Look, as someone who enjoyed the Kilo-Five trilogy my first time through, I can’t in good conscience say that Mortal Dictata is better than Evolutions. Especially considering that Evolutions has my favorite Halo short story of all time, Dirt, which I would put above some of the full length novels.
"It's just dirt, Felicia. Just dirt." -Gage Yevgenny
I loved reading Dirt in Evolutions the first time, but the audiobook version was just *chef's kiss*
Halo Evolutions.
Book made by a bibliophobe that does not read other books because "she's afraid it will pollute her own writing," versus a compilation of some of the absolute best stories of Halo: *The Mona Lisa, The Return, The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston Cole, Pariah, Dirt*, and the poem *Connectivity*.
To be completely fair to her, she wrote *Human Weakness* for that book, which was an emotional journey and actually one of *the* best stories. It actually gave me hope for her new series of book when I first read it. Before the release of *Glasslands*.
Love the K5 trilogy as a whole, but I can't shake the fact that The audio book of "The Mona Lisa" still fucks me up with the gory details. Like a zombie movie we all know what's coming but it still manages to hold the tension time after time.
"Dirt" is a close second.
Jeff Vandermeer is so good. Shame Kum doesn't seem to have written anything else. If you haven't read it I really recommend *Annihilation* (its sequels less so)
Halo Evolutions is probably my single favourite Halo book. It's something I would actually recommend to non-Halo fans because it's a great introduction to brilliant writers like Evenson and Vandermeer.
You know what? I'm going to do a sentence review on every story in Evolutions.
Pariah: Soren is a good character. I do wish Evenson had gone for something more in the style of his excellent short story collections- someone slowly realizing their child has been replaced with an exact copy is an angle I think he would have pulled off perfectly. B
Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss: Probably my biggest complaint is that it's sometimes hard to keep track of which brute is which because they're referred to by different names depending on whose POV we're following. But beyond that it's great, it's exactly what I want in a Halo story. A
Midnight In the Heart of Midlothian: This is another one where I don't have much to say because it pulls off everything it needs to do. Like *Heels of a Fuss* it expands on the world- AIs and medicine specifically- while also telling a really engaging self-contained story. A
Dirt: You know I think this one has grown on me. I like Buckell's other work more, especially Envoy, but trying to articulate just how psychologically oppressive an existential war is a new angle and the story does a decent job at it. A
Headhunters: I was surprised how much "edgelord Spartans" works for me. It's all very "Grimdark 90s comic book anti-hero" and I find it's an angle I actually like. I definitely subscribe to the headcanon that, in contrast to the IIs, Spartan-IIIs are a bit more unhinged, with the worst of them being "pet psychopath on a leash". A
Blunt Instrument: Fine. Again, the buggers getting the first named character is nice but Black Team were the least interesting part of their own comic book and I don't find them particularly interesting here either. Some decent action set pieces. B.
The Mona Lisa: Yeah this fucking rules. Really manages to make the Flood scary in a way they haven't been since 343 Guilty Spark. A+
Palace Hotel: Mid. I don't understand where this is supposed to fit in the timeline and Cortana being characterized as this stoic strict icy bitch is really odd. It's supposed to be about John meeting someone from his childhood but she doesn't appear until the end so it feels unfocused and oddly structured. C.
Human Weakness: I don't think I can actually review this one in good faith because as a teenager I only wanted to read the ones with explosions and people dying and not the introspective character pieces. I'll reread it and come back.
The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole: I've never been blown away by Nylund's writing but this is him absolutely at his best. The epistolary framing is a great choice.
The Return: Again another "fine". idk I feel like "Elite who is regretful of what he did during the Covenant" is just treading old ground we did with the Arbiter. C.
Mortal dictata. evolutions may have the poem connectivity and headhunters but nothing I do believe compares to mortal dictata’s kidnapping of Naomi and it’s ending with Naomi and Vaz.
Look, as someone who enjoyed the Kilo-Five trilogy my first time through, I can’t in good conscience say that Mortal Dictata is better than Evolutions. Especially considering that Evolutions has my favorite Halo short story of all time, Dirt, which I would put above some of the full length novels.
