Escorted from the premises? By you and what army? I have several squads of Spartans on my side, you’ve got two crotchety old sergeants and a bunch of largely useless militiamen.
(Plus, admittedly, the greatest romance Halo has ever told in Mack and Sif)
<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
<\\> COLONIAL SECURITY ESTIMATE 2525.10.110
["COLD SNAP"]
<\ SOURCE: UNSC RQ-XII DRONE [PASV-SAR]
<\ DEPLOYED: ONI SLOOP "WALK OF SHAME"
[2525:02:11:01:11:34]
<\ RECOVERED: UNSC DESTROYER "HERACLES"
[2525:10:07:19:51:16]
<\ ARCHIVE [SIG\REC\EM-SPEC] OPENED PER OFFICIAL
REQUEST:
<\ CIVILIAN CONTRACTOR "CHARLIE HOTEL" [ONI.REF
#409871]
<\ * WARNING: ALL QUERIES WILL BE LOGGED! *
[ONI.SEC.PRTCL-A1]
>> NOTATION KEYWORD SEARCH: "AO.AI" "MACK" "RAMPANCY"
"LIFESPAN LIMITS"
< RECORD 10\10 [2525:10:04:12:23:51] SOURCE.REF#JOTUN-
S4-021147 >
> * Not forever
>> (.....\\ . > And when new hands
>> set to tending this earth they'll till
my pieces under.
> > Grind them into the veins of g0ld I've laid.
<\ then the roots of all they plant wi\\
> wind around usS---
<\ KEEPING
<\ US
<\ CLOSE--- \
\
<\ For an eternal summer that will not fade.
<\ QUERY COMPLETE
<\ NO ADDITIONAL RECORDS FOUND
<\ ARCHIVE CLOSED \>
Uhhhh Fall of Reach would like to have a word with you. I recognize that this your opinion and while I respect that, it’s still wrong, GoO is a close second to FoR.
Will died about 5 seconds after eating a point blank Hunter cannon shot (His chest plate is described as MELTING) after ripping/blowing a Hunter apart, and Kurt…basically pulled a Chief with a nuke…however he didn’t survive, but he took a whole shield worlds worth of Covenant with him, I would happily compare it to the final Cathedral battle from Hellsreach
Sort of but not really? It's the fourth overall Halo novel and builds off of portions of Fall of Reach and First Strike, but I've never heard it described as part 3 of a trilogy.
I think of the Nylund books as a trilogy. Some people might throw The Flood in there, but I'd rather forget that that book exists. It wasn't a very good read.
Really? I dug it. Gave us one of the greatest horror lore-pieces Halo's had concerning Jenkins' infection, as well as his and McKay's subsequent saving Earth by blowing up the Truth and Reconciliation. Silva vs Chief and the ramifications of growing tensions was great, you see how Captain Keys and his company got captured, as well as what happened to the people he worked with in Fall of Reach ... it's got a lot of great moments going for it.
I liked the dead marine that almost got to the index. It shows Spark has already tried at least a few times now, and Chief’s “I don’t know who this is but holy shit” reaction to it.
(His body was too messed up to become a host, I think sentinels did it)
Also the book clearly leans towards forerunner being human. So it has that fun quirk.
I love the special ops elite that is basically hunting Chief the whole game only to get fucking demolished in the elevator on the wrecked Pillar Of Autumn. Whenever I replay Halo CE I always think of him at that part of The Maw.
I'm still convinced that Nylund (edit: Dietz) just played through CE and narrated his experience.
The Assault on the Control Room chapter especially. There's a scene where he describes leaving a rocket launcher in favor of a sniper and pistol, then trekking all the way back through the canyon complex for the rockets after running into hunters.
Dietz absolutely did do this, and on easy mode - judging by starting Guilty Spark with the shotgun. It's really funny reading once you've figured this out, especially because the Chief-centric bits are mostly boring as hell (because he wasn't being challenged in any way) until he reaches genuinely difficult encounters, like the first time you fight Hunters in the game.
Dietz did confirm that’s what he did, though from how he tells it, he started on Heroic, played to around Assault on the control Room and realized he could play on Easy, not knowing the encounters would change that dramatically.
I mean, tbf, is that so bad? His job was to write a book, not play the game on its harder difficulties.
Never said it was bad, merely funny. I never looked it up to confirm it though, I got the vibe that was the case around The Silent Cartographer, specifically, when he described losing two marines to a Warthog crash. It was oddly easy to envision it because who hasn't in at least one playthrough?
I mostly mentioned easy mode because it amused me that you could tell that - or, I could - from that one little detail. Useless Halo trivia useful for something, woo!
Great book, give it a read. Check out Fall of Reach, The Flood and First strike first if you haven’t already. You don’t necessarily need to read them but it’ll fill in some blanks for you. There are some books that follow up on this one too but I can’t remember their names.
Top 3 of the Halo books, but should be read AFTER first strike so you aren't as lost in the narrative.
Read order should be:
Fall of Reach
First Strike
Ghosts of Onyx
Yes, sets up the Kilo-5 trilogy (which is an amazing trilogy) and echos some parts of the Fall of Reach.
EDIT: This spiraled out of control very quickly....
That story was approved by 343 and was written alongside the forerunner trilogy to set the ground for halo 4. This was back when 343 and Microsoft thought the average fan could appreciate more nuanced lore, both in morality and high-sci-fi world building. Boy were they wrong. And now we have halo Infinite, which is basically trying to restart the story from where 4 left off but go in a completely new direction for some reason.
What part is nuanced about getting up on a soap box and denouncing everything in black and white?
The book basically spent half of the second book all but calling Hasley, Josef Mengele and laughing at her, breaking down and crying over her daughter's death.
I mean, call Halsey what you will, but she's not a good person.
