Halo: Smoke and Shadow

Halo #20

by Kelly Gay

An original digital-first enovella set in the Halo Universe and based on the New York Times bestselling video game series!Find. Claim. Profit. In a post-war galaxy littered with scrap, it’s the salvager’s motto. And with a fast ship and a lust for adventure, Rion Forge has certainly made her mark on the trade. When the discovery of a wrecked UNSC cruiser brings Rion’s past back to haunt her, stirring fresh hope into a decades-old wound, she’s hell-bent on finding What really happened to her father and his ship, the Spirit of Fire? This digital-first enovella also contains the complete text of Kelly Gay's short story “Into the Fire,” originally featured in the collection Fractures.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Video Games, Aliens, Novels, Military Fiction

178 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 28, 2016

About the author

Kelly Gay writes the critically acclaimed 'Charlie Madigan' urban fantasy series. Her work has been nominated for a double RITA, an ARRA, a Goodreads Choice Award, and landed on SIBA's Long List Book Award Finalists. Kelly is also a recipient of North Carolina Arts Council's fellowship grant in Literature. She is published in Young Adult fiction as Kelly Keaton.

Reviews

[T.R. Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I wasn't sure I was liking this book. Rion seems like a very boring character. There are literally a thousand or more female leads who are the exact same character as her. They're tough and strong and don't take no crap. And that's about it. It's almost always done in a way that is nothing short of eye-roll-inducing. It's akin to the male version of "I don't like anyone in the world. And even when I do, I push them away because love makes you vulnerable or whatever". I would like to see her gain a few layers in the coming books.

That being said, the thing that saved this book for me was how it wove the Halo Wars narrative into the story. I LOVE that. Seeing Rion and her crew chase after the Spirit of Fire is awesome. I think the idea for this series is really great. I'm hoping I warm up to boring mc-borning pants.

The Halo Wars tie-ins are the only reason I'm putting this as a rather high rating. I enjoyed it. I'm pulling for Rion, because her relationship with her father is intriguing. I just hope she loses the whole terminator thing and becomes a nuanced character rather than an overused stereotype. I want to like her. We'll see.

Dr. Halsey; now there's an ACTUAL badass. It doesn't feel like she's pretending to be intimidating, which is precisely what Rion does. Halsey is queen.

Kelly too.

And Linda.

And Miranda (Well, let's not talk about the 'To War' scene though, eh?).

[David Andre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ummm... Sequel please!

More please, I need the rest of the story! I really like the perspective of the salvager and post war survivors.

[Bobo · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW, this book really shows that you can develop a really great story outside the Human-Covenant War and it’s a must read for every HALO fan out there💫
Can’t wait to read the other 2 books from this series💛

[Stephanie Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but ends in huge cliffhanger! Where's the rest of the story?

Good story, great characters, and nice back stories, but ends in a huge cliffhanger. Where and when is the ending?

[Endri Celaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading it. Should have been longer in my opinion. Good book anyway.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halo: Smoke and Shadow by Kelly Gay is a short novella based on the Microsoft’s Halo Video Game franchise. If you are not familiar, Halo is a video game series revolving around ancient weapons of mass destruction that are capable of wiping out all life in the universe. The weapons called the Halo rings.

In my opinion the books first couple pages didn’t draw me in right away like they should. But the more I read the more I was intrigeged by the main characher. Rion Forge, who is the daughter of one John Forge. One of, ,If not the main character of the game Halo Wars.

Rion is a salvager. She chose not to follow in the family tradition to join the military. She and her ragtag crew scour the war torn Galaxy for alien tech and weapons from downed and abandoned ships to sell.

The crew is constantly finding valuable tech and the like to sell to their buyer for a nice return. On one of their salvages Rion find something called a Buoy. A data center from the ship. This one just so happened to contain information that could help her find out what happened to her father.

Throughout the story you get pieces of everyone past. I was done in such a way that I felt very connected to the characters. But not overly done to make me forget what is going on in the story.

