History Literature / HaloGlasslands

* EarlyBirdCameo: The SPARTAN-IVs and ''Infinity'', which are major plot elements of the games from ''VideoGame/Halo4'' onward, receive their first mention in the story's epilogue.

''Halo: Glasslands'' is a 2011 novel by Creator/KarenTraviss set in the ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' ExpandedUniverse. It is the first part of the "''Kilo-Five'' trilogy" set in the months after the events of ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' and ''{{VideoGame/Halo 3}}'', in which Humanity and the Sangheili, no longer at war, are picking up the pieces from the Great Schism. It revolves around the continued adventures of: Dr. Halsey, CPO Mendez, and the Spartans in the Onyx Shield World; ONI agent Serin Osman, a team of [=ODSTs=], and Spartan-II Naomi, who find themselves on a mission to destabilize the fragile government on Sanghelios; and a group of Sangheili hoping to overthrow the [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Arbiter]] and eventually continue their war with humanity.

* AuthorFilibuster: Throughout the book, a number of characters deliver condescending speeches and remarks about Dr. Halsey and the Spartan-II project. Unsurprisingly, the views presented in these correlate with the author's, as seen in several interviews with her (e.g. Traviss compares Dr. Halsey to Dr. Mengele, and then a character in the novel does the same). While Halsey does rebut most of the arguments against her, the other characters all ignore her reasoning [[StrawmanHasAPoint despite her points very often being right]].
* BreakTheCutie: Oh Naomi. She gets told that Halsey is dead and then it turns out she isn't, then she finds out how Halsey left her family after kidnapping Naomi. Lucy too, to the point that she stops speaking out of survivor's guilt.

* CliffHanger: [[spoiler: An explosion of...something bright on Sanghelios destroys Philips' camera and causes the squad to head back there.]]

** Additionally, no one ever pretended Halsey was a saint, but a number of traits seem to have been added to [[{{Demonization}} make her seem more sinister]]. For one, the ''Glasslands'' version of Halsey is shown to live by an {{Ubermensch}} view of morality, considering herself as being AboveGoodAndEvil, even noting a few times that she [[TheSoulless doesn't have a soul]]. That said, Traviss does depict Halsey to be emotionally devastated by her daughter's death as well as the [[NeverFoundTheBody apparent]] [[VideoGame/{{Halo 3}} death of Master Chief]].

* EarlyBirdCameo: The Spartan-[=IVs=] and ''Infinity'', which are major plot elements of the games from ''{{VideoGame/Halo 4}}'' onward, receive their first mention in the story's epilogue.

* HardHead: [[spoiler: Halsey]] is punched in the face by a Spartan-III supersoldier, yet does not sustain the massive injuries that one would expect from such a blow. Spartan[=-IIIs=] are described in ''Ghosts of Onyx'' as being of equal strength to Elites, snapping necks and ribs with ease.
* HumiliationConga / BreakTheHaughty: The whole novel is this for Dr. Halsey. Her former allies and coworkers turn against her, her Spartans turn against her, all of her secrets are exposed, she's detained in the middle of nowhere and officially declared dead.
** Not to mention the fact that [[spoiler:her lover, [[TheCaptain Captain]] Jacob Keyes and her estranged daughter, [[CommandingCoolness Miranda]] [[ActionGirl Keyes]], [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved are]] [[{{VideoGame/Halo 3}} dead]]]].

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:Admiral Parangosky gives one to Catherine Halsey at the end of the book over her use of flash-cloning the SPARTAN-[=II=]s and forcing their parents to watch them die. Although even Halsey's supporters would agree that she needed calling out, the fact that Parangosky has authorized just as horrible, if not worse, things makes it a particularly twisted form of EvenEvilHasStandards at best to outright [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical]] at worst, a fact she fully acknowledges.]]

** Halsey and Mendez get into an argument about the genetic screening involved in choosing Spartans. While Halsey was very strict when it came to genetic profiles for the [=Spartan IIs=], [=Spartan-IIIs=] had comparatively more lax screening thanks to improved augmentations. Mendez goes on as though the [=IIIs=] had no genetic tests, while ''Onyx'' makes note that they actually had to cut down Beta Company from 1000 to 300 because they couldn't do the genetic tests necessary to bolster the numbers. Furthermore, it also outright states that having the correct genetic markers has a direct correlation with the bioaugmentation survival rates. Mendez was in fact present at the meeting where both of the above facts were discussed.

