Halo has been destroyed, and the threat it posed to sentient life neutralized. But victory has come at a terrible cost for the UNSC. Thousands of valiant soldiers fell in the battle to prevent the alien construct from falling into the enemy's clutches.Now, everything depends on the Spartan known as the Master Chief. Yet even with the aid of the artificial intelligence Cortana, the Master Chief will be hard-pressed to rescue survivors and evade the Covenant ships patrolling the remains of Halo in debris-strewn space.Ahead lies a dangerous voyage home through a gauntlet of Covenant forces. For the sake of all, the Master Chief and his war-torn squad must not only survive but take the fight to the enemy with a decisive first strike.

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What do these have in common? They are among the SF stories (or franchises) that have had the greatest impact on me. And I can say with certainty that Nylund's "Fall of Reach" was at the top of my list. Until Halo: First Strike.

I borrowed FoR from a friend. I read it 6 times before he made me give it back and buy my own copy (a decision I have not regretted yet). I then read it at least a dozen more times. It is the reason I am a Halo fan. It was that good.

When The Flood came out, I was both excited and dismayed- excited because there was more Halo for my insatiable mind to absorb, but disappointed because Nylund was not the author. (I have nothing against Dietz, but he needs to stick to books in universes of his own creation. He's too by-the-book for Halo, especially for a pre-established plot.) I read it and was inevitably disappointed- it was good, but by no means did it live up to FoR's legacy.

I was among the first to find out about the release of First Strike, and I was excited to hear that Nylund was writing it. I was also happy to hear that it would not take place as part of the plot of either game, but as its own unique story, which is part of what made FoR really shine. I had high hopes for this book.

I was not disappointed.

Halo: First Strike surpasses FoR in every conceivable way. The characterization is incredible, the action is mind-blowing, the plot twists stunning. It will answer questions about Halo you have not even thought of. It takes place between Halo and Halo 2, but goes deeper than even I could have imagined. And over it all, there are subtle hints that something bigger is going on. It is the same mysterious sense of majesty that made Halo so incredible. The atmosphere, the mood, the wonder of it-this is a book every Halo fan should read. But First Strike, like FoR, is not just for fanboys. It is not just the best of the three Halo books, but it is among the best SF I have ever read. And I've read a whole freaking lot.

First Strike was satisfying in the same way FoR was: when I turned the last page, the only thing on my mind was "Wow." Immediately followed by "I gotta read that again." The only disappointing thing is that like its predecessor, it will be vastly under-publicized. As a serial paperback, it will receive no media attention, no appreciative comments by fellow authors printed on the back, no chance of becoming a hardcover. Just the fact that it is a video-game novel will prevent most people I know from picking it up. But none of that prevents First Strike from being one incredible piece of work. Even flawless. Nylund has an incredible gift, and I am truly inspired.

After I finish this review, and after finishing my third read, I'm going to go shove this book in the faces of everyone I know and scream "READ THIS!!!" Then I'm going to sit down and finish my own SF classic, which I will dedicate to Eric Nylund. And then... I'll read it a couple dozen more times.

It's just that good.

15 of 17 found the following review helpful:

Thinking Out of the BoxFeb 18, 2004
By Arthur W. Jordin
First Strike is the third novel in the Halo series, following The Flood. In the previous volume, the Master Chief and Cortana manage to set the Pillar of Autumn to blow her engines after she is taken by the Covenant forces. The explosion blew a sector out of the ringworld, knocking out most of the alien systems. Meanwhile the Helljumpers capture the Covenant command ship, but it is already overrun with Flood carrier and combat forms, so the marines crash the ship into Halo and take out all onboard.

In this novel, the Master Chief and Cortana are lurking in the vicinity of Halo in a Longsword attack craft. They have repeatedly scanned the volume for other survivors, but none have been found. However, they do discover an oversized Covenant ship coming out of slipspace. Quickly powering down most systems to avoid detection, they discover that the Covenant flagship is using the same frequency bands as their equipment and Cortana manages to analyze the scattered returns sufficiently to register an object that they find to be a trio of cyropods.

Using thrusters only, they maneuver the Longsword near the cyropods and the Master Chief goes EVA to bring them back inside. Two Covenant cruisers enter the vicinity and start to move toward them. However, a previously unnoticed Pelican drop ship hidden on an asteroid fires three missiles at the Covenanters and the cruisers turn to chase the Pelican. The Master Chief hustles the pods onboard and Cortana seals the hatch and fires their engines. As the Covenant ships lose the Pelican in the surrounding debris, the Master Chief takes the cruisers under fire and Cortana starts an evasion run.

The Master Chief, Cortana and those on the Pelican are at large, but unable to escape, since neither craft has a Shaw-Fujikawa drive. In fact, the only slipspace capable vessels in the system are Covenant. The Master Chief starts making plans to take over the Covenant flagship.

Meanwhile, in a flashback to the fall of Reach, it appears that the Covenant forces didn't glass the whole planet with plasma fire. The area occupied by the top secret ONI facility, Castlebase, was not hit from orbit, but Covenant ground forces were starting to dig their way into the underground facility. Several SPARTAN survivors from the orbital generator facility battle rally nearby, infiltrate the enemy, hijack two Wraith tanks, destroy the digging equipment, and then slip inside the base through another entrance.

In this story, the Master Chief and a few other survivors from Halo return to Reach in the captured Covenant flagship. Cortana has gathered valuable information on Covenant weapons and slipspace technology. Moreover, she has determined that the local Covenant forces are gathering ships to attack Earth in the very near future. Somehow, they have to get all this critical data back to Earth as soon as possible.

This story is typical of the series, in that a lot of 7.62mm ammo is expended to take out an unbelievable number of Covenant troops. How they carry all that ammo and other munitions is a puzzler. However, there is a semblance of a plot and a higher mission. Best of all, some of the characters that were thought to be lost with the fall of Reach are now discovered to be alive and shooting, but the list of MIAs and KIAs is still long.

The story also displays aspects of Covenant society that were not mentioned in the previous books and gives more hints about the forerunners. However, this installment ends with humanity on the edge of destruction. The last scene hints of at least one more volume.

Highly recommended for Halo fans and for anyone else who enjoys nonstop firefights with a variety of horrifying and powerful opponents.

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