Halo Cryptum

by Greg Bear

Published Oct. 17, 2011 by Tor.

ISBN:: 978-0-7653-2396-5

View on OpenLibrary

(9 reviews)

100,000 years ago, the galaxy was populated by a great variety of beings.

But one species--eons beyond all others in both technology and knowledge--achieved dominance.

They ruled in peace but met opposition with quick and brutal effectiveness.

They were the Forerunners--the keepers of the Mantle, the next stage of life in the Universe’s Living Time.

And then they vanished.

This is their story.

Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting is a young rebellious Forerunner. He is a Manipular, untried--yet to become part of the adult Forerunner society, where vast knowledge and duty waits. He comes from a family of Builders, the Forerunners’ highest and most politically powerful rate. It is the Builders who create the grand technology that facilitates Forerunner dominance over the known universe. It is the Builders who believe they must shoulder the greatest burden of the Mantle--as shepherds and guardians of all life.

Bornstellar is marked to become a …

100,000 years ago, the galaxy was populated by a great variety of beings.

But one species--eons beyond all others in both technology and knowledge--achieved dominance.

They ruled in peace but met opposition with quick and brutal effectiveness.

They were the Forerunners--the keepers of the Mantle, the next stage of life in the Universe’s Living Time.

And then they vanished.

This is their story.

Bornstellar is marked to become a great Builder just like his father.

But this Manipular has other plans.

He is obsessed with lost treasures of the past. His reckless passion to seek out the marvelous artifacts left behind by the Precursors--long-vanished superbeings of unknowable power and intent---forces his father’s hand.

Bornstellar is sent to live among the Miners, where he must come to terms with where his duty truly lies.

But powerful forces are at play. Forerunner society is at a major crux. Past threats are once again proving relentless. Dire solutions--machines and strategies never before contemplated--are being called up, and fissures in Forerunner power are leading to chaos.

On a Lifeworker’s experimental planet, Bornstellar’s rebellious course crosses the paths of two humans, and the long lifeline of a great military leader, forever changing Bornstellar’s destiny …and the fate of the entire galaxy.

This is a tale of life, death, intergalactic horror, exile, and maturity. It is a story of overwhelming change--and of human origins. For the Mantle may not lie upon the shoulders of Forerunners forever.

4 editions

Scopique reviewed Halo Cryptum by Greg Bear

Review of 'Halo Cryptum' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I picked this up because reviews on the upcoming Halo 4 mentioned that the narrative was a little dense if one wasn't well versed in the particular back story of the Forerunners. The Forerunner Saga (trilogy) was mentioned specifically.

The Forerunners were one of the many species created by the Precursors (along with the humans), but at some point, the Forerunners wiped out the Precursor civilization. When the story opens, we learn that 10,000 years prior, the humans lost a war with the Forerunners, and had been "devolved" into two different species, sharing a sort of aboriginal lifestyle on what will later be known as Earth. Two of these proto-humans are hired by a Forerunner named Bornstellar (who's "seeking himself" through adventure) to guide him to some Precursor ruins on Earth, which turns out to be an ancient isolation chamber called a cryptum. Inside is a suspended Forerunner called the Didact, who was responsible for the defeat of the human race.

The story is actually about the introduction of the Halos when they were "new", as Forerunner weapons built to defend against the Flood. The humans had initially encountered the Flood, and had actually defeated it during their war with the Forerunners, but the remaining humans refused to give up their secrets to their conquerors out of spite, and in the hopes that the Flood infection would wipe out the Forerunner race. The two humans, Bornstellar, and the Didact, are lead across the universe by a mysterious purpose, which eventually leads to the downfall of the Forerunners.

This is a very "un-Halo" series. If a Halo fan is looking for a lot of shooting and bro-fisting action like in the games, they'll be sorely disappointed. The style is rather dense, evoking a different way of thinking that's fairly alien...which is perfect for a story told from the perspective of the Forerunner Bornstellar. We get a look at the civilization of the Forerunners, which I found to be very alien in itself. Although it falls into some typical sci-fi traps (society organized by caste, with each caste dedicated to s single task in society), a lot of the technology seemed to be a little on the deux ex machina side: star ships that form themselves, chairs and control panels that just form out of the ground...a lot of conveniently present materials. Considering how this advanced technology belonged to the Forerunners, who lived for thousands of each, who created the Halos, and who could devolve living beings, I gave it a pass. The Forerunner culture was presented as very powerful, very old, and as one might expect, very conflicted.

Anyone familiar with the Halo universe will find some touchstones here, but a good portion of the book felt like "10,000 BC" mashed up with Halo. There was a distinct primal bent to the narrative, which I found was pretty necessary to set up the second book in the series.

I gave it 3 stars for being a Halo book (not necessarily accessible to everyone), and for being just alien enough in a lot of places that my eyes glazed over out of sheer overwhelming "alienness". I suspect that it'll pay off, though, once I get into Halo 4.