Halo: Meridian Divide is the second book in the young adult novels by Cassandra Clarke which serve as a side story to the main Halo franchise.
The story follows 4 teenage students- Evie, Dorian, Saskia, and Victor- who find themselves strapping back into the action on their home world Meridian. Taking place only a few months after their escape from the first book, our heroes are informed that the covenant (a religious extraterrestrial alliance made up of multiple alien races) are attacking Meridian to find an ancient artifact that they believe will help them in their transcendence. Being natives of Meridian, ONI is calling upon our teenage protagonists to help navigate through the cities of Meridian where the Covenant has built perimeters. Partnered with Spartan Owen and a local militia group, they will find out what exactly the Covenant found on Meridian and attempt to push them off their home world.
Cassandra Clarke does an outstanding job with differentiating the personalities of each teenager. This paired perfectly with each chapter switching points of view between the main characters. This lets the reader delve into the minds of our protagonists. We have been in the armor of ODSTs, Spartan soldiers, and even some of the Covenant, but now we get to experience this war in the armor of civilian teenagers who never imagined they would be the turning point of the survival of their home world. Cassandra Clarke paints very vivid pictures with her words. While reading, the reader can feel the ash and mud on their skin, the smoke filling their lungs, the pangs of the bullets hitting metal, and even the careful steps being taken while sneaking around the woods. There can’t be praise without criticism, but fortunately there were not too many points to take note on.
There were times where I felt myself cringe at some of the dialogue of the characters. Multiple times where I wish I could tell the characters myself that they were being ridiculous. I had to remember that these were teenagers, but it still deserved an occasional eye roll. This could be chalked up to either poor writing OR excellent writing if from a teenager’s point of view.
All in all, Halo: Meridian Divide was a great read with a new perspective on the human-Covenant war. This time through the eyes of four teenagers who were unsuspectingly thrown into a war for their world and humanity. This book supplies a wonderful side story with excellent character development and settings to the massive canon that is the Halo franchise. This book series is definitely a good way to fill the time between now and the much-anticipated release of Halo: Infinite in the winter of 2020.
Reviewed by Edward.
The story follows 4 teenage students- Evie, Dorian, Saskia, and Victor- who find themselves strapping back into the action on their home world Meridian. Taking place only a few months after their escape from the first book, our heroes are informed that the covenant (a religious extraterrestrial alliance made up of multiple alien races) are attacking Meridian to find an ancient artifact that they believe will help them in their transcendence. Being natives of Meridian, ONI is calling upon our teenage protagonists to help navigate through the cities of Meridian where the Covenant has built perimeters. Partnered with Spartan Owen and a local militia group, they will find out what exactly the Covenant found on Meridian and attempt to push them off their home world.
Cassandra Clarke does an outstanding job with differentiating the personalities of each teenager. This paired perfectly with each chapter switching points of view between the main characters. This lets the reader delve into the minds of our protagonists. We have been in the armor of ODSTs, Spartan soldiers, and even some of the Covenant, but now we get to experience this war in the armor of civilian teenagers who never imagined they would be the turning point of the survival of their home world. Cassandra Clarke paints very vivid pictures with her words. While reading, the reader can feel the ash and mud on their skin, the smoke filling their lungs, the pangs of the bullets hitting metal, and even the careful steps being taken while sneaking around the woods. There can’t be praise without criticism, but fortunately there were not too many points to take note on.
There were times where I felt myself cringe at some of the dialogue of the characters. Multiple times where I wish I could tell the characters myself that they were being ridiculous. I had to remember that these were teenagers, but it still deserved an occasional eye roll. This could be chalked up to either poor writing OR excellent writing if from a teenager’s point of view.
All in all, Halo: Meridian Divide was a great read with a new perspective on the human-Covenant war. This time through the eyes of four teenagers who were unsuspectingly thrown into a war for their world and humanity. This book supplies a wonderful side story with excellent character development and settings to the massive canon that is the Halo franchise. This book series is definitely a good way to fill the time between now and the much-anticipated release of Halo: Infinite in the winter of 2020.
Reviewed by Edward.