmm… nothing? Honestly. I can’t think of a single thing I actually enjoyed other than BB. All the stuff I liked about the last two novels was gone.
December 7, 2014
‘Halo: Mortal Dictata’, by Karen Traviss, is a science-fiction book that is set in the distant future where humanity is at war with a union of alien species called the Covenant. As near as I can tell, the author chose to write this book solely for the purpose of entertaining an audience. There appear to be no other motives for writing it based on the content within.
In this book, as previously stated, humanity is at war with aliens. This particular story follows a spec ops team called Kilo 5 whose task it is to stoke the fires of the aliens’ civil war so they would not focus on returning to crush humanity. The story follows one portion of the team, the other portion of that same team, along with other factions such as some aliens who are fighting against Kilo 5. This way, the reader gets perspective from all parties involved in the story, not just the protagonists. I very much enjoyed this style of writing. The way that it happened was oriented so that each segment ended at a climactic part before moving to the next set of characters. This way, each cast of characters had their own mini story that was interesting in of itself. When all the mini stories were added up, the book as a whole was amazing.
This book was written as a third person limited perspective novel. At any given time, the reader only has access to the thoughts, opinions, and emotions of one specific character. The pronouns I, we, and us are not used at all unless the characters are speaking to one another. However, as I’ve already stated, the story shifts from character to character, so over time, the reader gets perspective from most of the characters in the book. However, at any given time, they only get to see into one character’s mind, so the perspective is still third person limited.
Throughout the course of this book, the characters are exposed to a deep-seeded plot in their own planet’s government that goes against everything that they were taught to believe. This could easily make one of the themes of the book trust, since they needed to trust in one another and their moral values to know what to do. Another theme could be survival, since it is in fact a war story and there are many conflicts. Another theme could be deception, since almost everything in the book revolves around who knows what, and if what certain people know is a lie or not. Kilo 5 is tasked with making sure that the wrong people now all the wrong things and the right people know only most of the right things, so deception is a very key thing throughout the story.
This story was told as a narrative, which I thought suited it best. The author reserved certain information for later times in the story instead of revealing them in chronological order of occurrence as in a narrative. This way, the reader read only what the author wanted them to know at any given time. This way, the story was more exciting and interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had well developed characters, an enthralling story, and very nice descriptions in all aspects, including setting, situation, and others. I have enjoyed this series with every book I have read, and this one was just icing on the cake.
In this book, as previously stated, humanity is at war with aliens. This particular story follows a spec ops team called Kilo 5 whose task it is to stoke the fires of the aliens’ civil war so they would not focus on returning to crush humanity. The story follows one portion of the team, the other portion of that same team, along with other factions such as some aliens who are fighting against Kilo 5. This way, the reader gets perspective from all parties involved in the story, not just the protagonists. I very much enjoyed this style of writing. The way that it happened was oriented so that each segment ended at a climactic part before moving to the next set of characters. This way, each cast of characters had their own mini story that was interesting in of itself. When all the mini stories were added up, the book as a whole was amazing.
This book was written as a third person limited perspective novel. At any given time, the reader only has access to the thoughts, opinions, and emotions of one specific character. The pronouns I, we, and us are not used at all unless the characters are speaking to one another. However, as I’ve already stated, the story shifts from character to character, so over time, the reader gets perspective from most of the characters in the book. However, at any given time, they only get to see into one character’s mind, so the perspective is still third person limited.
Throughout the course of this book, the characters are exposed to a deep-seeded plot in their own planet’s government that goes against everything that they were taught to believe. This could easily make one of the themes of the book trust, since they needed to trust in one another and their moral values to know what to do. Another theme could be survival, since it is in fact a war story and there are many conflicts. Another theme could be deception, since almost everything in the book revolves around who knows what, and if what certain people know is a lie or not. Kilo 5 is tasked with making sure that the wrong people now all the wrong things and the right people know only most of the right things, so deception is a very key thing throughout the story.
This story was told as a narrative, which I thought suited it best. The author reserved certain information for later times in the story instead of revealing them in chronological order of occurrence as in a narrative. This way, the reader read only what the author wanted them to know at any given time. This way, the story was more exciting and interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had well developed characters, an enthralling story, and very nice descriptions in all aspects, including setting, situation, and others. I have enjoyed this series with every book I have read, and this one was just icing on the cake.
