The Fall of Reach

As the bloody Human-Covenant War rages on Halo, the fate of humankind may rest with one warrior, the lone SPARTAN survivor of another legendary battle . . . the desperate, take-no-prisoners struggle that led humanity to Halo--the fall of the planet Reach. Now, brought to life for the first time, here is the full story of that glorious, doomed conflict.

Timothy Capehart - VOYA

Back in the year 2517, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey began an experiment she hoped could improve the military's ability to keep the peace. She scoured the human colonies for genetically perfect soldiers... all aged six. Her Spartans spent their youth training to become an elite fighting force. Once graduated, their bones are strengthened mechanically and their minds biochemically sharpened. Now as humanity faces a new enemy, the adult Spartans are ready. The Covenant, a consortium of alien races, begins attacking outlying human colonies. Their god has ordered the destruction of humankind, and the Covenant is gunning for the military stronghold of Planet Reach and Earth itself. The Spartan soldiers are further augmented by computerized armor, and the real battle begins. This military science fiction novel, billed as a prequel to the Microsoft Xbox game Halo, is an excellent genre read. The central figures in the novel, Dr. Halsey, Captain Keyes, and Spartan Master Chief John (the last two of which appear in the game), are all well-constructed, thinking characters. The pace is snappy. The bad guys are way bad (and not all of them are alien), and the good guys are not flawless. Even those teens who do not have the game, which indeed takes up where the book leaves off, will enjoy the shoot-'em-up heroics and the twisting plot line. The narrative jumps around a bit too much in time throughout the first half of the book, and readers might feel as if they need a star chart or a fleet manifest at times. Even devout PlayStation2 gamers who will never see the Xbox exclusive will find this military thriller set in the far future hard to put down. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P S A/YA (Better than most, marredonly by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2001, Del Rey, 340p,

Eric Nylund is the author of many novels, including "A Signal" "Shattered," "Signal to Noise," "Pawn's Dream," "Dry Water" (a World Fantasy Award nominee), "A Game of Universe," "Crimson Skies," and "Halo: The Fall of Reach," the official prequel novelization of the Xbox game. He has a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a master's degree in chemical physics. A graduate of the Clarion West Writer's Workshop, he lives near Seattle with his wife, Syne Mitchell.

"From the Paperback edition."