As the bloody Human-Covenant War rages on Halo, the fate of humankind may rest with one warrior, the lone SPARTAN survivor of another legendary ... read full description
reviews
Jun 03, 2011
Tena
rated it: 
I seriously didn't think this book could be very good coming from a video game, but was surprised to find I was very wrong.
I assumed it would be mostly like the video game, a book mainly about shooting things up or something, but it was much more than that. This book reminded me quite a bit of Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" and I found myself getting way more into the books than I ever got into the game.
The book is very sci-fi in nature and focuses on the More...
I assumed it would be mostly like the video game, a book mainly about shooting things up or something, but it was much more than that. This book reminded me quite a bit of Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" and I found myself getting way more into the books than I ever got into the game.
The book is very sci-fi in nature and focuses on the More...
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Feb 03, 2009
Tom
rated it:
I have played all of the Halo games and followed the story in the games and thoroughly enjoyed them. I was given this book several years ago and never got around to reading them, until I got my hands on the audio book version!
This book was incredible. It was not predictable at all. It begins when Master Chief was selected as a child for the Spartan program. Putting the setting well before the first Halo game. The author does a great job describing Master Chief and getting the More...
This book was incredible. It was not predictable at all. It begins when Master Chief was selected as a child for the Spartan program. Putting the setting well before the first Halo game. The author does a great job describing Master Chief and getting the More...
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(2 people liked it)
Nov 01, 2011
Angie
rated it: 
I was very curious about reading this book because I am a huge fan of the games. I thought it was a good book and does a great job of explaining where Master Chief (the game's main character) comes from. I loved that part. But of course there is a lot of war going on in the book and I didn't enjoy that. It is my first war novel and I'll admit that is not something I enjoy reading. I won't continue the series. I also wish it had better cover art. I mean it looks like a cartoon!
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 04, 2011
I read this book as primer for the new Halo: Reach game coming out in September and I was VERY disappointed to discover that the actual battle and fall of Reach only happens in the last 60 ages. AND instead of action reminiscent of the run and gun first person shooter game, the vast, vast, vast majority of action and events are naval battles in space (something you do not see in the games). THAT SAID, I'm STILL very surprised how good this book was. I've played the four main Halo games, but wasn
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Aug 12, 2011
Tyler
rated it:
Halo, The Fall of the Reach by Eric Nylund
Summary, The Fall of Reach is a prequel telling the story of humanity's war against a technologically superior race called the Covenant, a mysterious race on a religious crusade to destroy all of humanity. The story focuses on the hero John and his fellow Spartans Sam, and Kelly enhanced human beings bred as soldiers for humanity's military and the best chance the humans have for victory in the losing war against the covenant. John, Sam and Kelly More...
Summary, The Fall of Reach is a prequel telling the story of humanity's war against a technologically superior race called the Covenant, a mysterious race on a religious crusade to destroy all of humanity. The story focuses on the hero John and his fellow Spartans Sam, and Kelly enhanced human beings bred as soldiers for humanity's military and the best chance the humans have for victory in the losing war against the covenant. John, Sam and Kelly More...
Jul 29, 2011
Mike
rated it:
This was a bit better than I expected for a book based on a video game. This is the prequel to the game Halo, which involves a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier battling aliens over possession of a massive ring in space built by a long-dead species. The plot is pretty thin and goes through some major contortions to get all the major characters where they need to be to begin the game. The characters themselves are fairly one-dimensional, with most of the soldiers being either cowards or noble
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Jul 19, 2011
Browncoatgrimm
rated it:
Any fan of Halo knows the story of Reach whether it from the game of the same name or from information gleaned over the years. It does relay the events of the fall of reach but the book contains so much more. This novel is all about the Spartan program from inception to completion, it’s the story of how the war with the covenant began and it tells us all about the legendary Master Chief.
For those who’ve played the Halo games you know the story is very good and it evokes a feeling that More...
For those who’ve played the Halo games you know the story is very good and it evokes a feeling that More...
