HALO: PRIMORDIUM announced

Book Two in the New York Times bestselling Forerunner Saga

A long time ago, I was a living, breathing human being. I went mad. I served my enemies. They became my only friends...

New York, NY - July 19, 2011 - Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC-the largest publisher of science fiction in the world-is excited to reveal the title, cover, and release date for the second novel in the Halo Forerunner Saga, HALO: PRIMORDIUM, written by legendary science fiction author Greg Bear. Book One of the Forerunner Saga, Halo: Cryptum, is currently available in hardcover, and will be released in a trade paperback this fall. Book Two, HALO: PRIMORDIUM, will be released January 3, 2012 simultaneously alongside its audio edition.

The New York Times bestselling Halo series, based on the hugely successful Halo videogame franchise for the Xbox 360, has sold millions of copies, and is part of a global phenomenon that has dominated the science fiction landscape over the last decade.

With Halo: Cryptum, Greg Bear began a three-novel saga set in the era of the Forerunners, the ancient and enigmatic builders of the mysterious Halos, and the story continues in HALO: PRIMORDIUM. In Halo: Cryptum, a young, rebellious Manipular embarks on a dangerous search for artifacts belonging to the Precursors-long-vanished super-beings of unknowable power and intent. This quest sets off a devastating chain of events that nearly ends the Forerunner empire. In HALO: PRIMORDIUM, two humans who were former companions of the Manipular find themselves captives pawns in a cosmic game whose madness knows no end-a game of ancient vengeance between the powers who seeded the galaxy with life, and the Forerunners who expect to take up their sacred Mantle of duty to protect all living things.

"I'm having great fun working through the action and growing mysteries in HALO: PRIMORDIUM, as humans engage in an epic odyssey across a damaged, war-torn Halo, facing the Flood, rogue AIs, and the stunning testament of the Last Precursor," says author Greg Bear. "This is classic SF territory for me, and it's a terrific opportunity to work with the 343 team, and to contribute through these books to both future games and the Halo universe in general."

"In Cryptum, Greg began an exploration of a vast and imposing part of the Halo universe," says Frank O'Connor, Franchise Development Director for 343 Industries. "In PRIMORDIUM, he takes that story closer to the ground, exploring characters, motivations and mysteries that began in Cryptum and continuing a journey that's fascinating, horrifying and inspiring, all at once."

Tor Books has proudly partnered with Microsoft and 343 Industries to publish every book set in this iconic universe. Along with the first two books of the Forerunner Saga, Tor has also announced another all-new Halo trilogy penned by Karen Traviss that will explore the Halo Universe in the wake of the final events of Halo 3. Traviss's first Halo novel, Halo: Glasslands, will be on shelves October 25, 2011.

The Halo franchise is an award-winning collection of properties that have grown into a global entertainment phenomenon. Beginning with the original Halo: Combat Evolved for Xbox in 2001, the rich fiction of the franchise has since inspired a series of blockbuster Xbox and Xbox 360 video games, New York Times best-selling novels, comic books, action figures, apparel and more. To date, sales in the Halo franchise have eclipsed $2.3 billion. Microsoft recently dropped a bombshell on Halo fans at E3 with two big announcements: on Nov. 15 2011, Microsoft will release Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a spectacularly remastered version of the original Halo campaign bundled with some of the most beloved multiplayer maps in Halo history-all created in celebration of the 10th anniversary of one of the greatest franchises in gaming history. Also announced was Halo 4, the hugely-anticipated next blockbuster installment that will mark the beginning of a new Halo trilogy when it releases in-stores during the 2012 holiday season.

JJ Reviews: Primordium by Greg Bear

You might have read how much I loved Greg Bear's Halo: Cryptum and that within a short while of reading the last page I had ordered the second in the saga, Primordium. I'm gonna assume you've read Cryptum too as I review it. So do I need to say spoilers?

JJ Reviews: Primordium by Greg Bear

Opening with a very quick recap of the events of Cryptum, it's immeadiately clear that this story is a retelling of an adventure that happened to one of the characters from that novel, Chakas. The twist is that he appears to not be himself any more. Is he a collection of thoughts on a disk drive? Has he turned into another being? All, I'm sure is to be revealed.

Chakas finds himself crash landed on a Halo and perhaps almost too quickly falls in love (of a kind) with a local 'inhabitant'. From memory, the Halo games have never shown us as having intelligent life (other than plants and the odd bird) so this sets up an interesting premise.

But it's a premise that takes a little time to really get into gear. As a hero and his two new best friends seek out the abandoned city where Riser might be found, we basically learn nothing except that there are rabbits on the Halo.

But once we are passed that minor hurdle Greg Bear settles into the narrative, drop nice little hints and references along the way about the Librarian, geas and the unspoken plan to keep the reader interested. Which is the point of a book right? (You can tell Jimmy Jangles doesn't have a career in book reviewing ahead of him - Ed.)