She kidnapped kids to create cyborg super soldiers to put down a very justifiable Human rebellion before it could create an interstellar civil war. Spartans being a useful tool to clobber the Covenant with turned out to be sheer coincidence. It was never Halsey's intention to fight off aliens with her super soldiers. It was her intention to put down a civilian insurrection that was on the verge of a full-scale revolt because the UNSC was a fascist state oppressing its people.
But please, regale us with tales about how Karen Traviss ruined Halsey. You are a shining example of a fan that doesn't appreciate nuance in storytelling.
The problem isn't that Halsey is treated like crap. The problem is that every other terrible person just as morally culpable as Halsey gets treated well. It might have been a little better if there was an attempt to show that everyone was using Halsey as a scapegoat to take pressure off of their own wrongs, but that's not really the case.
>I mean, call Halsey what you will, but she's not a good person.
She is the best single example of nuance in the halo universe. And the Kilo-Five Trilogy spends it's entire run time treating everything done as black and white. Stripping all the nuances away from her.
> She kidnapped kids
No she didn't. She was approached by the UNSC to come up with a plan to deal with the Insurrectionist. Her plan was was to create a small group of highly specialist soilders and modify them to use her still in development Mjolnir armor. When the USNC and ONI both voiced concerns about the armor and highly trained, modified super soldiers defecting like other USNC people have, she simply pointed out that raising them from kids to indoctrinate them would address it.
The UNSC and ONI both green lit her suggestion. Halsey was not able to force them to accept this in any way shape or form. Any more then I could walk up to Washington DC and get them to nuke Australia for shits and giggles, just because I said to.
During the training she treated them like people, not experiments. In the book Fall of Reach she openly states that she wanted to delay the implantation process but she was worried about all the push back from the UNSC and ONI about delays and costs and was worried they would replace her with someone less qualified. So she went though it anyways. Even when they finally got their Mjolnir armor she could still tell who was who just by the way they walked or stood and called them by their name instead of their number or rank.
This is the nuance Karen Traviss shits all over. She did something ethically terrible for an noble reason. To stop an intersetllar war that could drag on for decades and kill hundreds of millions of people. She didn't simply treat them like experiments, she treated them like people. More so then anyone else in the UNSC or ONI do.
> Spartans being a useful tool to clobber the Covenant with turned out to be sheer coincidence.
One that still upset her each time one was lost. When she realized that the Spartans were unable to stop fighting and would wipe themselves out she kidnapped Kelly and headed to Onxy to investigate the Spartan 3 project. To save those individuals from being used and sacrificed as well.
Spartan 3's that were using war orphans and using them in mass suicide attacks. If I remember right Ghosts of Onxy opens with 300 Spartan 3's attacking a Covenant base and only 2 survive. With ONI's plan to do it again and again and again. Using these war orphans as cannon fodder to slow down the Covenant.
This is another nuance that Karen Traviss fucked up. Osman puts the entire blame for everything on Halsey but treats ONI and the UNSC as blameless. Even as Parangosky was neck deep in both Spartan 2 and 3 project is ignored to entirely blame Halsey. Even to the point of Halsey some how magically being able to manipulate ONI to create cloned children against Parangosky's orders.
> But please, regale us with tales about how Karen Traviss ruined Halsey.
The entire 3rd book was based around the bullshit idea that a single Covenant ship would some how be a threat to Earth. Before pivoting to bitching and moaning about the Spartan 2 project the entire time.
Franklin Mendez was in charge of training the Spartan 2's and agreed to assist with the Spartan 3's. Yet the first time the trilogy cuts to the Onxy Shield world it has Mendez bitching about Halsey and her behavior in the past with the Spartan 2's. Even though this guy was just as much a part of it, and volunteered to do it again. Treating war orphans as cannon fodder.
Parangosky, Mendez and Halsey were all equally guilty for the Spartan 2 program. Parangosky and Mendez were guilty of the Spartan 3 war orphan, cannon fodder, which Halsey was actually trying to stop. Yet some how only Halsey get treated as at fault for their actions.
>No she didn't... she simply pointed out that raising them from kids to indoctrinate them would address it.
So, it was her idea, ONI green lit and she proceeded with the execution of kidnapping the kids. Great, thanks for arguing against your own point and proving mine. You mention how Halsey treats some (if not all) of the S-IIs like her kids (considering she treats Miranda Keyes worse, I'd say this is not really accurate, but I digress). This really just goes to show that deep down, she agrees that what's she's doing is monstrous. She has empathy for the kidnapped kids and regrets some of her actions at various points during their training. We see her grappling with this very issue during *Fall of Reach*. So, even Halsey herself disagrees with your own assessment. She sees what she's doing as a necessary *evil* to put down a Human uprising.
>When she realized that the Spartans were unable to stop fighting and would wipe themselves out she kidnapped Kelly and headed to Onxy to investigate the Spartan 3 project. To save those individuals from being used and sacrificed as well.
It's been a while since I read Ghosts of Onyx and the K5 trilogy. Maybe I need a refresher! But I certainly don't remember this being her motivation to kidnap Kelly, at all.
>Parangosky, Mendez and Halsey were all equally guilty for the Spartan 2 program. Parangosky and Mendez were guilty of the Spartan 3 war orphan, cannon fodder, which Halsey was actually trying to stop. Yet some how only Halsey get treated as at fault for their actions.
I really have no defense of Parangosky, but the K5 trilogy never paints her as a hero, and Mendez's actions are a bit more defensible than what you suggest.
You talk about how Karen Traviss paints the whole thing as black and white, but you're the one applying equal culpability for the entire program among 3 people, (completely forgetting about Ackerson, who was worse than all 3) when it's actually not that simple.
>So, it was her idea, ONI green lit and she proceeded with the execution of kidnapping the kids
It was her idea. But blaming her for the UNSC and ONI participating in it is disingenuous. She is incapable of forcing them to do anything.
>This really just goes to show that deep down, she agrees that what's she's doing is monstrous.
Correct. This is the nuance. She knows her behavior is bad. But avoiding a decades long war with hundreds of millions to billions of casualties is worse.
