Halo: Contact Harvest: Volume 5

A great read! The book navigates the galactic politics of the Covenant and the subject of first contact which eventually leads to Human-Covenant war. It does so pretty well, watching the story unfold through great characters on both sides. Loved it.

This is an interesting novel from the point of view of explaining why the Covenant actually attack humanity. It isn't the most challenging of reads, but will be enjoyed by Halo fans looking for more depth into the expanded universe outside the games.

This is the fifth novel in the Halo series and it is a kind of prequel to the earlier volumes. This volume is written by Joseph Staten, whose style is rather different from the authors of the other volumes I’ve read. This novel focuses on Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson who appeared in The Flood, the second novel in the series. It is set about 25 years before The Flood, though, and begins with Avery and his comrade in arms, Staff Sergeant Byrne, hunting down the insurrectionists who are rebelling against colonial rule from Earth. Both of them are then assigned to train a couple of platoons of militiamen on a planet called Harvest – the name indicates its role as the breadbasket of the empire. It’s while they are training these recruits that Avery and Byrne make first contact with the Covenant. This leads Avery to encounter another first contact: the naval intelligence officer, Jilan al-Cygni. She is the only female character in the novel. Notably, there are no female recruits in the militia, despite the fact that we’ve already seen female Spartans and women in a variety of combat roles in the earlier novels. This novel was written in 2007, so in that respect – the scarcity of female characters – it already feels dated. This leads me to one of my perennial gripes about the Halo series: that despite the fact that they are set 500 years in the future, with massive advances in spacefaring and other technologies, the humans’ military hardware – and their military tactics – feel very twentieth century. Given the brain power of the AI in these novels, the technology must be there to run wars against rebels and aliens using software and drones rather than human beings, but obviously humans in combat is a major feature of the series. Having said that, this novel has less combat and more plot and character development than the earlier novels. It also gives us a lot more insight into the various creatures that make up the Covenant. I’ll quickly get another gripe out of the way: this writer uses the aliens’ own terms for themselves rather than the names that humans gave them, as in the earlier novels (names like Hunters, Jackals, Prophets etc.), so it can be slightly confusing: are these the same creatures we’ve seen before, or new creatures? Having said that, the chapters involving the aliens are well done and I especially liked the friendship that develops between the Unggoy Dadab and the Huragok Lighter Than Some. We also learn that it’s almost by accident that the Covenant’s top species, the San’Shyuum (Prophets), decide that humanity must be wiped out rather than press ganged into the Covenant like the other creatures that make up the Covenant’s lower orders. It’s the result of complex politics and even more complex theology. I’ll say no more about the plot. Readers of the earlier novels know that the first contact with the Covenant leads to a galactic war that threatens to destroy humanity. I’d recommend this novel to anyone who plays Halo, or anyone who likes a bit of sci-fi escapism.

A fantastic tale that clearly sets the series in motion, giving an insight on a handful of characters and how the franchise is meant to begin. For the Author's first novel, it's more than impressive.

My boyfriend loved the gift!

Slow burner but gets good towards the end. Good insight into the beginning of the Human-Covenant War.

Great. Just great. Adds to the lore of the halo universe without being to heavy to ready. Recommended reading for Halo fans.

I love the Halo books and this is the 5th so far. I enjoyed the first four books because they had more to do with the games and they had spartans in, but this book is set when the spartans are still very young so they arent in it. I am half way through and the story still hasnt gripped me yet. :(

ottimo capitolo per iniziare a capire la trama della saga di halo, consigliato ai fan

Kitap sapasağlam elime ulaştı. Tek sorunu arkasında 4-5 tane fiyat-barkod etiketinin üst üste yapıştırılmış olması. Bir süre rafta kalmış bir kitap sanırım. Aldığım diğer yabancı baskı kitaplar gibi bu da ufak boyutlu olanlardan. Yanında bir tane de güzel bir ayraç yollamışlar. Teşekkürler.

Good

Muy buen libro que cuenta un poco más del background de Johnson que todo fan debería de leer. Muy recomendable para agregarlo a la colección de libros de Halo

First and foremost, I will not spoil the contents of this book, other than that noting it's a really good read if you already enjoy Halo, Master Chief and his fellow Spartans. The Halo game franchise has a great character driven story set in a massive backdrop, but only so much of that backstory can be told and explored through the game series. There is so much more to the Halo Universe worth exploring, and through books is the best medium to do it by. The great thing about these series of books is: 1.) If you enjoy reading well crafted sci-fi genres, Halo's well worth the read on it's own, no gaming required 2.) Your not a gamer, or maybe a casual gamer where fast paced shooter style games isn't your forte 3.) Your a gamer, played through all the games main stories and want more Halo stories in the Halo universe 4.) The books have the advantage of covering the story in the game without needing to play the game 5.) Books are able to explore and expand further into the Halo universe beyond the games 6.) There's more to Halo than just the Master Chief alone, there's a diverse cast of characters and their stories, including other Spartans 7.) You get to experience the Halo universe through other characters and perspectives other than solely Master Chief's Simply put: If you want more of the Halo story, these books are where to turn to. Give this book a read, you won't be disappointed.