So, basically the same problem as Legends and most of Evolutions?

: The original Evolutions was very much an old Halo book in its spirit; it
: was human versus Covenant, in several variations. Very few of the stories
: dramatically expanded on that core conflict, save for small details like
: the brief element of civilian life in Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss
: and the vignettes of the Forerunner and Covenant perspectives added in the
: reissues.

The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston Cole did so much expanding, it hardly bears enumerating. There was always this gap between the very beginning of the war and the very end of the war that was unexplored, and I never felt that The Cole Protocol or Halo Wars did an adequate job of exploring. They were just improbable events that happened in quiet, self-contained pockets of the Halo universe. The Return was a great character study and a wonderful promise of things to come, sadly unfulfilled.

: In that sense, Fractures is 343's Halo, but I don't think that should
: have any negative response from someone even if they prefer Bungie's work
: on the franchise. Fractures feels like we finally are seeing the Halo
: universe whereas before it was from a few limited perspectives. Spanning
: the end of Halo 3 to just after the events of Halo 5 , the collection
: offers a lot for everyone; there's continuations of beloved characters,
: even if it's just a check-in here and there; sneak peeks into corners of
: the universe that we'd never see otherwise, small personal stories amid
: giant galaxy-spanning ones. But the core of the collection really is
: conflict, and what lies on the other side of it. So many of these stories
: are about how the characters grapple with an uncertain future and their
: own natures, and I don't think there could be a better lead-in to the
: possibilities I hope 343 can take with the future video games than this
: series (let alone a Fractures 2: Electric Boogaloo down the road.)

: Breaking Strain (James Swallow)
: Giving a bit of an insight into human-Sangheili relations outside of the
: Arbiter's civil war and ONI's skullduggery with Kilo-5, as well as a less
: interplanetary politics angle to the UEG-separatist conflict,
: "Breaking Strain" has a UNSC crew stranded with a ship that'll
: never fly again against an increasingly hostile human population. Like the
: earlier stories this one could have used more room to breathe, but it ties
: itself up nicely (if maybe too neatly) at the end. We also get to see a
: new Spartan-III—Kevin A282—and though they never quite clarify his
: background the description makes me think he's one of the guys who got off
: Reach while his fellows all died the same place Noble Six did in
: "Lone Wolf".

Sounds interesting... but I don't think I've ever heard of the author.

*Googles*

Hmm... very interesting. I like the synopsis of the story too. Almost sounds like it should be its own novel.

: Promises to Keep (Christie Golden)
: So the Domain wasn't completely destroyed by the Halo blast, and the last
: Forerunners fixed it, sort of, before leaving. That's the lore meat of the
: piece, but "Promises to Keep" is far more interesting as a look
: at the Iso Didact and the last Forerunners after the pomp and circumstance
: of the Halo Array was dispensed with. We also get the origins of
: "Tragic Solitude", which I don't know entirely line up with what
: we get in Hunters in the Dark, but then again the 343GS-Chakas connection
: never totally washed without some handwaving anyhow. Mostly I just like
: the exploration of the Forerunners trying to carry on the wishes of those
: who died and being forced to relive the ignominious end of their race and
: their survivors' guilt, as well as more exploration into
: Bornstellar/IsoDidact and how he is a distinct individual.

...
*Rubs temples*

Christie Golden isn't just writing for Halo, she's writing the Forerunner? Hmm. I've only ever read her StarCraft novels, but it never would have occurred to me to have her step into Greg Bear's shoes. It's still not occurring to me. Ideas aside, how well was it written?

: Shadow of Intent (Joseph Staten)
: Definitely the most "classic" feeling of all the entries,
: accounting to Staten's work on the original series plus the Nylundian
: space combat, "Shadow of Intent" still holds up as the richest
: story in the compendium, mostly due to its novella length. Nice to have
: this in physical form, if that's what interests you, but I also hope some
: of its characters (and Half-Jaw) make it to the games some day.

: The Ballad of Hamish Beamish (Frankie)
: This is without a doubt the weirdest bit of Halo lore we have or ever will
: get. But leave it to Frankie to turn a weird cameo with an on-the-fly
: response to fan questions into a tale of suffering and tragic-comedic woe.

