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Halo #33
Halo: The Rubicon Protocol
USA TODAY BESTSELLER
An original novel set in the Halo universe—based on the New York Times bestselling video game series!
A HALO INFINITE STORY
December 2559. Humanity has its back against the wall after the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity drops out of slipspace into a devastating ambush launched by the Banished. As this fierce enemy alliance seeks to claim a mysterious object hidden within the ancient Forerunner construct known as Zeta Halo, the surviving UNSC corps finds itself compromised and its leadership out of reach—with remaining personnel forced to abandon ship and take their chances on the fractured, unpredictable surface of the Halo ring.
Now survival in this strange, alien environment—whether for Spartan super-soldiers or those who never thought they would see the battle up close—is measured day to day against a relentless and brutal adversary that always has the upper hand. Desperation grows, but the will to keep on fighting and enduring no matter the odds is never in doubt…even as the Banished seek to unleash a frightening new enemy that could doom them all…
An original novel set in the Halo universe—based on the New York Times bestselling video game series!
A HALO INFINITE STORY
December 2559. Humanity has its back against the wall after the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity drops out of slipspace into a devastating ambush launched by the Banished. As this fierce enemy alliance seeks to claim a mysterious object hidden within the ancient Forerunner construct known as Zeta Halo, the surviving UNSC corps finds itself compromised and its leadership out of reach—with remaining personnel forced to abandon ship and take their chances on the fractured, unpredictable surface of the Halo ring.
Now survival in this strange, alien environment—whether for Spartan super-soldiers or those who never thought they would see the battle up close—is measured day to day against a relentless and brutal adversary that always has the upper hand. Desperation grows, but the will to keep on fighting and enduring no matter the odds is never in doubt…even as the Banished seek to unleash a frightening new enemy that could doom them all…
352 pages, Paperback
First published August 9, 2022
150 people are currently reading
1107 people want to read
About the author
Kelly Gay
21 books745 followersKelly Gay writes the critically acclaimed 'Charlie Madigan' urban fantasy series. Her work has been nominated for a double RITA, an ARRA, a Goodreads Choice Award, and landed on SIBA's Long List Book Award Finalists. Kelly is also a recipient of North Carolina Arts Council's fellowship grant in Literature. She is published in Young Adult fiction as Kelly Keaton.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
August 12, 2022
A very nice companion/prequel novel to Halo Infinite.
Seeing the audio logs being expanded into a full length novel was interesting and worked quite well in my opinion. It didn't run into as many of the issues as The Flood had, which truly rehashed an existing story while adding more to it. Here we actually got to see things play out that were simply mentioned in the campaign and we also learnt about everything that happened in-between.
At times this felt like a typical novel and other times, particularly at the start, it felt more like a survival diary. This was due to the multiple POVs and the time jumps between chapters, I actually quite liked that though as it allowed us to explore many months of these characters journeys. The story was gritty, violent and really showed the emotion that these people were feeling being stuck out in the field alone for months, with no chance of rescue and fighting against terrible odds. It shines a far better light on the despair and hopelessness of the Zeta Halo conflict that we are thrown into in Halo Infinite.
There's no doubt that Troy Denning does the military SciFi Halo books the best but at times the amount of description he includes can become a bit laborious so I'm really glad we got to see Kelly Gay write this story. It was simply a different style and more simplified when it came to the fight scenes. Effectively adding more variety to the Halo novels which is always great!
I do think Gay really shows off her writing skills when she's able to have far more creative control over the overall narrative however. Here I'm referring to her Rion Forge trilogy which is truly exceptional and definitely my favourite set of Halo books. I just feel she was a bit constrained here which is obviously no fault of her own.
We do see the Endless and various other important lore things in the story but do note that we don't really learn much new. We just get to see it all through different point of views but it does help give the feeling that there's far more to learn when it comes to the Endless which is very exciting.
Seeing the audio logs being expanded into a full length novel was interesting and worked quite well in my opinion. It didn't run into as many of the issues as The Flood had, which truly rehashed an existing story while adding more to it. Here we actually got to see things play out that were simply mentioned in the campaign and we also learnt about everything that happened in-between.
At times this felt like a typical novel and other times, particularly at the start, it felt more like a survival diary. This was due to the multiple POVs and the time jumps between chapters, I actually quite liked that though as it allowed us to explore many months of these characters journeys. The story was gritty, violent and really showed the emotion that these people were feeling being stuck out in the field alone for months, with no chance of rescue and fighting against terrible odds. It shines a far better light on the despair and hopelessness of the Zeta Halo conflict that we are thrown into in Halo Infinite.
There's no doubt that Troy Denning does the military SciFi Halo books the best but at times the amount of description he includes can become a bit laborious so I'm really glad we got to see Kelly Gay write this story. It was simply a different style and more simplified when it came to the fight scenes. Effectively adding more variety to the Halo novels which is always great!
I do think Gay really shows off her writing skills when she's able to have far more creative control over the overall narrative however. Here I'm referring to her Rion Forge trilogy which is truly exceptional and definitely my favourite set of Halo books. I just feel she was a bit constrained here which is obviously no fault of her own.
We do see the Endless and various other important lore things in the story but do note that we don't really learn much new. We just get to see it all through different point of views but it does help give the feeling that there's far more to learn when it comes to the Endless which is very exciting.
September 14, 2022
4.5/5 stars
A good tie-in to Halo: Infinite's story. More and more I'm convinced that Kelly should be writing all of the new Halo novels. The ending was a little, cut off I suppose. Somewhat abrupt, but felt like it was being left open to have another novel follow it up which would be good to get more answers about Zeta Halo.
A good tie-in to Halo: Infinite's story. More and more I'm convinced that Kelly should be writing all of the new Halo novels. The ending was a little, cut off I suppose. Somewhat abrupt, but felt like it was being left open to have another novel follow it up which would be good to get more answers about Zeta Halo.
August 13, 2022
Halo: The Rubicon Protocol By Kelly Gay is a video game tie-in novel based on the Halo video game franchise.
Set in the roughly six-month gap after the events of the opening cutscene of the game Halo Infinite. The UNSC Infinity has been lost, the Banished have ambushed them and over 70,000 human crew onboard are attempting a panicked evacuation. Featuring several characters of whom we find traces during the game’s campaign, Kelly Gay was given the unenviable task of filling in the gaps of an already defined story. Unlike the recent Shadows of Reach, she brilliantly pulls it off by writing a tale full of despair, hope, brutality, and new information on where the entire series is heading. I loved this book, finishing my initial readthrough in a few days, so let’s break it all down in this as-spoiler-free-as-possible review.
There is no way to talk about this book without starting with Halo Infinite’s opening cutscene and lightly delving into the various audio logs you find throughout the game that feature characters from this novel. If you haven’t played the game yet I’d recommend going through it before reading this as the novel is very much a companion piece. That’s not to say you can’t enjoy it without playing, but you will lose a lot of the context that is given throughout its 330 or so pages.
Things start up with the ambush and destruction of the UNSC Infinity. The perspective shifts through multiple protagonists throughout the entirety of the novel. Spartan Bonita Stone, Medic Lucas Browning, Spartan Nina Kovan, Spartan Tomas Horvath, and many more are featured. The Banished have ambushed the UNSC the instant they approached Zeta Halo. Throughout the campaign of Halo Infinite, you can find audio logs that cover this battle along with the six months that Master Chief was left adrift in space after he failed to stop Atriox and his men. There are multiple characters whose fate we already know thanks to the campaign, so I greatly appreciated the introduction of new ones for whom we did not. It helped keep up the suspense during a shockingly brutal story.
While the opening focuses on the evacuation onto Zeta Halo things quickly shift to a relatively small part of the yet-to-be-destroyed ring. Areas such as The Tower and Conservatory feature heavily alongside The Reverie, a.k.a. Outpost Tremonius. The author does a good job of conveying the true size of everything so that it doesn’t feel disconnected from the smaller for video game balance/performance purposes version we get in Halo Infinite.
The Banished and their Brute leaders are vicious, smart, and singular in their purpose. Never once do they show mercy, and at any time every character in the novel felt at risk of losing their life. Unlike the aforementioned Shadows of Reach though it was never obvious who was or wasn’t going to make it out of the new characters. Each injury or death felt both sudden and earned. I even grew attached to the ones whose fate I already knew from the game. The writing gives a proper depth over time with none of the main characters falling into a one-note archetype. In a book so full of loss, pain, and suffering I never felt like it was being used for shock value.
Another area where Kelly Gay’s writing shines is the action. She uses a mix of the internal and external to convey what is happening in a way that is both informative and exhilarating. I never once felt like I was reading a lecture from a military trainer. The focus was not on the maneuvers above all else like in some of the previous Halo books, but instead on making sure you knew what was happening, how the characters felt in that moment and guessing as to what could come next. They found the difficult balance of bringing a super-soldier and alien-filled science fiction novel into something grounded enough to work in my mind’s eye.