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Apr 21, 2011
Jerome
rated it:
Mass market paperbacks covering someone else's IP must be a pain to write, since you're probably under a huge time constraint to come up with 250 pages worth of story constrained by existing canon. But even more constricting is the fact that your work is permitted to exist only to further sales of the primary product. In essence, your book is a commercial.
Given that, Nylund does a pretty decent job putting some life into a killing game. While the protagonist, John 117, hardly rises ab More...
Given that, Nylund does a pretty decent job putting some life into a killing game. While the protagonist, John 117, hardly rises ab More...
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Mar 30, 2011
Avo
rated it:
I think this book is a an awesome book. What I like most about it is how descriptive the author is of all the actions in the book. Almost makes it feel like it is happening in front of my eyes. A favorite quote of mine is:
"The man with the iron bar swung a vicious blow at John's ribs; John sidestepped, grabbed the man's and, and clamped it to the bar. He twisted the bar and crushed the bones of his attacker's wrist.
"John snapped a side kick toward the second man, c More...
"The man with the iron bar swung a vicious blow at John's ribs; John sidestepped, grabbed the man's and, and clamped it to the bar. He twisted the bar and crushed the bones of his attacker's wrist.
"John snapped a side kick toward the second man, c More...
Jan 02, 2011
Marcus
rated it:
Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund is a surprisingly excellent book that is the prequel to a video game franchise. The book chronicles the life of a boy named John who among many other children was selected for a secret military operation, Operation: Spartan. John became the leader among them. Later in the book a much more menacing threat than rebel forces arose The Covenant a collection of several different alien races began waging war on the human race for some unknown reason. The only way
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Oct 29, 2010
Synyster
rated it: 
This thrilling book follows the story of a super soldier known as John-117, being based as a prequel off of a best selling Xbox game called Halo: Combat Evolved. Even though I found it to be a great read, I only gave it 4 stars instead of 5, because of the fact that at points the story became slighlty dull, but only in small sections. My reasons for "really liking" this book include that it contained many different twists and turns, leaving the plot of the story mysterious and unpred
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Oct 27, 2010
Yankeeas12
rated it:
The Fall of Reach by Eric Nyland is an intense story in the future when man is at war with an alien race known as the covanent. Mainly focusing on one character named John, originally a young child, but soon the best soldier that ever held a gun. One of the, if not the best quote of this book in my opinion that really grabs your attention is “If Reach falls, humanity will have one month to live”. Just reading that quote automatically makes you want to learn about this story and its outcome. Rea
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Sep 20, 2010
Phillip
rated it:
Eric Nylund probably won't go down in history as a great author, however he did manage to create an enticing universe set right around 500 years from now. The idea is that children have been selected (then abducted) for extreme military training. Raised to become super soldiers. However humanity has come across an aggressive alien species called the Covenant who plans on slaughtering every human being in the galaxy. Not to original.
What Eric Nylund did great, however, were the fight scenes More...
What Eric Nylund did great, however, were the fight scenes More...
Jun 24, 2010
Claudiu
rated it: 
Originally posted on: http://www.gametrailers.com/users/SlaveZ...
First off, and foremost actually, I beg of you all to not believe the hype that this book has surrounded itself in. It is, by far, one of the worst Sci-Fi reads I've had in recent history and the few good things about it get eclipsed by the shoddy writing and the down right awfulness that are most of the characters.
Right, let's get some structure in here.
The plague of tie-in books
Tie-in book More...
First off, and foremost actually, I beg of you all to not believe the hype that this book has surrounded itself in. It is, by far, one of the worst Sci-Fi reads I've had in recent history and the few good things about it get eclipsed by the shoddy writing and the down right awfulness that are most of the characters.
Right, let's get some structure in here.
The plague of tie-in books
Tie-in book More...
Apr 18, 2010
Jack705
rated it:
Some background on the scene I'm changing:
The Circumference is a battle ship that has a lot of technology and information about the humans.
The Covenant is an alien race.