** What happened to the [=SPARTAN-III=] Gamma Company which had been deployed before the attack on Onyx?

** Additionally, no one ever pretended Halsey was a saint, but a number of traits seem to have been added to [[{{Demonization}} make her seem more sinister]]. For one, the ''Glasslands'' version of Halsey is shown to live by an {{Ubermensch}} view of morality, considering herself as being AboveGoodAndEvil, even noting a few times that she [[TheSoulless doesn't have a soul]]. That said, Traviss does depict Halsey to be emotionally devastated by her daughter's death as well as the [[WeNeverFoundTheBody apparent]] [[VideoGame/{{Halo 3}} death of Master Chief]].

* MoralDissonance: Admiral Parangosky has sent children to die by the hundreds, mercilessly eliminated all of her opposition, and is behind most of ONI's darkest projects we don't even know about. Chief Mendez has been on board with training the aforementioned ChildSoldiers for over 20 years. Kilo-Five conspires against the Arbiter behind Lord Hood's back. Yet all of them seem to have the moral high ground whenever Dr. Halsey comes up, and Halsey's actions in the SPARTAN-II project outweigh everything anyone else has done.
** AMillionIsAStatistic is apparently why Parangosky gets away with it, whereas Halsey's program (ignoring the fact it wasn't really her personal project) ends up being treated as worse because we get to see how it ruined peoples' lives when Vaz looks through Naomi's file.
** Admiral Parangosky actually admits she's every bit as bad as Halsey and that her persecution of the doctor is partially motivated by the fact that Halsey lied to her personally. Which would make her entire campaign against Halsey into an example of EvilIsPetty.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: This trope is very much at play in ''Glasslands''. The protagonists are shown as being morally righteous not just from their own perspective, but the entire fictional reality seems to bend to their moral views. Whenever they do something less moral (which is every so often), [[MoralDissonance it's not that big a deal]] or it's justified as being for TheNeedsOfTheMany (or just not acknowledged at all). Meanwhile, the opposing side (Dr. Halsey) doesn't get much to say in her defense and the entire universe seems to be against her on a fundamental level.

* MoralMyopia: The entirety of ONI seems to suffer from this as they ignore their own crimes and role in the SPARTAN programs to come down on Halsey for it. {{Justified}} in the case of Osman as she was adopted by the anti-Halsey Parangosky.

** The much-touted feud between the Elites and Brutes no longer seems to matter that much, as the entire Great Schism plot seems to have been diminished into a minor scuffle that is mostly over by the time the novel is set. A lot of Brutes even serve the Elites. This is unlike its prior depictions in works such as ''The Return'' in ''Literature/HaloEvolutions''. [[spoiler:Later explained when ''The Thursday War'' reveals that the Brutes on Sanghelios were biding their time to plan ''their own'' uprising against the Elites.]]
*** ...Which raises questions itself, as to what happened to the rest of the Brute fleets (like the one that fled from The Ark) or [[spoiler: ''why there are living Brutes on Sanghelios in the first place'' instead of, you know, burning chunks of plasma-scarred flesh.]]

''Halo: Glasslands'' is a 2011 novel by CreatorKarenTraviss set in the ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' ExpandedUniverse. It is the first part of the "''Kilo-Five'' trilogy" set in the months after the events of ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' and ''{{VideoGame/Halo 3}}'', in which Humanity and the Sangheili, no longer at war, are picking up the pieces from the Great Schism. It revolves around the continued adventures of: Dr. Halsey, CPO Mendez, and the Spartans in the Onyx Shield World; ONI agent Serin Osman, a team of [=ODSTs=], and Spartan-II Naomi, who find themselves on a mission to destabilize the fragile government on Sanghelios; and a group of Sangheili hoping to overthrow the [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Arbiter]] and eventually continue their war with humanity.

''Halo: Glasslands'' is a novel in the ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' ExpandedUniverse by Creator/KarenTraviss as part of the "Kilo-Five trilogy" set in the months after the events of ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' and ''{{VideoGame/Halo 3}}'', in which Humanity and the Sangheili, no longer at war, are picking up the pieces from the Great Schism. It revolves around the continued adventures of Dr. Halsey, CPO Mendez, and the Spartans in the Onyx Shield World; Serin Osman, a team of [=ODSTs=], and Naomi, another Spartan, who find themselves on a mission to destabilize the fragile Sangheili government, and a group of Sangheili hoping to overthrow the [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Arbiter]] and eventually continue their war with humanity.