As stated before, the book focuses on specific points in the roughly six months between the escape onto the ring of Zeta Halo and the start of Halo Infinite. Chapters tend to shift perspective and occasionally time from character to character and it works. It never felt like a story thread was left hanging for too long, and it all tied together well as the end approached. If you’ve played the game it takes place almost entirely within the map we know, and after multiple delays, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the novel had to be changed to fit in here. Halo Infinite itself was originally delayed by 13 months and The Rubicon Protocol followed suit.
Mrs. Gay still manages to fill in most if not all of the gaps from the game’s audio logs while adding in new mysteries and potential paths that the future books and Infinite campaign content may take. Through her deft hand, I never felt confused about the layout of this part of Zeta Halo, broken as it is, thanks to her use of concise and clearly defined descriptors. This goes for the characters as well, as the book takes place over a decently long period they are forced to adapt on the fly and grow into a group whose well-being always felt balanced on the point of a needle. I hope we get to meet them again, either in future novels or potential campaign content in the games.
All in all, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol is an excellent companion piece to Halo Infinite’s campaign. It is a brutal, bloody, and at times terrifying look into just a handful of the experiences that took place during this 6 month period. I hope more is in the works from the transmedia team at 343 Industries set in this fascinating and enormous alien landscape of Zeta Halo. Kelly Gay has now written three damned good Halo books and helped create a solid path for the future of the franchise.
Set in the roughly six-month gap after the events of the opening cutscene of the game Halo Infinite. The UNSC Infinity has been lost, the Banished have ambushed them and over 70,000 human crew onboard are attempting a panicked evacuation. Featuring several characters of whom we find traces during the game’s campaign, Kelly Gay was given the unenviable task of filling in the gaps of an already defined story. Unlike the recent Shadows of Reach, she brilliantly pulls it off by writing a tale full of despair, hope, brutality, and new information on where the entire series is heading. I loved this book, finishing my initial readthrough in a few days, so let’s break it all down in this as-spoiler-free-as-possible review.
There is no way to talk about this book without starting with Halo Infinite’s opening cutscene and lightly delving into the various audio logs you find throughout the game that feature characters from this novel. If you haven’t played the game yet I’d recommend going through it before reading this as the novel is very much a companion piece. That’s not to say you can’t enjoy it without playing, but you will lose a lot of the context that is given throughout its 330 or so pages.
Things start up with the ambush and destruction of the UNSC Infinity. The perspective shifts through multiple protagonists throughout the entirety of the novel. Spartan Bonita Stone, Medic Lucas Browning, Spartan Nina Kovan, Spartan Tomas Horvath, and many more are featured. The Banished have ambushed the UNSC the instant they approached Zeta Halo. Throughout the campaign of Halo Infinite, you can find audio logs that cover this battle along with the six months that Master Chief was left adrift in space after he failed to stop Atriox and his men. There are multiple characters whose fate we already know thanks to the campaign, so I greatly appreciated the introduction of new ones for whom we did not. It helped keep up the suspense during a shockingly brutal story.
While the opening focuses on the evacuation onto Zeta Halo things quickly shift to a relatively small part of the yet-to-be-destroyed ring. Areas such as The Tower and Conservatory feature heavily alongside The Reverie, a.k.a. Outpost Tremonius. The author does a good job of conveying the true size of everything so that it doesn’t feel disconnected from the smaller for video game balance/performance purposes version we get in Halo Infinite.
The Banished and their Brute leaders are vicious, smart, and singular in their purpose. Never once do they show mercy, and at any time every character in the novel felt at risk of losing their life. Unlike the aforementioned Shadows of Reach though it was never obvious who was or wasn’t going to make it out of the new characters. Each injury or death felt both sudden and earned. I even grew attached to the ones whose fate I already knew from the game. The writing gives a proper depth over time with none of the main characters falling into a one-note archetype. In a book so full of loss, pain, and suffering I never felt like it was being used for shock value.
Another area where Kelly Gay’s writing shines is the action. She uses a mix of the internal and external to convey what is happening in a way that is both informative and exhilarating. I never once felt like I was reading a lecture from a military trainer. The focus was not on the maneuvers above all else like in some of the previous Halo books, but instead on making sure you knew what was happening, how the characters felt in that moment and guessing as to what could come next. They found the difficult balance of bringing a super-soldier and alien-filled science fiction novel into something grounded enough to work in my mind’s eye.
As stated before, the book focuses on specific points in the roughly six months between the escape onto the ring of Zeta Halo and the start of Halo Infinite. Chapters tend to shift perspective and occasionally time from character to character and it works. It never felt like a story thread was left hanging for too long, and it all tied together well as the end approached. If you’ve played the game it takes place almost entirely within the map we know, and after multiple delays, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the novel had to be changed to fit in here. Halo Infinite itself was originally delayed by 13 months and The Rubicon Protocol followed suit.
Mrs. Gay still manages to fill in most if not all of the gaps from the game’s audio logs while adding in new mysteries and potential paths that the future books and Infinite campaign content may take. Through her deft hand, I never felt confused about the layout of this part of Zeta Halo, broken as it is, thanks to her use of concise and clearly defined descriptors. This goes for the characters as well, as the book takes place over a decently long period they are forced to adapt on the fly and grow into a group whose well-being always felt balanced on the point of a needle. I hope we get to meet them again, either in future novels or potential campaign content in the games.
All in all, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol is an excellent companion piece to Halo Infinite’s campaign. It is a brutal, bloody, and at times terrifying look into just a handful of the experiences that took place during this 6 month period. I hope more is in the works from the transmedia team at 343 Industries set in this fascinating and enormous alien landscape of Zeta Halo. Kelly Gay has now written three damned good Halo books and helped create a solid path for the future of the franchise.
October 25, 2025
That was sufficiently depressing, even compared with many of the early Halo books which are well known to be quite demoralizing. It was also very well done and filled in massive gap questions in the Halo universe. Glad to have read it but, geez, can humanity catch a break?
October 21, 2024
The Rubicon Protocol is an exhilarating tie-in novel taking place right before the beginning of the video game, Halo Infinite.
4.5⭐s
Not only is this my first Kelly Gay read, but it’s also the FIRST time I’ve read a Halo book. After reading this story, it will NOT be my last.
Page one of this book immediately drops you straight into the action with an ongoing conflict of the UNSC Infinity being torn apart. We follow multiple storylines of the evacuation process of the thousands of UNSC personnel being dropped into The Banished filled ring of Zeta Halo. From here, it’s a thrilling story of survival, from multiple POVs.
Highlights for me
Blistering action across iconic & vivid environments.
Unique POVs that gave a nice peek into the lives of Spartans & UNSC personnel.
Separate and equally engaging storylines.
Themes of duty, loss, and hope are beautifully interlaced throughout the story.
There were multiple scenes that really stuck out to me with one of my favorites involving a Spartan working with an unlikely ally.
I also love that this story touches on all the audio logs you find within the game, offering more depth to the established lore.
TIME FOR MORE HALO, PLEASE!
(I’m not including this in my 200-word review… I also wanted to point out that you do not have to play the game first to enjoy this story. There is enough context and info given that will keep you from feeling lost on what’s going on. Playing the game first, however, will expose you to some characters and give you a more complete picture of the surrounding conflict.)
I hope you enjoy this 200-word review and thanks for reading!
Also, I have a Patreon that is completely open for new members where I will place your name at the bottom of all future reviews and in all future videos. No pressure at all. I can’t thank you enough for simply reading this review and watching my videos. You ROCK!
Thank you to my Patrons ❤️
Exalted Members
Timothy Wolff
Curran Gill
Ousters Members
Sean Bobby Kerr
Follow me on other socials or check out my book below
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@BiblioTheory
Twitter/X – https://twitter.com/BiblioTheory
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/bibliotheory
Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/BiblioTheory
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/bibliotheory
My Book (Falling Into Oblivion) – https://www.bibliotheory.com/my-books
4.5⭐s
Not only is this my first Kelly Gay read, but it’s also the FIRST time I’ve read a Halo book. After reading this story, it will NOT be my last.
Page one of this book immediately drops you straight into the action with an ongoing conflict of the UNSC Infinity being torn apart. We follow multiple storylines of the evacuation process of the thousands of UNSC personnel being dropped into The Banished filled ring of Zeta Halo. From here, it’s a thrilling story of survival, from multiple POVs.
Highlights for me
Blistering action across iconic & vivid environments.
Unique POVs that gave a nice peek into the lives of Spartans & UNSC personnel.
Separate and equally engaging storylines.
Themes of duty, loss, and hope are beautifully interlaced throughout the story.
There were multiple scenes that really stuck out to me with one of my favorites involving a Spartan working with an unlikely ally.
I also love that this story touches on all the audio logs you find within the game, offering more depth to the established lore.
