Reviews

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx by Eric S. Nylund

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navin_thomas's review against another edition

5.0

It has been many years since I have read the previous Halo books. At least more than a decade, for sure. I was wondering whether I should read them again, since I wasn't sure whether I remembered enough of the finer details of those books. But, after some encouragement from fellow Halo fans on Reddit, I decided to just jump into this one.

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx has been, in short, a fantastic reading experience for me as a Halo fan. If you are one, I highly recommend you to read this book. For a change, the Master Chief is not the main protagonist in this one. It is Kurt-051. I don't remember much about Kurt from the previous books, but Ghosts of Onyx has elevated him to one of the most memorable characters in this universe.

The book starts of very strongly. It hooks you in immediately with the SPARTAN-III Beta Company's mission on Pegasi Delta. In Halo, it is very rare to see a firefight of that scale involving so many Spartans. Then we get a deep dive into what the SPARTAN-IIIs were created for, and how they were created. Even though Kurt is the main protagonist in this book, other characters also get the spotlight occasionally. We see the return of Blue Team, Dr Halsey, a Covenant shipmaster, some UNSC personnel, etc., and get to experience the story from their perspectives as well. There are a few plot lines that happen in parallel, and ultimately we find them converge together for a really intense ending. The last few chapters were action packed, and even nerve wracking for me.

Before you get into this book, I strongly recommend reading the books before this, and maybe even play the first two games as well. The order that I followed is this:
1) Played - Halo: Combat Evolved (game) - Link to Wikipedia
2) Read - [b:Halo: The Fall of Reach|60229|Halo The Fall of Reach|Eric S. Nylund|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1436746591l/60229._SY75_.jpg|1881174]
3) Read - [b:Halo: The Flood|797094|Halo The Flood|William C. Dietz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388298645l/797094._SY75_.jpg|783064]
4) Read - [b:Halo: First Strike|615921|Halo First Strike|Eric S. Nylund|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320418133l/615921._SY75_.jpg|602356]
5) Played - Halo 2 (game) - Link to Wikipedia
6) Read - [b:Halo: Ghosts of Onyx|94798|Halo Ghosts of Onyx|Eric S. Nylund|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1317792529l/94798._SY75_.jpg|1267619] (this book)

ascallion's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.5

srlemons42's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

3.0

stellyshadows's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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? N/A

4.5

I loved this. Not as great as the main ones with Master Chief as the MC but it was great nonetheless. I loved the characters Tom and Lucy and definitely Kurt, it’s actually a sad story of the Spartans going MIA but everyone knows they have a purpose and you can feel the main character group as a close team fighting against the covenant. I greatly enjoyed this audiobook it was so entertaining

tlo_94's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.75

zfrey117's review against another edition

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4.0

Great book. If you wanted more Blue Team appearances and the story behind the Spartan III program, read this. Good action, good character development, and more Forerunner plotlines.