I wasn't interested. But now I am intrigued.

: A Necessary Truth (Troy Denning)
: I think Halo: Last Light was better in its parts than its whole, but the
: return of Veta and her adopted Spartan-IIIs is a breezy read with the same
: blend of action, mystery, and character interplay. I also appreciate the
: characterization of Spartan Mark as a hero who is still only a stone's
: throw away from probably being a sociopath. Also: further confirmation the
: Spartans will never be social butterflies.

I have read an excerpt of the Spartans' attempt at wooing the opposite sex, and I am convinced that the rest of the story is a must-read.

: Into the Fire (Kelly Gay)
: Halopedia tells me this will have connections to an upcoming novel, which
: presumably has connections to Halo Wars 2, and so it's harder to judge
: this on its own. We get a return to Venezia, where we see a slight hint of
: the effects of Mortal Dictata on those enterprising Jackals, and a look
: into the thriving world of salvage after a destabilizing war. Once again
: the short story's length makes a key revelation seem too effortless to
: uncover and convenient, but it gives the main character much more of a
: charged motivation than most in these collections, who are usually
: preoccupied with sheer survival.

: Saint's Testimony (Frank O'Connor)
: Still the most important piece of work in the universe in the lead-up to Halo
: 5, this is still a marvelous little story. Stakes, characters, and only a
: battle of words to decide the fate of a life. Halo doesn't have to be
: always guns blazing.

It's the weirdest thing, but I don't think I'll ever work up the effort to re-read Saint's Testimony, which is unusual for a short story. There's some stories that I remember because they were spectacularly horrible or a real kludge to read, others that I greatly enjoyed and re-read from time to time, but Saint's Testimony holds this weird middle ground where I have no feeling for it either way, but haven't forgotten either.

I think the original inspiration behind rampancy was the short lives of the androids in Bladerunner, and the analogy that a candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. An AI has seven years, and that's it. It's not the UNSC's fault or a conspiracy to keep artificial intelligences in their place, it's just the limit of human technology. At the end of the AI's life comes rampancy, which can be likened to senility. And with the power that AIs have, their senility becomes dangerous. Imagine, if you will, the havoc an AI in charge of a space station's life support can wreak. It doesn't need to be malevolent, because incompetence or simple inaction is just as dangerous. The smart and kind thing to do is to remove them from their duties toward the end of their lives and give them a good safe problem to work on. Save the decommissioning for when they have fallen to the final stages of rampancy.

I liked the original relationship between Humanity and our AIs. It was a happy note of cooperation and coexistence in a bleak universe, even if the artificial intelligences were orders of magnitude more capable than their progenitors.

The Cole Protocol and Contact Harvest changed that dynamic. Saint's Testimony was its death knell. Decommissioning an AI, a fellow sentient being, while its still functional is such a pointless waste of resources. Especially since humanity is still digging its way out of the grave the Prophets dug for us, and half of Africa is buried beneath a blanket of glass, and everyone is still praying that a single Flood spore didn't drift over Voi and out into the ocean. Worse, the story was a rushed foundation, laid so that the Robolution! plot twist in Halo 5 wouldn't come out of nowhere.

I dunno. It's not hate or contempt I feel for this story. It just marks the point where Halo ceased to be a story I could care about.

But the best things in life are free...

: Anarosa (Kevin Grace)
: A vignette into the lives of two individuals who try to persuade the grieving
: to part with their recently-deceased loved ones so their brains can be
: used for smart AIs. The meat of the story is just a single conversation
: between an AI and the grieving brother of a candidate, and it does more
: with its limited runtime than probably any other story in the collection.
: Simple, quiet, and still affecting.

: Finally, there's a curiously untitled and uncredited vignette that gives us
: what I think might be the last word on two characters.

Yayap and Zamamee?

: Overall, I recommend people pick this up. It definitely delivers a lot of
: different stories, and it definitely seems like a lot of the threads
: examined are going to be relevant going forward.