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HALO: Original novel series... is it worth it? All 6 books ranked

 Today I am going to go over all 6 of the original Halo Novels: Fall of Reach, The Flood, First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx, Contact Harvest and The Cole Protocol. I will rank and rate each one and rate the full franchise. NOTICE: This post will include some minor spoilers.



6: The Flood by William C. Deitz. (No. 2 in the series)


The Flood is good. I like it as a Halo CE fan. However, it's not as good as the other ones. The reason is while it gives us a huge insight on what everyone else on the Halo is doing while John 117 is doing his thing. But the problem is that when it is on the Master Chief parts, he basically just kills things. there's no method to the madness. and the author quickly runs out of ways to say: "Master Chief kills the Unngoy." It's still pretty good but can't match up to the rest of the novels. Score: 84 🌠

5: Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten. (No. 0 in the series)


This is a pretty good prequel novel for the series. It's also the first one I read. I like the viewpoint from the Marines and the background for Avery and The Prophet of Truth. And this also features one of my favorite characters in the Covenant: DADAB! This novel is worth reading as it gives background on a lot of things like Halo 2 boss Tartarus. It is also noteworthy that this is the actual start of the Human-Covenant war. This book sets the stage for the entire Halo franchise in a way. (Halo 3 was already out at this point.) Score: 91🌟

4: First Strike by Eric Nylund (No.3 In the series)


Halo: First Strike connects Halo CE to Halo 2. It is also a good idea rather than seeing the Halo 2 intro and thinking: "So he just flew home in the pelican?" I enjoy stories that star other characters. This novel stars Spartan II Fred and John 117. I was wondering at the end of Fall of Reach: "That's it?! They all just died?" This novel shows the survivors of Reach and also what happened on Reach. The alternate viewpoint from the new Spartan characters, Halsey and the other UNSC personnel make this an even better book. I like Nylund's writing style and can give this one a Score of: 93🌟  

3: Ghosts of Onyx by Eric Nylund (No.4 in the series)

Ghosts of Onyx is really good. As I said before: I like new characters. this is no different. There is almost NO mention of John 117. instead, it stars: Kurt-051, Kelly-087, Dr. Halsey and the Spartan IIIs. This novel goes over the creation of the Spartan III project proposed by ONI officer James Ackerson. (You want to beat the crud out of him later.) The Spartan IIIs were supposedly made for suicide missions. The result is the complete annihilation of Alpha Company and only 2 survivors in Beta Company. You can't help but feel bad when these Spartans die because of an idiot naval officer. The story also gives you some insight on the Forerunners and Covenant. I like this novel and its score is 96🌟   

T-1: The Cole Protocol by Tobias S. Buckell. (No. 1.5 in the series)
This novel star's Spartan grey team and one of the best Halo characters there is: The Arbiter! I like Covenant stories, and this is one of the best. Tobias is also a really good writer for pulling this novel off. The plot is so all over the place and hairbrained it never should have worked... but it did and was awesome. This Novel includes almost 5 major plots. maybe more! From the Prophet of Regret sending Thel Vladamee to stop a Jackal group from working with humans, To Truth telling those Jackals to set up an entire planet of Unngoy! PLUS, an Insurrectionist Smuggling group!? this book never should have worked. and yet it's amazing. Score: 99🌟

T-1: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund. (No.1 In the series)

The OG Halo novel remains one of the best. Following John 117 and the Spartan II project this is the definitive prequel to Halo: CE. This is also the book to thank when you play HALO: REACH. The story goes like this: Dr. Halsey proposes the SPARTAN II project to ONI. They go with it. Halsey gathers the candidates at age 6 (Like in Ender's Game. Which is very similar to this novel!) She gives them genetic enhancements and trains them until about age 12 where they begin action. Halsey uses the Spartans against the Covenant. The story continues and then Halsey reveals a plot to attack the Covenant home world. The plan was to board a prophet's ship and commandeer it to the home world. However, Reach was attacked before the plan could be executed. Almost all of the Spartan II's were lost... I left a lot of the story out. go read it. Score: 99 🌟 

And there you have it. The full ranking of the first 6 Halo novels. I enjoyed reading all of these as I am an addict for many shooter franchises. Particularly Half-Life and Halo. I like reading Sci-Fi books, and these are really good. FRANCHISE SCORE: 95🌟



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