HALO: Fractures - Extraordinary Tales from the Halo Canon

By: Tobias Buckell, Troy Denning, Matt Forbeck, Kelly Gay, Christie Golden, Kevin Grace, Morgan Lockhart

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Launch once more into galaxy-spanning conflict and legendary heroism, shards of an ever-expanding journey where human and alien alike find their finest hours in facing their greatest challenges. These scattered stories span untold millennia, from the age of the ancient custodial race known as the Forerunners to the aftermath of the Covenant's bloody war against humanity and even the shocking events surrounding the resurrection of the mysterious Guardians.

Fractures: Extraordinary Tales from the Halo Canon explores mythic tales of bravery and sacrifice that blaze brightly at the very heart of the Halo universe. Featuring electrifying works from such acclaimed authors as Tobias Buckell, Troy Denning, Matt Forbeck, Kelly Gay, Christie Golden, Kevin Grace, Morgan Lockhart, John Jackson Miller, Frank O'Connor, Brian Reed, Joseph Staten, and James Swallow.

©2016 Microsoft Corporation (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

If you love Halo these will scratch a good itch!!

I absolutely loved all of the stories because they put so many different aspects to just small things and major storylines throughout the entire series both in the games and out of the games and I loved each and every one of them! my favorite one out of all of them was definitely Oasis though!!

Excellent

This was a joy to read, and contains significant new information about the Halo universe.

Outstanding

This is, outstanding. I absolutely loved this book. Halo evolutions, was awesome but THIS book is the best!!!

Good Stories - Decent VA

This book is a collection of short stories. It is structurally similar to the format to Dan Abbnet's: "The Magos & The Definitive Casebook of Gregor Eisenhorn". I liked most of the stories. I felt while the narrator was skilled, that he made a few mistakes of pronunciation of certain names, and seemed to sometimes fail to properly project emotional context of certain lines. Otherwise, I thought his performance was great.

Story-wise, many questions I had were answered, and I think the collection of short-stories helps establish the setting for Halo: Infinite. One thing that I believe should have been addressed however, was the status of the Ur-Didact. In my opinion, It is absolutely neccessary for his return in Halo: Infinite. It seems almost like 343 has handled Halo as well as Disney has handled their loathed Sequel Trilogy of Star Wars. The Didact, like Snoke, was not properly introduced, as in we were led to believe he was a big baddie, who was set-up to be the main villain of the Trilogy. The problem was (for both Snoke and the Ur'-Didact) that for some reason, the writers failed to provide information explaining who the antagonist was despite the fact that he was a new character that we knee nothing about. However, like in The Last Jedi, main baddie is removed from the plot to make way for a poorly timed and thought out attempt to retcon the previously established setting.

But that's all irrelevant to this review. What you should takeaway from this is that for the most part, the stories are good, and the voice acting is decent.

Very enjoyable

Finally finished my third book for the year. I've been itching for some Halo content for a while now since I can't experience the games. Great read. Each story in this anthology had me yearning for more, and I really wanna see where the next books and games take it. Also, it was very satisfying to have an end (two ends, really) to Bornstellar's story.

Loved it!!

This was so great but it makes me want all the stories to be full books because they end in massive cliffhangers

Incredible Closure

Regardless of how some people thought of Scott Brick's narration, I found this entire series of short stories to really wrap up other books in the Halo Series near perfectly that really made me excited as I listened to them, especially regarding the Forerunners and Bornstellar it was truly captivating and worth every second.

Halo EU fans apply here!

If you are a fan of the Halo extended universe, this is for you. Nice selection of short stories performed very well. Don't expect anything groundbreaking or big surprises, just a handful of really good stories either tying up lose ends, setting the stage for new ones, or just simply one offs in the Halo canon. All in all, a very well done selection.

Okay book

My biggest complaint is Scott Brick. He has done several Halo books now and he voices almost every character the same.

Halo Anthology, Pt 2

This is an anthology book. Overall, they're pretty good, and most include recurring characters from the main Halo universe. Included: Tom & Lucy's return to Onyx; a Forerunner mission back to their home-world; Hood & Osman evacuating Earth during the events of Halo 5: Guardians; an AI's tribunal to determine rampancy; a limerick-esque poem of the life of a marine; and Forge's (now)adult daughter hunting for clues of her father's disappearance.

Audio: They're all read by Scott Brick, which if you've read my other Halo reviews, you know I'm not the biggest fan.

Recommended for: Halo enthusiasts; but you'll want to be caught up on the rest of the Halo universe (At least the video games, including Halo Wars; and select titles such as Nylunds' "Ghosts of Onyx".