TIME FOR MORE HALO, PLEASE!
(I’m not including this in my 200-word review… I also wanted to point out that you do not have to play the game first to enjoy this story. There is enough context and info given that will keep you from feeling lost on what’s going on. Playing the game first, however, will expose you to some characters and give you a more complete picture of the surrounding conflict.)
I hope you enjoy this 200-word review and thanks for reading!
Also, I have a Patreon that is completely open for new members where I will place your name at the bottom of all future reviews and in all future videos. No pressure at all. I can’t thank you enough for simply reading this review and watching my videos. You ROCK!
Thank you to my Patrons ❤️
Exalted Members
Timothy Wolff
Curran Gill
Ousters Members
Sean Bobby Kerr
Follow me on other socials or check out my book below
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@BiblioTheory
Twitter/X – https://twitter.com/BiblioTheory
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/bibliotheory
Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/BiblioTheory
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/bibliotheory
My Book (Falling Into Oblivion) – https://www.bibliotheory.com/my-books
July 31, 2023
A crucial pillar of the Halo lore. A lot of Soyboys cry about how the Spartan-IVs are weak and feeble compared to the Spartan-IIs, but once you look past the cringe
Marvel-type quips you’ll realize that they also have that dog in them. Obviously they’re not going to be on the same level as the Master Chief, but kidnapping children in order to indoctrinate and augment them into the ultimate soldiers is not really a viable strategy post-Covenant War. Kelly Levi gives lots of moments for the deceased Spartan-IVs that you encounter in Halo Infinite to shine, and the ending sets up future DLC nicely. Which unfortunately is likely not going to be made… damn you BUNGIE!!
Marvel-type quips you’ll realize that they also have that dog in them. Obviously they’re not going to be on the same level as the Master Chief, but kidnapping children in order to indoctrinate and augment them into the ultimate soldiers is not really a viable strategy post-Covenant War. Kelly Levi gives lots of moments for the deceased Spartan-IVs that you encounter in Halo Infinite to shine, and the ending sets up future DLC nicely. Which unfortunately is likely not going to be made… damn you BUNGIE!!
July 8, 2023
Halo novels are a bit of a guilty pleasure and Rubicon Protocol does not disappoint. The author, Kelly Gay, weaves a deft story around the backdrop of the discovery of a new Halo ring (Zeta Halo) and the game-changing destruction of humanity��s largest and most powerful spacecraft, the Infinity.
The action revolves around a collection of diverse characters who have used escape pods to get to the surface of the ring and now have to fight or hide from The Banished, the newest iteration of foe in the Halo series. The battle for survival is gritty and chaotic, and even the super-soldier Spartans are put to the test. In fact, one of the most challenging aspects of the story is dealing with the fact that so many characters just don’t make it. This creates a sense of realism, and because of the depth of characterisation made by Kelly Gay, as a reader you are grimly hanging on as much as the personalities in the novel. But the flipside to this is that there are genuine and poignant moments of heroism, giving an emotional level the casual reader might not expect.
However, the narrative follows the typical “MacGuffin” quest and so lacks some of the complexity of previous novels and indeed leads to the inevitable cliffhanger. It will be interesting to see where this narrative arc goes from here. The introduction of a new Forerunner being, called The Harbinger (from the civilisation that created the Halo rings millenia ago) is only touched upon, and indicates a further, ominous development. Thankfully, enough characters survive at the end to give us all some hope - even if it’s just the hope of another novel!
The action revolves around a collection of diverse characters who have used escape pods to get to the surface of the ring and now have to fight or hide from The Banished, the newest iteration of foe in the Halo series. The battle for survival is gritty and chaotic, and even the super-soldier Spartans are put to the test. In fact, one of the most challenging aspects of the story is dealing with the fact that so many characters just don’t make it. This creates a sense of realism, and because of the depth of characterisation made by Kelly Gay, as a reader you are grimly hanging on as much as the personalities in the novel. But the flipside to this is that there are genuine and poignant moments of heroism, giving an emotional level the casual reader might not expect.
However, the narrative follows the typical “MacGuffin” quest and so lacks some of the complexity of previous novels and indeed leads to the inevitable cliffhanger. It will be interesting to see where this narrative arc goes from here. The introduction of a new Forerunner being, called The Harbinger (from the civilisation that created the Halo rings millenia ago) is only touched upon, and indicates a further, ominous development. Thankfully, enough characters survive at the end to give us all some hope - even if it’s just the hope of another novel!
February 1, 2023
Truly a fantastic Halo book. This book perfectly portrays the struggle for survival the UNSC forces faced before Chief awoke. It weaves a captivating plot , filled with fleshed out characters and plenty of the most bad ass Spartan 4’s the UNSC has to offer.(RIP Bonita Stone) Rubicon Protocol is a heart wrenching rollercoaster of a book from start to finish, that makes you feel deeply connected to each character and hate the banished. I can only hope we get more great books set during halo infinite or even a sequel as the fates of Kovan, Dimik, Bender and Horvath are yet to be determined and I would love to see more of them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2023
In a word, I would say that this book inconsequential.
This serves as a prequel of sorts to Halo: Infinite, and it takes place around many of the locations that you would eventually explore, and some of the characters that you would eventually meet in the game.
The problem is that the book doesn't really do much to expand or enhance either aspect, and much of the content of this book is already explained in the game.
Whilst I enjoyed the idea of Spartans fighting with broken or damaged gear, it wasn't enough to save the somewhat dull action scenes, rushed conclusion, and inconsequential plot.
This serves as a prequel of sorts to Halo: Infinite, and it takes place around many of the locations that you would eventually explore, and some of the characters that you would eventually meet in the game.
The problem is that the book doesn't really do much to expand or enhance either aspect, and much of the content of this book is already explained in the game.
Whilst I enjoyed the idea of Spartans fighting with broken or damaged gear, it wasn't enough to save the somewhat dull action scenes, rushed conclusion, and inconsequential plot.
February 26, 2023
Far and away the nerdiest shit I have read in a minute but only will be until the book after my next. Played all the main line Halo games and then some but I have never read a Halo book. Halo Infinite piqued my interest about just what went down in that world before you start exploring it, and on that front, only a few of my questions have been answered. Felt more like a side story than a supplement to the game narrative though – I suppose the appeal of these novelizations is as supplement to the game experience itself what with its close regard for populating its pages with technical details of items players would be familiar with – but it was agreeable enough as action adventure and it moved quick. I don’t at all regret it.
November 5, 2024
The story was a true masterpiece, a story I already knew the end result of but still surprised me at every turn. A story with high highs and low lows, full of action and beautiful story telling. I wish this was the Halo Infinite campaign we got, as this is the story we deserved!
July 16, 2023
Added much required context to Halo infinite
December 3, 2025
Another boring Halo entry from Gay. I get it, it’s a prequel to Infinite, not much room to be creative and it shows.
November 7, 2024
Much darker and way better than her other books in the franchise
January 18, 2026
I thoroughly enjoyed this writing. Unfortunately didn’t have a chance to read this and the many other book entries in the Halo universe before Halo Infinite came out, or that game would have been more rewarding/impactful. Better late than never, and thought this was a very descriptive and gritty book as far as the UNSC/Banished/Created war goes. These characters were likely in other novels I’ll read shortly (kinda working myself backwards here), but Spartans Horvath, Stone, and Kovan took a lot of the center stage and I felt the characterization of each was extremely well done. Horvath is this grizzled veteran that has no problem living off the land. Stone is this well rounded recon agent and leader. Kovan is the cold and calculated warrior and sniper (reminds me of a new age Linda). I found this story take fun turns diving into Banished Leadership more (the ruthlessness of Chak Lok, Gorian, Jega, the human inspector of prisoners for the banished, Escharum, and more), and also the human hopeless turning into hope with small factions of humans banding together to inflict as much damage to the Banished as possible - The Rubicon Protocol. Comms are down, no word from Infinity, and when the humans crashed on Zeta Halo, it seemed like every person for themself. When the boat crew found refuge with a couple hundred survivors of the Mortal Reverie, it seems as if some structure was coming, but was rapidly crushed after the Escharum assassination mission failed and Banished launched a counter attack. Even Horvath temporarily allying with a brute to fly back to the main Halo ring from a fragment was fascinating and fun to watch the interaction. From prisoner suffering, to Spartans being overwhelmed and tortured (Kate Stalling ONI agent Horvath finds), to allying with Brutes, working with submonitors, humans working to deny the asset of the ring to the Banished, this book had a lot and engaged me from start to finish. Can’t wait to see what’s next.
Rubicon Protocol
Plot Notes
Begins with Spartan Stone evacuating on a lifepod after the banished ambushed the infinity entering zeta halo atmosphere. Spartan Kovan goes down in a pod, and heroicly takes out a phantom. Another pod with medic Lucas Browning radios for help, and Spartan Horvath answers. It’s a mess as banished aircraft are taking out lifepods as crew try to escape.
