Halo: Glasslands

Halo: Glasslands is the first novel in the yet-untitled post-war series by Karen Traviss. It was released on October 25, 2011 on hardcover, paperback and audiobook.

Plot
Set after the events of Halo 3 in 2553, Halo: Glasslands explores the volatile political situation in the Halo universe following the end of the Human-Covenant War.

The novel picks up directly where Halo: Ghosts of Onyx left off, with Dr. Halsey, Chief Mendez along with a group of SPARTAN-IIs and SPARTAN-IIIs stranded in a massive Dyson sphere within a slipspace bubble, now lying in the remnants of the artificial planet Onyx. While they explore the Forerunner construct and attempt to find a way out, ONI director Admiral Margaret Parangosky assembles a black ops team known as Kilo-Five, which is led by Captain Serin Osman, a failed SPARTAN-II candidate and a protege of Admiral Parangosky. The team also consists of a SPARTAN-II, Naomi-010; three Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, Vasily Beloi, Malcolm Geffen, and Lian Devereaux; and the AI construct Black-Box. They are accompanied by a civilian academic known as Evan Phillips, who is notably one of the few humans fluent in the Sangheili language.

Kilo-Five is assigned on a covert mission to sow discord between disparate Sangheili factions by any means necessary, and later bring Dr. Halsey in once she has been located. Their mission takes them to various planets, including New Llanelli, Venezia and Sanghelios. At one point, they accompany Admiral Hood on a diplomatic mission to meet Arbiter Thel 'Vadam on Sanghelios. Meanwhile in the Dyson sphere, Lucy-B091 discovers a local population of Huragok, who assist the human survivors in establishing communications with the ONI ships prowling Onyx's debris field. The shield world is eventually brought into normal space from its slipspace bubble by the Huragok, and Parangosky sends Kilo-Five inside to arrest Halsey, while ONI dispatches science teams to recover Forerunner technologies from the construct.

Throughout the story, the moral implications of the SPARTAN-II program and those involved with it - including Dr. Catherine Halsey are explored. In addition, Sangheili culture and the impact the sundering of the Covenant had on their society is explored in detail.

It has been noted that threads of the story will have connections to Halo 4.

Locations

 * Brunel system
 * New Llanelli
 * Fied, Joori, and Urs system
 * Sanghelios
 * State of Mdama
 * Bekan Keep
 * State of Ontom
 * Sol system
 * Earth
 * Australia
 * Sydney
 * HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6
 * Zeta Doradus system
 * Onyx
 * The Sharpened Shield
 * Venezia

Organizations

 * Unified Earth Government
 * United Nations Space Command
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
 * 105th Shock Troops Division
 * 10th Shock Troops Battalion
 * UNSC Navy
 * Naval Special Warfare Command
 * SPARTAN-II Program
 * Office of Naval Intelligence
 * Kilo-Five
 * Section Three
 * Beta-5 Division
 * SPARTAN-III Program
 * SPARTAN-IV Program
 * Servants of Abiding Truth

Species

 * Flood
 * Human
 * Huragok
 * Jiralhanae
 * Kig-yar
 * Sangheili
 * San 'Shyuum
 * Unggoy

Vehicles

 * Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle
 * Type-38 Anti-Aircraft Cannon
 * Type-48 Light Assault Gun Carriage
 * Tarasque-class heavy fighter
 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M71 Scythe Anti-Aircraft Gun
 * Type-38 Anti-Aircraft Cannon
 * Type-48 Light Assault Gun Carriage
 * Tarasque-class heavy fighter
 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M71 Scythe Anti-Aircraft Gun

Trivia

 * The cover of the novel was illustrated by former Bungie concept artist Eddie Smith.
 * Halo: Glasslands features Easter eggs that reference Red vs Blue, as Karen Traviss is an avid fan of the machinima series.
 * An excerpt of the novel's first chapter was released in the September 2011 issue of Official Xbox Magazine. The excerpt was then republished on Tor's official website.
 * An excerpt of the novel's second chapter was released on October 12th's Halo Bulletin on Halo Waypoint.