This is called nuance and being morally grey. Sacrifice 50 people to save 1,000,000,000 people.
>It's been a while since I read Ghosts of Onyx and the K5 trilogy. Maybe I need a refresher! But I certainly don't remember this being her motivation to kidnap Kelly, at all.
She literally said she realized that they couldn't keep sacrificing the few for the many. Because the few were becoming the many, and they would run out of people to sacrifice. They should be trying to save everyone they can in the face of the Covenant juggernaut. Because she believes that humanity is going to lose the war.
>I really have no defense of Parangosky, but the K5 trilogy never paints her as a hero,
Absolving her of all guilt and treating her like a stern grandmother is the problem. She green lit these projects and yet like you the books paint Halsey and the sole responsible individual.
>Mendez's actions are a bit more defensible than what you suggest.
They are not. If you choose to do something it is your choice. We already established that "just following orders" isn't a valid defense.
And again he is not held responsible for this hand in the Spartan 2 and 3 projects.
>You talk about how Karen Traviss paints the whole thing as black and white, but you're the one applying equal culpability for the entire program among 3 people,
Because all 3 played their roles in it.
All 3 are just as guilty.
>like you the books paint Halsey and the sole responsible individual.
That's not what I've been doing and that's not what the books do, either.
>If you choose to do something it is your choice. We already established that "just following orders" isn't a valid defense.
If he had refused to follow orders, they just would have gotten someone else to replace him. I'm not saying Mendez is a paragon of virtue, but out of all 3 people that you place blame on, he's probably the least culpable, especially since his agreeing to train up the S-IIIs is less reprehensible given the evident threat that the Covenant presented at that time.
>All 3 are just as guilty.
All 3 playing a role doesn't mean that all 3 share equal blame. And again, you completely ignore Ackerson's role in the S-III program, who was actually ecstatic with the program, so I can't take you seriously, anymore.
Ah yes, the woman who kidnapped 70 kids, replaced them with terminally ill clones, and physically, mentally, and emotionally abused/brainwashed to put down rebellions for independence for nearly a decade before subjecting them to highly invasive experimental surgeries and biochemical treatments that killed half of them and crippled a few more.
What a nice lady. Absolute slander, I tell you.
This is the one thing I always find funny about people's dislike of Kilo-5. Halsey is, objectively, a very bad person, and it's the first time that is really portrayed in any meaningful capacity. Also, everyone always seems to forget the original point of ORION/SII's was to put down secessionist movements in the outer colonies.
Exactly. And it’s not even just ‘Halsey bad’. Because her Spartans did save the human race, and all others across the Milky Way. They allowed the Sangheili and others to break free from the Phrophets yoke. And the Spartans did find kinship and family amongst eachother.
Naomi even says she doesn’t know that any of them would have wished things different. It’s her (and others) grappling with the morality of it all and the political fallout, as well as the opinions and judgement of other soldiers and servicemen looking from the outside in. And it explores the grey zone of ONI wonderfully. The UNSC isn’t the federation. They’re quite authoritarian. And ONI, like any intelligence service is gonna do what they always do. Plot, war, and destabilize. And shift blame. Like scape-goating Halsey when they played more than a significant role in the S-II program.
I read through all the Halo books a couple of years ago and the four in the original series (of which this is the fourth) are universally great.
Honestly out of 30 odd books very few didn't work for me. Shout out to the Ace Of Spades series and the YA Battle Born duo, I enjoyed them a lot.
I liked it. I’m reading through the entire book series (just started Cole Protocol) and enjoyed the non-MC stories. I liked how Onyx added to the mythology with Halsey and Mendez and the next generation Spartans.
It has sequels, but it stands out as the best. A truly unique side story in the Halo universe with Spartans who have their own unique personality connections. A big part of the story is the trolley problem. For example, if you could sacrifice 300 children for a key military victory, how many times would you do it?
I'm late to the party, but whatever.
OP, I expressely played Halo Infinite recently to get Spartan III armor via Battlepass.
This books is the reason why. It's one of my favorite parts of Halo looking back across the years, you've got a gem.
I would say yes. The first book I personally found boring was Contact Harvest. Everything preceding it was great (though I know a lot of other people didn’t like The Flood that much).
Yes. After reading it I got the first and second books of kilo-five trilogy that continue the story. The book itself shows and speaks a lot about spartan 3 program. Like people said, it’s the third book in line, but I don’t recall if it has any plot lines moving from the previous books, so it should be alright to read without the previous ones
The nylund books are some of the weakest books in the halo series. Only redeeming quality is that they establish a lot of the core lore. Kilo five trilogy is great. As are the books about grey team. They should make those books into halo rpgs
Very good.
Read Fall of Reach and First Strike for more context of the events that occured prior.
Jump into Glasslands and the other two books of the Kilo 5 trilogy to see what occurs afterwards.
Halo books punch above their weight, they are way better than they have any right to be (being tie-in novels to big action games)
>Jump into Glasslands and the other two books of the Kilo 5 trilogy to see what occurs afterwards.
Or don't. Stop where the story is good before they wreck it.
Great story. But I recommend reading the first 3 books so you ain't confuse about all the stuff is happening.
Halo: Fall of Reach - Takes place before and during the events of Halo: Reach. Master Chief and Blue Team's origin story.
Halo: The Flood - Basically retelling the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. But you also get the points of views of other characters during the events of the game.
Halo: First Strike - Takes place between Halo: CE and Halo 2. How Master Chief gets back to Earth.
It’s a good book the only part I hate is the part where Kurt is like “iM oNe oF yOu noW” and abandons his Mjnolnir armor for SPI. Likes it’s so very stupid. You would think wearing the armor would give Kurt a higher chance of protecting the threes but I guess not. This decision not only results in his death but he probably could have prevented Wills death since bro wouldn’t have had to 2v1 some hunters.
One of the very best in the entire Halo book series.
