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minja22's review against another edition
3.0
This book was not terrible and I debated between giving it 4 stars or there because I can be a pretty forgiving writer. But the one thing I feel like I didn't get from this was anything to add to my understanding of Halo canon. At the end I just thought... well that was a fairly interesting tangent.
taberiusrex's review against another edition
2.0
A hegemonic, space-faring culture that managed to get to its position without developing healthcare in any form? A serf-based economy wherein the lower class knows both how to read and fight? Top secret super soldiers who readily give their names and show their faces to civilians?
I'm a huge fan of the Halo universe, but this garbage just doesn't make any sense. Plus, it contradicts what was established in Dietz's The Flood as far as Elite culture goes -- which clearly established their naming structure and battlefield dressings.
Frankly, the only book worse than this is Cryptum, by Greg Bear.
I'm a huge fan of the Halo universe, but this garbage just doesn't make any sense. Plus, it contradicts what was established in Dietz's The Flood as far as Elite culture goes -- which clearly established their naming structure and battlefield dressings.
Frankly, the only book worse than this is Cryptum, by Greg Bear.
billyhopscotch's review against another edition
2.0
While I ordinarily like Halo books, I had to force myself through this one. Buckell's style is still pretty immature, though it shows promise. His characterizations are just too shallow and the story fails to draw in the reader. I don't recommend it.
chasep's review
adventurous
challenging
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
thebadishradish's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Proof that the Covenant would’ve won the war in like 2 years if the Prophets just communicated properly.
tyboarder's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
revbeckett's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
4.5
The hard part about trying to read some of the Halo books in chronological order is that most of them take place simultaneously. For example, Contact Harvest and The Cole Protocol take place during The Fall of Reach because the The Fall of Reach spans between the years 2517 and 2552, then you have Contact Harvest taking place in 2524 & 2525, and The Cole Protocol in 2535. So, you can either be pedantic and read The Fall of Reach to certain points and reading Contact Harvest and The Cole Protocol in their entirety before finishing The Fall of Reach, or you could do my preferred method of just reading Contact Harvest first, then The Cole Protocol, and then The Fall of Reach. And then you have one of the newer books, Silent Storm, that takes place in 2526, so it’s probably easiest just to read the books in their entirety and jumping back in time several times.
Anyway, this is my second time reading this book, and this is the first Halo book where you read about other Spartans who aren’t the Master Chief name Adriana, Jai, and Mike who make up Gray Team. Other important characters include a colonist named Ignatio Delgado with Insurrectionist ties and Lieutenant Keyes before he’s made Captain. This is part of Keyes’ story after his brief involvement in the SPARTAN-II programme. Even ‘Thel Vadamee, whom we simply know as the Arbiter in the games, plays a role in this book. You don’t know it at the beginning of the first game, Halo: Combat Evolved, but everyone aboard the UNSC frigate, the Pillar of Autumn, accidentally stumble upon their first Halo ring as a result of the Cole Protocol, named after Admiral Cole, its founder. This isn’t exactly a spoiler, but the Cole Protocol requires that when defeat is imminent during space battle, you either self-destruct or make a randomised slipspace jump (faster than light travel [FTL]) away from Earth and the Colonies. The latter is what Captain Keyes opted to do on the Autumn, and he tells us the reason in the very first scene of the game. A randomised FTL jump or even something as drastic as self-destruction was deemed a necessary protocol because every UNSC frigate has an AI (like Cortana) that, if captured, the Covenant could learn everything about Humanity: force deployments, weapons research, and Earth’s location. This book tells us what events led up to the installation of the Cole Protocol. It’s a great book that gives us some exciting lore, despite some continuity and spelling errors.
For example, Buckell changes the name of the character Adriana to being “Adrienne” one time at the end of the book. In the same chapter, Buckell describes the Grunts’ blood as being purple instead of blue for some reason, which is disappointing because up to that point he had correctly described the blood of the various aliens in the Covenant, unlike some of the other authors. There’s another typo that calls a place “Habitat el Cuidad” every single time when it should be “Ciudad” so that it translates to “Habitat City.” “Cuidad” is not a word in Spanish. Another error is when Buckell has the Marines say “Hooah,” which is an Army exclamation. They should be saying “Oorah,” just like they do in the games and, of course, in real life. Lastly, there’s a certain, important location described as capable of holding 1 million people and is later described as being 6 miles long and 2 miles in diameter. That seems rather small to fit one million people. Or maybe I’m wrong. I’m not very good at math. Otherwise, it’s an enticing book as we read the story of a most formidable trio of Spartans essential to Humanity’s survival.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that the Human-Covenant War was not always so one-sided as we’ve thought. You’d think that after the Covenants’ merciless assaults on human worlds, the Insurrectionists and the UNSC would join forces against a common enemy, but it’s not that simple. Of course, if you know anything about humanity’s penchant for violence and division—or theologically speaking, our concupiscence—it is not that surprising. The Covenant actually try to take advantage of this human civil war by providing the Insurrectionists with human-modified Covenant weapons to fight the UNSC since they’re the larger threat. So, the people in the Outer Colonies begin to think the Covenant aren’t as bad as the UNSC is making them out to be, that it’s just political propaganda. Of course, the Covenant couldn’t care less about the Insurrectionists. You get a deeper look into this intriguing part of the Halo universe where the stories of the characters mentioned earlier are either directly or indirectly involved with one another.