A sequel and the second book in the Kilo-Five trilogy, titled ''Literature/HaloTheThursdayWar'', was released on October 2, 2012.

** When Paragonsky is interrogating Halsey about the use of flash clones, she asks why she did it instead of just making the kids disappear. Halsey claims she didn't know they would die, but ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'' had explicitly stated that she had known from the start that flash clones of full human beings were genetically unstable and would die within a few years of their creation. Supplemental media such as ''Anime/HaloLegends'' and ''[[VideoGame/HaloReach Halsey's journal]]'' shows that Halsey was actually surprised that some of the clones lasted for more than a few years.

* AuthorFilibuster: Throughout the book, a number of characters deliver condescending speeches and remarks about Dr. Halsey and the Spartan-II project. Unsurprisingly, the views presented in these correlate with the author's, as seen in several interviews with her (e.g. Traviss compares Dr. Halsey to Dr. Mengele, and then a character in the novel does the same). Interestingly, Doctor Halsey's character rebuttals most of the arguments against her but the characters ignore her reasoning [[StrawmanHasAPoint despite very often her points being right.]]

** ''Glasslands'' also introduces the idea that Halsey somehow covered up the entire SPARTAN-II flash-cloning program from the brass, although no piece of earlier fiction has given any indication of such, and said brass actually ''enabled'' the program.
*** It also strikes as odd that Admiral Parangosky, a woman who authorised sending 12 year old child soldiers on suicide missions, among other things, would be bothered by flash-cloning.
** Additionally, no one ever pretended Halsey was a saint, but a number of traits seem to have been added to [[{{Demonization}} make her seem more sinister]]. For one, the ''Glasslands'' version of Halsey is shown to live by an {{Ubermensch}} view of morality, considering herself as being AboveGoodAndEvil, even noting a few times that she [[TheSoulless doesn't have a soul]]. Subverted by the fact Traviss depicts Doctor Halsey to be emotionally devastated by her daughter's death as well as the WeNeverFoundTheBody [[VideoGame/Halo3 death of Master Chief.]]

** [[WorldOfSnark Nearly everyone]], at least Kilo-Five and some of the Spartans, deliver similar sarcastic banter at one point or the other.
* DefusingTheTykeBomb: Spending time with Kilo-Five soon melts off Naomi's hardened exterior, showing she's really a scarred, delicate flower in need of some genuine care. Naomi also comes around to Osman's point of view regarding Halsey when the latter (with the help of ONI's AI) uses a combination of Halsey's journal, the fate of her family [[spoiler: her mother committing suicide after her flashclone's death]], and questioning her professionalism to turn her against Halsey.

* EarlybirdCameo: The [[spoiler: Spartan [=IVs=] and ''Infinity'']], which are to be major plot elements of ''{{VideoGame/Halo 4}}'', receive their first mention in the story's epilogue.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Chief Mendez repeatedly lays into Halsey for her actions which she, rightly, calls despicable and cowardly since he not only went along with the project but repeated it with the Spartan-III program.

** Admiral Parangosky actually admits she's every bit as bad as Halsey and this partially motivated by the fact Halsey lied to her. Which would make this entire campaign into an example of EvilIsPetty.
* MoralMyopia: The entirety of ONI seems to suffer from this as they ignore their own crimes and role in the SPARTAN program to come down on Halsey for it. {{Justified}} in the case of Osman as she was adopted by the anti-Halsey head of Parangosky.

** When Paragonsky is interrogating Halsey about the use of flash clones, she asks why did it versus just making the kids just disappear. Halsey claims she didn't know they would die, but ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'' had explicitly stated that flash clones of full human beings were genetically unstable and would die within a few years of cloning. Supplemental media such as ''Anime/HaloLegends'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' shows that Halsey was actually surprised that the clones lasted for so many years, but they were physically crippled and would have been useless as SPARTAN candidates.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Chief Mendez's sudden hatred of Halsey and self-loathing attempt to blame the latter for monstrous crimes which he is the victim of her exploitation of. He points to the Spartan-IIIs as volunteers versus kidnapping victims. Halsey deconstructs this by pointing out six-year-olds can't volunteer and all of his claims to be better than here are self-serving lies.

