Halo: The Fall of Reach 2nd (second) edition Text Only

by Eric Nylund

Genres: Science Fiction

Paperback

Published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Dan Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a long time fan of the Halo games, but never got invested in the books. This book held and lost my interest many times. The lore of 117 was interesting, but I knew most of it already. The battle scenes with the Spartans were exciting, but short and infrequent. There were a lot of space battles which all kind of read the same. "Fire mac cannons, divert all power to X, balls of hot plasma, shields flickering then fading" blah blah blah. I did not find the space battles particularly exciting. In the end, it was an okay read for someone who has played the games and wants more. Perhaps a better read for someone brand new to Halo.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading about the origins of Master Chief — from his training and early missions to key events leading up to the first original Xbox game. It was great to see more depth behind the Halo universe and the action was engaging. While some parts were a little slow and repetitive, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Charles Vaught · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was great to see/read the origin story for not only John-117, but for Captain Keys, Dr, Halsey, and Cortana as well.

I enjoyed reading about John-117’s journey to become the Master Chief. I thought it was very interesting as well to read more about Keys and Halsey seeing their journeys to become the people they are.

Reading about some of the other Spartans was also entertaining as well. Fred, Kelly, Linda, etc. and their training together. Their journey as a unit was interesting.

It was also very entertaining to read and see more how John-117’s mind works and how much pride he takes in the mission and completing it correctly. The man is a soldier through and through. I am very excited to read ‘The Flood’ next!

[Adayn Cao · Rating 1 out of 5]

Halo is one of my favorite video game franchises of all time. I replay the entirety of the campaigns almost every year, and its stories never seize to bring me joy.

That's why I came into this book expecting to love it. Unfortunately, it was overwhelmingly disappointing.

The prose is dry, filled with military lingo. I know this is its own style, similar to the Tom Clancy books. But instead of immersion, it feels like word salad to hit a word count. Before every action sequence (of which there are too many), I could not help but roll my eyes at the repetitive progression. Paragraphs filled with descriptions of metrics or unnecessary build up. There are points in which all we do is read about the enemy positions, over and over again, as they move 10 meters here 15 meters there, and our spartans follow. This would be redeemable if at least the action piece was entertaining, but most often, it is gone in a few seconds. I get that the Spartans are strong and methodic, but the execution of the prose removed every bit of badassness they could have.

Characters are bland. I could not distinguish anyone from each other unless I was following the diologue tags, of which there are too many. The author probably realized this, and every time someone speaks, the format is the same. Their name is blatantly stated as if to not lose track. The only characters that are different are Dr Halsey and Cortana (funnily enough). In the book, they make a point about the UNSC personnel being uncomfortable around civilians (at least i get that idea since both Master Chief and Keyes are described that way multiple times) but for me, it a breath of fresh air to have someone with some personality. Maybe the characters are bland because they are made to be bland solders with no personalities. If that's the intention, it doesn't land well.

Lastly, I don't want to drag any other point for too long, so I'll be brief. The plot is bad and poorly paced. How is "Halo: the fall of reach" barely about the fall of reach. I forgot entirely the title of the book as I read. It feels like less than one-fourth of the book is dedicated to the title. We gloss over many interesting concepts and drag some for too long. I swear, some fight build ups last longer than good set peaces like the death of a character. I want to learn more about the universe without having to do so through uninteresting descriptions about alien technology. The elites are so poorly introduced that it is criminal. There is no character development for any character. Sure, Master Chief was a selfish little brat before he was abducted, but it wasn't a transition, more so a switch in personality due to the time passing that we got.

Not everything is bad. I like the lore, and some set pieces, like Keyes battle or Master Chief finding out how OP he is when fighting the ODSTs. But for the most part, it was lackluster, as a fan of sci-fi and the games themselves. Forgive me Chief.

[FaDoug · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge "Halo' fan, I have been ever since I was a little kid and my dad got me "Halo 2" without my mom knowing. It's a series that has always clicked so well for me, and even with all the newer games disappointing me, I'm still happy to give every game a chance, at the very least.

And yet, I've never really gotten into the lore.

I don't know why, but I've never taken the time to actually read any of the books or lore for this series that I love. Sure, I knew the big stuff already; Chief was kidnapped as a kid to be turned into a spartan, Cortana is a weird AI clone of Halsey, The Grunt Rebellion, Chief's suit ja- ahem. Anyway, I knew a good amount of lore, but I never really dug deep into the stories outside of the games.

Until now.

And I'm happy to say that I really liked it!