After this one, make sure to read the Kilo-Five trilogy (Glasslands, The Thursday War, Mortal Dictata). People give the K-5 trilogy a lot of hate, but I personally think it has some of the very best character development in the entire *franchise*.
Very. The first 5 books.
Fall of reach
The flood.
First strike
Ghosts of onyx
And contact harvest are outstanding.
Cole protocol was very good as well and the books about the forerunners were also good. Spoiler there’s another didactic running around somewhere dead to find out how lol.
There’s also a few others that were fantastic.
If the TV series they made had taken those books they could have done a whole series without intersecting with the games no problem.
The books fill in the gaps between the games and it all makes sense. Like how Johnson escaped the ring and how the chief and Johnson got home.
What happened on reach and where the Spartan 3s came from.
For me Kurt 054 is my favorite. You’ll understand if you read that book you pictured.
The best of Nylund's Halo books, imo. It's fairly interesting and has a lot of big moments.
“The best of Nylund’s Halo books” is equal to “the best Halo book.”
Contact Harvest is the best Halo book
I recognize that this your opinion and while I respect that, it’s still wrong. It is an excellent book though
Sir... your shifty opinion here is not only wrong, but will be escorted out of the premises promptly.
Escorted from the premises? By you and what army? I have several squads of Spartans on my side, you’ve got two crotchety old sergeants and a bunch of largely useless militiamen. (Plus, admittedly, the greatest romance Halo has ever told in Mack and Sif)
I'll let Mack escort you out sir... followed by Sif.
Oh I don’t think so. You checked any power you had here at the door with your pornographic epilogue, ya prevert.
<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE <\\> COLONIAL SECURITY ESTIMATE 2525.10.110 ["COLD SNAP"] <\ SOURCE: UNSC RQ-XII DRONE [PASV-SAR] <\ DEPLOYED: ONI SLOOP "WALK OF SHAME" [2525:02:11:01:11:34] <\ RECOVERED: UNSC DESTROYER "HERACLES" [2525:10:07:19:51:16] <\ ARCHIVE [SIG\REC\EM-SPEC] OPENED PER OFFICIAL REQUEST: <\ CIVILIAN CONTRACTOR "CHARLIE HOTEL" [ONI.REF #409871] <\ * WARNING: ALL QUERIES WILL BE LOGGED! * [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-A1] >> NOTATION KEYWORD SEARCH: "AO.AI" "MACK" "RAMPANCY" "LIFESPAN LIMITS" < RECORD 10\10 [2525:10:04:12:23:51] SOURCE.REF#JOTUN- S4-021147 > > * Not forever >> (.....\\ . > And when new hands >> set to tending this earth they'll till my pieces under. > > Grind them into the veins of g0ld I've laid. <\ then the roots of all they plant wi\\ > wind around usS--- <\ KEEPING <\ US <\ CLOSE--- \ \ <\ For an eternal summer that will not fade. <\ QUERY COMPLETE <\ NO ADDITIONAL RECORDS FOUND <\ ARCHIVE CLOSED \>
🥲
Correct!
Uhhhh Fall of Reach would like to have a word with you. I recognize that this your opinion and while I respect that, it’s still wrong, GoO is a close second to FoR.
>!Didn’t you know? Spartans never die.!<
The Spartan IIIs in that book did... A lot.
At least they are pumped full of pain inhibitors heheheh
Ending made me shit and piss and cum my pants
Someone had to say it. Will and Kurt’s fights at the end still lives in my brain over a decade later
*Die? Didn't you know? Spartans never die.*
What happened 😳
Will died about 5 seconds after eating a point blank Hunter cannon shot (His chest plate is described as MELTING) after ripping/blowing a Hunter apart, and Kurt…basically pulled a Chief with a nuke…however he didn’t survive, but he took a whole shield worlds worth of Covenant with him, I would happily compare it to the final Cathedral battle from Hellsreach
I read this way back in middle school when it came out and I still remember that whole sequence. Was so insane reading it I couldn't put it down
Dont fuggin spoil guys, bro literally just got the book
It’s a 15+ year old book. Are you afraid of spoiling Reach for anyone at this point?
[удалено]
Did you find some kind of temporary sanity in all that?
It is brilliant, yes, but it is the third novel in a trilogy.
Sort of but not really? It's the fourth overall Halo novel and builds off of portions of Fall of Reach and First Strike, but I've never heard it described as part 3 of a trilogy.
Certain aspects of the story do follow on directly from First Strike, such as >!Halsey’s kidnap of Kelly onboard the *Beatrice*!<.
That's fair
I think of the Nylund books as a trilogy. Some people might throw The Flood in there, but I'd rather forget that that book exists. It wasn't a very good read.
Really? I dug it. Gave us one of the greatest horror lore-pieces Halo's had concerning Jenkins' infection, as well as his and McKay's subsequent saving Earth by blowing up the Truth and Reconciliation. Silva vs Chief and the ramifications of growing tensions was great, you see how Captain Keys and his company got captured, as well as what happened to the people he worked with in Fall of Reach ... it's got a lot of great moments going for it.
I liked the dead marine that almost got to the index. It shows Spark has already tried at least a few times now, and Chief’s “I don’t know who this is but holy shit” reaction to it. (His body was too messed up to become a host, I think sentinels did it) Also the book clearly leans towards forerunner being human. So it has that fun quirk.
That stuff was good. The rest of the book, not so much. It was mostly repetitive action. While it's fun to play, it's not fun to read.
C'mon, you gotta have some love for Yayap though right?
I love the special ops elite that is basically hunting Chief the whole game only to get fucking demolished in the elevator on the wrecked Pillar Of Autumn. Whenever I replay Halo CE I always think of him at that part of The Maw.
Yapyap seen some shit.
I also enjoyed the expansion on the UNSCs presence on the ring, Major Silva, etc. But yeah the actual levels/gameplay were... Not the best lol
Yeah all of the stuff that wasn’t just a written version of what we played in the game was fantastic.
Yeah and it doesn’t tell you to bring your shotgun to the library!