July 4, 2023
Halo: Mortal Dictata is the third volume in Karen Traviss’ Kilo-Five trilogy. The first volume, Halo: Glasslands, follows on from the events of Halo 3. If you've read the previous two in the trilogy, Glasslands and The Thursday War, this entry, Mortal Dictata, closes out the stories of the main cast of characters we've come to know in the previous two. If you're just jumping in to a random Halo novel or want to read about the iconic Master Chief from the games, then this isn't the novel for you. Traviss' trilogy is a slow build that cumulates at the end of this novel, built on what the previous two have slowly been leading to.
Set a year after events of Halo 3, The colonies are a mass of discontent; still angry at the upheaval and loss caused by the Covenant war, people want answers. And they want justice. No one wants this more than colonial terrorist Staffan Sentzke, still searching for the truth about his daughter Naomi after all these years. He’s never believed the official line that she died of an illness – he never accepted the clone that ONI placed with him in her stead was in fact his daughter, and will stop at nothing to find out where the real Naomi is, or even if she’s still alive. He’s stolen a ex-Covenant cruiser, and is intent upon threatening to ‘glass’ Earth unless someone tells him the truth. Kilo-Five are tasked with stopping him, and recovering the cruiser.
This novel, and the series, is really for the Halo fan that wants to delve much deeper into the lore and wider Halo expanded universe that the games are set in and will be rewarded with little tidbits of information that does indirectly relate to the later games in a way as well. Karen Traviss, previously known for some Star Wars and Gears of War novels, writes very similar to the previous two entries that has you bouncing around from character to character as you read and Mortal Dictata focuses much more on Naomi's personal background and story to give her some more character and life, something we don't see often with the Spartans.
I quite enjoyed the overlying story arc that revolved around Naomi and her introduction into the Spartan-II program, as you get to see a side that generally doesn't get a lot of details, from the other family member's perspective. Staffan Sentzke is an ordinary father who starts to worry when Naomi doesn't return from school on time one day. Like any worried father that thinks the worst has happen, he tries to find her but she is eventually found in a nearby town, though he can tell instantly that she's different somehow and not acting like herself. If you know the Spartan-II program, then you're aware that the reason Naomi's father think she's acting different, is because she is different. The program kidnaps young children and replaces them with a flash clone in their place, which usually die at a young age as well. Eventually the Naomi clone (unknown to him) dies, and his wife commits suicide, so he vows to uncover the truth about Naoimi's disappearance, by any means necessary.
Sentzke's plan is to use a battleship, Pious Inquisitor, to threaten Earth, saying he will glass it unless he gets the answers he desires about Naomi's disappearance decades earlier. Other members of Kilo-Five, which we've been following in the previous novels, are tasked with finding this ship and preventing anything from happening. While all of this is going on, Naomi learns about her father and is struggling with what to do with the information being brought to her about a father she doesn't remember and who is now considered a terrorist.
I don't want to go too much further into the story, but the whole main story arc plays out in an interesting way with a satisfying conclusion. Seeing Naomi struggling with her emotions is something we don't really get to see often with any of the Spartan's, and shows that they are still human deep inside, regardless of the Spartan-II program. As I mentioned in my The Thursday War review, the AI BB has easily become my favorite character in this trilogy, and I was more than happy with the final pages of the epilogue which reveals something quite substantial about BB and the Mortal Dictata in general. If you're invented into the Halo lore, this novel has some tidbits that you'll for sure want to know and give a few "ah ha!" moments.
If you're simply jumping into this novel without reading the previous entries into the trilogy, Glasslands, and The Thursday War, you're going to be very confused about what's going on, who's who, and what all the terminology means for the different races. Mortal Dictata assumes you've read up to this point and know that Elites are actually called Sangheili, Kig-Yar are Jackals, Unggoy are Grunts, and Engineers are Huragok's. You also already know that the AI's have a short life span, who Osman and Admiral Parangosky are and what their beliefs are.
While I enjoyed the read and Mortal Dictata tying up a few loose ends, I did have two issues with the story that really stood out to me. Firstly, the notion that Staffan thinks that he can threaten the UNSC and Earth with a single Covenant Battlecruiser is completely preposterous. When you realize it took hundreds of ships to glass Reach, a single ship, even if it could get into Earth's atmosphere, wouldn't be as big of a threat that it's made out to be. It's lightly mentioned that a single ship wouldn't really be a huge threat, but it seems every character doesn't know this and thinks Earth may fall because of this single cruiser. It makes for an off-balance where the stakes really aren't that high when you know this. Many events were very drawn out and predictable, as you could see what was going to happen in the end, pages before reading it.
