| | |  | Audio | Home » » » Halo: Contact Harvest (Halo (Tor Mass Market)) | | | | | | | Description: | | This is how it began... It is the year 2524. Harvest is a peaceful, prosperous farming colony on the very edge of human-controlled space. But we have trespassed on holy ground--strayed into the path of an aggressive alien empire known as the Covenant. What begins as a chance encounter between an alien privateer and a human freighter catapults mankind into a struggle for its very existence. But humanity is also locked in a bitter civil war known as the Insurrection. So the survival of Harvest's citizens falls to a squad of battle-weary UNSC Marines and their inexperienced colonial militia trainees. In this unlikely group of heroes, one stands above the rest...a young Marine staff sergeant named Avery Johnson.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Joseph Staten | | Publisher:
| Macmillan Audio | | Publication Date:
| January 22, 2008 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1427202494 | | Package Length:
| 5.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.1 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.65 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 85 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 85 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 30 found the following review helpful:
 Good Premise, Poor ExecutionDec 02, 2007
By Carson D. Gressly
"Sentinel Talos"
Having enjoyed the previous books in the series, I picked this up first chance I could. The premise is good. The first battle between the Covenant and humanity and the introduction of Halo fan favorite Sergeant Johnson, what's not to like?
Unfortunately the execution of this premise falls considerably short. There was way too much exposition in my opinion. At times it felt more like a primer than a novel. A whole lot of set-up without enough pay-off that left me rather cold and struggling to keep interest.
The actual invasion of Harvest felt rather underwhelming partly because it takes a good two thirds of the book to get there (again too much exposition) in part due to the emphasis on Covenant internal politics. Furthermore the book Johnson lacks quite a bit of the humor of his video game counterpart. No outrageous inspirational speeches here, instead we get a whole lot of angst. The difference is a bit off-putting and the book fails to develop Johnson where such a change of character is possible.
If I had to pick one part of the book I could have done without, it would have been the sex-scene. I'm not a prude, but it was so out of the blue, out of place, involving two characters I had not a whiff of romantic or sensual development that it was jarring. I guess the author thought he "needed" that scene somewhere in the book. Which ironically sums up this book in a nutshell.
Hopefully they'll bring back Eric Nuyland for the next installments.
38 of 41 found the following review helpful:
 If you are a Halo fan, how can you miss how it all started?Nov 08, 2007
By R Schmidt
Exactly why are the Covenant so pissed off at humans, anyway? They were very successful at pulling other species into the fold. Why not attempt this with humans?
Contact Harvest, by Joseph Staten, tells you why.
A UNSC Marine Staff Sergeant named Avery Johnson, physically and mentally weary after battling insurrectionists, gets the cake walk position of training new recruits for a militia on the planet Harvest, a major food production world.
Guess where First Contact occurs?
This story goes deep into the founding Covenant politics, and describes in great detail the accident of First Contact and the subsequent beginnings of a war of extermination. The Forerunners and their technology are still a mystery, but the Covenant leaders don't like what they learn. In the meantime, Staff Sergeant Johnson takes his raw recruits, and with the help of the planetary AI, battles Covenant technology and attempts to save the colonists on Harvest.
Can David slay Goliath?
The Cole Protocol occurs sometime after this book, but you can "see" it coming. You get a much better insight into the psychology and culture of some of the Covenant species. Now I'm curious what it would be like to reread the other Halo books with this story as background.
And if you are not a Halo fan? I think this is still an interesting, stand-alone sci-fi tale.
18 of 19 found the following review helpful:
DifferentNov 21, 2007
By Jose Arroyo
"LastHope106"
This book is good and it clearly shows the potential of Mr. Staten's writing. The first thing you will notice is the excellent amount of description that really helps you imagine planet Harvest and its inhabitants. And as a prequel of the already-released prequel "The Fall of Reach," it works and helps explain details of the Forerunners, and the Prophet's knowledge and convictions.
While "The Chief" does not make an appearance in the book as he is probably still wearing diapers, Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson steps in as the protagonist of the story. He is the hero in the making and here we learn how he earns his place in this wonderful universe.
