Reviews

Halo: Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten

korodot's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

sonofatreus's review against another edition

3.0

(3.5 stars) As Halo books go, this one is one of the better books. It’s great in terms of adding back story to characters (Johnson, Tartarus, etc.) and events (the fall of Harvest, the dawn of the Age of Reclamation). Its story is fine, but was nothing memorable and there’s some gratuitous sex thrown in at the end for no good reason.

mitis's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

PORQUÉ TIENE QUE ACABAR EN UNA ESCENA DE SEXO DE LA NADA

cone0198's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

jacobstraub's review against another edition

4.0

Sets up the Human Covenant war nicely. Introduction of some key characters in the game and later novels.

chasep's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

gingerreader99's review against another edition

3.0

A look into why the Covenant war even began and happened. Since this was written after the introduction of several key races and characters it brings them back in spectacular fashion. If perhaps making one character seem somehow connected to the most important events of the entire war.

so_that_happened_'s review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

It wasn’t my favorite book I’ve ever read, but it was still good nonetheless! It took me a bit to get into the story, and I wasn’t the biggest fan of the pov changes in the beginning, but as it continued I got more used to it. I really liked the training scenes. 

violetmoon's review against another edition

2.0

*Actual Rating - 2.5/5

First Read Rating - 3/5
Second Read Rating - 2.5/5

This Was a Re-read for Me, and the book just didn't click with me the second time around, I found it slow going when I first read It about 6 or 7 years ago. But even though I read it this time in a couple days it still felt slow (which is odd as the story isn't actually slow, it moves relatively fast), and I just wanted to put it down and do other things.
Its not a bad book, its okay, its just not for me. Even though i'm a huge Halo fan (and a Huge Sci-Fi Fan In General), I could have gone without reading it, I don't think it really contributed anything to the Halo story. But that is just my opinion, as other's might find it very important to the story (I did not)
Hardcore Halo Fans, would like it, but if you've not read any of the other books, or played the games, I would not recommend you read this book. Its better to have prior knowledge and experience of the Halo Universe before diving in.
But even then with all my Halo Knowledge, I had trouble enjoying Contact Harvest, and to be honest I can't think why, it just didn't click with me.

*2.5/5

revbeckett's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sergeant Johnson’s origin story! What can be more exciting than that? If you’re like me and you want to read the Halo books in chronological order, there’s a couple ways you could do it at this point in the timeline. You can either read The Fall of Reach up through chapter 14, then read Contact Harvest, The Cole Protocol, the Battle Born duology, and then finish The Fall of Reach. Or you could do my preferred method: Contact Harvest first, then The Cole Protocol, the Battle Born duology, and then The Fall of Reach especially because a certain Forerunner relic makes an appearance that was first mentioned in the previous chronological book: Broken Circle, and other appearances in The Fall of Reach after their first mention in Contact Harvest. You could also just read all of The Fall of Reach first and then read the others. It doesn’t really matter. The Fall of Reach mentions what happens at Harvest and Admiral Preston Cole in passing, whom the protocol is named after, so you could just read The Fall of Reach and then those two books and the duology for backstory. It’s up to you. 

 

Anyway, besides Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson’s origin story, this is also the story of Humanity’s first contact with the menagerie of alien religious zealots called the Covenant. So you also gain some new insight into the Covenant’s religion and culture and their side of first contact (which is hardly noble, of course), as well as a couple surprising origin stories. Like most of the early Halo books, there’s a lot of grammatical errors, misprinting, and missing words, but I rate the book based on the merits of the narrative rather than the incompetence of the editors. Otherwise, it’s a really good further look into Sergeant Johnson’s character as well as that of a few others we know from the games.