Which Halo Book Should You Read First? Start With The Fall of Reach

If you know Master Chief as the Spartan who steps out of a cryo pod at the beginning of Halo: Combat Evolved, I’d start with the book that takes him all the way back to childhood. Eric Nylund’s Halo: The Fall of Reach, originally published in 2001, is the first Halo novel and the origin story of John-117. It follows the creation of the Spartan-II program and leads into the events of the first game. You can read it without having played a single mission.

The part that makes me recommend it first is the reason the Spartans were created. Before the Covenant threatened humanity, the people in charge of the program intended to use it against human rebels. That detail changes how you read about the boy who grows up to become humanity’s most famous soldier.

What The Fall of Reach tells you about Master Chief

Dr. Catherine Halsey’s secret program begins with 75 children. John is six years old when she identifies him as a candidate. Watching him learn to lead gives his familiar composure a history. In one early lesson, the children watch a pack of wolves bring down a much larger animal. John’s own training teaches him to judge success by how the team fares. The lesson lands differently if most of your time with him has been spent clearing rooms on your own.

Halsey gives the book its most uncomfortable question. The Spartans become vital to humanity’s defense against the Covenant, but that later necessity can’t change what was done to the children. Nylund gives you room to admire the adult John becomes and still ask who got to decide what he would become. That’s the part I’d tell a reader who likes military science fiction and has never touched an Xbox. There’s a character here worth following before there’s a ringworld to explore.

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Shop Halo: The Fall of Reach on Amazon (Gallery Books paperback).

Is the book the same story as the game Halo: Reach?

They tell different stories about Reach. The game follows Noble Six and Noble Team during the planet’s defense. The novel follows John and the Spartan-IIs across a much longer stretch, beginning years before the battle. If you played Reach first, you’ll recognize the stakes when the Covenant comes for the planet. The surprise is how much time the book spends showing what Reach meant to the Spartans before it became a battlefield.

What to read after The Fall of Reach

1. Halo: The Flood by William C. Dietz. Pick this next if you’ve never played Combat Evolved or want the story in prose. It picks up with the Pillar of Autumn after its escape from Reach and follows the discovery of the ringworld. If you know the campaign well and want to move directly into the aftermath, you can go straight to First Strike.
2. Halo: First Strike by Eric Nylund. This is the next stop once you know what happens in The Flood or Combat Evolved. It follows the aftermath of the first game, returns to the Spartans on Reach and bridges the gap to Halo 2. For readers who finish the first novel wanting more of John’s fellow Spartans, this is the book I’d keep on hand.

If you’re reading without the games, go with The Fall of Reach, The Flood and then First Strike. If you’ve played the original campaign and are here for new story, start with The Fall of Reach and follow it with First Strike. See Halo Studios’ guide to the original three novels.

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