They crash land. Horvath notices a section of the ring blow apart and forerunner structures expand from the subsurface. He loses contact with his fireteam. Stone breaks open the lifepod with Browning and Murphy and others. They explain there’s no comms with command, and to head to better ground for a defensible position. Horvath finds himself alone after the entire ring went through slipspace and had a portion blown off. Landscape continues to change around him, and he narrowly evades a banished dropship before being buried in a landslide. He continues to try and find allies, and/or an enemy base.
Spartan Kovan and Stone’s camp of survivors is attacked at night by banished. Marines are brutally killed by brutes, and the band of non combat “regulars” (Browning, Murphy, among others) take up arms to help defend. It is a somber scene, and they pick up a signal across the ridge to move to. The Spartan armor is damaged, preventing use of motion detection and other functions, to which Stone makes no excuse and harbors some guilt for the ambush. They find the location to the UNSC ship Mortal Reverie. Aboard they find creature comforts like structure, assigned shower times, assigned bunks, and cheese pizza that makes the team feel at home. They set out to find some answers on what happened to Lasky and the infinity.
Horvath, on a stranded piece of the ring, finds a flipped phantom with one surviving brute with serious injuries. It’s on top of a disabled sentinel. Figuring that’s his best way off, and needing the help of the brute, he decides to free the brute from plates to which he’s attacked right away, and they end up calling a truce or they both die. The banter between them is great, with the brute just threatening to kill him every so often, and Horvath’s curse counter increasing (to keep track of who swears the most in his missing fireteam). The brute also says not only will banished control the ring, but something else as he cuts himself off. This increases Horvath’s interest that there is something else at play for an end game. They release the sentinel from the wreckage after the brute has a meal around a campfire, making a comment that he wants a fair fight after they get back and for the Spartan to eat, which Horvath refuses.
They bring the sentinel to the edge of the ring fragment, and jump off together as Horvath’s AI guides it temporarily. Mid flight, Gorian punches Horvath and they start a skirmish. They crash land, and Horvath is impaled by a shard in his side. Gorian removes it, says next time it’ll be a fair fight, and leaves to join a band of banished vehicles and leaves Horvath behind, somewhat honorably given the circumstances.
44 days into the ambush, Stone and Kovan receive intel that Escharum is leading banished and needs to be taken out to destabilize them. The mood among the Reverie changes to tense. Spartans Griffin, Malik, Panago, and Sarkar depart to take on the challenge. It is difficult for the other Spartans to see them leave, and wish for a safe return.
Intel comes back a week later from Griffin, their mission failed. Not only that, Stone understands Escharum is going to move on their location by nightfall. 200 people in the reverie, couple dozen Spartans with shotty armor, only half combat, and the might of the banished imminent. They prepare their defenses.
The banished come in force. Air, wraiths, choppers, everything. The fight goes on a day and a half, primarily thanks to the point defense guns on the Reverie. Eventually, it is just too much. Wounded and slain Spartans, ODST, everyone. Humans getting ran down, herded off cliffs, some jumping voluntarily. It’s a grim sight, and Browning with Stone and Kovan and some others decide to run for the hills.
Kovan’s mjolnir seized up at the front of a cave the group was hiding in, and Browning decides to distract the pursuing banished party by running out, getting in a ghost, accidentally crashing it, and then being held up by a brute being instructed to keep him alive for Escharum. Stone gets separated. Browning said as a medic, it’s the best action he could think of to protect the group. After rebooting the armored Kovan works back to take out some jackals to free marines, and surveys the battlefield for Spartans to salvage armor. Unfortunately, all Spartans are gone at the base of the Reverie, even though she saw several fall. It means Escharum already has taken them to prevent salvaging.
Kovan returns to the cave with rations, informing everyone there is no place to go and no rally point, that they are on their own.
Browning is tortured by the banished, and meets the inspector, who of all people, is HUMAN. Lucas believes this is intentional, to break them down mentally as well by having their own kind process the prisoners. Lucas “passes” as the inspector identifies him as non combat and may be a scientist or a medic. His reward is to watch all other prisoners be processed, including Spartans, and having their armor ripped off and bodies disgraced and defiled. It’s unsettling. Browning is brought to the Tower of Chak Lok, and meets another prisoner that asks about the Reverie and didn’t know it was overwhelmed. Maybe an early prisoner of higher ranking, as he never shares his name.
Days go on, and Kovan with crew keep moving as a small and nimble unit. They come across some forward operating bases, meet people, regroup with rations and ammo, and head out again. Seems most groups have decided it is far more effective to attack and move in smaller units than a large team. Kovan receives a spotty transmission from Spartan Sorrel initiating the Rubicon Protocol - do anything necessary to prevent banished from taking over the ring.
Horvath awakes days later, semicomatose, but his suit keeping him alive. He gets accustomed to hunting and finding water to stay alive. He tracks the stone shapes he found on the phantom to a cave tunnel, and an ONI operative inside badly tortured with broken legs and missing figures. She explains that she’s been on the ring for almost 2 years, being part of a scientific expedition. She was ONI, and explained there is so much more they don’t understand about the ring that the banished are trying to look for. There is a structure with all ring history and data in it that cannot fall in banished hands. Horvath takes it upon himself to head there and try to get a message out to anyone asking for assistance. He also lends his handgun to Kate Stalling to ease her passing, of her own choosing, and it makes him sick.
Kovan and Murphy team set up charges around a massive grunt camp, with tents full of methane. She fires to ignite the camp, as it all goes up, and the team hides in foxholes around the site for a full day before deciding to move on as the safest course of action. Kovan hopes Stone is still out there, but so far no word.
Kovan and team keep moving. While sighting through her sniper, she notices another sniper, Spartan likely. She looks closer and its Stone. They have a brief reunion and everyone is relieved. They notice heavy banished movement towards the Reverie.
Lucas is taken on a banished ship, suffering and having lost 30 pounds. He’s malnourished and exhausted. He is taken by Itacus to Escharum, close to the Reverie, to a glowing cylix where he is forced to put his hand on it, experiences freezing cold, and release The Harbinger. She takes an interest in him, and tells Escharum that all they know will be undone (mentioned they know little of being banished after their intro).
Kovan sights Lucas getting loaded in a phantom. She tells Stone her tells her not to do anything stupid. They both agree to infiltrate the camp around Reverie at night. Kovan boards the phantom, and sees a defeated Lucas. Lucas explains the harbinger threat, somewhat deliriously, and that he can’t move because of sensors in his shackles. Kovan gives him audio recording beacons that ping to UNSC, and to record whatever he can, and that she’ll be back. She removes her helmet briefly to give him something human since he likely wont see it for a while. She also shares they all made it, even stone, which made him happy.
Spartan Stone has a heck of a going out chapter. One of the longest in the book. As she creates the diversion to let Kovan leave the Reverie, she follows banished deep in the structure and sends out a message to Kovan to let her know. She passes the cylix where the harbinger is released. She goes deeper, and finds slender two arm and 4 legged flying things with jetpacks that have killed some banished. She also sees Gorian and Jega. They extract a data chip with data on location, defenses, and more for the ring. She makes it her mission to disrupt. She fights bravely, and does capture the chip off Jega, instructing her personal AI to copy and corrupt the file. She spars with Jega, killing other banished in the way, before getting bladed by Jega. She is content with the chaos she caused, and hoped it slows the banished. It was a tremendous fight, especially being handicapped with a less than functioning suit.
Lucas is taken by Chak Lok to the Harbinger. She is disappointed with how Lucas was treated, saying she can relate. She has food and water for him, and says let’s begin.
Kovan finally comes clean with Murphy and crew, telling them she and Stone tried to rescue Lucas but failed. Stone then went recon into the facility. They group up and head into the structure, and find Stone. Kovan recovers her VISR chip to see what happened. Kovan understands she copied the ring information and corrupted it before the banished took it back. Viridity, sub monitor of the installation, informs them Cortana is no more and Despondent Pyre is disabled at the moment, preventing the rings defenses from being used. Viridity does explain the conservatory could be used to send out coordinates for assistance, and explains any enemy of the banished is a friend of hers. They decide that is their best action for survival.
Horvath finds his way to a substructure lift, from the ONI agent directions, and goes deep in the structure. He picks up 5 human signals, him and his AI not hiding excitement as they are around 140 days in and haven’t seen a human since day 2. He meets up with Kovan and his relieved to see Kovan, Murphy and others. Kovan explains they are following Viridity to the conservatory and to fall in. Horvath also learns Lucas has been taken, but alive.
Horvath and team recap events after Horvath sees Stone’s VISR footage, and have a 3 fold goal. Free despondent Pyre, release coordinates to UNSC, kill Gorian and Jega.