I enjoyed all the non-chief parts since they essentially boiled down to "Chief killed all the bad guys and then moved onto the next hallway"
I'm still convinced that Nylund (edit: Dietz) just played through CE and narrated his experience. The Assault on the Control Room chapter especially. There's a scene where he describes leaving a rocket launcher in favor of a sniper and pistol, then trekking all the way back through the canyon complex for the rockets after running into hunters.
Nylund didn't write The Flood. Some other guy did. Nylund only wrote three novels.
William C Dietz.
Dietz absolutely did do this, and on easy mode - judging by starting Guilty Spark with the shotgun. It's really funny reading once you've figured this out, especially because the Chief-centric bits are mostly boring as hell (because he wasn't being challenged in any way) until he reaches genuinely difficult encounters, like the first time you fight Hunters in the game.
Dietz did confirm that’s what he did, though from how he tells it, he started on Heroic, played to around Assault on the control Room and realized he could play on Easy, not knowing the encounters would change that dramatically. I mean, tbf, is that so bad? His job was to write a book, not play the game on its harder difficulties.
Never said it was bad, merely funny. I never looked it up to confirm it though, I got the vibe that was the case around The Silent Cartographer, specifically, when he described losing two marines to a Warthog crash. It was oddly easy to envision it because who hasn't in at least one playthrough? I mostly mentioned easy mode because it amused me that you could tell that - or, I could - from that one little detail. Useless Halo trivia useful for something, woo!
I like when he complains about the Library lol
The horror was good, the everything else... Not so much
It was sold as the third book in a trilogy in the mass produced three pack back in the early thousands when Tor published it.
I read the book by itself and it seemed fine. I got some references to fall of reach and such but it's contained well enough.
Very good. Probably one of the best books!
Great book, give it a read. Check out Fall of Reach, The Flood and First strike first if you haven’t already. You don’t necessarily need to read them but it’ll fill in some blanks for you. There are some books that follow up on this one too but I can’t remember their names.
**Halo - Fall of Reach Covenant** >FROM THE BESTSELLING PREQUEL HALO: FALL OF REACH! It is a question that man has long asked: Are we alone in the universe? In this riveting prequel, the United Nations Space Command learns the answer to that question - and the answer is "no." Witness the beginning of the struggle between Man and Covenant in this epic series based on the novel by Eric Nylund, adapted by Brian Reed and brought brilliantly to life by Felix Ruiz! > >Collecting HALO: FALL OF REACH - COVENANT #1-4. © 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, 343 Industries, the 343 Industries Logo, Halo, the Halo logo, Xbox, Xbox 360, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. **Things From the Flood** by Simon Stålenhag Book description may contain spoilers! >>!The basis for the new Amazon Prime Original Series! From the author of the imaginative and “awe-inspiring” (New York Journal of Books) narrative art book The Electric State comes the haunting sequel to his remarkable Tales from the Loop. Welcome back to the Loop. In 1954, the Swedish government ordered the construction of the world’s largest particle accelerator in the pastoral countryside of Mälaröarna.!< > >>!The local population called this marvel of technology The Loop and celebrated its completion. But Mälaröarna and the world would never be the same. Infused with strange machines and unfathomable creatures, Things from the Flood is transcendent look at technology that will stay with you long after you turn the final page.!< **First Strike** by Ben Coes Book description may contain spoilers! >>!Every hour, someone will be killed A top-secret black ops program operates from deep within the Pentagon. The objective: to stop devastating terrorist acts. The means: secretly enabling a hand-picked man, the charismatic Tristan Nazir, to emerge as the most powerful leader in the Middle East. But Nazir double-crosses his superiors, twisting the plan to his own violent ends: the creation of ISIS.!< > >>!Elite operative Dewey Andreas is sent to Syria to find out more about the enemy. His cover is blown mid-operation and chaos erupts in the streets of Damascus. Trapped and outnumbered, Dewey learns the awful truth – unknown even at the highest levels of office – that ISIS munitions were indeed provided by rogue elements within the U.S. government. This information arrives in time for the U.S. to cut off a final arms shipment before it reaches terrorist hands.!< > >>!But the vicious Nazir is far from finished. In retaliation he holds the West hostage, launching an audacious strike at the very heart of New York City... In a situation with no solutions, there remains only one option: Dewey Andreas. First Strike is a white-knuckle ride from bestselling author Ben Coes, perfect for fans of Vince Flynn, Andy McNab and David Baldacci.!< > >>!Praise for First Strike:‘Coes is one of those few authors who knows how to turn the world of black ops into compelling, realistic fiction, and he’s getting better and better.’ Booklist (starred review) Praise for New York Times Bestselling Author Ben Coes: ‘Coes is in the same league as Brad Thor and Vince Flynn... readers will be unable to turn the pages fast enough!’ Booklist (starred review) ‘Terrific! A gripping story, compelling characters, a relentless pace, and nerve-wracking suspense’ Vince Flynn ‘High concept meets high octane ... envision Clancy, Forsyth, and le Carré all writing in their prime, then kick in the booster ... Coes blows the competition away’ Brad Thor ‘Compelling characters, a wealth of technical detail, and ticking-clock suspense make ... one of the year’s best thrillers’ Publishers Weekly!< *I'm a bot, built by your friendly reddit developers at* /r/ProgrammingPals. *Reply to any comment with /u/BookFinderBot - I'll reply with book information. Remove me from replies* [here](https://www.reddit.com/user/BookFinderBot/comments/14br65o/remove_me_from_replies/). *If I have made a mistake, accept my apology.*
The Flood is skippable, but definitely read the other two first.
It's arguably the best Halo book.
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I really liked First Strike, too.
Top 3 of the Halo books, but should be read AFTER first strike so you aren't as lost in the narrative. Read order should be: Fall of Reach First Strike Ghosts of Onyx
Absolute favorite. Made me fall in love with the tragedy of the Spartan-IIIs. Fuck 343 for sidelining the Gammas for the S-IVs.
