Halo: Silent Storm: A Master Chief Story

Halo #25

by Troy Denning

An original full-length novel set in the Halo universe and based on the New York Times bestselling video game series.

2526. It has been almost a year since humanity engaged in its destructive first contact with a theocratic military alliance of alien races known as the Covenant. Now the hostilities have led to open war, and the United Nations Space Command understands virtually nothing about its new enemy. There are only two certainties—the Covenant is determined to eradicate humanity, and they have the superior technology to do just that. The UNSC’s only hope lies with the Spartans: enhanced super-soldiers trained from childhood via a clandestine black-ops project to be living weapons. Their designated commander, Petty Officer John-117, has been assigned to lead the Spartans on a desperate counterattack designed to rock the Covenant back on its heels, and to buy humanity the time it needs to gather intelligence and prepare its defenses.

But not everyone wants the Spartans to succeed. A coalition of human rebel leaders believes an alliance with the Covenant to be its best hope of finally winning independence from the Unified Earth Government. To further their plans, the insurrectionists have dispatched a sleeper agent to sabotage the UNSC counterattack—and ensure that John-117 and the Spartans never return from battle....

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Video Games, Audiobook, Military Fiction, Aliens, Gaming

404 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 4, 2018

About the author

Also known as Richard Awlinson.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this in a Goodreads/First Reads giveaway!



This is actually the first Halo book I have read! I feel it reads fine as a stand alone but reading other reviews, die-hard fans are saying there are a lot of people from other books! I love that because I plan on going back and reading the books in this universe. Geez, I think I have one of the first ones a friend gave me MANY years ago and of course I just forgot the name of the book! The Flood?

Anyway, it's my understanding this book is way back before the fall of Reach. I may be wrong there so don't quote me. I know that it tells the story of John-117 before he becomes Master Chief if that helps.

The book was awesome and the ending is set up for a possible second book!

This book makes me want to go play Halo! BUT, I still way behind the times and have the first XBox and the first couple of Halo's. Sigh, I know! I am up for anyone buying me the updated XBox and games 😄 =D

But seriously, if you love Halo then you can't go wrong with this one, unless I missed something!

Happy Reading!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Besides the messy descriptions of CQC and EV combat, this is an awesome return to the war settings of the Bungie era, the switches between factions come easily handled, and Sanghieli are written truthfully to their beliefs. There is some infantry details and ODSTs descriptions that sound like being back in the games again, and I appreciate Johnson wit adding a bit of humour here in there. All in all, a terrific story again.

[T.R. Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed yet another entry in the best IP of all time.

Now, if only they made more games.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 I’m not someone who’s ever read Halo or know anything about it. I had a childhood friend who loved it years ago where I’m sure I knew the story but nowadays I remember nothing. So while I didn’t need to know anything prior I still wished I’d looked up the halo series and background a bit more. I’m not a sci-fi fan but I still found the story decent. Didn’t really love it or hate it

[Jarred de Beer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please don’t judge me re-living my childhood - I needed a break from philosophy and theology textbooks. It’s actually a great sci-fi action novel if you are familiar with the Halo games (don’t bother with the TV show).

[Alex Dove · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the book started out great. Really tries to fit into the established Halo lore while still telling its own story. There are a few downsides however that made it very difficult for me to rate.
First off it had a bit of an issue with pacing. The beginning was perfect, but then a few chapters would pop up with dialogue that seemed so forced, and crammed together that it was hard to follow at times. Then towards the end the battle scenes were either perfectly understandable or a chaotic jumble that is reminiscent of an action movie that can't decide on which camera angle to use.
Another issue, and this has more to do with my personal issues with 343's take on the Halo universe, is the huge cynicism. I want to explain this without spoiling the story too much, but stop reading now if you don't even want a hint at spoilers.
So all die hard Halo fans know the Spartans were created to fight an insurrection problem that threatened to send the whole of human space into chaos. However, once the Covenant showed up and started trying to exterminate all humans the insurrection pretty much tapered off because, well, a government you don't like is better than extinction. Here we see secondary conflict where the insurrection really thinks there is some possibility of negotiating with an alien race who has shown zero sign of understanding between the difference in the UNSC and any other human. It just feels like false conflict created to fit into the current (post-covenant era) Halo story line where 343 is trying to set up other threats and tensions, but in this early contact era book it doesn't fit. Whether or not the author felt like adding this plot or was asked to by 343 it just doesn't really fit that when human worlds are being glassed left and right and humans have no way of stopping them there would also still be humans going, "yeah this is the perfect time to be D-bags."