Lucas, in extreme pain and suffering, recounts how he seems to lose time with the harbinger and feels something “dark” is stirring in him. He starts reciting numbers, but later snaps out of it. Still doesn’t know the mysterious cell-mate neighbor he’s been talking to, but they talk with conviction and authority to keep him positive.
The boat crew meet despondent pyre and other sub monitors, seemingly in an idle state due to Cortana. Veridity gets them up, and informs Pyre that the Harbinger as been awakened and the humans need to get a message to human occupied space for reinforcements so the ring and its flora, fauna, and infrastructure can live. Originally, Pyre is uninterested as the cycle of war will take people off the ring, but after learning of Harbinger changes her tune. Pyre gives the boat crew a key, and instructed them to insert in the beacon tower module to send the signal out. Pyre keeps Veridity and loads a map onto Kovans HUD to help them escape the labyrinth of the facility. The banished are massing outside, but without guidance from the monitors, will take a long time navigating the labyrinth.
Boat team enters the facility, fighting through, and set charges in a valley to block further banished approach. Murphy jumps in front of a plasma bolt to protect the console where Kovan put in the key. The message had been sent. Murphy was a hero and saved the console from destruction. They fought cloaked elites.
Outside, the fight continues. Horvath describes this as gravy, kill more banished since the message was already sent. Cam is hit by a wraith round and dies. Horvath engages Gorian. Dimik runs by to give him a grenade. It helps disorient Gorian and Horvath finishes him with an energy sword, telling him it was a mistake to let him leave. Dimik is shot, but says the translocation pad is active and Horvath is taken somewhere completely different while Kovan and Bender continue the fight.
Lucas continues his struggle. Almost numb to it. Describes banished as feeble and primitive compared to HER. He recites numbers again. Chak Lok and others thinking he is weak to her truth. Harbinger says humans were spared by the forerunners, but her kind wasn’t so lucky. She says it’s time for them to return.
Kovan, Bender, and Dimik are teleported last minute out of the fight before engaging Jega. Sub monitor saved them. They decide next mission is to save boat crew member - Lucas, and finish with saying why don’t they liberate the tower.
Horvath ends up in snowy mountains with Gorian’s corpse. He puts out a message to UNSC, with no response, but says he’ll continue to fight and that if the master chief is out there, they could use him, now more than ever.
Rubicon Protocol
Plot Notes
Begins with Spartan Stone evacuating on a lifepod after the banished ambushed the infinity entering zeta halo atmosphere. Spartan Kovan goes down in a pod, and heroicly takes out a phantom. Another pod with medic Lucas Browning radios for help, and Spartan Horvath answers. It’s a mess as banished aircraft are taking out lifepods as crew try to escape.
They crash land. Horvath notices a section of the ring blow apart and forerunner structures expand from the subsurface. He loses contact with his fireteam. Stone breaks open the lifepod with Browning and Murphy and others. They explain there’s no comms with command, and to head to better ground for a defensible position. Horvath finds himself alone after the entire ring went through slipspace and had a portion blown off. Landscape continues to change around him, and he narrowly evades a banished dropship before being buried in a landslide. He continues to try and find allies, and/or an enemy base.
Spartan Kovan and Stone’s camp of survivors is attacked at night by banished. Marines are brutally killed by brutes, and the band of non combat “regulars” (Browning, Murphy, among others) take up arms to help defend. It is a somber scene, and they pick up a signal across the ridge to move to. The Spartan armor is damaged, preventing use of motion detection and other functions, to which Stone makes no excuse and harbors some guilt for the ambush. They find the location to the UNSC ship Mortal Reverie. Aboard they find creature comforts like structure, assigned shower times, assigned bunks, and cheese pizza that makes the team feel at home. They set out to find some answers on what happened to Lasky and the infinity.
Horvath, on a stranded piece of the ring, finds a flipped phantom with one surviving brute with serious injuries. It’s on top of a disabled sentinel. Figuring that’s his best way off, and needing the help of the brute, he decides to free the brute from plates to which he’s attacked right away, and they end up calling a truce or they both die. The banter between them is great, with the brute just threatening to kill him every so often, and Horvath’s curse counter increasing (to keep track of who swears the most in his missing fireteam). The brute also says not only will banished control the ring, but something else as he cuts himself off. This increases Horvath’s interest that there is something else at play for an end game. They release the sentinel from the wreckage after the brute has a meal around a campfire, making a comment that he wants a fair fight after they get back and for the Spartan to eat, which Horvath refuses.
They bring the sentinel to the edge of the ring fragment, and jump off together as Horvath’s AI guides it temporarily. Mid flight, Gorian punches Horvath and they start a skirmish. They crash land, and Horvath is impaled by a shard in his side. Gorian removes it, says next time it’ll be a fair fight, and leaves to join a band of banished vehicles and leaves Horvath behind, somewhat honorably given the circumstances.
44 days into the ambush, Stone and Kovan receive intel that Escharum is leading banished and needs to be taken out to destabilize them. The mood among the Reverie changes to tense. Spartans Griffin, Malik, Panago, and Sarkar depart to take on the challenge. It is difficult for the other Spartans to see them leave, and wish for a safe return.
Intel comes back a week later from Griffin, their mission failed. Not only that, Stone understands Escharum is going to move on their location by nightfall. 200 people in the reverie, couple dozen Spartans with shotty armor, only half combat, and the might of the banished imminent. They prepare their defenses.
The banished come in force. Air, wraiths, choppers, everything. The fight goes on a day and a half, primarily thanks to the point defense guns on the Reverie. Eventually, it is just too much. Wounded and slain Spartans, ODST, everyone. Humans getting ran down, herded off cliffs, some jumping voluntarily. It’s a grim sight, and Browning with Stone and Kovan and some others decide to run for the hills.
Kovan’s mjolnir seized up at the front of a cave the group was hiding in, and Browning decides to distract the pursuing banished party by running out, getting in a ghost, accidentally crashing it, and then being held up by a brute being instructed to keep him alive for Escharum. Stone gets separated. Browning said as a medic, it’s the best action he could think of to protect the group. After rebooting the armored Kovan works back to take out some jackals to free marines, and surveys the battlefield for Spartans to salvage armor. Unfortunately, all Spartans are gone at the base of the Reverie, even though she saw several fall. It means Escharum already has taken them to prevent salvaging.
Kovan returns to the cave with rations, informing everyone there is no place to go and no rally point, that they are on their own.
Browning is tortured by the banished, and meets the inspector, who of all people, is HUMAN. Lucas believes this is intentional, to break them down mentally as well by having their own kind process the prisoners. Lucas “passes” as the inspector identifies him as non combat and may be a scientist or a medic. His reward is to watch all other prisoners be processed, including Spartans, and having their armor ripped off and bodies disgraced and defiled. It’s unsettling. Browning is brought to the Tower of Chak Lok, and meets another prisoner that asks about the Reverie and didn’t know it was overwhelmed. Maybe an early prisoner of higher ranking, as he never shares his name.
Days go on, and Kovan with crew keep moving as a small and nimble unit. They come across some forward operating bases, meet people, regroup with rations and ammo, and head out again. Seems most groups have decided it is far more effective to attack and move in smaller units than a large team. Kovan receives a spotty transmission from Spartan Sorrel initiating the Rubicon Protocol - do anything necessary to prevent banished from taking over the ring.
Horvath awakes days later, semicomatose, but his suit keeping him alive. He gets accustomed to hunting and finding water to stay alive. He tracks the stone shapes he found on the phantom to a cave tunnel, and an ONI operative inside badly tortured with broken legs and missing figures. She explains that she’s been on the ring for almost 2 years, being part of a scientific expedition. She was ONI, and explained there is so much more they don’t understand about the ring that the banished are trying to look for. There is a structure with all ring history and data in it that cannot fall in banished hands. Horvath takes it upon himself to head there and try to get a message out to anyone asking for assistance. He also lends his handgun to Kate Stalling to ease her passing, of her own choosing, and it makes him sick.
Kovan and Murphy team set up charges around a massive grunt camp, with tents full of methane. She fires to ignite the camp, as it all goes up, and the team hides in foxholes around the site for a full day before deciding to move on as the safest course of action. Kovan hopes Stone is still out there, but so far no word.
Kovan and team keep moving. While sighting through her sniper, she notices another sniper, Spartan likely. She looks closer and its Stone. They have a brief reunion and everyone is relieved. They notice heavy banished movement towards the Reverie.
Lucas is taken on a banished ship, suffering and having lost 30 pounds. He’s malnourished and exhausted. He is taken by Itacus to Escharum, close to the Reverie, to a glowing cylix where he is forced to put his hand on it, experiences freezing cold, and release The Harbinger. She takes an interest in him, and tells Escharum that all they know will be undone (mentioned they know little of being banished after their intro).
