Halo: The Cole Protocol (Halo) | Tobias S. Buckell

Halo: The Cole Protocol (Halo) | Tobias S. Buckell | Not as good as Nylund

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Halo: The Cole Pro...

	Halo: The Cole Protocol (Halo) Tobias S. Buckell Tor Books, 2008 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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In the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its Inner Colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems. Out beyond the Outer Colonies lies the planet Hesiod, a gas giant surrounded by a vast asteroid belt. As the Covenant continues to glass the human occupied planets near Hesiod, many of the survivors, helped by a stronghold of human Insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroid belt for refuge. They have transformed the tumbling satellites into a tenuous, yet ingenious, settlement known as the Rubble--and have come face-to-face with a Covenant settlement of Kig-Yar . . . yet somehow survived. News of this unlikely treaty has spread to the warring sides. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the Spartan Gray Team, a three-man renegade squad whose simple task is to wreak havoc from behind enemy lines in any way they see fit. But the Prophets have also sent their best---an ambitious and ruthless Elite, whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality . . . and who will do anything to secure his Ascendancy and walk the Path.

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The Cole Protocol

Simply put, quite a good book. Although I will admit, this book is not for everyone. Essentially, if you like Halo, and the Halo book series, then you will like this book. I've also read Contact Harvest, the other three, and Ghosts of Onyx. For the uninitiated, this is not a book for you. The book makes references and allusions to other parts of the Halo mythos; so unless you are up to speed, the book would probably be ponderous, lacking in information, and probably not all that fun to read. For other people that have followed Halo, and liked the other books, go out and by this. Its not a difficult read, but a fun one. It reads like the books that came before it, and puts a human face on humanities struggle against The Covenant.

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Not as good as Nylund

This book, taking place 9 years after the book Contact Harvest (also in the halo series) tells of Capt. Keyes and the designated Grey team of Spartans protecting the Cole Protocol to keep the location of Earth safe from the Covenant. I do have to hand it to The Cole Protocol for not tethering off new problems or destroying some of the fabrication in place in the Halo Universe, but overall the writing just isn't as good as Nylund's works in the series (Fall of Reach, First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx). Buckell knows the series and knows what he wants to do in this book while keeping sure not to add more bumps in the series with misplaced (cronologically) monikers, weapons, or the sort.

In short, if you are following the series, get this book. It is a good read. Much better than Contact Harvest, but not on the same level as some others, though still enjoyable.

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Not Up to Par

I have read each of the Halo novels prior to this one, and although I appreciate Buckell's efforts to carry on the Halo legend, I must say that this particular work somewhat disappointed me. Granted, when "The Powers that Be" decided to let not one, not two, not three, but FOUR authors pen the Halo series, they were asking for trouble. I digress; I suppose the greatest disappointment with the book was the lack of detail. Or perhaps it was the complete departure from the style of the other books. Or maybe it was the sullying of the Spartans' good names by breathing life into three "Spartans" that were utterly dissimilar from everything instilled in the readers' minds about Spartans in the other novels. It could have been the fact that although a plethora of characters were introduced, Buckell made no appreciable attempt to establish an emotional bond between the reader and the characters. Nylund and Staten expertly achieved such a bond in some of the other novels, but after reading "The Cole Protocol" I was left feeling that the story was unfulfilled, anti-climactic, and impersonal. And I can't get over those characters and their dialogue... I felt like I was watching a spaghetti-western in outer space. I'm just going to pretend that this book wasn't published and fill in the gaps and holes with my own imagination. If you are a serious fan, I recommend you do the same.

So why three stars instead of none? The number of Halo fans is gigantic, and the amount of pressure put on someone to deliver satisfying content to those imaginative and detail-hungry fans is not a task for a small boy. I challenge the individual who thinks they could do it, and I applaud the one that tries. Atta boy, Buckell.

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