[Keelan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written book, but not my favourite. I'm docking a star because it feels like it's retreading ground already explored by Nylund's works, so it comes of as feeling like a fan-service compilation than a true story. The Covenant PoV is very well done. Unfortunately, it only takes up small snippets of the novel. I think this story would be much enriched if it were told almost entirely from a Covenant viewpoint: it would certainly be a much more... 'novel'... novel than the one presented here.

[Luis Almanza Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a huge Halo fan and I have got to say, this was such a good read (no pun intended). Really though, anyone who’s read the early Halo Novels knows that they feel different from the newest ones. It’s not the the new ones are bad, but I fell in love with the militaristic aspect of the originals and it is really nice to see that these are back.
Halo Silent Storm is a story taking place during the early years of the Human-Covenant war, actually, it’s only a year into the war. This is a really cool aspect of the novel since Troy Denning does a great job at making the UNSC, the Covenant and the Insurrection feel like factions that barely know anything about the other, specially when it comes to covenant capabilities.
It focuses on John-117 in his early stages as a Spartan. He is a leader to his comrades, yet he is not yet a commander, which in itself presents a huge challenge to him, to be able to send his Spartans into mortal danger, to be able to sacrifice his friends and family for the greater good. I loved to see this, since the MasterChief has always been portrayed as confident and an extremely good commander, so seeing him mature into the soldier he is supposed to be was particularly interesting. It added to his character without having to retcon anything from the previous books that had him as a protagonist.
Another thing I loved was that we got a lot of Easter eggs for the rest of the novels and we even got deeper into the lore of some characters we believed only showed up later into the war. Characters like Sergeant Avery Johnson get some really cool interactions between them and the protagonist. We also get explanations for some of the lore’s most fundamental pieces of information, like the way in which some of the covenant species got their UNSC designations.
I could go on and on about what made this book so good for me, but that would make this an extremely long review, so here are some points I’d like to make before finishing:
- The writing style is quite descriptive without bordering on over explanation.
- Both old and new characters feel fleshed out and their motivations feel clear.
- It pays homage to the rest of the Halo universe in subtle enough ways so that anyone who’s into the universe will constantly find something to like hidden in the page, while anyone less acquainted with the lore will read it in a fluid manner and will find no interruptions.

At the end of the day, I loved this return to form for the Halo novels, and will begin Troy Denning’s sequel to this awesome book shortly.

[Alek Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Troy Denning has become my favorite Halo author from the stories that have emerged after Bungie's Halo 3. He seems to be the only one that understands the Halo lore and how it's supposed to sound and feel. He stays true to what makes Halo great while also bringing in new ideas.
That being said, this book wasn't as good as his other two. My only criticism is that I found a majority of the battles and action sequences throughout the story to be extremely difficult to follow. I couldn't visually understand what was happening. The settings felt inconsistent at times and the actions the characters took were confusing. It seemed like there were pages missing that would have explained the change in pace.
Still better than Matt Forbeck's Legacy of Onyx.

[Graff Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

I'm NEW to this universe. I want to read a few of the novels...so that when i watch the Halo TV series in June, I will have a better understanding. I don't play video games, so I am not invested into this world. I've heard a LOT about the world...from a lot of my friends and their kids. I have been invited to play the game, but I really don't want to waste time in the game. I'd rather read a story about them, instead.

This plops you in the midst of things, though it does a fairly good job settling you into the story being told.

I know a little about the universe. The Covenant (the bad guys) and the different races. I have also done a little Googling to make sure it is set in my brain...as I read.

It is interesting to see about the Master Chief and how he got his rank...which I think is interesting. The Spartans have a unique history and each of them have been doing this for a LONG time. 

Also, the character who has been instrumental in their development...Dr. Halsey. We get a little of her story here, too.

Enjoyed the military aspect of the story and the fighting sequences...they were really well explained.

I also enjoyed the intrigue and the bond that develops around the Spartans and against them. Great dynamic.

