Changing Tides of War: Reviewing Halo: First Strike (2003) by Eric Nylund
The following is a guest post by Max Drakeson, an avid Halo fan since his teenage years.
Halo: First Strike is a Military Science-Fiction novel, released in December 2003 as the third Halo novel in the series and Eric Nyuland's second installment in the franchise. The events of the book take place right after the conclusion of the first game, Halo: Combat Evolved and serves as a prequel to the events of Halo 2, the second game of the franchise, which released in 2004.
The prologue of the book takes place aboard the Pillar Of Autumn with Captain Keyes and the Spartans, including the Master Chief. Their mission: protect the generators powering the Orbital MAC guns of Planet Reach and prevent the NAV data of Earth falling into Covenant Hands. Frederic-104, or Fred, was made the leader of Red Team, who would go down to the surface of Reach. The narrative then follows Red Team as they ride a Pelican down to the surface.
"And if anything goes wrong," Joshua said, "we end up in the middle of ten thousand pissed-off bad guys." "We're Spartans," Fred said. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, who was in charge of Defense of Reach, orders Fred and the other Spartans to extract him and his staff. The extraction was a success, but despite their efforts, The Covenant managed to overrun the reactors. The Covenant's Battleships begin glassing the planet, and it goes against their normal behavior, as they bombarded only the Poles. (This Covenant Fleet is being led of course, by Thel'Vadam, the Arbiter)
| Remember Reach. |
"I think we are just getting started."
John-117's statement brings the events to the present, following the destruction of Installation 04. John, The Master Chief, came across a Pelican containing a handful of people who were the only survivors of the entire UNSC force previously deployed on Alpha Halo. This included Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, who narrowly escaped from the Flood:
"The Flood? Hell, Chief, it'll take more than that pack of walking alien horror-show freaks to take out Sergeant A. J. Johnson."
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| You had your chance to be afraid before you joined my beloved Corps! |
Among the survivors are also Corporal Locklear, who was an ODST previously under command of Major Silva, a ONI officer Lieutenant Haverson, and the Pelican pilot Warrant Officer Sheila Polaski. Together, they manage to hijack a Covenant flagship, a DDS-class carrier 'Ascendant Justice' and rescue Dr. Halsey, Admiral Whitcomb and the surviving Spartans from the charred planet Reach.
A shocking revelation soon follows, uncovered by the AI, Cortana. Humanity's biggest nightmare has came true: The Covenant has discovered the location of Earth, and is forming a massive fleet. It seemed like a possible extinction, but as fate has it, Master Chief and his Spartans lie in their way,
Cortana didn't bother to reply to that ridiculous statement. The Master Chief took so many chances and had defied death so many times, she had given up calculating his odds of survival.
What follows is an epic battle which keeps readers glued to the narrative throughout thanks to Nyuland's efforts of portraying the intensity and determination of the characters. This novel gives a thorough insight to the great battle along with the sacrifices, and also provides an unique depth to the franchise.
"We're going to take this fight to the Covenant. We're going to launch a first strike."
The Author and Legacy
Halo: First Strike well received by critics and sold well, making The New York Times Best Seller list. To write a better novel than The Fall of Reach, Nylund read military combat manuals and biographies of soldiers, he also tried to improve where fans had criticized the first Halo book. At the time of its publication, it was seen as the best Halo novel yet.
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| Thanks For Reading! |
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