Halo: The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylud - Book Review

[Hells Sniper]

Halo: The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylud Hells Sniper The New Order - Super Member Table of Contents Characters Story Writing Style Characters The Characters of Halo: The Fall of Reach consist of many Spartans, as well as Covenant and human characters. The main protagonist is, of course, the Master Chief, and I know everyone knows his story. Also named, are almost every single one the Spartan-II's including, Kelly-087, Samuel-034, Linda-058, Frederic-104, Joshua-029, James-005, and countless others that you may not have heard of. Each Spartan is recognized, and their back story's are told. Other characters include, Dr. Catherine Halsey, the master behind the Spartan-II program. CPO Franklin Mendez, the trainer for the Spartan-II's. Deja, the AI that taught the Spartan-II's during their training. Captain Jacob Keyes, both when he was a Captain, and when he was a Lt. helping out Halsey. And finally, Cortana, Master Chief's greatest asset, and one of the greatest AI's known to the Halo Universe, or, that's what they say. There a few Covenant characters, not many, but a grunt and elite here and there. Anyway, each character's stories are expanded on, they cover the Spartan training and even a few battles leading up to the Fall of Reach. How did John become the leader of the Spartans? What happened during their training? How many Spartans died during augmentations? What happened to all the Spartans? All these questions are answered in this book, making it great for anyone who wants to know more. Story The Fall of Reach covers a broad range of stories, everything from Halsey choosing the candidates right up to the Fall of Reach. The training of the Spartans, how they came about, how they were teamed up. Everything is explained, anything a Halo fan would want to know, is detailed in just this book. And may I say, Eric Nylud did a wonderful job at writing it with such great detail. The story details the Spartans lives before they came to be Saviors, how they fought in the Insurrectionist war, and how they became a family. The story not only covers the Spartan's, but Captain Keyes' and some of Halsey's. Everyone is discussed in this book, and that is something I loved. Sure, you come out with a few questions, but not merely as many as you had before. And I am aware there is the Halopedia for finding stuff out, but reading the book, brings you closer to it, it gives it more of a personal touch. Considering the book was written by one man, and ANYONE can edit a wiki page, the books are much more canon in my opinion. And although, people say older stuff isn't considered canon, I disagree. Unless, Bungie or 343i says those books are not canon, I will always disagree. Besides, Bungie approved of all of the books written for Halo, why wouldn't they want them canon? Back to the book, it comes with a ton of detail, facial expressions, things characters do, it's all in here. And for me, the story to a book, video game, or movie is key to the success of it. Something I enjoy is knowing developers took time to look at it and say, "Yeah, this is good, we should talk about this more." It tells me that they have a love for what they are doing, and releasing books about your video games, just solidifies my point. Okay, back to the book, again. So the story really begins with the Spartans training, and what they learned and what Halsey said to them, "You have been called upon to serve, you will be trained... and you will become the best we can make of you. You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies." That is the most known thing, the Spartan-II's purpose, "the protectors of Earth and all her colonies." Imagine being a six-year old and hearing those words, I'm glad we get to see the Spartans "kid" side in this book. The next thing was covering Halsey's journeys, which is something you can't know by reading the wiki. I enjoyed this part very much, it made things...make sense, so to speak. And finally, is one of my favorite characters of Halo, Captain Jacob Keyes. They cover some of the battles he took part in, including the Fall of Reach. Now, really the Fall of Reach consists of only two or three chapters, and only lasted...a few hours, compared to Halo: Reach which said...like, a week or something, I don't know, that game sucked. Anyway, the story of the Fall of Reach, reading it from John's and Keye's view is very fascinating, I enjoyed it. Writing Style Mr. Nylud has a very normal writing style. Although, at some points, Nylud likes to write as if he were one of the soldiers, as if he were standing beside them, thinking what they were. That is something I enjoyed of this book, it not only brought you closer to the action, but to what was going on. Much of this book doesn't focus on fighting, per say, but on Master Chief's development as a leader. During this time, Nylud's writing brought out not only the Master Chief as a leader, but as a friend, something we don't see much of anymore. The Chief had Spartans as his family, that's who he grew up with and with Nylud's writing and story, we see a different side of him, a side that doesn't focus all about the war, but on his family. I liked this a lot, it gave you a new insight to the Chief. OVERALL Characters - 10/10 = Developed back story, got to see a new side Story - 9/10 = My only gripe is only about one or two things weren't explained Writing Style - 10/10 = I enjoyed Nylud's style of writing very much. Halo: The Fall of Reach didn't have to be related to the games, considering it was majorly about the back story. However, if you want to get technical this book and the game, Halo: Reach contradicted each other very much, which I have already explained in a different thread, but, you know what. I enjoyed this book much more than the game, and that's saying something. 29/30 - 96% Recommended to anyone who is interested in Halo and the back stories of Spartans.