The war between the Sangheili and San’Shyuum could only end one of two ways, either the Sangheili would join the Covenant, becoming Elite foot soldiers for the San’Shyuum, or they would face extinction. Their eventual surrender is not accepted by all of the Sangheili and a rebellious faction takes to the stars looking for a new home. Externally the Covenant looks strong, but the seed of its eventual disintegration has been planted in its own genesis...

Halo: Broken Circle (2014. 339 pages) is a new novel set in the Halo universe. The book was written by John Shirley, who has already contributed tie-in novels for Bioshock and Borderlands, as well as creating his own original work.

The story is told in two time periods, the first being set centuries prior to the Human-Covenant war, the latter being set during Halo games. Halo became the killer game for Xbox, pretty much the main reason to get the machine; the game and the console became forever intertwined.

One of the reasons for the game's success, over and above the game mechanics was the immersive nature of the story which drove the FPS combat. The two parts are tied together via the rebellious Sangheili, who flee, finding for themselves a refuge built by the Forerunners, a powerful race which built the original Halo rings.

The book joins a small collection of novels which feature not one single human character. Although both races are technologically advanced, Shirley has concentrated on the politics involved, both as a dominant race, which loses its future to infighting and its thrall warrior cast. Rather than get caught up with creating a whole alien culture the book is constrained by what was seen in the Halo games. That said, Shirley has created strong characters who tie the book together.

I’m guessing that the greater part of the audience will be fans of the game and for them the book adds, for the most part, to the expanded universe. In the second half of the book things get a little more constrained as the story has to match that seen in the game.

I haven’t played Halo in years so was a little out of touch with what was going on, but you really don’t have to have played the game to enjoy the book as a standalone novel. It presumes no prior knowledge of either the game or other novels and Shirley has crafted a story which is as good as its source material.

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Charles Packer