The buoy leads them to another fallen ship. This one an alien vessel. As they circle around they spot Sangheili(Aliens) and Hunters (different kind of alien). they sneak onto the ship and find what they are looking for but, not without making noise first. They escape and rescue another salvager in the process.

Another buoy another destination. The climax of the story happens and it ends. leaving me wanting more. The story could have been an novel but if it was it may have lost what made it so intriguing to me, the briefness of everything. Just knowing enough, but never the whole thing.

This story in no way impacts the story of Halo as I predict not many do. But what it does do is give you insight of how people live outside the army. How families are separated, and how the war impacted everyone differently.

The book started with zero questions and ended with you asking a plethora. People didn’t like not having answer but, for me that was part of the intrigue.

Overall, I’d give this short story a solid 3 Halo rings out of 5. If your a Halo fan definitely check it out, even if your not its a quick read and he might like it without knowing Halo at all.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Spoilers*

Pretty short Novella set in the aftermath of the Human/Covenant war. It's a really cool story about Sgt Forge's (Halo Wars) daughter and how loosing her father impacted her, along with how the war impacted the average person. It's a departure from usual Halo novels which always focus on those in the UNSC, either marines, Spartans, Captain's etc. But we've finally got a story from seemingly the average person as well as view of what the post-war world is like.

The characters also each get a little spot light, shedding light on what's brought them to a life of space salvage. However, for the second time this year I've come across a Sci-Fi novel with a female Captain who just wants to sleep with her simp of a second in command. A little bit disappointing and ultimately pointless connection between these two. Could they not just be friends without sleeping with each other?

While the novella isn't bad, the reason for my 3 star rating is it does feel like it ends right as the story starts really. I feel like this should of been a full length novel as we find the remains of the Forerunner Shield World from Halo Wars, along with the AI which is now part of the crew, the audience find out there's a spy on board, it all sets up nicely for great story. But then it just ends. It came out in 2016, so I doubt we'll get the rest of the story with what's happened at 343i recently and the fact that Halo: Smoke and Shadow ties so much into the lore of Halo Wars 2/Infinite. Especially since it was leaning into the Jul'Mdama story line that was seemingly canned at the start of Halo 5.

I feel like Kelly Gay has been a bit screwed over by 343i and Microsoft with this one.

Maybe one day we'll find if Rion Forge ever gets revenge on Gek.

[John Randolph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book really leaves you hanging, which is a sign I liked it a lot. So I hunted for a continuation of the story. Kelly's Halo: Renegades and then Halo: Point of Light make a nice trilogy. I'm running to a store to buy them now.

[Jared Delcamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing like a Halo style anti-heroic demise to put a touch of realism on war. Some of my favorite characters get done real dirty in this universe. Hinge-heads and prelates are the worst. May you all meet The Chief.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelent quick read! More forerunner A.I please and thank you!

[Keelan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book although I'm docking a star for the first 2 sections just being reprinted from the short story.

[Matthew Ochal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just. I dont care. I. Cant. Be. Bothered. Sorry man i cant i need a break ive got like 12 left for 4 more months i need something that ISNT halo

[Patrick Frazier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and surprisingly compelling adventure centered around scavengers in the aftermath of the Human-Covenant War. Props to the author for making you feel empathy for a Hunter; really excited to see where these characters go next.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a gamer, I haven’t even seen this game. But Kelly Gay was the writer and I had to try. Mighty happy I did. Hopefully she’s writing about the same characters and I don’t have to read the full series:)

[Ricky Beckett · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Smoke and Shadow' delves into the rich and expansive universe of the Halo franchise with decent ingenuity, offering an intriguing narrative set apart from familiar stories of the legendary Spartans and clandestine, ONI operations. Set against the backdrop of events just prior to Halo 4, Kelly Gay writes a tale with an exciting premise exploring themes of identity, loyalty, and family.