The second issue I had is how Karen Travis continues to treat the character of Dr. Halsey, responsible for the Spartan-II program is completely vilified even further in Mortal Dictata. For those unaware, Halsey was the one who created the program, which entails kidnapping children and replaced with flash clones (exactly what happened to Naomi), while the real children are thrusted into the grueling Spartan-II program. While the end does not always justify the means, without these superhuman soldiers, Humankind would not be around today if it wasn't for them and the program. Master Chief, the epitome of the program, is the perfect example of the program's necessary evil. Halsey is portrayed as this evil woman who was immoral and completely evil, but if you know the lore, you know she felt more like a mother figure to them, even though she knows it was immoral at its core. In the latter half of the book almost every character goes out of their way to vilify and think poorly of Halsey, almost as if the author had a secondary agenda. Every few pages is filled with anti-Halsey to the point of being overbearing and obvious.
The book itself was quite long, teetering at over 400 pages, which I believe could have been cut down slightly, as there are many parts that remind you things you already knew or are reinforcing ideas already touched on in the previous Kilo-Five novels. The real action doesn't really begin until the last quarter of the book as well, so those hoping for an action filled read will be disappointed until the last few chapters. Aside from a few key points, I know I'm going to forget a lot about Mortal Dictata as well. While not completely forgettable, there simply wasn't as many amazing reveals that the trilogy Greg Bear wrote. That being said, the last quarter of the book was a great read, as was the fantastic reveal at the very end in the epilogue that ties everything together with BB.
Overall, Mortal Dictata is well written and provides closure on the trilogy, and while Traviss is a talented writer, I simply didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous two in the series. There was a lot of rollercoaster moments, times where it was a challenge to get through the pages, and others where I couldn't put it down. If you're a super Halo fan like I am and have read the previous novels in the series, then it's a no brainer to finish it up with Mortal Dictata, or if you simply want to delve deeper into the lore for backstory surrounding the events that take place in the Halo games we love.
Set a year after events of Halo 3, The colonies are a mass of discontent; still angry at the upheaval and loss caused by the Covenant war, people want answers. And they want justice. No one wants this more than colonial terrorist Staffan Sentzke, still searching for the truth about his daughter Naomi after all these years. He’s never believed the official line that she died of an illness – he never accepted the clone that ONI placed with him in her stead was in fact his daughter, and will stop at nothing to find out where the real Naomi is, or even if she’s still alive. He’s stolen a ex-Covenant cruiser, and is intent upon threatening to ‘glass’ Earth unless someone tells him the truth. Kilo-Five are tasked with stopping him, and recovering the cruiser.
This novel, and the series, is really for the Halo fan that wants to delve much deeper into the lore and wider Halo expanded universe that the games are set in and will be rewarded with little tidbits of information that does indirectly relate to the later games in a way as well. Karen Traviss, previously known for some Star Wars and Gears of War novels, writes very similar to the previous two entries that has you bouncing around from character to character as you read and Mortal Dictata focuses much more on Naomi's personal background and story to give her some more character and life, something we don't see often with the Spartans.
I quite enjoyed the overlying story arc that revolved around Naomi and her introduction into the Spartan-II program, as you get to see a side that generally doesn't get a lot of details, from the other family member's perspective. Staffan Sentzke is an ordinary father who starts to worry when Naomi doesn't return from school on time one day. Like any worried father that thinks the worst has happen, he tries to find her but she is eventually found in a nearby town, though he can tell instantly that she's different somehow and not acting like herself. If you know the Spartan-II program, then you're aware that the reason Naomi's father think she's acting different, is because she is different. The program kidnaps young children and replaces them with a flash clone in their place, which usually die at a young age as well. Eventually the Naomi clone (unknown to him) dies, and his wife commits suicide, so he vows to uncover the truth about Naoimi's disappearance, by any means necessary.
Sentzke's plan is to use a battleship, Pious Inquisitor, to threaten Earth, saying he will glass it unless he gets the answers he desires about Naomi's disappearance decades earlier. Other members of Kilo-Five, which we've been following in the previous novels, are tasked with finding this ship and preventing anything from happening. While all of this is going on, Naomi learns about her father and is struggling with what to do with the information being brought to her about a father she doesn't remember and who is now considered a terrorist.
I don't want to go too much further into the story, but the whole main story arc plays out in an interesting way with a satisfying conclusion. Seeing Naomi struggling with her emotions is something we don't really get to see often with any of the Spartan's, and shows that they are still human deep inside, regardless of the Spartan-II program. As I mentioned in my The Thursday War review, the AI BB has easily become my favorite character in this trilogy, and I was more than happy with the final pages of the epilogue which reveals something quite substantial about BB and the Mortal Dictata in general. If you're invented into the Halo lore, this novel has some tidbits that you'll for sure want to know and give a few "ah ha!" moments.
