The Halo books

[MasterBest1]

Hey! I thought i would read through the Halo books and I'm just curious about which ones are worth getting or if they should be read in a specific order.

 

[ventrue]

Hey! I thought i would read through the Halo books and I'm just curious about which ones are worth getting or if they should be read in a specific order.

The books are all listed in the correct order here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo

I only read the first three and found the two written by Nylund to be more enjoyable than the one by Dietz. Maybe somebody else can say something about all the others - I honestly had no idea how many there are already, I thought we were at five :-D

 

[CoolC]

I read the first 3 and I would not recommend it. If you already played the game you pretty much know what the 3 books are about. I also read Halo: First Strike. It was Ok.

 

[UNSC LT commander]

i dont like evolutions... id stick with fall of reach, the flood, first strike, contact harvest, ghost of onyx, and the cole protocol

 

[Tyvern]

Glasslands is good but its by Karen Travis(name spell right?)

 

[Cadet]

I've read all of them. They're all worth reading, but, in my opinion, and I've pontificated about it enough in other threads so I'll be succinct. In my mind, the best 3, and the ones most worth reading are the ones by Eric Nylund, Fall of Reach, First Strike, and Ghosts of Oynx. The Flood by Dietz is one I consider to be a bit unfairly maligned. The guy was tasked with simply writing the novelization of the first game. SO, of course it can be a bit dry and repetitive at times, but, so is the game. Dietz did give us a good look at what else was going on the Ring with the rest of the UNSC personnel, we get our first real introduction to ODSTs, and I think Dietz was second only to Nylund in having best handle on the Master Chief’s personality.

For me though, Nylund is the Halo Expanded universe. He was where it started, he had the best stories, the best characterizations, and style best suited for the Halo universe.

 

[p bro]

The older books are now quite outdated canon-wise (Fall of Reach, the Flood, First Strike) you will come across story and technical concepts that Bungie and 343 have discarded. So be warned in that aspect. However they are great reads and with the Ghosts of Onyx definitely flesh out the SPARTANs as hardcore commando killing machines rather than whiny teens or cocky hotshots as some other depictions like to do.

I'd also recommend Contact Harvest written by Joe Staten (the guy who wrote Halo 2) and Halo: Evolutions, both are great additions to the universe.

The others? Not so much, The Cole Protocol was lackluster, I'd only recommend the Greg Bear trilogy for the hardcore and don't get me started on Glasslands.

 

[Tyvern]

@P Bro

Actually dude/dudette, Up until the Pillar of Autum Reach Mission Both the first books and Reach has perfectly synched time tables

 

[p bro]

@P Bro
Actually dude/dudette, Up until the Pillar of Autum Reach Mission Both the first books and Reach has perfectly synched time tables

Nah bro I was talking about stuff like, ships having rotating cylinders for artificial gravity, the forerunner crystal that's pretty much been decanonized and the elites, brutes and hunters being unknown by the humans until 2552.

 

[Tyvern]

ah gotha man sorry, I misinterpreted that

 

[Jimmy Da Moose]

If you enjoy reading and want more Halo, then definitely read them. The Fall of Reach was good, and despite the name, is mostly about the Spartan II program, I would say to start there. I haven't read the new version, which I think adds a few extra chapters at the end. The flood is alright, and it fills in between the levels of the first game.

I agree that Nylund is the best of the authors, too. Ghost of Onyx is my favorite of the books, I've read it a few times already. That's also why I don't like the Spartan IIIs in Reach, they came from no where and they are completely different from the book ones.

 

[mrmikeman]

I would actually recommend Halo: Cryptum by Greg Bear. It is different in a good way by delving into the life of the Forerunners before the firing of Halo. If not that, read Halo: Contact Harvest. Who doesn't love Sergeant Johnson kicking some Covenant @$$?

 

[OptimusWang]

I would actually recommend Halo: Cryptum by Greg Bear.

Came here to say the Greg Bear books are easily the best in the series, but they're more hard-core sci-fi where the rest are all military-based like the games. Someone who has never played the game could easily pick these up and enjoy them.