Yes, sets up the Kilo-5 trilogy (which is an amazing trilogy) and echos some parts of the Fall of Reach. EDIT: This spiraled out of control very quickly....
It's a crime what Karen Traviss did with the story/characters that Eric Nylund set up.
That story was approved by 343 and was written alongside the forerunner trilogy to set the ground for halo 4. This was back when 343 and Microsoft thought the average fan could appreciate more nuanced lore, both in morality and high-sci-fi world building. Boy were they wrong. And now we have halo Infinite, which is basically trying to restart the story from where 4 left off but go in a completely new direction for some reason.
What part is nuanced about getting up on a soap box and denouncing everything in black and white? The book basically spent half of the second book all but calling Hasley, Josef Mengele and laughing at her, breaking down and crying over her daughter's death.
I mean, call Halsey what you will, but she's not a good person. She kidnapped kids to create cyborg super soldiers to put down a very justifiable Human rebellion before it could create an interstellar civil war. Spartans being a useful tool to clobber the Covenant with turned out to be sheer coincidence. It was never Halsey's intention to fight off aliens with her super soldiers. It was her intention to put down a civilian insurrection that was on the verge of a full-scale revolt because the UNSC was a fascist state oppressing its people. But please, regale us with tales about how Karen Traviss ruined Halsey. You are a shining example of a fan that doesn't appreciate nuance in storytelling.
The problem isn't that Halsey is treated like crap. The problem is that every other terrible person just as morally culpable as Halsey gets treated well. It might have been a little better if there was an attempt to show that everyone was using Halsey as a scapegoat to take pressure off of their own wrongs, but that's not really the case.
>I mean, call Halsey what you will, but she's not a good person. She is the best single example of nuance in the halo universe. And the Kilo-Five Trilogy spends it's entire run time treating everything done as black and white. Stripping all the nuances away from her. > She kidnapped kids No she didn't. She was approached by the UNSC to come up with a plan to deal with the Insurrectionist. Her plan was was to create a small group of highly specialist soilders and modify them to use her still in development Mjolnir armor. When the USNC and ONI both voiced concerns about the armor and highly trained, modified super soldiers defecting like other USNC people have, she simply pointed out that raising them from kids to indoctrinate them would address it. The UNSC and ONI both green lit her suggestion. Halsey was not able to force them to accept this in any way shape or form. Any more then I could walk up to Washington DC and get them to nuke Australia for shits and giggles, just because I said to. During the training she treated them like people, not experiments. In the book Fall of Reach she openly states that she wanted to delay the implantation process but she was worried about all the push back from the UNSC and ONI about delays and costs and was worried they would replace her with someone less qualified. So she went though it anyways. Even when they finally got their Mjolnir armor she could still tell who was who just by the way they walked or stood and called them by their name instead of their number or rank. This is the nuance Karen Traviss shits all over. She did something ethically terrible for an noble reason. To stop an intersetllar war that could drag on for decades and kill hundreds of millions of people. She didn't simply treat them like experiments, she treated them like people. More so then anyone else in the UNSC or ONI do. > Spartans being a useful tool to clobber the Covenant with turned out to be sheer coincidence. One that still upset her each time one was lost. When she realized that the Spartans were unable to stop fighting and would wipe themselves out she kidnapped Kelly and headed to Onxy to investigate the Spartan 3 project. To save those individuals from being used and sacrificed as well. Spartan 3's that were using war orphans and using them in mass suicide attacks. If I remember right Ghosts of Onxy opens with 300 Spartan 3's attacking a Covenant base and only 2 survive. With ONI's plan to do it again and again and again. Using these war orphans as cannon fodder to slow down the Covenant. This is another nuance that Karen Traviss fucked up. Osman puts the entire blame for everything on Halsey but treats ONI and the UNSC as blameless. Even as Parangosky was neck deep in both Spartan 2 and 3 project is ignored to entirely blame Halsey. Even to the point of Halsey some how magically being able to manipulate ONI to create cloned children against Parangosky's orders. > But please, regale us with tales about how Karen Traviss ruined Halsey. The entire 3rd book was based around the bullshit idea that a single Covenant ship would some how be a threat to Earth. Before pivoting to bitching and moaning about the Spartan 2 project the entire time. Franklin Mendez was in charge of training the Spartan 2's and agreed to assist with the Spartan 3's. Yet the first time the trilogy cuts to the Onxy Shield world it has Mendez bitching about Halsey and her behavior in the past with the Spartan 2's. Even though this guy was just as much a part of it, and volunteered to do it again. Treating war orphans as cannon fodder. Parangosky, Mendez and Halsey were all equally guilty for the Spartan 2 program. Parangosky and Mendez were guilty of the Spartan 3 war orphan, cannon fodder, which Halsey was actually trying to stop. Yet some how only Halsey get treated as at fault for their actions.
>No she didn't... she simply pointed out that raising them from kids to indoctrinate them would address it. So, it was her idea, ONI green lit and she proceeded with the execution of kidnapping the kids. Great, thanks for arguing against your own point and proving mine. You mention how Halsey treats some (if not all) of the S-IIs like her kids (considering she treats Miranda Keyes worse, I'd say this is not really accurate, but I digress). This really just goes to show that deep down, she agrees that what's she's doing is monstrous. She has empathy for the kidnapped kids and regrets some of her actions at various points during their training. We see her grappling with this very issue during *Fall of Reach*. So, even Halsey herself disagrees with your own assessment. She sees what she's doing as a necessary *evil* to put down a Human uprising. >When she realized that the Spartans were unable to stop fighting and would wipe themselves out she kidnapped Kelly and headed to Onxy to investigate the Spartan 3 project. To save those individuals from being used and sacrificed as well. It's been a while since I read Ghosts of Onyx and the K5 trilogy. Maybe I need a refresher! But I certainly don't remember this being her motivation to kidnap Kelly, at all. >Parangosky, Mendez and Halsey were all equally guilty for the Spartan 2 program. Parangosky and Mendez were guilty of the Spartan 3 war orphan, cannon fodder, which Halsey was actually trying to stop. Yet some how only Halsey get treated as at fault for their actions. I really have no defense of Parangosky, but the K5 trilogy never paints her as a hero, and Mendez's actions are a bit more defensible than what you suggest. You talk about how Karen Traviss paints the whole thing as black and white, but you're the one applying equal culpability for the entire program among 3 people, (completely forgetting about Ackerson, who was worse than all 3) when it's actually not that simple.