Sure, a lot of what this book shows conflicts with current canon, and a lot of the lore doesn't match up with what we see in the games. But god dammit! This was so cool! Being able to see the rise of the spartan program and the beginning of the war with the Covenant with such detail was awesome! I could fully imagine the spartan armor and the weapons firing during combat while reading this book. It clicked so well with me. And knowing that this was made *along side* the first "Halo" game gave me a massive sense of appreciation for it. It helped make the book feel less like a little pointless side project that doesn't mean anything and more like an actual important part of the story of "Halo". It was so cool to read!

Of course I do have my problems with it. There's plenty of stuff that Nylund couldn't have known about in the "Halo" narrative that just isn't here. Like the existence of Miranda Keyes, or all the other Covenant infantry introduced in the later games. Seeing those big gaping holes in the story were really distracting for me personally.

And there's also the fact that despite being titled: "Halo: The Fall of Reach", we barely even see Reach's fall at all! It's such a small part of the book that it barely left an impact on me. Chief learning about wolves and Spartans at the age of six felt more important than Reach's fall. I guess it's okay since they go into more detail in "Halo Reach", the actual game, but it's still just kind of weird to read this and not see Reach's downfall outside of one space battle.

However, despite my complaints, I still really enjoyed this! There's a clear love for "Halo" in this book. It's basically the opposite of watching whatever the hell that "Halo" show was. I loved all the details, and I loved how they managed to craft a decently clear and strong character for Master Chief, someone who barely has a character at all. This was a fun ride for me, and I'm looking forward to reading more!

[Maddux Ruhser · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was really enjoyable and I even found myself on the edge of my seat on some parts of the book. It really helped me gain knowledge of what happened before the video game(s) and it helped me gauge how powerful the Covenant really is. What I liked about the story is that there were no cliffhangers whatsoever so you were constantly being fed action from two different perspectives. Basically, the story takes place in the near future where humankind has evolved into something greater but there is a new threat amongst them. One that is extraterrestrial. This book, I would say, is for the hardcore Halo fans. By far, one of the greatest books I have ever read. If I could give it ten stars, I would. But for now, it’s a massive 5/5 stars. Wonderful book!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was and excellent dive into the UNSC and humanity’s struggles to deal with the covenant in their initial encounters, during the development of the Spartans, before all the well-established weapons, tactics, and lore that are in the games. It was cool to see them slowly learn about the Covenant, and the Spartan program was easily the highlight, giving me a better appreciation of their training, augmentation, and the Mjolnir armor. The space battles and some of the other fight sequences were a little hard to follow without any visuals, but that’s what’s the games are for I suppose.

[Thomas Goreham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first fiction book I read at 27 after not having read any fiction since I was a child.

The parts of the story focusing on Master Chief and his development are good, but what really got me hooked were the space battles.

Perhaps 5 stars is a little generous and maybe due to my circumstances could be considered biased, but I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read the rest of them!

[Tyler Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid military sci-fi novel set in the halo universe. The space battles were unexpectedly thrilling, if wildly improbable. But hey, it’s sci-fi, right? If you like Tom Clancy, you’ll enjoy the military focus and color added to the UNSC, marines, and training program of the Spartans. Overall it’s a breezy read, never spending too much time in a particular scene or on a character. The perspective shifts frequently, which adds much more context to supplement the video games.

[Lunarnier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ya había visto la animación y me gustó pero evidentemente el libro tiene muchos mas detalles y de verdad amo mucho la dinámica que hay entre todos los spartans. Los quiero mucho quisiera que no tuvieran que sufrir tanto y me gustaría que hubieran sobrevivido todos. Es parte muy esencial del lore de Halo que el proyecto Spartan II haya "sido un fracaso" pero me encantaría ver un universo alterno donde todos los Spartans II estuvieran presentes en los eventos de Halo CE - Halo 3

[Callum McKenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed fall of reach, understanding how the halo universe could have been if it were a canonical book was very enjoyable spending time with Chief as a child was very interesting and how he interacted with people as he became a spartan.

Only thing for me is due to this not being canon the ending was a little sadder than I was expecting it to be.

[Chris Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

epic even if not canon

[Adam Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good introduction into the Halo universe and still holds up well considering it’s the first book. I think there are definitely some areas that haven’t aged well, like the lack of covenant species and the description of Elities and Hunters like they’re being encountered for the first time. I believe on re-realise these tiny mistakes have been done over to fit into the cannon better.
Apart from these small issues I believe the books well written from the Master Chiefs perspective of his abduction and training to become a spartan ll and I especially like how Halsey is almost doubting herself about the spartans and their illegal abduction.

[Neale Zarda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I thought it was well-written and really expanded on the Halo lore outisde of the games. Seeing the origin of Master Chief really adds to the overall story of the franchise for sure. if you are a Halo fan you should definitely read this book.