Forum:Halo: Mortal Dictata: Difference between revisions

:::::From what's been released so far, it certainly looks like Sentzke is relying on the ''Pious Inquisitor'' alone. There's several options: A: he tries to attack Earth and gets turned into Swiss cheese by ''Infinity'' and the surviving ODPs (turns out, he knew this would happen - going out in a suicidal blaze is the only way he can get closure for his lifelong torment), or B: the narrative grants the ''Inquisitor'' insane hax powers and Earth is powerless or C: Kilo-Five and Naomi intervene before he can do anything and dramatic character moments ensue. Whether he gets to Earth or not, I'm putting my money on the narrative operating under the presumption of option B; i.e. that the ''Inquisitor'' is going to be treated as a credible threat to Earth as opposed to target practice for ''Infinity''. The way these books have treated technological capabilities and military strength so far has largely been "whatever the plot demands", so I wouldn't rely on logic or consistency in that area. --[[User:Jugus|<font color="MidnightBlue"><b>Jugus</b></font>]] <small>([[User talk:Jugus|<font color="Gray">Talk</font>]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jugus|<font color="Gray">Contribs</font>]])</small> 00:49, 20 January 2014 (EST)

:::::::Possible. To its credit, the novel does make an offhand mention that Earth's defenses should be able to take the ship, though the ship in itself is treated as bigger of a deal than it should realistically be. --[[User:Jugus|<font color="MidnightBlue"><b>Jugus</b></font>]] <small>([[User talk:Jugus|<font color="Gray">Talk</font>]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jugus|<font color="Gray">Contribs</font>]])</small> 13:32, 26 January 2014 (EST)

And I'm hoping for more Blue Team. I was sad to see them get left out of the previous book. [[User:Tuckerscreator|<span style="color:#6600cc;">'''''Tuckerscreator'''''</span>]]^{([[User talk:Tuckerscreator|<font color="#008000">stalk</font>]])} 16:56, 25 August 2013 (EDT)

::Why not both? =P --[[User:DC Ambrose|DC Ambrose]] ([[User talk:DC Ambrose|talk]]) 04:11, 1 October 2013 (EDT)

::Makes sense. I've been seeing a lot of requests for Blue Team to appear in Spartan Ops. Since Nylund seemed to have a plan for their adventure inside Onyx, maybe it would have been better for ''Glasslands'' to not have covered what happened to them at all and leave that to their own book. [[User:Tuckerscreator|<span style="color:#6600cc;">'''''Tuckerscreator'''''</span>]]^{([[User talk:Tuckerscreator|<font color="#008000">stalk</font>]])} 03:12, 20 January 2014 (EST)

==A review==

First off, I want to say that it's no secret that I have no love lost for this series and that I think Karen Traviss is one of the worse things that's happened to ''Halo'' over the course of its existence (right below Dietz IMO). So I wasn't expecting much from ''Mortal Dictata'' and not much is what I got; reading the book was more of a mechanical chore born out of necessity than it was a source of entertainment, an attitude that formed about halfway through ''Glasslands'' when I realized that this is how the series is going to roll.

But what really still irks me is that she gives (or gave, at least) no time to Halsey's perspective, and didn't care to. I've never thought she was squeaky clean - Nylunds books paint her as a monster, but one who knows she's a monster. She has always known that what she did would send her to hell, if she believed in it. She spent so much of Fall of Reach and First Strike ''rationalising'' it to herself, but she knew it was all full of shit. It's something she's ''regretted''. I loved Halsey ''because'' she was a bitch and knew it, and that just went unacknowledged. It's as if Traviss never even took the time to read the Nylund books, and I'm nearly convinced that this is true, since she herself has commented that she doesn't like doing that kind of research when she writes. And really, that's the core of my dislike (not hatred, but certainly no love lost) of Traviss as an author - she just doesn't care about what she's writing about beyond her own little corner of it. And that's okay for an original series, but when you come into a franchise, you need that context so things don't seem jarring - which was what the sudden turning of everyone around Halsey seemed like.

:It's implied that Staffan Sentzke is happy enough with the closure he got and will leave Earth alone. That's just him, though. But since he was a quite major player in the rebel scene on Venezia, he could have some influence on the colony's foreign policy. That is assuming he isn't faking the whole thing, of course, and planning to resume his murder-crusade at the first opportunity (unlikely, given the resolution to his arc). On the Sangheili side of things, there's nothing on Jul 'Mdama and his Covenant, and barely anything on the Abiding Truth, other than that Jul's son has become 'Telcam's apprentice. Any action in the Sangheili insurrection seems pretty low-key. On the whole, it doesn't seem like the status quo has changed much during the three months of this trilogy. No one died, Kilo-Five hasn't split up, though some of the chapter heading quotes suggest that Phillips becomes a (part-time?) lecturer for aspiring Section II personnel. --[[User:Jugus|<font color="MidnightBlue"><b>Jugus</b></font>]] <small>([[User talk:Jugus|<font color="Gray">Talk</font>]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jugus|<font color="Gray">Contribs</font>]])</small> 04:24, 27 January 2014 (EST)

The only changes that seem to have happened are only mild developments for the EU, and little that will affect the games themselves. Which is a big shame. From the pre-release of Staffan's threats, I thought this book was building up to the breakout of a second Insurrection. But nothing. The Innie threat seems to have fizzled out here, when it seemed to be heading in the direction of a full out schism among humanity. [[User:Tuckerscreator|<span style="color:#6600cc;">'''''Tuckerscreator'''''</span>]]^{([[User talk:Tuckerscreator|<font color="#008000">stalk</font>]])} 13:43, 27 January 2014 (EST)

It's been rumored that this time around Traviss was restricted from heavily directing the ''Halo'' universe's next storyline, to limit the damage. Just rumor, but I guess lessened damage is better than huge derailings to make up rip our hair out.

Also, it amuses me that the Covenant currency is called "gekz". As there is a Sangheili named [[Gek]], could this mean the human equivalent of his name is "Bill"? [[User:Tuckerscreator|<span style="color:#6600cc;">'''''Tuckerscreator'''''</span>]]^{([[User talk:Tuckerscreator|<font color="#008000">stalk</font>]])} 17:13, 29 January 2014 (EST)

:I took note of this as well, but I have no idea if it's supposed to be "gekz" or "gezk" because the book alternates between the two. Or maybe they're different units of the same currency system, but the similarity does hint at either of them being a typo. Either way, it definitely does sound like a Kig-Yar system. --[[User:Jugus|<font color="MidnightBlue"><b>Jugus</b></font>]] <small>([[User talk:Jugus|<font color="Gray">Talk</font>]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jugus|<font color="Gray">Contribs</font>]])</small> 00:31, 30 January 2014 (EST)