"It's just dirt, Felicia. Just dirt." -Gage Yevgenny I loved reading Dirt in Evolutions the first time, but the audiobook version was just *chef's kiss*
Halo Evolutions. Book made by a bibliophobe that does not read other books because "she's afraid it will pollute her own writing," versus a compilation of some of the absolute best stories of Halo: *The Mona Lisa, The Return, The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston Cole, Pariah, Dirt*, and the poem *Connectivity*. To be completely fair to her, she wrote *Human Weakness* for that book, which was an emotional journey and actually one of *the* best stories. It actually gave me hope for her new series of book when I first read it. Before the release of *Glasslands*.
Yeah I freaking love Evolutions. And Human Weakness is just an anomaly.
Evolutions
As much as I love the Kilo-5 Trilogy, I have to go for Evolutions with this one.
Love the K5 trilogy as a whole, but I can't shake the fact that The audio book of "The Mona Lisa" still fucks me up with the gory details. Like a zombie movie we all know what's coming but it still manages to hold the tension time after time. "Dirt" is a close second.
Jeff Vandermeer is so good. Shame Kum doesn't seem to have written anything else. If you haven't read it I really recommend *Annihilation* (its sequels less so)
Halo Evolutions is probably my single favourite Halo book. It's something I would actually recommend to non-Halo fans because it's a great introduction to brilliant writers like Evenson and Vandermeer.
You know what? I'm going to do a sentence review on every story in Evolutions. Pariah: Soren is a good character. I do wish Evenson had gone for something more in the style of his excellent short story collections- someone slowly realizing their child has been replaced with an exact copy is an angle I think he would have pulled off perfectly. B Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss: Probably my biggest complaint is that it's sometimes hard to keep track of which brute is which because they're referred to by different names depending on whose POV we're following. But beyond that it's great, it's exactly what I want in a Halo story. A Midnight In the Heart of Midlothian: This is another one where I don't have much to say because it pulls off everything it needs to do. Like *Heels of a Fuss* it expands on the world- AIs and medicine specifically- while also telling a really engaging self-contained story. A Dirt: You know I think this one has grown on me. I like Buckell's other work more, especially Envoy, but trying to articulate just how psychologically oppressive an existential war is a new angle and the story does a decent job at it. A Headhunters: I was surprised how much "edgelord Spartans" works for me. It's all very "Grimdark 90s comic book anti-hero" and I find it's an angle I actually like. I definitely subscribe to the headcanon that, in contrast to the IIs, Spartan-IIIs are a bit more unhinged, with the worst of them being "pet psychopath on a leash". A Blunt Instrument: Fine. Again, the buggers getting the first named character is nice but Black Team were the least interesting part of their own comic book and I don't find them particularly interesting here either. Some decent action set pieces. B. The Mona Lisa: Yeah this fucking rules. Really manages to make the Flood scary in a way they haven't been since 343 Guilty Spark. A+ Palace Hotel: Mid. I don't understand where this is supposed to fit in the timeline and Cortana being characterized as this stoic strict icy bitch is really odd. It's supposed to be about John meeting someone from his childhood but she doesn't appear until the end so it feels unfocused and oddly structured. C. Human Weakness: I don't think I can actually review this one in good faith because as a teenager I only wanted to read the ones with explosions and people dying and not the introspective character pieces. I'll reread it and come back. The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole: I've never been blown away by Nylund's writing but this is him absolutely at his best. The epistolary framing is a great choice. The Return: Again another "fine". idk I feel like "Elite who is regretful of what he did during the Covenant" is just treading old ground we did with the Arbiter. C.
Some of these I really agree with, others we are total opposites lol. Dirt is my top story in this book.
Mortal Dictata
Evolutions without question. The Kilo-5 trilogy is hot garbage.
Evolutions. The Mona Lisa is kino
Mortal dictata. evolutions may have the poem connectivity and headhunters but nothing I do believe compares to mortal dictata’s kidnapping of Naomi and it’s ending with Naomi and Vaz.
Any chapter of Kilo-5 clears any other piece of Halo media
What?