The Spartans are an elite group of warriors fighting for the Humans.
John = master chief.
This is in the middle of a war between aliens and humans.
This is the creative response:
The aliens were invading reach. The Spartans had to act fast. Master Chief ran to the supply crate i More...
The Circumference is a battle ship that has a lot of technology and information about the humans.
The Covenant is an alien race.
The Spartans are an elite group of warriors fighting for the Humans.
John = master chief.
This is in the middle of a war between aliens and humans.
This is the creative response:
The aliens were invading reach. The Spartans had to act fast. Master Chief ran to the supply crate i More...
Feb 11, 2010
Maximilian
rated it:
"Halo The Fall of Reach" is an okay book written by Eric Nylund and its about a great war in the future between the human race and a group of aliens that call themselves the covenant. This book starts out very boring and dry and it almost made me want to stop reading but after that it becomes better. This book starts out with two people traveling to the planet Reach. Once there they look at the children they were going to use for a military experiment. Later the children are broug
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Jan 25, 2010
steven
rated it:
I have played all of the Halo games and followed the story in the games and thoroughly enjoyed them.
This book was incredible. It was not predictable at all. It begins when Master Chief was selected as a child for the Spartan program. Putting the setting well before the first Halo game. The author does a great job describing Master Chief and getting the ...more I have played all of the Halo games and followed the story in the games and thoroughly enjoyed them. I was given this b More...
Oct 02, 2009
Michael
rated it:
Halo: The Fall of Reach, by Eric Nylund, follows the chronicles of several super-soldiers as they try to defend humanity from the onslaught of a vast alien empire known as the Covenant. The soldiers, officially referred to as Spartans, are given the impossible task of defending the human planet of Reach from a numerically and technologically superior army. Among the Spartans is Master Chief, or SPARTAN-117, the central protagonist of the story, whose mission goes far beyond simply trying to win
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Aug 10, 2011
Matthew
rated it:
Apart from the title being completely misleading to the topic of this story, this is actually a pretty decent book that fills out the history of the Spartan program, Master Chief and humanity's first encounters with the Covenant.
The book is entitled "The Fall of Reach" and really except for a couple of chapters near the beginning and at the end when reach actually falls, there is nothing really covering the battle there. The third book in series; First Strike actually covers More...
The book is entitled "The Fall of Reach" and really except for a couple of chapters near the beginning and at the end when reach actually falls, there is nothing really covering the battle there. The third book in series; First Strike actually covers More...
Feb 09, 2011
Jordan
rated it:
The gaming industry has struggled for years to inject games with redeeming quality and literary merit. Part of the reason games don't deliver in this regard has to do with the unique complexities of games as an interactive medium rather than a passive medium like books or movies. Developers will often craft entire worlds rich with characters and settings, but players will only see a fraction of what gets put on paper. Where the Halo game series falls short in delivering a world rich for storytel
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Sep 15, 2010
Kenneth
rated it:
The Fall of Reach is about as much of an answer Halo fans could get to just exactly what happened preceding the events of the first game. In some ways, Eric Nylund appears to be going for a Tom Clancy-esque writing approach in regards to the military aspect. Missions that the eventual Spartan troops complete early on don't distort the similarities either. Halo's become a series with many inconsistencies with regards to continuity (which has been almost completely shrugged aside) and The Fall
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Aug 12, 2010
Ryan
rated it:
I can't say I was expecting much. It's a guilty pleasure book.
Pros: It wasn't SUPER terrible. Master Chief is the man.
Cons: The characters were all caricatures of people that nerds love.
Example 1: The play-by-the-rules, yet devil-may-care captain, who also happens to love math.
Example 2: The scientist with all the qualities of a nerd goddess. Brainy, beautiful, and bossy beyond all belief, who also happens to love math.
But I always loo More...
Pros: It wasn't SUPER terrible. Master Chief is the man.
Cons: The characters were all caricatures of people that nerds love.
Example 1: The play-by-the-rules, yet devil-may-care captain, who also happens to love math.
