Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144463 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

He's not the last one
Very enjoyable book, was gripped right up to the end. I know some people were bothered about it not having Spartan 117 in the book an awful lot, but that made the book even more compelling to read on. Again still none the wiser as to what happened to all the forerunner even after the discovery of the shield world. Although playing Halo 3 and actively searching out the 'terminals' and reading them you get a slight picture as to what happened to them. (A clue to this - IT INVOLVES 343 GUILTY SPARK)
Although i am beginning to see another book coming out or maybe a spin off. If you have completed Halo 3 on 'legendary' you get a sneaky wee cutscene showing the remains of the frigate 'Forward Unto Dawn' containing the chief and Cortana tumbling towards Onyx which contains various people whom you will know if you have read the book. (Geek moment: on seeing this i actually leapt up of my sofa screaming OMG)

Worth a read if you're a big Halo fan
This latest novel in the Halo series is a slight departure from the others in that it barely features the Master Chief and instead focuses on a top secret ONI training centre on the mysterious planet Onyx. Here the UNSC are training a new breed of super soldier, the SPARTAN-III.

It also (conveniently) turns out that Onyx houses a Forerunner installation, which of course the humans ultimately run into and then the Covenant turn up, as they wouldn't mind a look either.

If you haven't played the Halo games or read any of the other books, I strongly suggest you do before tackling this one. It gives you a bit more depth to the overall plot of the series and lays some hints in the direction of Halo 3.

It's also Nylund's weakest Halo novel. The central premise is stretched awfully thin, and although the new characters are better drawn than previously, I found some of them I didn't care about as much as I would have liked. Elements of the story are confusing, and as another reviewer has mentioned, I had to re-read certain sections earlier on in the book as I was getting a little lost.

The story winds its way to the end without much in the way of ultimate resolution, which although not surprising is still disappointing. Worth a read if you enjoy the series, but not the best example.

Great books for people who never read!
If you're the kind of person who doesn't actually read much and just plays lots of videogames I'm sure the Halo books are a great waste of time. For people who read real books however the plots are predictable, shallow, and jingoistic, and the writing's terrible. If you've friends recommending you these books first think: are they primarily readers or gamers? It's bound to be the latter, because somebody who reads widely but acknowledge these books to be trite crap.