Kovan sights Lucas getting loaded in a phantom. She tells Stone her tells her not to do anything stupid. They both agree to infiltrate the camp around Reverie at night. Kovan boards the phantom, and sees a defeated Lucas. Lucas explains the harbinger threat, somewhat deliriously, and that he can’t move because of sensors in his shackles. Kovan gives him audio recording beacons that ping to UNSC, and to record whatever he can, and that she’ll be back. She removes her helmet briefly to give him something human since he likely wont see it for a while. She also shares they all made it, even stone, which made him happy.
Spartan Stone has a heck of a going out chapter. One of the longest in the book. As she creates the diversion to let Kovan leave the Reverie, she follows banished deep in the structure and sends out a message to Kovan to let her know. She passes the cylix where the harbinger is released. She goes deeper, and finds slender two arm and 4 legged flying things with jetpacks that have killed some banished. She also sees Gorian and Jega. They extract a data chip with data on location, defenses, and more for the ring. She makes it her mission to disrupt. She fights bravely, and does capture the chip off Jega, instructing her personal AI to copy and corrupt the file. She spars with Jega, killing other banished in the way, before getting bladed by Jega. She is content with the chaos she caused, and hoped it slows the banished. It was a tremendous fight, especially being handicapped with a less than functioning suit.
Lucas is taken by Chak Lok to the Harbinger. She is disappointed with how Lucas was treated, saying she can relate. She has food and water for him, and says let’s begin.
Kovan finally comes clean with Murphy and crew, telling them she and Stone tried to rescue Lucas but failed. Stone then went recon into the facility. They group up and head into the structure, and find Stone. Kovan recovers her VISR chip to see what happened. Kovan understands she copied the ring information and corrupted it before the banished took it back. Viridity, sub monitor of the installation, informs them Cortana is no more and Despondent Pyre is disabled at the moment, preventing the rings defenses from being used. Viridity does explain the conservatory could be used to send out coordinates for assistance, and explains any enemy of the banished is a friend of hers. They decide that is their best action for survival.
Horvath finds his way to a substructure lift, from the ONI agent directions, and goes deep in the structure. He picks up 5 human signals, him and his AI not hiding excitement as they are around 140 days in and haven’t seen a human since day 2. He meets up with Kovan and his relieved to see Kovan, Murphy and others. Kovan explains they are following Viridity to the conservatory and to fall in. Horvath also learns Lucas has been taken, but alive.
Horvath and team recap events after Horvath sees Stone’s VISR footage, and have a 3 fold goal. Free despondent Pyre, release coordinates to UNSC, kill Gorian and Jega.
Lucas, in extreme pain and suffering, recounts how he seems to lose time with the harbinger and feels something “dark” is stirring in him. He starts reciting numbers, but later snaps out of it. Still doesn’t know the mysterious cell-mate neighbor he’s been talking to, but they talk with conviction and authority to keep him positive.
The boat crew meet despondent pyre and other sub monitors, seemingly in an idle state due to Cortana. Veridity gets them up, and informs Pyre that the Harbinger as been awakened and the humans need to get a message to human occupied space for reinforcements so the ring and its flora, fauna, and infrastructure can live. Originally, Pyre is uninterested as the cycle of war will take people off the ring, but after learning of Harbinger changes her tune. Pyre gives the boat crew a key, and instructed them to insert in the beacon tower module to send the signal out. Pyre keeps Veridity and loads a map onto Kovans HUD to help them escape the labyrinth of the facility. The banished are massing outside, but without guidance from the monitors, will take a long time navigating the labyrinth.
Boat team enters the facility, fighting through, and set charges in a valley to block further banished approach. Murphy jumps in front of a plasma bolt to protect the console where Kovan put in the key. The message had been sent. Murphy was a hero and saved the console from destruction. They fought cloaked elites.
Outside, the fight continues. Horvath describes this as gravy, kill more banished since the message was already sent. Cam is hit by a wraith round and dies. Horvath engages Gorian. Dimik runs by to give him a grenade. It helps disorient Gorian and Horvath finishes him with an energy sword, telling him it was a mistake to let him leave. Dimik is shot, but says the translocation pad is active and Horvath is taken somewhere completely different while Kovan and Bender continue the fight.
Lucas continues his struggle. Almost numb to it. Describes banished as feeble and primitive compared to HER. He recites numbers again. Chak Lok and others thinking he is weak to her truth. Harbinger says humans were spared by the forerunners, but her kind wasn’t so lucky. She says it’s time for them to return.
Kovan, Bender, and Dimik are teleported last minute out of the fight before engaging Jega. Sub monitor saved them. They decide next mission is to save boat crew member - Lucas, and finish with saying why don’t they liberate the tower.
Horvath ends up in snowy mountains with Gorian’s corpse. He puts out a message to UNSC, with no response, but says he’ll continue to fight and that if the master chief is out there, they could use him, now more than ever.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 17, 2022
What I noticed about this book is that is very easily contrasted with The Flood.
And one thing I noticed and took me a bit to solidify: where The Flood has a similar cast of known and new characters from the game whose events it portrays, it also portrays the 'birda eye view', the big picutre of the game. Commanders on both sides are prominent, and you get a feel for the command structure and massive scale.
Rubicon Protocol does not have that. It features Griffin about as much in the games, and the commander of the Reverie site gets barely a mention, of Escharum and his higher eschelon we get nothing, save for a bit of Jega, and nothing from any Banished POV. Following this book, I hardly anything more significant about the conflict as when I started. And that's not what I expected from a book like that.
Gems in the book were the 'Boat Crew' toughening up and becoming capable guerilla fighters, and meeting up and keeping scores and bitching about Glibnub, the scale of the terrain, but there also is relatively little of that.
Gay doesn't do a bad job necessarily, but I fear the book has a problem that was mentioned in another review: 343 kept her hands tied in what she could show/tell about.
The other alternative would be that Gay has too little imagination of her own, and from her previous novels, that is hardly the case.
So yeah, that is a real bummer and the main reason for 3 stars
And one thing I noticed and took me a bit to solidify: where The Flood has a similar cast of known and new characters from the game whose events it portrays, it also portrays the 'birda eye view', the big picutre of the game. Commanders on both sides are prominent, and you get a feel for the command structure and massive scale.
Rubicon Protocol does not have that. It features Griffin about as much in the games, and the commander of the Reverie site gets barely a mention, of Escharum and his higher eschelon we get nothing, save for a bit of Jega, and nothing from any Banished POV. Following this book, I hardly anything more significant about the conflict as when I started. And that's not what I expected from a book like that.
Gems in the book were the 'Boat Crew' toughening up and becoming capable guerilla fighters, and meeting up and keeping scores and bitching about Glibnub, the scale of the terrain, but there also is relatively little of that.
Gay doesn't do a bad job necessarily, but I fear the book has a problem that was mentioned in another review: 343 kept her hands tied in what she could show/tell about.
The other alternative would be that Gay has too little imagination of her own, and from her previous novels, that is hardly the case.
So yeah, that is a real bummer and the main reason for 3 stars
March 28, 2025
That ending has me in a chokehold but there are so many unanswered questions!! But the pacing of this book was unmatched. I was never bored, I kept up with the story line having no past experience with Halo. The characters have depth but only some you truely feel connected too (which I think was the point).
The writing from Kelly Gay is some of the best I have read. I felt she knew how to get the readers attention but made it really clear even with the changes in perspective. I would love to read another novel by her.
The only reason this isn’t a 5 star is that I felt let down by the ending, considering how great the rest of the book was (I am aware I have to play the game to know the ending)!
The writing from Kelly Gay is some of the best I have read. I felt she knew how to get the readers attention but made it really clear even with the changes in perspective. I would love to read another novel by her.
The only reason this isn’t a 5 star is that I felt let down by the ending, considering how great the rest of the book was (I am aware I have to play the game to know the ending)!
January 4, 2023
God damn, Gay keeps writing characters that I want to know more about.
January 1, 2025
Halo: The Rubicon Protocol is a book written by Kelly Gay that acts as a prequel to the events of Halo Infinite.
This book takes place within the 6 month time period where the Master Chief had been defeated by the Banished leader known as Atriox on the UNSC flagship Infinity. Infinity had arrived at Zeta Halo in hopes to deploy the AI known as The Weapon to contain Cortana and her reign across the galaxy with the use of the Guardians.
Unfortunately for the UNSC, the Banished had also made their way to Zeta Halo with their own ambitions. Multiple Banished ships ambushed Infinity with such overwhelming force, that its crew were ordered to evacuate and land on Zeta Halo. Being scattered and hunted at every turn, there was no other option than just survive and do any kind of damage to the Banished by any means necessary.
This was the Rubicon Protocol, formed by some of the Spartan IVs of Infinity and first introduced in the audio logs of Halo Infinite. Speaking of these supersoliders, Kelly Gay managed to invoke many readers, including myself, with a newfound respect for the newest generation of Spartans. In previous media, the Spartan IVs were widely received as incompetent and cocky/egotistical or just bland. This book has managed to single-handedly shift that narrative in the eyes of many through the author's thoughtful care to establish rich personality, emotion and perseverance against a catastrophic adversity.