The story follows a new character introduced to the Halo universe, Rion Forge, whose quest for answers about her past propels her into the heart of danger in search of her father's disappearance aboard the lost UNSC frigate, The Spirit of Fire, which gamers would be familiar with from the 'Halo Wars' games. As she discovers new clues in the hopes that they lead to the discovery of the ship and her father, Gay paints a portrait of resilience in the face of adversity.

The novella's greatest strength lies in character development. The characters are easily relatable to the reader and it is not difficult to picture these new characters. As Gay explores the themes of family, loyalty, and the search for meaning in a universe torn apart by war, Rion grapples with the secrets of her past and confronts the shadows that lurk within her own soul, inviting readers to contemplate the nature of heroism and sacrifice in a world where the line between good and evil is often blurred.

However, the novella lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. While I found myself empathising with Rion's past, present, and her desires for the future, and while there were appreciative Easter eggs from the games and previous books, there was a narrative element I didn't appreciate. Rion's luck is brought up several times, which comes across as a lazy explanation for things going rather easily for her—too easily for a Halo story... at least until a certain point at the end, but only temporarily. There's already a character who has a plethora of luck; his name is the Master Chief. Having two of these characters in the universe is lazy and forces the Master Chief to be less unique in the universe. Some amount of luck for primary protagonists is fine, but having it be the driving force rather than what luck actually is—insane mathematical probability—just becomes plot armour (which is lazy writing) when there's already a character who's essentially the personification of luck.

Overall, it's an intriguing read that adds more to the mystery of The Spirit of Fire's disappearance, which fans of 'Halo Wars' will appreciate. The novella is neither complex nor revelatory, but it does help build the world of Halo post- Human-Covenant War. For that alone, this book should be a welcome read for any Halo fan.

[OutboardCap · Rating 3 out of 5]

HALO: Smoke and Shadow is a short novella set on the fringes of space in the aftermath of the Human Covenant war, the most interesting part of the Halo universe. The book follows deep space salvage captain Rion Forge after a routine mission provides her with clues to the whereabouts of her missing father, John Forge, of the UNSC Spirit of Fire. Following the clues, Forge and her crew set out on a quest across lawless space, doing battle with pirates and other salvagers to find answers and get their payday.
Being a novella, this is a short read, which works to the story’s advantage for the most part. A reader like me can expect to finish in just over three hours. The author knew that she was working with little space, and so gave us a small cast of characters who each have some time to shine, though never glimmer. The interactions between crew members are mostly good. I would have been interested in reading more of them while they tackle the same plot. The action was good too, especially the first piece. It was exciting, visceral, and pulse pounding.
While I enjoyed my time with this book, it wasn’t all perfect. The short page count means that there was not a lot of time to explore the characters. What characterization was had, was incredibly cliched. I understand that this is a pulpy sci-fi novel, but some subtlety, and more character introspection would have gone a long way. More time with these characters would have made them better. Despite this work giving one the impression that it is a one-shot, the author clearly intended a sequel, which seems to have already come out. I might check it out. Dialogue is cliché, but not offensively so.
This was my first time reading a Halo novel in about six years. Knowing that the Halo canon can be a little dense and convoluted, especially nowadays, I was not sure if I would still be able to jump back into it. My fears were unfounded. While this installment does clearly share some links with other works, I was not lost at any point, though certain aspects of the story would have been more impactful had I been more immersed in the universe.
The HALO franchise has always been a steady source for quality military sci-fi, and I am pleased to know that it continues to deliver. While this book does not reach the heights of something like the Kilo-Five trilogy, or the original set of novels written by Eric Nylund, this is a decent book which has earned my recommendation to Halo fans, especially those who have played “Halo Wars”.

[Devyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Goodreads.

I've never met a Halo book I didn't like and Smoke and Shadow is no exception.

First, a little background info.
Meet Rion Forge, born on Earth to UNSC Marine Corps non-commissioned officer John Forge in around 2525. She was raised as a military brat though she hardly considered herself one. She had a rough relationship with her mother, which made her cling viciously to the desperate hope of someday finding her dad alive in cryo-sleep on the lost ship UNSC Spirit of Fire.