If you're simply jumping into this novel without reading the previous entries into the trilogy, Glasslands, and The Thursday War, you're going to be very confused about what's going on, who's who, and what all the terminology means for the different races. Mortal Dictata assumes you've read up to this point and know that Elites are actually called Sangheili, Kig-Yar are Jackals, Unggoy are Grunts, and Engineers are Huragok's. You also already know that the AI's have a short life span, who Osman and Admiral Parangosky are and what their beliefs are.
While I enjoyed the read and Mortal Dictata tying up a few loose ends, I did have two issues with the story that really stood out to me. Firstly, the notion that Staffan thinks that he can threaten the UNSC and Earth with a single Covenant Battlecruiser is completely preposterous. When you realize it took hundreds of ships to glass Reach, a single ship, even if it could get into Earth's atmosphere, wouldn't be as big of a threat that it's made out to be. It's lightly mentioned that a single ship wouldn't really be a huge threat, but it seems every character doesn't know this and thinks Earth may fall because of this single cruiser. It makes for an off-balance where the stakes really aren't that high when you know this. Many events were very drawn out and predictable, as you could see what was going to happen in the end, pages before reading it.
The second issue I had is how Karen Travis continues to treat the character of Dr. Halsey, responsible for the Spartan-II program is completely vilified even further in Mortal Dictata. For those unaware, Halsey was the one who created the program, which entails kidnapping children and replaced with flash clones (exactly what happened to Naomi), while the real children are thrusted into the grueling Spartan-II program. While the end does not always justify the means, without these superhuman soldiers, Humankind would not be around today if it wasn't for them and the program. Master Chief, the epitome of the program, is the perfect example of the program's necessary evil. Halsey is portrayed as this evil woman who was immoral and completely evil, but if you know the lore, you know she felt more like a mother figure to them, even though she knows it was immoral at its core. In the latter half of the book almost every character goes out of their way to vilify and think poorly of Halsey, almost as if the author had a secondary agenda. Every few pages is filled with anti-Halsey to the point of being overbearing and obvious.
The book itself was quite long, teetering at over 400 pages, which I believe could have been cut down slightly, as there are many parts that remind you things you already knew or are reinforcing ideas already touched on in the previous Kilo-Five novels. The real action doesn't really begin until the last quarter of the book as well, so those hoping for an action filled read will be disappointed until the last few chapters. Aside from a few key points, I know I'm going to forget a lot about Mortal Dictata as well. While not completely forgettable, there simply wasn't as many amazing reveals that the trilogy Greg Bear wrote. That being said, the last quarter of the book was a great read, as was the fantastic reveal at the very end in the epilogue that ties everything together with BB.
Overall, Mortal Dictata is well written and provides closure on the trilogy, and while Traviss is a talented writer, I simply didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous two in the series. There was a lot of rollercoaster moments, times where it was a challenge to get through the pages, and others where I couldn't put it down. If you're a super Halo fan like I am and have read the previous novels in the series, then it's a no brainer to finish it up with Mortal Dictata, or if you simply want to delve deeper into the lore for backstory surrounding the events that take place in the Halo games we love.
December 6, 2023
8/10
This is a strong end to the Kilo-5 trilogy. The other two books covered the aftermath of the UNSC and Covenant war from their perspectives, but Mortal Dicatata focuses on the emotional aftermath for the humans, regular soldiers, civilians and Spartans alike.
The crew is now mostly focused on Venezia, a colony of insurgents from before the Human-Covenant War who still harbour grudges against the mildly fascistic military government that is the UNSC. Naomi, the Spartan of Kilo-5, comes face to face with her father who spent his whole life trying to fight the government and find her, never believing the stories fed to him. As he plans to commandeer a Covenant battle cruiser and attack Earth, Kilo-5 is sent in undercover to stop him.
The whole section on Venezia is the highlight of the book to me. The tension the reader feels as this incredibly smart terrorist slowly pieces together the truth is impossible not to enjoy, and the brutality of some of his scenes played next to the calm kindness portrayed in the scenes with his family is so perfect. You can’t help but kind of want him to succeed, if only for his own catharsis.
I took a months long break from reading this in the last 100 pages as all the mysteries and plots had kind of come to their conclusions and I had little interest in the final action set piece. I often find action in books to be lacklustre. It’s just not a strength of the medium.