I want to give The Cole Protocol the full 5-star rating because normally I’d lay the aforementioned errors at the feet of the editors, but it just seems that the author should’ve known better about the misspelling of “Ciudad,” other misspellings, and the continuity errors with the colour of the Grunts’ blood when he described them correctly before. Because it’s not quite perfect, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the narrative, I give it 4.5 stars.
Anyway, this is my second time reading this book, and this is the first Halo book where you read about other Spartans who aren’t the Master Chief name Adriana, Jai, and Mike who make up Gray Team. Other important characters include a colonist named Ignatio Delgado with Insurrectionist ties and Lieutenant Keyes before he’s made Captain. This is part of Keyes’ story after his brief involvement in the SPARTAN-II programme. Even ‘Thel Vadamee, whom we simply know as the Arbiter in the games, plays a role in this book. You don’t know it at the beginning of the first game, Halo: Combat Evolved, but everyone aboard the UNSC frigate, the Pillar of Autumn, accidentally stumble upon their first Halo ring as a result of the Cole Protocol, named after Admiral Cole, its founder. This isn’t exactly a spoiler, but the Cole Protocol requires that when defeat is imminent during space battle, you either self-destruct or make a randomised slipspace jump (faster than light travel [FTL]) away from Earth and the Colonies. The latter is what Captain Keyes opted to do on the Autumn, and he tells us the reason in the very first scene of the game. A randomised FTL jump or even something as drastic as self-destruction was deemed a necessary protocol because every UNSC frigate has an AI (like Cortana) that, if captured, the Covenant could learn everything about Humanity: force deployments, weapons research, and Earth’s location. This book tells us what events led up to the installation of the Cole Protocol. It’s a great book that gives us some exciting lore, despite some continuity and spelling errors.
For example, Buckell changes the name of the character Adriana to being “Adrienne” one time at the end of the book. In the same chapter, Buckell describes the Grunts’ blood as being purple instead of blue for some reason, which is disappointing because up to that point he had correctly described the blood of the various aliens in the Covenant, unlike some of the other authors. There’s another typo that calls a place “Habitat el Cuidad” every single time when it should be “Ciudad” so that it translates to “Habitat City.” “Cuidad” is not a word in Spanish. Another error is when Buckell has the Marines say “Hooah,” which is an Army exclamation. They should be saying “Oorah,” just like they do in the games and, of course, in real life. Lastly, there’s a certain, important location described as capable of holding 1 million people and is later described as being 6 miles long and 2 miles in diameter. That seems rather small to fit one million people. Or maybe I’m wrong. I’m not very good at math. Otherwise, it’s an enticing book as we read the story of a most formidable trio of Spartans essential to Humanity’s survival.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that the Human-Covenant War was not always so one-sided as we’ve thought. You’d think that after the Covenants’ merciless assaults on human worlds, the Insurrectionists and the UNSC would join forces against a common enemy, but it’s not that simple. Of course, if you know anything about humanity’s penchant for violence and division—or theologically speaking, our concupiscence—it is not that surprising. The Covenant actually try to take advantage of this human civil war by providing the Insurrectionists with human-modified Covenant weapons to fight the UNSC since they’re the larger threat. So, the people in the Outer Colonies begin to think the Covenant aren’t as bad as the UNSC is making them out to be, that it’s just political propaganda. Of course, the Covenant couldn’t care less about the Insurrectionists. You get a deeper look into this intriguing part of the Halo universe where the stories of the characters mentioned earlier are either directly or indirectly involved with one another.
I want to give The Cole Protocol the full 5-star rating because normally I’d lay the aforementioned errors at the feet of the editors, but it just seems that the author should’ve known better about the misspelling of “Ciudad,” other misspellings, and the continuity errors with the colour of the Grunts’ blood when he described them correctly before. Because it’s not quite perfect, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the narrative, I give it 4.5 stars.
stadarooni's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
jonmhansen's review against another edition
4.0
Never played Halo (did play Marathon), but it's a good read.
jdelnaza's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0