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revbeckett's review
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is the third time I read this book. I remember when it first came out when I was in 6th or 7th grade—the same year Halo: Combat Evolved was released on the original Xbox. I was STOKED because I loved Halo and the title of the book promised to tell us a story we knew very little about at the time, and everyone knew it was about how the Master Chief came to be the Master Chief. I read the heck out of it because I remember the spine was falling apart. I don’t know what I did to make that happen; probably just being too rough with it when transporting it around in my school backpack.
Like most of the early Halo books, it has a LOT of typos and grammatical and spelling errors, and the letters “f” and “i” are always missing when reading computer transcripts, which is incredibly annoying. I don’t know why the editors just can’t do their jobs right. But I’m going to judge the book based on the merits of the narrative rather than the editors’ incompetence because it’s not fair to the author.
If you don’t already know, this is the origin story of the Master Chief—whom we play as in most of the Halo video games—who became a SPARTAN-II through ethically debatable means. It tells the tale of the war between the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) with the human Insurrectionists rebelling against this militarised government and the unexpected first contact with the alien menagerie of religious zealots called the Covenant as they declare war against all Humanity. It is also about the fall of the planet Reach, as the title spoils for you, which was one of the primary naval yards of the UNSC, so the loss of Reach was a major setback for Humanity as well as a deeply person loss for John, the Master Chief.
The book begins with John’s recruitment into the SPARTAN-II programme, who is later promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer. Originally designed to combat the rebel Insurrectionists, the development of the programme was rather fortuitous with the introduction of the Covenant. Without these enhanced super soldiers, there would’ve been no contest between the Covenant and humanity because of the former’s vastly superior technology and the significantly stronger warrior race, the Elites, as well as the barbarian Brutes. Spartans and Elites are evenly matched in hand-to-hand combat, and Brutes are even tougher, so without the Spartans, humanity definitely would not have survived first contact. You also read about the introduction of the Mark V MJOLNIR armour that only Spartans wear, and why only they can wear them, which was pivotal in the Spartans’ overall effectiveness.
One of the motifs that plays throughout for the Master Chief is a lesson his childhood trainer, Chief Mendez, taught him when most of the Spartans suffered the terrible side effects of their augmentation procedure: the difference between a life wasted and a life spent—a difficult distinction every military leader has to make when giving combat orders. It really gives you further insight into John’s psyche you otherwise don’t get in the games, and it’s a very human problem, which is important to see because the Marines and other unaugmented humans cannot help but see the Spartans as robots because of their massive size and powered suits. You get to see some normal human emotions displayed in John that is otherwise hidden beneath his Spartan armour in the games and consciously suppressed because of his training.
You also get a glimpse of what could be a fault in John’s character. Ever since he was a kid—before he was “selected” for the SPARTAN-II programme—all he cares about is winning. To him, winning is everything because the only alternative is losing, which is unacceptable. It’s not that he’ll sacrifice human lives just for the sake of winning without a conscience, but if the casualties were unavoidable and yet you still win, he has difficulty understanding why the Navy brass would be upset. But it does leave you wondering about the Master Chief. During a certain mission in the book, he saves a lot of civilians before nuking an area, but only because it was part of his orders for the mission. So it leaves you wondering: if he didn’t have orders to rescue civilians, would he sacrifice their lives for the sake of the mission, or would he put the mission at risk to save innocent civilians, finding a way to both save them and accomplish the mission? If he didn’t have orders to rescue civilians, I think he would find a way to do both because you do see him order Blue Team to take out a group of Grunts that were on their way to a group of Marines with a lot of wounded, which he didn’t have to do. He sacrificed the possibility of giving up his position to the enemy just so the wounded and exhausted Marines wouldn’t have to struggle against the Covenant. As soon as he came across the Marine survivors, he viewed them as people who needed his protection rather than necessary casualties. He also doesn’t unnecessarily kill ODST marines when he’s given orders to neutralise them while testing out his new MJOLNIR armour because he believes the UNSC needs every soldier to fight the Covenant, so he does seem to have the greater picture in mind, at least in a utilitarian sense.
One last thing: there is a major error in the timeline, which is not the fault of the book but the fault of the game developers. The book’s timeline does not match the timeline of the game, Halo: Reach. The book was published 9 years before the game. In the game, you play as SPARTAN-IIIs who sacrifice their lives to bring Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn, which subsequently leaves and activates the Cole Protocol while the Covenant begins glassing the planet. But in the book, the Pillar of Autumn isn’t even on Reach but they arrive from elsewhere in defence of the planet, and Cortana is already on the Navy cruiser. Once they realise Reach is lost, they activate the Cole Protocol and depart the Epsilon Eridani system. If the book’s timeline is canonical, it simply doesn’t fit the timeline of the game, unless I’m missing something.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Blood, Gore, and War
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