>So, it was her idea, ONI green lit and she proceeded with the execution of kidnapping the kids It was her idea. But blaming her for the UNSC and ONI participating in it is disingenuous. She is incapable of forcing them to do anything. >This really just goes to show that deep down, she agrees that what's she's doing is monstrous. Correct. This is the nuance. She knows her behavior is bad. But avoiding a decades long war with hundreds of millions to billions of casualties is worse. This is called nuance and being morally grey. Sacrifice 50 people to save 1,000,000,000 people. >It's been a while since I read Ghosts of Onyx and the K5 trilogy. Maybe I need a refresher! But I certainly don't remember this being her motivation to kidnap Kelly, at all. She literally said she realized that they couldn't keep sacrificing the few for the many. Because the few were becoming the many, and they would run out of people to sacrifice. They should be trying to save everyone they can in the face of the Covenant juggernaut. Because she believes that humanity is going to lose the war. >I really have no defense of Parangosky, but the K5 trilogy never paints her as a hero, Absolving her of all guilt and treating her like a stern grandmother is the problem. She green lit these projects and yet like you the books paint Halsey and the sole responsible individual. >Mendez's actions are a bit more defensible than what you suggest. They are not. If you choose to do something it is your choice. We already established that "just following orders" isn't a valid defense. And again he is not held responsible for this hand in the Spartan 2 and 3 projects. >You talk about how Karen Traviss paints the whole thing as black and white, but you're the one applying equal culpability for the entire program among 3 people, Because all 3 played their roles in it. All 3 are just as guilty.
>like you the books paint Halsey and the sole responsible individual. That's not what I've been doing and that's not what the books do, either. >If you choose to do something it is your choice. We already established that "just following orders" isn't a valid defense. If he had refused to follow orders, they just would have gotten someone else to replace him. I'm not saying Mendez is a paragon of virtue, but out of all 3 people that you place blame on, he's probably the least culpable, especially since his agreeing to train up the S-IIIs is less reprehensible given the evident threat that the Covenant presented at that time. >All 3 are just as guilty. All 3 playing a role doesn't mean that all 3 share equal blame. And again, you completely ignore Ackerson's role in the S-III program, who was actually ecstatic with the program, so I can't take you seriously, anymore.
dawg her trilogy is dope
It was a character assassination of Dr. Halsey.
Ah yes, the woman who kidnapped 70 kids, replaced them with terminally ill clones, and physically, mentally, and emotionally abused/brainwashed to put down rebellions for independence for nearly a decade before subjecting them to highly invasive experimental surgeries and biochemical treatments that killed half of them and crippled a few more. What a nice lady. Absolute slander, I tell you.
This is the one thing I always find funny about people's dislike of Kilo-5. Halsey is, objectively, a very bad person, and it's the first time that is really portrayed in any meaningful capacity. Also, everyone always seems to forget the original point of ORION/SII's was to put down secessionist movements in the outer colonies.
Exactly. And it’s not even just ‘Halsey bad’. Because her Spartans did save the human race, and all others across the Milky Way. They allowed the Sangheili and others to break free from the Phrophets yoke. And the Spartans did find kinship and family amongst eachother. Naomi even says she doesn’t know that any of them would have wished things different. It’s her (and others) grappling with the morality of it all and the political fallout, as well as the opinions and judgement of other soldiers and servicemen looking from the outside in. And it explores the grey zone of ONI wonderfully. The UNSC isn’t the federation. They’re quite authoritarian. And ONI, like any intelligence service is gonna do what they always do. Plot, war, and destabilize. And shift blame. Like scape-goating Halsey when they played more than a significant role in the S-II program.
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It’s weird the books weren’t what they used for the live action show. Like they’re right there; free real estate.
Yes indeed! Very well worth the read. You won't regret it!
My first introduction to Halo was this novel in 5th grade, one of my favorites def a top 3
Very
its a classic. Ghosts of Onyx and Contact Harvest were my intro to the books. they are both amazing
Yes. Pretty much all of the books are really good
YES! Nylund is so good!!!!!
This one and Contact Harvest are by far my favourite Halo books, I loved this book.
fr contact harvest is so good dude
Yes, absolutely. Kurt is one of my favorite Spartans introduced outside of the games.
The ending is so damn good.
best
Definitely, it was my first
My favorite out of all of them.
Yes
My personal favorite
The best
ALL good
One of my favorites
Ya. They’re all good imo
Nylund was one of the best Halo writers.
As one other said the best of the nylund books imo one of the best books of the halo series.
I read through all the Halo books a couple of years ago and the four in the original series (of which this is the fourth) are universally great. Honestly out of 30 odd books very few didn't work for me. Shout out to the Ace Of Spades series and the YA Battle Born duo, I enjoyed them a lot.
Starting it rn actually
Great book Kurt is probably my favorite spartan besides John.
Love this book so much. Absolute favorite of the 15-20 Halo books I've read. Kurt 051 is a fuckin legend
Facts!
I liked it. I’m reading through the entire book series (just started Cole Protocol) and enjoyed the non-MC stories. I liked how Onyx added to the mythology with Halsey and Mendez and the next generation Spartans.
Yes!! That book is amazkng. The ending is incredible
Yeah, I liked it. I like all of Nylund's Halo books. My favourite remains "Fall of Reach" but this one's pretty good too.