* AuthorFilibuster: Throughout the book, a number of characters deliver condescending speeches and remarks about Dr. Halsey and the Spartan-II project. Unsurprisingly, the views presented in these correlate with the author's, as seen in several interviews with her (e.g. Traviss compares Dr. Halsey to Dr. Mengele, and then a character in the novel does the same). The heavy-handedness of the message, and the [[TheWarOnStraw lack of any meaningful representation of the other side of the argument]], borders on making or simply makes the whole novel an AuthorTract. Unsurprising to those of who remember her views on the Jedi.

** There is a lot of drift to be seen regarding Dr. Halsey and her motivations, as well as the specifics of the SPARTAN-II project. The program is now shown as being Halsey's personal experiment she conducted to satisfy her curiosity (as opposed to being commissioned by the brass at ONI, and Halsey being driven by genuine fear of human civilization collapsing and believing she was the only person who could save it). ''Glasslands'' also introduces the idea that Halsey somehow covered up the entire SPARTAN-II flash-cloning program from the brass, although no piece of earlier fiction has given any indication of such, and said brass actually ''enabled'' the program.
*** It also strikes as odd that Admiral Parangosky, a woman who authorised sending 12 year old child soldiers on suicide missions, amongst other things, would be bothered by flash-cloning.
** Additionally, no one ever pretended Halsey was a saint, but a number of traits seem to have been added to [[{{Demonization}} make her seem more sinister]]. For one, the ''Glasslands'' version of Halsey is shown to live by an {{Ubermensch}} view of morality, considering herself as being AboveGoodAndEvil, even noting a few times that she [[TheSoulless doesn't have a soul]]. She regards other people, like Jacob Keyes, as nothing more than curiosities in a scientific sense rather than genuinely caring about them. She's also constantly losing the blatant [[TheWarOnStraw War on Straw]] with almost any character she happens to interact with, something which is in stark contrast with her sharp intellect shown in the previous novels. Indeed, even her intelligence is called into question - at one point she concludes that she was one of the greatest thinkers of the century, because "everyone had told her so." (apparently not because she really ''was'' smart or anything)

* DefusingTheTykeBomb: Spending time with Kilo-Five soon melts off Naomi's hardened exterior, showing she's really a scarred, delicate flower in need of some genuine care. In addition, it only takes the revelation about the flash clones to turn her (and apparently the other Spartans as well) against Halsey, despite decades of incessant indoctrination and training since childhood, something that should realistically make the Spartans accept everything Halsey and the UNSC do without question, as it has been in prior fiction.

** When Paragonsky is interrogating Halsey about the use of flash clones, she asks why she didn't just use flash clones of the children as the [=SPARTANs=]. Halsey is written to act like she ''intentionally'' never thought about that, but ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'' had explicitly stated that flash clones of full human beings were genetically unstable and would die within a few years of cloning. Supplemental media such as ''Anime/HaloLegends'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' shows that Halsey was actually surprised that the clones lasted for so many years, but they were physically crippled and would have been useless as SPARTAN candidates.

** Additionally, no one ever pretended Halsey was a saint, but a number of traits seem to have been added to [[{{Demonization}} make her seem more sinister]]. For one, the ''Glasslands'' version of Halsey is shown to live by an {{Ubermensch}} view of morality, considering herself as being AboveGoodAndEvil, even noting a few times that she [[TheSoulless doesn't have a soul]]. She regards other people, like Jacob Keyes, as nothing more than curiosities in a scientific sense rather than genuinely caring about them. She's also constantly losing the blatant [[TheWarOnStraw War on Straw]] with almost any character she happens to interact with, something which is in stark contrast with her sharp intellect shown in the previous novels. Indeed, even her intelligence is called into question - at one point she concludes that she was one of the greatest thinkers of the century, because "everyone had told her so." (apparently not because she really ''was'' smart or anything).
*** Bear in mind though, that pre-Traviss Halsey was rather absurdly over-powered, intellectually speaking, bordering on CanonSue (apparently being [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist the foremost human expert in slipspace theory, powered armour engineering, AI creation, human augmentation and Forerunner research, among other things]]), generally got her way regardless of circumstances or plausibility and had her adventures in child-abduction and experimentation for the purposes of creating superhuman storm troopers to enforce the will of the [[OneWorldOrder central government on Earth]] conveniently [[HandWave hand-waved]] by the supposed existential threat posed by [[BombThrowingAnarchists colonial seperatists]], whose motivations for trying to violently remove themselves from the control of the UEG were barely touched on if at all.

** One could argue Kilo-Five is JustFollowingOrders, but it would seem grossly hypocritical when the novel actually brings up the Nuremberg defense in relation to Halsey and the scientists involved with the SPARTAN-II project.