I will be reading another book...going backwards...again...oops...to #20. Once I get a read it...I may go back to the first few and read them in order. 

I am enjoying the time spent in this universe.

[Brayden Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I've read a Halo novel and I was excited to jump back into the Universe. I've played all of the games (aside from Halo wars) but I've fallen hopelessly behind on novels.

I picked a good spot to jump back in, Silent Storm takes place early in the war and features the Chief, Blue Team and everyone's favorite Avery Johnson. Nostalgia certainly bumped up how I felt about this novel and certain moments made me want to reach for four stars. Ultimately the characters and plot don't reach 4 in my opinion. It's good, it's great for a Halo novel even but in a wider arena falls short. There wasn't much emotional impact, the excitement was average but I do want more and will read more Master Chief stories.

[RINCO · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book should be 5 stars but I struggled during the action scenes. I skimmed a lot of the action scenes because it was too descriptive at times for my taste.

[Dillon Garnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird to have a book about a master chef but have it involve no cooking. Weird flex but Ok

[Matthew Ochal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it was kinda nice to see John given the designation master chief. Mind your own business. What are you a cop? Keep walking

[Sami_salami · Rating 4 out of 5]

THAT'S WHY HE'S THE GOAT
THE GOAT

[Tom Feeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic early story of Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes, I'll read a silly Halo novel, as a treat.

[Luke C · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Melisa Ramonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another full score from this author. VERY MUCH RECOMMENDED!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this book via Audible.

Silent Storm is a great addition to the Halo universe, focusing on the UNSC's favorite Spartan - John-117 - and one of his team's earliest engagements with the Covenant. There are plenty of familiar faces in addition to the Master Chief and a few new ones as well, giving readers both a sense of familiarity and added depth.

The story is set well before the Fall of Reach - technically it's events take place in the middle of the book with that title - at a point where John's loss of Samuel-034 during an attack on a Covenant ship is still fresh in his mind. Now he and eleven other Spartans are part of a much larger mission to attack the Covenant after they have glassed several UEG colonies. Without spoiling anything, you soon find there's more parties involved than initially apparent, and the mission becomes much more challenging.

I enjoyed this look back into the early days of the Human-Covenant war. It was great to see certain characters together again and the story also had the effect of setting up some events that take place later on in the timeline that we've seen in other works. I would definitely recommend it to any Halo fan wanting to learn more about universe.

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Halo: Operation Silent Storm is a story of how the UNSC tries to combat a new alien threat (The Covenant). However, the story takes place after Harvest got glassed by The Covenant, not after the fall of reach, and it follows Spartan-II teams, Blue, Gold, and Green, ultimately lead by John-117 himself (who’s not even the Master Chief yet) who needs to give the materials group time to create countermeasures to covenant tech but ends up with the insurrection getting involved. Operation Silent Storm takes place in the year of 2526, humanity has been in a battle with the insurrection for years, and just now have encountered The Covenant for the first time. I believe that the best feature of the book is getting to see inside of John’s head because in the games we don’t really get to see his internal thoughts and what he is thinking. I believe that this book is for any person that is a sci-fi fan or a Halo fan

[Zack Judson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the hardest book for me to follow out of the 7 halo books I’ve read. It was still nice to get more of master chiefs back story.

[Thijs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canon Welding at its finest: a must for any (dissillusioned) Halo fan.

Silent Storm seems to have been written with the sole purpose of being one big 'Continuity Nod'. AND I LOVE IT. It just glues all previous media together in a way that makes the Universe feel whole again after a turbulent part in the Halo franchise.

Not only do you have Badasses from all over the Halo Universe working together, like: John-117 (where don't you know him from?), Sgt. Johnson (Halo 1, 2 &3), Halsey (Halo: FoR, Journal, 4&5), VADM Stanforth and VADM Preston Cole (Halo: Cole Protocol and The life and death of Preston Cole).
It also brings together the Spartans as a whole, and shows them as a well working ass kicking team instead of cannon fodder when they need to indicate how dire a mission is. With John, Fred, Linda, Kelly, Joshua, Grace, Anton and Malcolm from Halo: FoR and Halo: First Strike, Kurt from Ghosts of Onyx, Daisy and Solomon from Halo Legends and Naomi from the K5 trilogy. (the latter two media I wasn't a fan of, but this novel shows that the Spartans in them at least had personality, despite the asspull the original creators did to drag some spartans out of nowhere just to kill them off).
And that's just the UNSC characters, with the Covenant you have Orsun and Pollux from Halo: Last Light and Retribution. As well as some supporting characters from that novels having origins in this one (Casillo and co.)