Example 2: The scientist with all the qualities of a nerd goddess. Brainy, beautiful, and bossy beyond all belief, who also happens to love math.
But I always loo More...
Dec 05, 2010
Dirk
rated it:
This is essentially a military Sci-Fi book with echoes of both Starship Troopers and Ender's Game. I haven't played the Halo games as I don't own an XBox, although I did dip into Combat Evolved at some stage (the one Halo that came out on PC). I remain intrigued by the concept of the Halo (a Ringworld-like structure - albeit much smaller). At this stage I would like to insert a comment on some of the negative reviews listed. This book is based on a video game franchise, yes, and is likely aimed
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Sep 19, 2010
Ken
rated it:
I was reading the gaming blog Kotaku as my daily routine when I saw a live action trailer for the latest Halo game, Halo: Reach. I was taken away immediate and noticed one of the commentors said that if you like this trailer, you definitely have to read the book The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund.
The only experience I've had with Halo so far was a few minutes watching my friend play Halo 2 at his place, and so had doubts of whether I will understand or enjoy the story. In the end I dec More...
The only experience I've had with Halo so far was a few minutes watching my friend play Halo 2 at his place, and so had doubts of whether I will understand or enjoy the story. In the end I dec More...
Feb 02, 2009
Ryan
rated it:
Although I was already fairly well aware of the world in which Halo existed, I enjoyed this book because it provided me with what the game couldn't - a rational foundation. I always find myself slowly niggled to apathy from not having the answers I want, or from not being satisfied with the answers that I - as a not real big believer in most things - have been expected to accept. But I was relieved when, after finishing this book, I didn't have to make a lot of excuses for still liking the Hal
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Aug 09, 2011
Mike (the Paladin)
rated it:
This book is based on a video game...and it's pretty good. I was in the mood for a straight forward even simple story. Good guys vs bad guys, military space opera, aliens who want to conquer the universe, or burn it...
Cool.
Okay, so it's not Tolstoy or Dickens (not that Dickens is necessarily all that hot LOL). But these books (there is a series based on the game) are fun, action packed and really pretty well written.
We open with the "founding of" or More...
Cool.
Okay, so it's not Tolstoy or Dickens (not that Dickens is necessarily all that hot LOL). But these books (there is a series based on the game) are fun, action packed and really pretty well written.
We open with the "founding of" or More...
Sep 03, 2010
Zackery
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Nov 30, 2010
Raymond
rated it:
I really liked this book because it was action packed and so exciting.IT also excites me a lot at how these action scenes come to my mind.The book is also very good at expressing what the character are feeling which excites me to know sometimes the character feel fears or sadness.I also found that it was quite cruel to the children to take them away from their homes and parents to train them as spartans the ultimate solider. There are also many death and regret scenes where the characters had to
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Feb 09, 2011
Tyler
rated it:
Most of the novel adaptations for video games which I've read have been absolutely abysmal, with others still being somewhat entertaining but still unenjoyable to some extent. However, I thoroughly enjoyed Nylund's spin on the Halo series in "The Fall of Reach" because he seemingly brought the characters to life, expanded on their personalities, and even provided a background which correlates well with the events of the game series. What seemed most effective in fleshing the characte
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Mar 18, 2011
Shadowsword
rated it:
Got to Halo through a fanfiction, began playing the game and now the verse has drawn me in.
This book is set before the game and shows us how the Spartans were created. Be aware it´s a pretty hard war sci-fi book where people are not nice to the Spartans. The boys get kidnapped, brain-washed and formed into super soldiers - knowing that only a half of them will survive this training "mission". After becoming soldiers at 14, they go on the first missions and finally go on the More...
This book is set before the game and shows us how the Spartans were created. Be aware it´s a pretty hard war sci-fi book where people are not nice to the Spartans. The boys get kidnapped, brain-washed and formed into super soldiers - knowing that only a half of them will survive this training "mission". After becoming soldiers at 14, they go on the first missions and finally go on the More...
