: I loved how the story quickly involved a detective and turned Halo for a
: brief moment into a crime mystery. Though I was let down by the
: introduction of Jiralhanae and Human aggressors to stir up some action,
: taking away from what I thought would focus mainly as a narrative
: primarily following detective Veta Lopis. All that kind of withered away
: when I grew more and more interested in the relationship Lopis had with
: Spartans Ash, Fred, Mark, and Olivia. That was an absolutely great cast. I
: also really appreciated the rather abundant introduction of the inner
: workings of a colonial government, something that had long been missing
: from this aspect of the Haloverse.

: I'll leave the more significant spoilers up to anyone who would like the have
: a chat about them with us.

: Anyhoo, it's definitely worth checking out. There's plenty of intrigue and
: mystique for everyone!

Like you I definitely appreciated the mystery elements and how it focused on the civilian side early on; it gave the book a different and appreciated flavor (although past a certain point the mystery element seemed rote--we knew it was the AI that did it so why draw it out like we were in an Agatha Christie novel?)

The time spent with the Spartan-IIIs was great, and I liked their interplay with Veta.

I also appreciated the small moments we got with the other minor characters, like Castor's "angel" encounter in the epilogue and the small little death of the tech who was trying to help Fred fight the AI--those little bits are often my favorite bits in the more bombastic halo tales.

The questions this sets up:
*What are Venezia and Gao up to in Halo 5 times?
*Does this Covenant faction still exist in the same timeframe? I'd love more details on the various groups that spawned out of the immediate fallout (these guys, the Storm, Telcam's forces, the goons from Spartan Assault) and what happened to them all.
*It makes sense the Forerunners would have "medic" Huragok, but the question is why haven't we seen them before? Did they mostly die out or were they bred out of existence due to the lack of use they had in the entombed Forerunner sites?
*So what's the reference to Requiem mean? Is the Forerunner AI somehow a part of the events of Halo 4? If so how?