This book really emphasizes the theme of friendship and not only in the human perspective. And a major difference between this and the previous books is a slight sense of humor. There are a few parts where it had me laughing out loud - something I never experienced with the previous novels.
Compared to the previous books I believe Eric Nylund still has the edge in terms of story telling. For example, the epic quality of the previous books is sadly missing here. There are no major battles ala 300 Spartan III's charging a battlefield seen on "Ghost of Onyx" or as Master Chief single handedly taking over a Covenant Cruiser on "1st Strike." It does have plenty of action but not on a huge scale.
As Joseph Staten's first effort this is a great start, and I'm sure given some more novels he will only get better. To all those of you wanting a good read I definitely recommend "Halo: Contact Harvest," but do take in mind that it does have its own unique flavor.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
The benefit of having a game creator pen the novel...Nov 23, 2007
By Fire
...is that you can get all the technical details you want. There is a satisfactory plot, but in several places, the book reads like the rumored "Halo Bible", which represents every scrap of information ever conceived by Bungie Studios (now, LLC.) regarding the Halo universe.
Wondered why the Covenant want to exterminate humanity? How exactly a Slipspace drive works? How the Covenant Engineers think? What an AI does while it's wasting it's time with slow human speech? It's all explained here.
A clever incorporation of humor helps an otherwise dire plot blossom into a balanced tale. There are no Spartans in this story, and this enables Mr. Staten to flesh out the lesser mortals inhabiting the planet Harvest. They are strong-willed people, aided by some fantastically depicted AIs.
In fact, none of the other books have depicted AIs in such great detail. In Eric Nylund's books, for instance, the general perception is that AIs think far faster than humans. Very little else is communicated to the reader, other than a bunch of nonsensical tasks. In Contact Harvest, however, Mr. Staten presents two AIs communicating with each other, and suddenly, time is dilated as each AIs processes are described in vivid detail.
Again, the benefit of having a game designer pen a novel is that they are aware of the emotions that course through the gamer's veins as their game unveils itself. Now, they can take all these characters, situations and emotions, and extrapolate back through time to produce a prequel novel like Contact Harvest.
I'd give this book a 4.5/5, with the 0.5 knocked off for the overly descriptive passages that could turn non-fanatics off. In fact, the depth of this book puts all the others in the series to shame.
Overall, it's a great start for Mr. Staten. Between himself and Eric Nylund, we have some of the best canon stretching across two worlds - the interactive, as well as the literary - seen anywhere.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 First time writer? No way...Jun 02, 2008
By Michigoon
"tech geek"
The only thing that's hard to believe about this book is that it's Joseph Staten's first published novel. Yes, that's the same Joe Staten who helped develop the story for the mega-successful Halo series on which this book is based. This book shows all of the quality of a more seasoned writer, and is a fine addition for collectors and fans as well as Sci-Fi readers in general.
A short summary is that this is a prequel following the story of Sergeant Avery Johnson, the same cigar-chomping Marine who later aids Master Chief in the Halo series. It's also the story of mankind's first contact with the aggressive Covenant, fanatical space aliens who are hellbent on humanity's destruction when we encounter them in Halo. This book lets you see how the war started, as well as giving you a lot of excellent character background for the "Sarge" that players and fans have come to know and love.
The writing is excellent, with tons of great character detail and plenty of good action, although things are on a much smaller and more personal scale here compared to the massive space battles of later books and games. Staten's writing is excellent, and is certainly praiseworthy for any author, let alone as his debut title. Fans generally either place this entry as their very favorite Halo novel to date, or like me, as perhaps somewhere in-between Nylund's "Fall of Reach" and "Ghosts of Onyx", but certainly far ahead of William C. Dietz's generally weaker "The Flood".
You don't have to be a Halo fan to appreciate this book. If you've never touched one of the games, this is currently the best novel to introduce yourself to the universe, as it is a prequel to all the other works. If you are a Halo fan, you simply cannot live another day without this book, or you're living a day less rich than it could have been. This is an excellent title, and I hope we see many more from Joseph Staten.
See all 85 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| | |
* Estimated shipping rate for US 48 states. Final rate calculated at checkout. |