Halo: Ghosts of Onyx: Volume 4

If you are mad about Halo like I am, you must read this book. It's the third in the series after the Fall Of Reach and The Flood. I am not the kind of person who likes to read, I am a typical teenager who plays Xbox and watches TV all day, and the last book I read all the way through was years ago, which took me months to get through.However when I picked up the first Halo book, I couldnt put it down. So far in the second month of reading these I am almost on the fourth book, which is fast for a slow reader like me.The first book was the prequel to the orginal Halo: CE Xbox game, and the second is actually based on the first game, however the first book is not like the new Halo game "Reach", it shows how the first spartans came to be, and the second book has a larger story than the game with extra content which you didn't see, and then the third book is based between the first and second Halo games.Anyone who loves Halo should love these books so you must buy it. :)

I imagine that it is tremendously difficult to write a spin-off novel of a film or game without it becoming an extremely superficial read. That said, Nylund has managed by his second Halo book to take over the reigns from Bungie Studios and steer the Halo universe into a densely structured, character-centric, cyberpunk tinged tour-de-force.There are parallel plot lines throughout this book, overlapping and interconnecting that kept the overall story unpredictable whilst never letting my attention off the boil. The science-driven plot devices are superb too, and in particular, his technical understanding of artificial intelligence is used to his advantage in writing Cortana's part of the story (the ai character).Having played through both games twice and now on to Nylund's next book "Ghosts of Onyx", I feel so enthralled that it is difficult to compare the experience to that of any other media based entertainment I've had so far.

The book follows familiar characters from a few decades before the first halo uptown just before it. The expands more on the world and the master chief life. Definely. Recommendation worthy.

An incredible book that fleshes out the lore between Halo: CE and Halo: 2. I definitely prefer this copy over the new one, the classic art style is still as gorgeous as it was almost 20 years ago. A must buy book for any Halo fan that appreciates lore outside the games.

If you've read my First Strike review, you'll know that I've rated Eric Nylund for taking the Halo franchise and making it his own. As he raises the bar yet again in this novel, I can only imagine that the game designers at Bungie are now awaiting his next instruction with sycophantic adoration.It is a very different story to Last Strike and the Fall of Reach. Where as these two previous novels aim to flesh out the exiting Halo mythology whilst splicing the Halo game plots into a coherent, character-rich space opera, Ghosts of Onyx back tracks the story to a parallel plot line concerning the shadowy exploits of an ONI splinter cell and the emotional hardships spawned by the horrors of their actions on the Spartan commissioned to lead their cause. This is a story about people.Only at the very end, the time-line somewhere shortly after the plot of Halo 2, does the story reach out to give the reader a glimpse at the shape of things to come in Halo 3.Some people may be disappointed that this book doesn't reveal all the secrets of the Forerunner legacy within it. Personally, I think the point is that this should only be revealed when the final game is released, and not a moment earlier.Of course, if you have played both games and read all the books published so far, you may well respond the conclusion of the forthcoming Halo 3 game with a knowing, smug little grin.The end is near my friends.