The book's cover was designed by Sparth, an artist at 343 Industries known for his "futuristic vistas", [7] and who would later become a creative director at the company. [11] The artwork was adapted from concept art for Halo 4, [12] intended to capture the wondrous scope of the Forerunners. [7] Sparth and Gabriel Garza collaborated for Silentium's cover. [13] In the epilogue, Riser, Vinnevra and other humans are relocated on Installation 00 among many other species, where Forerunners watch over them until they are returned to their homeworld. At Riser's request, his people are relocated to a series of islands. Riser meets with the IsoDidact one last time before the Forerunners leave and the humans begin settling their new home. Mendicant Bias is tried for his crimes, and imprisoned on the Ark to think about atonement.

This book was a real disappointment coming off the first in the Forerunner Saga which I thought was fantastic. A long time ago, I was a living, breathing human being. I went mad. I served my enemies. They became my only friends. A primordium is an aggregation of cells that is the first stage in the development of an organ or tissue. It is also a derivation of the term Primordial, which is a title given to the last Precursor. Jason Hamilton. "Book Review: Halo: Cryptum (2011) by Greg Bear". Story Hobby. Archived from the original on February 18, 2013 . Retrieved March 20, 2013.

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Many of the chapters are very bland and uneventful. Just depicting lots of travelling and talking, almost all of which is hard going but doesn’t really give anything of interest to the reader. If you keep reading it’ll be due to signs of progress towards something big, but these are few and far between. Though the payoffs to these hints are always good there’s a good chance you’ll end up missing a few due to Chakas’ vague descriptions. To make matters worse, the same vague, spartan and confusing descriptions really hamper the book’s use of its location. It’s set on a battle damaged Halo device but from what little information we’re given, it could be on practically any Forerunner planet. On only one occasion does Chakas actually note about the planet’s state and unusual state and then it’s ignored until the very end. Wow, what a surprise this book has been. I came in expecting it to be the darker middle entry in a trilogy that would ultimately have a tragic-but-hopeful ending. This book is not that. It is dark to be sure, but in many ways, this hardly feels in any way like a sequel to Cryptum . The only thing that even reminds me that this is related to that book is that some characters reappear, and that it takes place on a Halo, but that's about it. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but there's no doubt this book suffers a bit more than the first, despite its strengths. In the company of a young girl and an old man, Chakas begins an epic journey across a lost and damaged Halo in search of a way home, an explanation for the warrior spirits rising up within, and for the Librarian's tampering with human destiny. Primordium involves a lot of walking around. I mean of the type that usually happens in high fantasy novels, but you wouldn't exactly expect to happen in the science fiction genre. I mean seriously, 50% of the book involves walking around this massive construct called a Halo, finding random dead aliens and remains of crashed warships and then more walking. Not a lot happens aside from that for over half the book. I probably should have read more Halo books prior to this but hey, I didn't want to invest the time into something that I wasn't really interested in to begin with (unlike the Warhammer 40k-verse, which is frigging awesome by the way), and I wanted a peek at the Halo-verse. I was not impressed with what I read. After the Master Builder destroyed Charum Hakkor, and brought the last Precursor to this Halo, they carried out experiments on the Humans because they were resistant to the Flood.

As a whole, I quite liked this and I'm excited to see where Bear goes in Silentium, which I of course will be reading next. a b "Tor Books Unveils the Real Cover for Greg Bear's Halo: Silentium". Tor Books. December 5, 2012 . Retrieved April 14, 2013. One hundred thousand years ago. In the wake of the apparent self-destruction of the alien Forerunner empire, two humans—Chakas and Riser—are like flotsam washed up on very strange shores indeed. Captured by the Forerunner known as the Master Builder and then misplaced during a furious battle in space, Chakas and Riser now find themselves on an inverted world, where horizons rise into the sky and humans of all kinds are trapped in a perilous cycle of horror and neglect. They have become both research animals and strategic pawns in a cosmic game whose madness knows no end—a game of ancient vengeance between the powers who seeded the galaxy with life, and the Forerunners who expect to inherit their sacred Mantle of Responsibility to all living things. The second novel in the series was announced on July 19, 2011. [2] The book was completed and submitted to the publisher in October. [14] At a Comic-Con panel on the Halo universe, Frank O'Connor stated that the book would have "resonant connections" with Halo 4. [15] Bear stated that the interactions of the humans and the Forerunners in the book were some of his favorite parts of the trilogy. [10]The novel is dedicated to Claude Errera, a long-time Bungie and Halo fan as well as the founder of halo.bungie.org. The Didact's party are captured and imprisoned by Forerunner Builders, under the command of Faber, the Master Builder. Bornstellar is returned to the care of his father because of his family's status and power. Bornstellar learns his father was one of the chief builders of the Halos—massive ringworld weapons. The Didact opposed the Builders' decision to construct such weapons, leading to his exile. Bornstellar is called to the Forerunner Capital to testify against the Master Builder, who has been put on trial; he stands accused of crimes against The Mantle, a Forerunner philosophy that values the preservation of life over all else. Just as the trial is about to begin, the Forerunner artificial intelligence Mendicant Bias betrays the Forerunners and attempts to assume control of the Halos and use them against the Capital. The monitor contains Chakas' memories and proceeds to describe Chakas memories of his life and what happened to him after the battle at the end of book one.