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. More concepts and plotlines are being reproduced and fitted right into the Universe with superb expertise.

This novel seems to be an indication of what 343i is doing with Halo on a grand scale: Accept Bungie's successes, find out what's good with them and find out what wasn't working with the new media and fix it all into one whole, well working universe.
If this novel is any indication of the way Halo 6 (or Infinite or however the fuck they wanna call it) is going to turn out, I am looking forward to it with much hope!

[Matthew Holden · Rating 2 out of 5]

A “Master Chief Trilogy”, set in the period with almost limitless possibilities, sounds like the adventure we’ve wanted for some time. However, Silent Storm falls short of kicking off the trilogy with a bang, and probably could have spent some more time in the editing phase.

Overall the story progression is scattered with abrupt scene changes, moving from “talking in a room” to “sudden space battle”. The story flow is also hampered by a strange need to get past detailing the new setting as fast as possible so the battle can begin. Almost every single battle scene lacked enough detail to accurately picture the setting and follow along, replacing any tension and excitement with confusion as to where a random door/hallway came from or how the scene could possibly play out with how it was being described. Add on an apparent need to name every single weapon by name and model number (as well as a half-page explanation as to why a specific pistol was a good choice), and the entire book becomes a clunky mess outside of well-written conversation scenes.

Where Silent Storm really fell flat was with the book’s major plot point: There is a traitor in the UNSC helping the Covenant. This is a brilliant idea, and one that could have been slowly drawn out with red herrings and misdirection, however there is not only a lack of buildup and misdirection, but one of the chapters literally starts by suddenly outing the traitor to the reader and then following that with the revelation that basically everybody knew who it was already. With clunky writing on top of rushing a major plot point like that, Silent Storm really isn’t worth two follow-up stories, nor is it exciting enough to suggest you should read on.

[ToriPrewitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated three stars for the strong characterization and readability, but docked for some setbacks.

First, I have to say that the characters are diverse and leave strong impressions on the reader as to who they are and what they're all about. They weave themselves into the plot seamlessly to the point where John and the others practically write themselves.

Beyond here are some spoilers, so beware.

However, while the characters are terrific and really drive the plot, the plot itself should have just focused on the humans at this point. The Covenant had so little to do with the overreaching story that went on for nearly 75% of the book, that they could have been taken out entirely without hurting the book much. Which is a shame because the POVs from the fleet master and assassin were some of the best parts of the book. In the end their involvement was pretty asinine.

The actions scenes were weirdly dull as well. Basic language with not enough strong descriptors left the pacing feeling slow and lackluster despite there being some key battles. Iconic scenes that should have left the reader tense were skipped over or barely addressed.

Had this been more of a political thriller and not an action scifi this would have gotten another star, but as it is, I have to agree with a lot of other reviewers here. Still a good book, but not the best.

[Conny · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF- I was a First Read Winner of this book, and I was really looking forward to reading it, even though I don't read a lot of Sci-fi books, the one's that I have read I enjoyed tremendously so I figured I needed to give the genre more of a try. I don't know if this book is part of the Halo video games, which I didn't know anything about, so maybe I just didn't pick a good book to enter, since most of the reviews are very favorable. I never connected to the main characters and I just couldn't get into the read. I hate when this happens, since the Author clearly put a lot of work into it. But I vowed to myself a long time ago that as soon as a book feels like a chore and not entertainment I will give up on it and not torture myself with it any longer. I might give the book another try later on, and hope that I will make a connection then.

[Zachary · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better entries in the Haloverse. Dennings does a better job at nailing the characterizations of classic characters like John-117, Avery Johnson, and Dr. Halsey than some of his contemporaries. However, some of the scenes are a slog to get through, and no more is this present than the last few chapters of the book.