My appreciation for this was heightened even more when I learned that originally, some of the main Spartan characters in this novel such as Horvath and Kovan were planned by 343 Industries at the time to simply be more dead Spartans that the Master Chief comes across in Halo Infinite's campaign that we learn only bits and pieces about in the audio logs. Kelly Gay saved these characters from this fate, using them instead as the protagonists for this novel and giving them an incredible spotlight they otherwise would not have had.
In many ways, this book reminds me of Halo Reach in the sense that we know this isn't a fight that the good guys win. The enemy is simply more powerful and numerous. Despite this, the protagonists fight tooth and nail, with ever fiber of their being to defy their enemies and ensure that their cause has hope to fight another day, even if it means death for them.
Speaking of the enemy, Kelly Gay does a great job of supporting Escharum's unique psychological element to warfare. Escharum is the War Chief of the Banished that leads the Banished on Zeta Halo following Atriox's presumed death. Escharum stands firmly on a philosophy of extinguishing his enemy's will to fight. This is apparent with his gravity axe being named "Diminisher of Hope" where he believes that it's one thing to destroy an enemies' war machines or weapons, but it's another thing entirely to destroy their very will to fight. It isn't hope that saves you, but a show of strength.
Within this book, there is a section where captured UNSC personnel are brought to a Banished facility known as the Redoubt of Sundering. While there, the UNSC witness a human serving the Banished and assigned to inspect the prisoners brought in. This completely demoralizes the crew there and was meticulously designed to be that way by Escharum. Seeing their own kind turned against them and unphased by the brutality the Banished conducts diminished any hope that the UNSC there may have still had, and it's excellently done.
My one and only nitpick with this book is the lack of dedicated Banished chapters. While there are some chapters that include Banished characters, they all come from the perspective of a UNSC character within the vicinity of a Banished character, and there isn't as much attention overall to the Banished perspective. It's more than serviceable still for the overall direction the author was going for, but as an avid fan of all things Banished related, to have at least a few dedicated Banished chapters could've gone a long way to build more character for some of the High-value-target bosses/characters from Halo Infinite that ended up getting the short end of the stick in the game.
Overall, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol will go down as one of my all-time favorite Halo novels. Originally, I was expecting this book to be more about the overall war on Zeta Halo at large, and for it to include some major characters that were not present at all in Halo Infinite such as Palmer, Lasky and Locke. I wasn't alone in thinking this was the direction it was going to take at first, and I know that some people were disappointed that this book didn't live up to those expectations, but I can't knock a book like this simply because I hoped it would have certain characters in it. The book set out to achieve a fairly enclosed story, focusing on building up a handful of newer characters in the Halo universe while adding some more context to some things in the audio logs of Halo Infinite and make the Banished more terrifyingly brutal, and it did just that.
Kelly Gay should be proud of the work she was able to do and the impact it had on Halo fans looking for more story on the captivating events surrounding Halo Infinite.
This book takes place within the 6 month time period where the Master Chief had been defeated by the Banished leader known as Atriox on the UNSC flagship Infinity. Infinity had arrived at Zeta Halo in hopes to deploy the AI known as The Weapon to contain Cortana and her reign across the galaxy with the use of the Guardians.
Unfortunately for the UNSC, the Banished had also made their way to Zeta Halo with their own ambitions. Multiple Banished ships ambushed Infinity with such overwhelming force, that its crew were ordered to evacuate and land on Zeta Halo. Being scattered and hunted at every turn, there was no other option than just survive and do any kind of damage to the Banished by any means necessary.
This was the Rubicon Protocol, formed by some of the Spartan IVs of Infinity and first introduced in the audio logs of Halo Infinite. Speaking of these supersoliders, Kelly Gay managed to invoke many readers, including myself, with a newfound respect for the newest generation of Spartans. In previous media, the Spartan IVs were widely received as incompetent and cocky/egotistical or just bland. This book has managed to single-handedly shift that narrative in the eyes of many through the author's thoughtful care to establish rich personality, emotion and perseverance against a catastrophic adversity.
My appreciation for this was heightened even more when I learned that originally, some of the main Spartan characters in this novel such as Horvath and Kovan were planned by 343 Industries at the time to simply be more dead Spartans that the Master Chief comes across in Halo Infinite's campaign that we learn only bits and pieces about in the audio logs. Kelly Gay saved these characters from this fate, using them instead as the protagonists for this novel and giving them an incredible spotlight they otherwise would not have had.
In many ways, this book reminds me of Halo Reach in the sense that we know this isn't a fight that the good guys win. The enemy is simply more powerful and numerous. Despite this, the protagonists fight tooth and nail, with ever fiber of their being to defy their enemies and ensure that their cause has hope to fight another day, even if it means death for them.
Speaking of the enemy, Kelly Gay does a great job of supporting Escharum's unique psychological element to warfare. Escharum is the War Chief of the Banished that leads the Banished on Zeta Halo following Atriox's presumed death. Escharum stands firmly on a philosophy of extinguishing his enemy's will to fight. This is apparent with his gravity axe being named "Diminisher of Hope" where he believes that it's one thing to destroy an enemies' war machines or weapons, but it's another thing entirely to destroy their very will to fight. It isn't hope that saves you, but a show of strength.
Within this book, there is a section where captured UNSC personnel are brought to a Banished facility known as the Redoubt of Sundering. While there, the UNSC witness a human serving the Banished and assigned to inspect the prisoners brought in. This completely demoralizes the crew there and was meticulously designed to be that way by Escharum. Seeing their own kind turned against them and unphased by the brutality the Banished conducts diminished any hope that the UNSC there may have still had, and it's excellently done.
My one and only nitpick with this book is the lack of dedicated Banished chapters. While there are some chapters that include Banished characters, they all come from the perspective of a UNSC character within the vicinity of a Banished character, and there isn't as much attention overall to the Banished perspective. It's more than serviceable still for the overall direction the author was going for, but as an avid fan of all things Banished related, to have at least a few dedicated Banished chapters could've gone a long way to build more character for some of the High-value-target bosses/characters from Halo Infinite that ended up getting the short end of the stick in the game.
Overall, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol will go down as one of my all-time favorite Halo novels. Originally, I was expecting this book to be more about the overall war on Zeta Halo at large, and for it to include some major characters that were not present at all in Halo Infinite such as Palmer, Lasky and Locke. I wasn't alone in thinking this was the direction it was going to take at first, and I know that some people were disappointed that this book didn't live up to those expectations, but I can't knock a book like this simply because I hoped it would have certain characters in it. The book set out to achieve a fairly enclosed story, focusing on building up a handful of newer characters in the Halo universe while adding some more context to some things in the audio logs of Halo Infinite and make the Banished more terrifyingly brutal, and it did just that.
Kelly Gay should be proud of the work she was able to do and the impact it had on Halo fans looking for more story on the captivating events surrounding Halo Infinite.
August 25, 2024
Finally, the last Halo book (chronologically)! It’s taken me 2 years to read all 35 books. I could’ve finished them sooner, but I utilize the practice where I “take breaks” by reading standalone books when reading through a long series. Anyway, this book takes place directly after the first cutscene in Halo Infinite and the months before the Master Chief is found after the Banished’s ambush of the UNSC Infinity when they arrive at Zeta Halo. We follow a new cast of characters—Spartan-IVs and other UNSC personnel—as they struggle to survive on the fractured Halo ring and re-attain communications with UNSC leadership in human-occupied space.
Kelly Gay does a phenomenal job of exploring themes of losing your comrades in war—the spontaneity and shock of it, and having to compartmentalize your grief to complete the mission, focusing also on elements of shell shock, PTSD, prisoners of war, impostor syndrome, and survivor’s guilt. She also weaves the theme of familial bonds a soldier builds with his/her brothers in arms, which I’ve experienced during my own time in the army.
With all that said, what sets this book apart from the rest of the Halo books is that it focuses on that messiness of war—not on its gore, but on the emotional, physical, and psychological toll it takes. The other Halo books have elements of these in some respects, but none come close to the severity of it in ‘The Rubicon Protocol.’ What also sets it apart from the others is that the story comes full circle in a way that is emotionally and narratively satisfying.
Kelly Gay does a phenomenal job of exploring themes of losing your comrades in war—the spontaneity and shock of it, and having to compartmentalize your grief to complete the mission, focusing also on elements of shell shock, PTSD, prisoners of war, impostor syndrome, and survivor’s guilt. She also weaves the theme of familial bonds a soldier builds with his/her brothers in arms, which I’ve experienced during my own time in the army.
