Halo: Glasslands Review (2/5)

You can see right through Glasslands, a dull and lifeless bridge between Halo 3 and 4.
The concept of a 'bridge trilogy' of novels set between the first three Halo games and the upcoming Reclaimer saga set to start later this year with the release of Halo 4 seemed like a cool one when it was announced by 343 last year, but if anything Halo: Glasslands goes to show that there's always the possibility of drastic misfires along the road to finding content worth placing inbetween the storylines. For a start, the novel practically requires you to be virtually steeped in the series lore already to point of being a hardcore fan, not least by having read the four-year old Ghosts of Onyx to understand the plight of Dr Halsey and her Spartan-IIIs, trapped on a Forerunner shield world and trying to understand the technology they have discovered in the process. Obviously this ancient extinct race are likely to make a big impact in some form when they return to our galaxy in this Autumn's anticipated first-person shooter sequel, yet right now we learn little next to nothing about their origins, their extinction or indeed their alleged recovery from the rise of the Flood, other than discovering an Engineer creature called Prone To Drift who may hold information relating to them. To have promised us so many developements in the year of Master Chief's slumber and yet to hold them back to the latter two novels seems a crime on Traviss' and the series planners' parts. As a result, all we get here is some mere speculation on the Forerunners' existence and rumblings of a civil war between the armies of the Elites. That there's been no indication from 343 yet as to whether these elements will even come to fruition in their Reclaimer trilogy makes their inclusion here appear rather pointless until we know for sure, something which adds to a question I asked myself and I believe even the most hardened Halo veterans will wonder too when reading this- what's the point? Devoid of the Chief, Johnson and Keyes due to the deaths of at least two of those protagonists, and of course too afraid to introduce new characters who'll appear in the fourth main instalment later this year, Halo: Glasslands finds itself in the uncomfortable position of being inaccessible to series newcomers and yet not offering much substance even for those who've followed the franchise since its roots in 2001. If you're desperate to follow the story in-between Halo 3 and Halo 4, then perhaps give Glasslands a try only for the minor plot arc developments and the occassionally interesting drama between Halsey and her 'children', but otherwise I'd stay steer well clear of this messy first entry in the bridge series.