The political intrigue had me hooked for most of the story, but as it went on I found my eyes glazing over as I was subjected to endless similar sentences and scenarios “Linda stowed her MA5B in favor of her M99, a trio of LEDS winked green”. I swear I read this exact same sentence a hundred times.

All in all, I enjoyed most of the book, I just wished an editor went over it another time to tighten up the last few chapters.

[Casey Millington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silent Storm picks up from Contact Harvest where humanity is now officially at war with the Covenant. The Master Chief and eleven other Spartans are been deployed on a desperate counterattack to gut-punch a Covenant fleet. An explosive story filled with compelling character development and an interesting side-story of traitors to humanity, this is definitely worth a read!

[Kristofor Hellmeister · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptional blend of science fiction and military action without getting bogged down.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Halo: Silent Storm by Troy Denning is the first book of the “A Master Chief Story” Trilogy. This book focuses on a young Spartan John-117 , and takes place a few months after the events of Spartan Samuel-034 being lost. Master Chief and the rest of the Spartans are only 15-year-olds, and are sent on a mission to defend against the Covenant and send a message to them in the early days of the Human-Covenant War.


Overall, I liked the book and felt it did do justice to adding more into Master Chief’s past and the lore in general. In this book’s events, this is the first time Sergeant Johnson, who makes a return to the Halo lore, learns about the Spartans and meets Chief along with the Blue, Gold and Green teams. This meeting of Chief and Johnson also shows how their relationship forms and how Master Chief learns valuable lessons from Johnson that he would remember throughout the rest of his time. We also get to see more of the other Spartans from other Halo media like Kurt-051, Joshua-029, Daisy-023, and Naomi-10; along with the rest of Blue team and the other unnamed members of Green and Gold team. A younger Dr. Halsey also makes a return and you get to see her more, boosting her Spartans abilities. This is also Dr. Halsey’s first experience learning about the Covenant technology.

Silent Storm delves more into the UNSC and their view of the Spartan program early on. The games do not really show it but the books get into it more and show that not everybody in the UNSC likes the Spartans or believe in their abilities. For example, Colonel Marmon Crowther doubts the Spartans for most of the book and wanted his ODSTs, the Black Daggers, to be used in the mission more than the Spartans. Throughout the book, Crowther spends most of the time making John-117 and the rest of the Spartans have to prove themselves, or stay on the side – which starts getting to the Chief. This gives Sgt. Johnson the opportunity to teach John-117 about gaining people’s trust, proving yourself, how to get around orders, and not try to always be the hero. In this book, it is also Crowther who gives John-117 his 4-rank promotion to Master Chief, which gives us the Origins of him gaining his popular name.

The mission of this book is for the entire squad to intersect a fleet of Covenant ships, board them and plant tactical nukes aboard to blow the ships up. Throughout the mission, Commander Hector Nyeto was secretly sabotaging the mission because he was working for the insurgents. Nyeto was also feeding the insurgents the classified existence of the Spartans to other insurgent leaders, who then tried to sell the info to Covenant for an alliance and immunity. Nyeto was also responsible for messing up the missions of Blue, Gold and Green teams, which you learn he did on purpose in order to get rid of the Spartans. This mission was Chief’s learning experience for letting other soldiers carry out tasks/missions, and not try not to do everything himself. Throughout the book, Chief starts allowing others to do tasks, even if they end up dying; respecting the sacrifices of the other soldiers.

My dislikes for this book were not having the other members of the Green and Gold teams being named, or even having a chapter giving the reader an insight on their mission. However, this is due to this being a Master Chief story and not just a general Halo story. I also did not like seeing Chief try to always be the hero, but since this is after just losing Samuel, I understand it.

This book is a great read if you are trying to learn more about Master Chief’s early days, his interactions with other members of the UNSC, and how he and his family first become Spartans. The book adding Kurt, Daisy, Naomi, and Joshua was a nice nod to using other Spartans that barely get any spotlight. The book also does a good job in showing how the loss of Samuel affected not only Chief, but how he tried to protect the other Spartans. Hopefully, in the future more books will be released that focus on the Green and Gold teams, and the other Spartans.

Overall, Written by Troy Denning, Halo: Silent Storm is a great addition to the Halo lore and definitely worthy read for any fan of the Halo games.