So it's no surprise -what with that sort of background- that Rion turned to traveling the galaxy, scavenging wrecked ships destroyed and abandoned during Human-Covenant War for scrap, tec, and weapons. Traveling with a personally selected team of four on her beloved Mariner-class transport ship Ace of Spades, Rion has made a name for herself in the rough, first-come-first-serve world of scavenging for profit.

Okay. Background info over.

Basically, this is just Halo: book version. Only in Rion's point of view.
Just like the video games, you don't need any special knowledge to enjoy and understand it.
This book is set right on the timeline 26 years after the Human-Covenant war when Rion and her team found UNSC Roman Blue and nearly died for it. Her suspicions are confirmed that scavengers are being tracked and the government is covering up something big that she's almost certain involves the lost ship UNSC Spirit of Fire.
This is something she's been searching for for twenty-six years! She's not about to let it go, and it's time to let the crew in on the personal ties she has for this particular ship anyway. After gathering everyone in the mess, she laid out the opportunity before them. Though there was some complaining, none of them could really resist a big score. Armed with new information and coordinates, the crew of Ace of Spades set off to find a Covenant ship rumored to be filled with Hunters and likely already found and in the process of being scavenged by Gek 'Lhar.

Smoke and Shadow is 176 pages of suspense, action, and Halo-y goodness.
But that cliffhanger...!
Nearly.
Killed.
Me.

I need the next book.

[Aksum Oak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halo: Smoke and Shadow is the first of a three-book series written by Kelly Gay. It follows Rion Forge, a salvager and the daughter of John Forge, as she and her crew hunt down the Spirit of Fire, her father’s ship that went missing 26 years prior.

This is the first novella by Kelly Gay that I’ve read. Halo or otherwise. I didn’t know what to expect from Smoke and Shadows, as I was unfamiliar with the author, nor had I heard anything about this book prior to reading it. Pleasantly, I found this to be a great, if short, story. I’m actually surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

First of all, Kelly Gay did an excellent job of writing all of the characters in this book. There wasn’t a single character that I didn’t like. In particular, I liked Rion and Cade’s relationship throughout the book. Part crewmates, friends, and maybe something more? It made Cade’s death worse at the end of the book. Now Rion’s mission is not just to find out what happened to her father’s ship; she’s now out to avenge the death of Cade at the hands of the former Covenant Elite Gek ‘Lhar.

On a lore note, I find the post- Human-Covenant War universe to be quite interesting. There are a few scenes throughout this book that show humans living amongst Elites and Jackels in the same settlement. I wonder how they get along after fighting a genocidal war against each other for around 30 years.

In conclusion, like I said, I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed Halo: Smoke and Shadows. I’d actually consider this a must-read. The first book in the Rion Forge Trilogy is quite the setup for what could be a great adventure. I can’t wait to read the other two books. I give this a 4/5 stars.

[Brendan Kraus · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5/5 add half stars Goodreads

Smoke and Shadow by Kelly Gay is a really fun and engaging sci-fi novella book set in the halo universe. The story follows Rion Forge and her crew of scavengers who loot destroyed ships from the Human-Covenant War. Their latest score not only has the potential to be a massive pay day, but also may contain answers to the mystery that shaped Rion’s life and that she has been trying to solve for nearly her whole life.

What I like about Smoke and Shadow is that you don’t need to be familiar with Halo games to enjoy it. This less than 200 page novella does a great job of setting the stage, there was a massive war between humans and aliens that ended a few years ago, these are our characters, their backstories, what they want in life and what is happening in the present. You will get more emotion out of the
story if you have played halo wars and know Rion’s dad but even still, casuals will empathize with her quest.