Once again though the weakest point of the book is the 3rd sub-plot, this time about a Jackal with dreams of creating a Jackal empire. It was interesting at first to see Jackal society, but it’s pretty uninteresting seeing her and her crew run around the galaxy to find the battlecruiser. It didn’t have a satisfying conclusion either.
This is a strong end to the Kilo-5 trilogy. The other two books covered the aftermath of the UNSC and Covenant war from their perspectives, but Mortal Dicatata focuses on the emotional aftermath for the humans, regular soldiers, civilians and Spartans alike.
The crew is now mostly focused on Venezia, a colony of insurgents from before the Human-Covenant War who still harbour grudges against the mildly fascistic military government that is the UNSC. Naomi, the Spartan of Kilo-5, comes face to face with her father who spent his whole life trying to fight the government and find her, never believing the stories fed to him. As he plans to commandeer a Covenant battle cruiser and attack Earth, Kilo-5 is sent in undercover to stop him.
The whole section on Venezia is the highlight of the book to me. The tension the reader feels as this incredibly smart terrorist slowly pieces together the truth is impossible not to enjoy, and the brutality of some of his scenes played next to the calm kindness portrayed in the scenes with his family is so perfect. You can’t help but kind of want him to succeed, if only for his own catharsis.
I took a months long break from reading this in the last 100 pages as all the mysteries and plots had kind of come to their conclusions and I had little interest in the final action set piece. I often find action in books to be lacklustre. It’s just not a strength of the medium.
Once again though the weakest point of the book is the 3rd sub-plot, this time about a Jackal with dreams of creating a Jackal empire. It was interesting at first to see Jackal society, but it’s pretty uninteresting seeing her and her crew run around the galaxy to find the battlecruiser. It didn’t have a satisfying conclusion either.
March 17, 2014
Mortal Dictata is a book about ONI black ops squad Kilo-Five and their hunt for the Pious Inquisitor, a Covenant battle-cruiser, falls to the hands of a human Insurrectionist who plans on glassing the cities of Earth if the UNSC doesn't tell him what happened to his daughter Naomi. Naomi was kidnapped by ONI in 2517 to become part of the Spartan-II program. Now its 2553 and Spartan Naomi-Zero-One-Zero is in a squad with an ex-Spartan, Admiral Osman, and ODSTs Staff Sergeant Mal Greffen, Corporal Vasily Beloi, and Sergeant Lian Devereuax. Their mission is to covertly supply the Sangheli rebels to keep the civil war on Sanghelios alive so they can control the uprising in the colonies. They also have to find Pious Inquisitor and they are pushed to the breaking point when they find out Naomi's father owns it. Mal and Vaz are sent in disguised as UNSC deserters to get on Staffan's good side. Staffan shows them the ship but figures out who they are so he imprisons them. Naomi is then sent in to rescue them and capture Staffan. Naomi reveals herself as Staffan's daughter and he is very happy to have finally found his daughter. He escapes to his ship where he eventually dies in an explosion. This is an amazing book and I would recommend this to anyone who loves the Halo series of games and books
September 8, 2025
An unfortunately very shallow end to a promising trilogy. Traviss chose to put the worst member of Kilo Five (Vaz) center stage while dropping other more promising storylines, flattening almost every character in the cast, and bizarrely bringing out the Halsey hatred talking points multiple times a chapter when it usually wasn't relevant.
The last third of the book in particular felt very rushed. It gave this whole feeling that the series was paid for as a trilogy so it was going to have to be a trilogy even if some elements or plot lines deserved more (or even any) time.
The worst part is that nothing ultimately changes or gets challenged here. Everyone is a good guy for the entire duration and makes it out happily ever after. This trilogy ultimately says nothing interesting about this universe. It's entire identity is summed up by literally telling you Halsey is Hitler in its closing chapters all while pretending that the in universe CIA equivalents are actually paragons of virtue when you get to know them.
The last third of the book in particular felt very rushed. It gave this whole feeling that the series was paid for as a trilogy so it was going to have to be a trilogy even if some elements or plot lines deserved more (or even any) time.
The worst part is that nothing ultimately changes or gets challenged here. Everyone is a good guy for the entire duration and makes it out happily ever after. This trilogy ultimately says nothing interesting about this universe. It's entire identity is summed up by literally telling you Halsey is Hitler in its closing chapters all while pretending that the in universe CIA equivalents are actually paragons of virtue when you get to know them.
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