Halo: Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe Book

4.5/5 actually. This was, by far, the best Halo book I've read. 13/15 stories were well-written, expertly-paced, character-driven tales that kept me fully entranced. There were two that were similar in resolution, which was odd - the editor shouldn't have put them so close in the anthology. There were two I wasn't entirely fond of, but I didn't dislike them. Karen Traviss' "Human Weakness" wasn't bad, but, like her Star Wars novels, it was full of repetition (this leaves me wary of her continuation of the Spartan story-arc, but I'll give it a shot still). Tobias Buckell's story was good once you go into it (way better than the Cole Protocol novel), but the I'm-about-to-die-yet-I-have-time-to-regale-my-life-story trope is overused and cliche, especially in short stories..

All the other stories were great. My absolute favorite was "The Mona Lisa". It was, quite simply, one of the best short action stories I have ever read. I need to ramble for a minute about it; I loved it that much. The characters were amazing. Lopez' dark-humor and quick-decisions made her a reliable sergeant and extremely likeable; Benti was close to my heart - her enthusiasm, curiosity, but also desire to lead reminded me a lot of myself (I kept thinking - wow that sounds like me, wow that's what I would be like in that situation); Clarence's aloofness was mysterious enough to entice me and the hinting of something deeper between him and Benti was subtle enough to pick up on but didn't seem unnecessary to the plot - in fact, it entangled me deeper. What I find lacking in the Halo series is love-stories - or, at least attractions. Part of what humanizes characters for me in novels/stories/movies is when there are attractions or at least emotions between people. People in real life have feelings for one another, crushes or at least the feeling of kindred-spirits, which they often keep to themselves or try to contain, so why do action/sci-fi novels consistently omit or glide over this? Which leads me to Henry. Oh, I've been waiting for an Elite/human alliance in the series for long - and this one was PERFECT. Also, the humor in this story (cricket bat!), the banter, the quick-moving plot, the flat-out gore... I love this story.

My reading orgasm aside with "Mona Lisa", I also really enjoyed "Headhunters" and "Blunt Instruments". Essentially I love military stories about soldiers in the field, especially when they have a partnership or relationship that plays off their personalities - I love banter between friends/colleagues, and this anthology had plenty of that.

I'm so glad my friend Hunt lent me his stack of these novels. Onward to the Forerunner series, I suppose!