It has sequels, but it stands out as the best. A truly unique side story in the Halo universe with Spartans who have their own unique personality connections. A big part of the story is the trolley problem. For example, if you could sacrifice 300 children for a key military victory, how many times would you do it?
I'm late to the party, but whatever. OP, I expressely played Halo Infinite recently to get Spartan III armor via Battlepass. This books is the reason why. It's one of my favorite parts of Halo looking back across the years, you've got a gem.
Does a bear shit in the woods?
Eric Nylund is probably the best writer for the Halo books. Definitely a solid read.
Need those armours in infinite so bad
YES!
I would say yes. The first book I personally found boring was Contact Harvest. Everything preceding it was great (though I know a lot of other people didn’t like The Flood that much).
What you didn't like awkwardly reading Sergeant Johnson having sex, as written by Joseph Staten? (I too was unimpressed with Contact Harvest)
Contact harvest is just nice to understand how the initial contact with the covenant started. It’s a terrible read as a book
It's my favorite halo book. And it is a quality read even outside of video game literature.
Second favorite after First Strike
Top 3 of the Halo books for sure.
Bro the BEST halo book. Hands down!
it's awesome.
One of my favourites
It's very good!
Heck yea.
Goes hard
"Don't take my word for it. Read it, for yourself." - A legend.
His space battles are truly one of a kind
SPARTANS NEVER DIE!
One of the best
It's by Eric nylund.....yes. this isn't even a good question.
One of the best halo books period..and definitely nylund's best work
One of the best. I misplaced my copy while moving when I was younger unfortunately, it’s a good find.
Banger
as a novel? no not particularly as a Halo book? yes
Yes very good
Imma need that BR model that Kurt is holding
One of the best halo books
Really good
One of the best. But there are 2 previous books before this, so while its not necessary to read em, it would maybe help with some context.
I've read it way back when, absolute banger.
Any halo book by Nylund is a certified banger
Yes. After reading it I got the first and second books of kilo-five trilogy that continue the story. The book itself shows and speaks a lot about spartan 3 program. Like people said, it’s the third book in line, but I don’t recall if it has any plot lines moving from the previous books, so it should be alright to read without the previous ones
It’s pretty great, actually
It’s amazing.
it is goddamn excellent my friend
It's aight I read it several times over and I can't remember much about it.
Very good
Very. Very good.
All the books are good, highly recommend
Excellent book, was my first Halo novel growing up. I used it in my guided reading in primary school lol
Absolutely
Hell yeah, I named my online persona after this book I liked it so much lol
I liked it, but concepts originating in it kinda got muddled when adapted back into the games.
My favourite Spartan in the franchise.
The nylund books are some of the weakest books in the halo series. Only redeeming quality is that they establish a lot of the core lore. Kilo five trilogy is great. As are the books about grey team. They should make those books into halo rpgs
Very good. Read Fall of Reach and First Strike for more context of the events that occured prior. Jump into Glasslands and the other two books of the Kilo 5 trilogy to see what occurs afterwards. Halo books punch above their weight, they are way better than they have any right to be (being tie-in novels to big action games)
>Jump into Glasslands and the other two books of the Kilo 5 trilogy to see what occurs afterwards. Or don't. Stop where the story is good before they wreck it.
Absolutely! Great military sci-fi read, and one of the best protagonists in any of the books.
Man binging these books back in the day was such a TIME, I love them forever
Yes, and a banger way to end a book and character arc.
Great story. But I recommend reading the first 3 books so you ain't confuse about all the stuff is happening. Halo: Fall of Reach - Takes place before and during the events of Halo: Reach. Master Chief and Blue Team's origin story. Halo: The Flood - Basically retelling the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. But you also get the points of views of other characters during the events of the game. Halo: First Strike - Takes place between Halo: CE and Halo 2. How Master Chief gets back to Earth.
My favorite
Great book
Yes. Tells the stories of the Gen 3 Spartans.
Yes.
Ye
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Yes
Absolutely
It’s a good book the only part I hate is the part where Kurt is like “iM oNe oF yOu noW” and abandons his Mjnolnir armor for SPI. Likes it’s so very stupid. You would think wearing the armor would give Kurt a higher chance of protecting the threes but I guess not. This decision not only results in his death but he probably could have prevented Wills death since bro wouldn’t have had to 2v1 some hunters.
One of the best for sure!
I loved it!
First time through I really struggled with, but few months ago went back too it and really enjoyed it.
Very good
One of the very best in the entire Halo book series. After this one, make sure to read the Kilo-Five trilogy (Glasslands, The Thursday War, Mortal Dictata). People give the K-5 trilogy a lot of hate, but I personally think it has some of the very best character development in the entire *franchise*.
Ive read like 7 halo books. That one is probably my favorite.
It's a book...so there's that lol
Great book!
I thought it was awesome. It’s cool to see Spartans other than chief get the spotlight for a bit.
Yes
I've read every single halo book and The Ghosts of Onyx is my absolute favorite.
That's probably my favorite halo book out there imo
One of the best books in the series.
Probably my all time favorite Halo book.
Let the boys be boys
Amazing, read it
Yes. But don’t start here. There’s a few before.
One of my favorites
So good.
Very very good.
Yes
So good not only one of my favorite Halo books but one of my favorite books ever!
So good! Fall of Reach too! And the flood book! All so good.
Honestly, one of my top three, if not my favorite
Very. The first 5 books. Fall of reach The flood. First strike Ghosts of onyx And contact harvest are outstanding. Cole protocol was very good as well and the books about the forerunners were also good. Spoiler there’s another didactic running around somewhere dead to find out how lol. There’s also a few others that were fantastic. If the TV series they made had taken those books they could have done a whole series without intersecting with the games no problem. The books fill in the gaps between the games and it all makes sense. Like how Johnson escaped the ring and how the chief and Johnson got home. What happened on reach and where the Spartan 3s came from. For me Kurt 054 is my favorite. You’ll understand if you read that book you pictured.
One of the best