** When Paragonsky is interrogating Halsey about the use of flash clones, she asks why she didn't just use flash clones of the children as the [=SPARTANs=]. Halsey is written to act like she ''intentionally'' never thought about that, but ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'' had explicitly stated that flash clones of full human beings were genetically unstable and would tie within a few years of cloning. Supplemental media such as ''Anime/HaloLegends'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' shows that Halsey was actually surprised that the clones lasted for so many years, but they were physically crippled and would have been useless as SPARTAN candidates.

* DirtyBusiness: Dr. Halsey, Mendez and Admiral Parangosky, though the tone of the novel seems to be more forgiving toward the latter two while focusing on Halsey's deeds.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:Admiral Parangosky gives one to Catherine Halsey at the end of ''Glasslands'' over her use of flash-cloning the SPARTAN-[=II=]s and forcing their parents to watch them die. Although even Halsey's supporters would agree that she needed calling out, the fact that Parangosky has authorized just as horrible, if not worse, things makes it a particularly twisted form of EvenEvilHasStandards at best to outright [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical]] at worst, a fact she fully acknowledges.]]
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The Servants of Abiding Truth. Blow up an ancient Forerunner spire as revenge for "abandoning" the Sangheili? We'll bomb your keep and nail you to some scaffolding.

** Halsey and Mendez get into an argument about the genetic screening involved in choosing Spartans. While Halsey was very strict when it came to genetic profiles for the [=Spartan IIs=], [=Spartan-IIIs=] had comparatively more lax screening thanks to improved augmentations. Mendez goes on as though the [=IIIs=] had no genetic tests, while ''Onyx'' makes note that they actually had to cut down Beta Company from 1000 to 300 because they couldn't do the genetic tests necessary to bolster the numbers. Furthermore, it also outright states that having the correct genetic markers has a direct colleration with the bioaugmentation survival rates. Mendez was in fact present at the meeting where both of the above facts were discussed.

** The much-touted feud between the Elites and Brutes no longer seems to matter that much, as the entire Great Schism plot seems to have been diminished into a minor scuffle that is mostly over by the time the novel is set. A lot of Brutes even serve the Elites. This is unlike its prior depictions in works such as ''The Return'' in ''Literature/HaloEvolutions''.

* HardHead: [[spoiler: Halsey]] is punched in the face by a Spartan supersoldier wearing powered armor, yet does not sustain the massive injuries that one would expect from such a blow. Spartan[=-IIIs=] younger than Lucy then are described as being of equal strength to Elites in ''Ghosts of Onyx'', snapping necks and ribs with ease.

* HardHead: [[spoiler: Halsey]] is punched in the face by a Spartan supersoldier wearing powered armor, yet does not sustain the massive injuries that one would expect from such a blow. Spartan-IIIs younger than Lucy then are described as being of equal strength to Elites in ''Ghosts of Onyx'', snapping necks and ribs with ease.

* HardHead: [[spoiler: Halsey]] is punched in the face by a Spartan supersoldier wearing powered armor, yet does not sustain the massive injuries that one would expect from such a blow.
** As the supersoldier in question was the teenage SPARTAN-III Lucy, and the armour in question was the Semi-Powered (as in, only assists movement, but does not enhance strength) Infiltration or SPI suit, it's not ''quite'' as absurd as it might seem at first glance, but it definitely would have been much uglier, if not fatal, in real life. This is because it is still roughly comparable to being slammed in the head by a sledgehammer being wielded by a world champion heavyweight boxer.

** As the supersoldier in question was the teenage SPARTAN-III Lucy, and the armour in question was the Semi-Powered (as in, only assists movement, but does not enhance strength) Infiltration or SPI suit, it's not ''quite'' as absurd as it might seem at first glance.

** Halsey and Mendez get into an argument about the genetic screening involved in choosing Spartans. While Halsey was very strict when it came to genetic profiles for the Spartan 2's, Saprtan 3's had comparatively more lax screening thanks to improved augmentations. Mendez goes on as though the 3's had no genetic tests, while ''Onyx'' makes note that they actually had to cut down Beta company from 1000 to 300 because they couldn't do the genetic tests neccessary to bolster the numbers. Further more, it also outright states that having the correct genetic markers has a direct colleration with the bioaugmentation survival rates. Mendez was in fact present at the meeting where both of the above facts were discussed.

** What happened to the Spartan-III Gamma Company which had been deployed before the attack on Onyx?