The strength of this book is in the characters. Think the Expanse or Firefly. The rag-tag group of misfits you will start to like as time goes on. The typical “this is the tech guy. This is the comic relief” etc etc but each is filled with their own backstory and subplots to keep them from being one dimensional. Static characters done right.

The plot is engaging and keeps you guessing. Some things here genuinely surprised me.

There is adventure, mystery and leaves the door open for things to come. A fun sci-fi read.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn't like the others in the long line of Halo novels. After reading all other books, the constant fighting with often very little personal introspection becomes a bit dull. Smoke and Shadow brings a very welcome change of pace and perspective.

This novel is less about epic fights and galaxy level stakes, and more about the people and emotions. It puts to light post-war perspectives and how much has been lost, how it affects people and how some never give up hope.

Though the novel was shorter than I would of liked, considering I just couldn't get enough of the author's writing, I loved all the characters introduced. Rion and her crew all have very interesting personalities and stories. I want nothing more than to continue following their journey.

Their story definitely isn't over, not by a long shot I feel, and I really hope more installments are planned and written by Kelly Gay. And again, if you like good characters and a more emotional take to the Halo Universe, I highly recommend this book.

[Sadie Forsythe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book through a giveaway and, having not read any of the previous 18 books or ever played the game, I was really going in blind with reading it. But I was able to follow it without problem and it was engaging enough. I felt it would have been better suited for a full-length novel than the novella it is. It could have done with the room to flesh it out. And there is a bit of predictable tragedy I'd have preferred to do without. But all in all, I'd be willing to read the next book in Gay's arc of the Halo franchise. (However, having just read a review of HALO: Renegades with some pretty major spoilers in it, I guess I don't need to. To be fair the reviewer was pointing out the events of other books in the universe that functioned as spoilers to Renegades, but having not read those other books it was their review that was the spoiler.)

[Carl Malmborg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short and great story that really captures the underworld of the Halo universe (something we don’t get to see very often in Halo media). I enjoyed the hunt for the next clue and the ongoing feeling of getting closer to the goal. It was refreshing to see parts from Halo Wars being integrated with the 343 lore.
If the authors name is Eric Nylund, Tobias S Buckell or even Kelly Gay, the Halo books are doing an amazing job at building intriguing characters. Rion Forge was interesting with great motives and her relationship with Cade made me lust for more interactions between the two. The siblings Niko and Lessa was a bit underdeveloped but Niko was interesting nontheless. Kip wasn’t much of a character at all, despite setting up a sequel, from the unanswered questions, around the character. Gek ‘Lhar felt like he was thrown in to the story just for recognition sake and that part of the story could have been left out.
Overall, I’m excited for the continuation of the story and to see where the crew of The Ace of Spades will go next.

[[boredom.is.overrated] · Rating 4 out of 5]

The salvager premise was really great. I really enjoy “grey” characters - neither heroes or villains but those just attempting to live out their lives and end up making hard choices due to the actions of the heroes or villains.

Kelly Gay’s writing was very good. The characters’ emotions are relatable and they’re not as cold as battled hardened characters (for instance, Master Chief) might be. Like Firefly or Star Wars, you almost instantly fall in love with the crew of the Ace of Spades.

I would have preferred some more imagery. At times I could not picture what characters or things looked like because there simply was not enough description. If I was more of a casual Halo fan, I think it would have been even harder to picture some of the scenery/aliens (thankfully I’ve played the first game more than any other game).

I understand that this originally was a novella so the length was not an issue. I’m interested to see where Gay goes with the rest of the story and the writing was so good that I’m sure it’ll be an entertaining read.

I give it 4.1 Reclaimers out of 5. :)

[necronizer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kelly Gay chose a very interesting and a fun way to tell a Halo story without involving any of the core storytelling beats a Halo story generally has by introducing a human centric story without involvement of Spartans which is generally a core to any Halo story and also tying in the Halo Wars lore which is not used at all and has a completely different arc compared to the main Halo arc.