With all that said, what sets this book apart from the rest of the Halo books is that it focuses on that messiness of war—not on its gore, but on the emotional, physical, and psychological toll it takes. The other Halo books have elements of these in some respects, but none come close to the severity of it in ‘The Rubicon Protocol.’ What also sets it apart from the others is that the story comes full circle in a way that is emotionally and narratively satisfying.
September 6, 2022
*2.5/5
Halo Rubicon Protocol by Kelly Gay is a largely fine and forgettable sci-fi novel. She is clearly handcuffed by 343 story group not having things figured out and does the best with what she has. Following spartan 4’s and other UNSC survivors prior to the events of Halo Infinite. Stranded on the Halo Ring with no way off and no support they have to find ways to survive and stop the banished from gaining control.
This is not an essential book. You read this and then play Halo and your experience of the campaign will not be enhanced in any way. Bonita Stone was a badass spartan and you now know how she died before chief got the enhanced shield from her. By seeing that dead body any halo player would assume a spartan 4 is a badass. Stuff like that. Not really adding even when it’s written well.
Stone, Kovan and Horvath are largely the POV characters with some UNSC personnel that are not memorable. None of their stuff is written badly but it’s not memorable. Horvath spending 90 percent of the book trying to get back to everyone else and settle a personal score (which concludes in a very uninteresting way imo) only to end up in the same kind of situation by the end.
Halo Rubicon Protocol by Kelly Gay is a largely fine and forgettable sci-fi novel. She is clearly handcuffed by 343 story group not having things figured out and does the best with what she has. Following spartan 4’s and other UNSC survivors prior to the events of Halo Infinite. Stranded on the Halo Ring with no way off and no support they have to find ways to survive and stop the banished from gaining control.
This is not an essential book. You read this and then play Halo and your experience of the campaign will not be enhanced in any way. Bonita Stone was a badass spartan and you now know how she died before chief got the enhanced shield from her. By seeing that dead body any halo player would assume a spartan 4 is a badass. Stuff like that. Not really adding even when it’s written well.
Stone, Kovan and Horvath are largely the POV characters with some UNSC personnel that are not memorable. None of their stuff is written badly but it’s not memorable. Horvath spending 90 percent of the book trying to get back to everyone else and settle a personal score (which concludes in a very uninteresting way imo) only to end up in the same kind of situation by the end.
August 25, 2022
I listened to this book via Audible.
Halo: The Rubicon Protocol fills in some of the gaps between the opening cinematic of Halo Infinite and the player taking control of the Master Chief to start the game. It follows a few of the Spartans and UNSC personnel who evacuated from the UNSC Infinity and landed on Zeta Halo and their efforts to regroup and fight the Banished in any way possible.
The Rubicon Protocol feels like a Halo book set during the Covenant War, since humanity's backs are against the wall, trapped on a Forerunner installation and outnumbered by their adversaries. It has a lot of parallels to the narrative of the first Halo game, and that's a good thing. It's an uplifting story despite its moments of tragedy, and you witness people from different walks of life coming together for the common good.
I really enjoyed The Rubicon Protocol and didn't want the journey to end. Although we learn about some of the characters seen here during the gameplay of Halo Infinite, I absolutely want to read more about the 'boat crew' and what happens to them next. It's a solid entry into the Halo series and one that I heartily recommend!
Halo: The Rubicon Protocol fills in some of the gaps between the opening cinematic of Halo Infinite and the player taking control of the Master Chief to start the game. It follows a few of the Spartans and UNSC personnel who evacuated from the UNSC Infinity and landed on Zeta Halo and their efforts to regroup and fight the Banished in any way possible.
The Rubicon Protocol feels like a Halo book set during the Covenant War, since humanity's backs are against the wall, trapped on a Forerunner installation and outnumbered by their adversaries. It has a lot of parallels to the narrative of the first Halo game, and that's a good thing. It's an uplifting story despite its moments of tragedy, and you witness people from different walks of life coming together for the common good.
I really enjoyed The Rubicon Protocol and didn't want the journey to end. Although we learn about some of the characters seen here during the gameplay of Halo Infinite, I absolutely want to read more about the 'boat crew' and what happens to them next. It's a solid entry into the Halo series and one that I heartily recommend!
September 28, 2022
8/10.
This works really well as a prequel to Infinite, and fills in some of the gaps that surround the game's audio logs and collectibles. It gives a lot of context to the things you can discover in the game itself, with some of the dialogue from those audio logs being used word for word in the book. This also functions well as a standalone story that could be read for its own sake. It was a little hard to keep up with the number of characters, but as the story got more focused over time that problem went away. It's hard to hit it out of the park when you're writing within constraints of something that happens immediately after your story in most cases, but I think the author did a great job here. I'm not sure if this was written in conjunction with the game as it was being developed, or if writing began after the game's plot was finalized. Either way, hopefully it sets up new campaign content in the future and some of the characters here are in the game.
This works really well as a prequel to Infinite, and fills in some of the gaps that surround the game's audio logs and collectibles. It gives a lot of context to the things you can discover in the game itself, with some of the dialogue from those audio logs being used word for word in the book. This also functions well as a standalone story that could be read for its own sake. It was a little hard to keep up with the number of characters, but as the story got more focused over time that problem went away. It's hard to hit it out of the park when you're writing within constraints of something that happens immediately after your story in most cases, but I think the author did a great job here. I'm not sure if this was written in conjunction with the game as it was being developed, or if writing began after the game's plot was finalized. Either way, hopefully it sets up new campaign content in the future and some of the characters here are in the game.
August 18, 2022
I've been reading a lot of Troy Denning for a hot while here trying to catch up on Halo, and this is such a breath of fresh air. Kelly Gay sketches out characters well so you can tell them apart and care about them, and their emotions feel true to the situations they're in.
This book does an excellent job fleshing out the events leading up to Halo: Infinite and gives weight and context to the audiologs in the game. It's also just good Halo on its own: the action is tight and rapid, and it got me to care about characters in a very grim and uncertain situation even knowing that I might lose them.
September 26, 2022
GOD ITS BEEN TO LONG!
It has been so long since I've been in the world of Halo, with my last journey being during infinite.
Immediately I want to go back and replay infinite so I can follow the tracks and the path of those who came before.
An amazing dive into the stories of so many different characters as the scavenge to survive on the ring while making life hell for the Banished.
Only downside was little to no perspective of the banished which I've come to grow and love from previous Halo books, but probably for the best for this story in order to build and pace that hopelessness that is built so well.
Amazing work.
It has been so long since I've been in the world of Halo, with my last journey being during infinite.
Immediately I want to go back and replay infinite so I can follow the tracks and the path of those who came before.
An amazing dive into the stories of so many different characters as the scavenge to survive on the ring while making life hell for the Banished.
Only downside was little to no perspective of the banished which I've come to grow and love from previous Halo books, but probably for the best for this story in order to build and pace that hopelessness that is built so well.
Amazing work.
December 2, 2022
There's a level of darkness in this piece that we've rarely seen in video game novelizations. The epic quality of the Halo space opera brought down into the muddy, PTSD-filled muck of the ugliness of war.
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Want to listen to our entire talkthrough of this book? Subscribe to Pixel Lit anywhere podcasts are offered, or click below:
https://pixellitpod.com/halo-the-rubi...
https://pixellitpod.com/halo-the-rubi...
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May 18, 2024
Kelly Kelly Kelly.... you've been holding out on me. This is such a good book from start to finish. I found myself loving every character and genuinely felt sad when someone was killed off because she does such a good job of making the characters have an impact on you. One of the only things I even had a slight issue with is how the marines and Spartans manage to grow their hair so long in a matter of months. What's their secret??? Bc if I had my head shaved it would take a year for me to grow it long enough to tie back but they're able to in a few months! Even having full beards!!
November 29, 2025
this book is simply phenomenal, it dictates the survivors on zeta halo doing their best to do exactly that survive and mount a resistance, it feels so much like from the original trilogy the flood, where the survivors are mounting a scattered regrouping trying to figure out the whereabouts of their captain and commanding officers as well as friends and team members except for unlike on the originals ring these survivors are Spartans and are so much more powerful which really puts the banished strength into perspective
February 21, 2024
Of Kelly's books that I've read, this is the book I like the least. While it doesn't read like some deranged piece of Halo fan fiction, I don't think that military action is homegirl's strong suit. It's not as bad as Shadows of Reach (not Kelly Gay but they came out around the same time), so I can't say that I hate it, but it's kind of hard to care about the characters she writes about. It's definitely not the worst halo book tho. There are way worse out there.
June 14, 2025
Fun military scifi that happens to be set in the Halo universe. I haven't read a Halo book since First Strike and I was slightly lost at first, but the book quickly picks you up on the setting. Unfortunately the book is only recapping game lore and doesn't have an ending, so poor Lucas is just left hanging. I understand that there's another book in the works featuring him and Chief, so there is hope! Maybe it covers DLC the game didn't get?
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