Finally (and I really do mean finally as it's a bit of a slog) there's a real sinister turn taken where we realise that the Precursor that was revealed to be alive on the last page of Cryptum is alive and well on Halo and seemingly in charge of the bloody thing. Talk about a bad turn... At least Chakas has found Riser and they start a great journey, the end of which signals the climax of the plot arc.

Things come to a head. Our hero is confronted with saving the Halo so that it can be used against the Foreunners but does he want that?

The ending largely wraps up well, an adventure here, a near death (?) experince there, souls long dead revived through geas to give us context there, an old warrior servant wreaking havoc there and we're done.

The twist, if you could call it that, was obvious and I'd wondered if that was it a few chapters into the main story but fitted in nicely to traditional Halo lore, so I'll give big ups to Greg Bear for that.

Was I satisfied with Primordium? Not really. I found the journey to get the climax long and ponderous. Some of the detail in describing things was so vague as to not be helpful and the climax itself was a convoluted array of ghosts, monitors and walking corpses. That said, it was ultimately a good ending, perhaps just not as exciting as that of Cryptum.

I did feel however that Cryptum and Primordium were both written at same time as the same book, just split in two. I would bet Greg Bear and his 'Halo team' had the trilogy's essential elements well plotted before the writing began (thus meaning a a huge epic novel could have been written - but where's the money in that?!).

Thus the scene is set for the third novel in the The Forerunners Saga. Or is it? The third, as yet not named book, is going to only be released after Halo 4.... which you might recall Frankie having said the novels feed directly into that game. It will thus be interesting to see how Halo 4's plot will influence or echo that third novel.

For now, let's just say there are two Didacts..

A didact

HBO pointed out this most interesting response by Greg Bear to a fan letter.


From: Cameron Gazey
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date: 05/16/2012
Greg,

Suffice it to say I am a huge Halo fan, and I enjoy it primarily for the story. I've read Cryptum and am currently reading through Primordium right now and there's just ONE thing with reading these books that made me seek you out.

The reason why I loved the idea of this book series so much was because I was very intrigued by the Terminal transcripts found on Halo 3, the first look players ever really got into the minds of Forerunners during their battles with the Flood.

What I wanted to know was whether or not those terminal transcripts from Halo 3 are considered canon and were used as sources of information for writing your series? I ask because of some timeline inconsistencies between these terminal transcripts and your series. I don't want to be rude and list them all out because if the terminals aren't canon then the inconsistencies are moot. Besides, the possibility exists that my questions will also be answered in Silentium.

Thanks in advance! And keep up the great writing, I'll be sure to buy Silentium when it comes out!

- Cameron

Re: The Forerunner Saga

From: Greg Bear
Date: 05/22/2012
We're working on those connections. For now, let's just say there are two Didacts...

Silentium Foreunner novel synopsis from Amazon

Buy this novel

Silentium Foreunner novel synopsis from Amazon
You have heard that there's going to be a third Halo Foreunner novel released AFTER Halo 4 is let loose on the masses. This follows the stories of Cryptum and Primordium which have given us a never before explored insight into the mysterious Foreunners who have loomed large in the Halo games but never been met in the flesh.
Greg Bear once again has written for the Halo franchise and this is what Amazon has to say about Silentium:
In the last years of the Forerunner empire, chaos rules. The Flood-a horrifying shape-changing parasite-has arrived in force, aided by unexpected allies. Internal strife within the ecumene has desperately weakened Forerunner defenses.

"Too little, too late, the legal rate of Juridicals is only now investigating possible crimes by the Master Builder and others. Evidence-gathering agents known collectively as Catalog have been dispatched to collect testimony from the Librarian and both Didacts: the Ur-Didact, treacherously abandoned in a Flood-infested system, and the Bornstellar Didact, who accompanies the Librarian as she preserves specimens against the dire possibility of Halo extermination.

Facing the imminent collapse of their civilization, the Librarian and the Ur-Didact reveal what they know about the relationship between the long-vanished Precursors and the Flood.

The Precursors created many technological species, including humanity and the Forerunners. But the roots of the Flood may be found in an act of enormous barbarity, carried out beyond our galaxy ten million years before...

Because of that barbarism, a greater evil looms. Only the Ur-Didact and the Librarian--husband and wife pushed into desperate conflict--hold the keys to a solution.

Facing the consequences of a mythic tragedy, one of them must now commit the greatest atrocity of all time-to prevent an insane evil from dominating the entire universe."

This sounds like a pretty epic conclusion to the Forerunner saga! It is most interesting this novel is being released following Halo 4 - from this synopsis one could inter-alia guess that it's adventures are confined to a time frame set prior to the Chief finding himself on the planet Reqiuem - which wouldn't mean the novel HAS to come out after Halo 4's release. This makes me wonder if it's release is merely timed to coincide with a post Halo release honeymoon period and thus perhaps encourage sales of the book.
Time will tell. You can pre-order Silentium from Amazon here.