William C. Dietz

While it’s nice to have a novelisation of the first Halo game, this action packed adventure translates poorly into the written format. It might be fun to shoot countless aliens and space parasites from behind a controller, but it isn’t fun to read about someone else doing it paragraph after paragraph.

That said, the novel provides some neat character insight and helps emphasis how creepy the Flood is. However, this could’ve been achieved better through a series of short stories.

I don’t recommend reading this unless you’re a massive Halo fan. Play the game instead.… (more)

Thin and lame.

Let's be clear, when I'm reading military sci-fi, I'm not expecting Pulitzer material, or even Heinlein and Pournelle. Even with those expectations, this is still weak.

The few pages of military action are actually not bad, and if there'd been more of it, I would have got some of what I expected. Instead I got endless pages of poor attempts at political intrigue and a half hearted try at a love triangle Harlequin readers would giggle at. And no, mentioning null G sex in passing a couple of times with the only character that's ever described as attractive doesn't help any.

Plot holes like Swiss cheese and no real redeeming features. Skip it.… (more)

I've heard mentioned many times this is the 'way of the future' - Video games spawning books and movies rather than the other way around. This book is a perfect example of how not to do it.

After reading [b:The Fall of Reach|60229|The Fall of Reach (Halo, #1)|Eric S. Nylund|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170538877s/60229.jpg|1881174] I had decent expectations for this one, and ended up pretty disappointed. The Fall Of Reach is an OK novel with elements of the game folded into it. The authour worked hard to make a storyline and plot that hung together and fleshed out what we knew from the game.

This book on the other hand is mostly vast swathes of extra descriptive game walk-thru. And trust me, while I really enjoy playing Halo, a first person shooter game walk thru is not gripping reading material.

Turn left, shoot three Grunts, go up stairs, use grenade on group of Elites on walkway, turn right, shoot Grunt...

you get the picture.

I'm guessing the authour had zero lattitude to play with the story line. There are some original touches here or there, expanding on things from the game or adding bits not there at all. Those parts are actually pretty decent, and the only parts that read like a story. As for the rest of it, Master Chief and Cortana show more character in the game than they do here.

If you're a Halo fanatic and haven't read the book, then maybe there's something here for you, but otherwise try something else.… (more)