The way the story was told reminded me so much of The Expanse because of the similarities between the Rocinante crew and the Ace of Spades crew which is very refreshing because it introduces a squad like behavior which is not told in this way compared to The Blue Team's lore in the Master Chief stories in Troy Denning's books.

What turned me off was the very one dimensional main character Rion Forge and how she only displays only one set of emotions she has developed after she lost all communications to her dad and that just makes her uninteresting but still only a bit interesting because of her father itself.

[Bree Hatfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Despite her obvious reluctance to fire her weapon and alert the sangheili, executing a living creature that posed no threat, no matter what it was, wasn’t part of Rion’s bag of tricks. She had some scruples. Cade, however, obviously disagreed, his expression saying he had every right to cut down the hostile, sleeping or not. To him, that hunter represented the brutal slaughter of hundreds of his fellow soldiers. It was still the enemy. And for a part of Cade, the war would always rage on.”

This took me until about halfway through to really get into it, but once Kelly Gay started detailing the relationship between Rion and Cade, I became invested. The other characters didn’t get significant development, but they were characterized really well, and the twist that Kip was actively betraying the crew hit its mark well. I hope he stays on in the next few novels, he’s a very interesting character. Overall, it was a great book and a fantastic Halo novella!

[Ryne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rion Forge was one of my favorite parts of the Halo: Fractures anthology so I was excited to see she got an extended adventure. The first few chapters are that same short story, so I skipped that and got straight into the continuation of her story. It's a smaller adventure in the Halo Universe, more grounded, with a Firefly-esque crew. Cade and Rion's relationship is fantastically written, and I think there's a lot of interesting potential for Lessa and Niko. There is also a reference to a certain Banished Brute that makes an appearance in Halo Wars 2, which is a corner of the Halo Lore that Captain Forge has some investment in. I'm completely thrilled that R. Forge is getting more attention, and I look forward to more adventures as she searches for Spirit of Fire.

[Georgiana Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It was a very good book. Short reading.
I want to start by saying that this review doesn't come from someone who is familiar with the HALO video game (I picked this book at random from a second-hand book shop) and I don't feel like this affected my reading experience. Considering that this is a short book, the universe construction wasn't very detailed but was enough to keep the story moving at a fast pace without me feeling that I missed important details for the plot.
The story follows Captain Rion Forge and her space scavenger team who try to discover what happened to her father.
I really enjoyed the character construction and the story's flow, and Rion and her team were very likable characters.
The book has a "to be continued" kind of ending.

[David Brush · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a franchise that started off as an xbox video game, Halo has evolved into an absolutely brilliant sci-fi universe with more depth than I ever would've guessed. Smoke and Shadow continues the story of Halo Wars, following Rion Forge as she searches for her long lost father. The novella is well written and engaging, but seems like it's missing its second half. While opening up a ton of new possible plot lines, the conclusion doesn't really wrap anything up, which is problematic for a story that feels like it should stand alone as a one off. Overall, I enjoyed the journey, but found the destination to be lacking.

[Joe Pranaitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Kelly Gay brings is an interesting adventure in the years following the end of the Covenant War. Humans and aliens began to search for the wreaks of everything that had been lost during that war. One person by the name of Rion Forge has been looking for clues to find her missing father who was aboard a UNSC ship the Spirit of Fire. Captain Forge gets coordinates for salvage on a moon where a downed UNSC ship had been spotted and she takes the risk and goes for it. From there they find a small clue leading them to a downed Consonant ship and to finally a forerunner instillation. This is a great book and one that I highly recommend picking up if you're a science fiction fan.  

[Alexandria Leal · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's great about Smoke and Shadow is that it follows a different Halo universe than the one we know. It's a personal story, it's an adventure story. It's a space treasure hunt story. And it does those things well enough to prove that yes, you /can/ have more things in the Halo universe than just war. You can have adventure, romance, salvage. You can explore loss and tragedy and what it's like to grow up without a father. It's a wonderful tale and setup for a larger novel that reminds us that the Halo universe has just as much potential as other scifi universes.