Ghosts of Onyx (Halo) by Eric Nylund Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ghosts of Onyx (Halo)
Book Review: Not worth reading.
Summary: 2 Stars
I picked up this book right after reading Halo: First Strike. While I really enjoyed the first this book fails in comparison. The story focuses on Kurt, an Spartan II, and the newly formed Spartan III program. If that were all there was to the book it might be fine. However, the book has trouble centering on the main plotline and becomes a tiresome read as you'll be switching perspective every chapter, many times to characters you really don't care about. Add to that the large number of grammatical and typographical errors and it is pretty hard to finish this book. Despite the trouble I pushed through hoping the ending would redeem the rest of the story, and it didn't. Even if you're a huge Halo fan, like myself, this book is best avoided.Book Review: Outstanding book
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me preface by saying that I usually do not read books. I never played Halo 1 or 2, but have played Halo 3 and was caught up by the excitement. That being said, I never truely appreciated the story and the need to 'finish the fight'. I decided to buy the 3-pack here at amazon (Fall of reach/flood/First Strike) kind of like a filler to get to $25 to get free shipping. A best buy I have made in a long time. I liked First Strike the best, followed closely by Fall of reach and then The Flood. My suspicion is that since the Flood was a narrative of the 1st game, it followed the flow of the game (lots of fighting) thus perhaps why it was 'not as good'.
I soon got excited to see what happened in Halo 2 (still have not played it), but got Ghosts of the Onyx 1st. This book (again in my opinion) is the best so far. It hardly has Master Chief or Cortana, but fills in a lot of the story (and of course leaves a 'cliff hanger' at the end unrelated to the main Halo story arc, thus having me 'wanting more').
I remember when watching Star Trek, Battlestar galactica, etc. I always wondered what the stories some of the other star ships might of had, or wanting to know what the exploits the 'other' Jedi had in star Wars, as all of them likely had excitig stories. This book is similar in that it follows the 'life' of Kurt as he is the main star. It gives more details on the Spartan program, and particular the Spartan III's. It also re-unites the remaining surviving spartans II's (except for Master Chief and 'Grey team --> Cole Protocol). It also sheds more light on the fore-runners, and the civil war that the covenenant are having.
I know many are 'unhappy' that it is not centered around master chief, but we all know what he is doing in halo 2 and 3. I want to know what else is going on in the Halo Universe and with the rest of the Spartans and this book does a great job in that. I think Cole protocol will be a 'similar' and outstanding book as well giving us stories of the other spartans. I just got Contact harvest in the mail today. can't wait to read it.
Book Review: Prepare for awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
Ghosts of Onyx competes head-to-head with The Fall of Reach for the title of Nylund's best Halo novel. Ghosts of Onyx is well-written, with great action, and good character development. More than any other Halo book written to date, I really cared about these characters.
Plotwise, there's a lot going on. The main story shifts perspectives around the planet Onyx. Scans of Onyx show a wealth of mineral resources, quickly making it a valuable target. From the start, there are signs that Onyx is no ordinary planet, and that the cause of those scan results is something far beyond anyone's expectations. The Covenant and UNSC battle for control of the planet, while a cast of characters including Dr. Halsey (lead scientist on the Spartan-II program) attempt to unlock the secrets of this mysterious planet.
Nylund does a great job writing complex battles, without losing clarity. Even in the biggest firefights, you still have a good sense of what's going on. More than a lot of other action writers, I feel like I could draw up a diagram of one of Nylund's battles, and it would actually look like everyone else's diagram of the same action. Battles range from tense duck-and-cover affairs with only a few participants, to huge battles between spaceships in orbit. The action is plenty and varied, so nobody's going to be disappointed on this front.
The main character of this story (after a blistering opening prologue) ends up being Kurt, a Spartan-II super-soldier (of the same class as Master Chief from the games). Kurt is often assigned to special operations, and now his leadership potential has him in charge of a portion of the Spartan-III program. The Spartan-III program takes the lessons of the Spartan-IIs, and cuts some dangerous corners to make soldiers that are cheaper and easier to replace. These cuts also make the new soldiers dangerous and potentially unstable. Kurt has to fight his old istrincts from being trained as a superior breed of Spartan, and learn to interact closely with this new group. Kurt's ability to interact with his team will be pushed to the utmost limits during the course of the novel.
Onyx includes a lot of elements. The story has everything from deep scientific mysteries to Hollywood-style big action set pieces. There's a bang of action in the intro, deep development throughout, and more great action especially toward the end. And what an end- the final portions of this book are the most sweeping and epic of any Halo novel written to date. It is no exaggeration to say that I was holding back back equal parts tears and wonder as I read the final pages.
Ghosts of Onyx is highly recommended to all. You do want to be familiar with the Halo universe before diving in, and to that end I'd recommend at least reading Nylund's own The Fall of Reach or playing the original Halo: Combat evolved before picking up this book. For anyone with even a passing familiarity with this universe, Ghosts of Onyx is a must-have.
Book Review: Read about the lives of other Spartans, their battles, and the world of Onyx.
Summary: 4 Stars
I just finished the Ghosts of Onyx and while I had some trouble properly visualizing the amazing world of Onyx, Eric Nylund still delivered a great story I just had to read to the end. Not much is written about John-117, but I got to read more of the other remaining Spartan IIs: Kelly, Linda, Will, Fred, and most of all Kurt.
There were times I didn't know if I wanted to call Kurt a hero or think of him as a creep (especially working with Ackerson and his cronies), but he did what thought was best to insure the creation and survival of Spartan IIIs and Earth. Once Ackerson finally admits the success of the Spartan IIs, he endeavors to make more of them - but something cheaper, faster, and more expendable. Kurt delivers the Spartan IIIs. Their armor suits are not as sophisticated as the Spartan IIs, but the children were trained to be just as tough, smart, and pack a killer punch. Problem is, once these "children" (barely in their teens) graduated from their training, they were sent off on a massive top secret suicide missions. The succeeded in their missions, but only a very few of the 300 super soldiers sent - if any at all - survived. And no one knew about it or could know of it - even honor them posthumously.
This book is about Kurt, the Spartan III project, and the world of Onyx. You'll learn of what happened to Dr. Halsey and Kelly after their hasty departure in the previous book. Training Chief Mendez (who helped trained the Spartan IIs) makes a return in this book, albeit I wish he was more involved. While I was at first not wanting to accept the new Spartan IIIs, by the end they proved that they are Spartans through and through.
Eric Nylund delivers another great book. While it's not my favorite, I still enjoyed it very much. Thanks Eric!
Book Review: Review of Halo
Summary: 5 Stars
"Spartans never die?" she whispered. Dr. Halsey swiveled out of the contour chair and pushed the monitors out of her way with sudden violence. "If only that was true." For those who have never picked up a Halo book before, Dr. Halsey is the person who made the first Spartans. Spartans are literally the best of the best, because they are genetically cloned and are given very severe military training at a very young age. Did I also forget to mention that after that they go through highly severe surgery to help induce bone density, adolescence, muscle strength, and anything else that can make a warrior better. After that, they are also given chemicals that also help in those areas. The military uses Spartans as elite warriors to help fight the Covenant. The Covenant is a mixture of alien species ruled by their prophets and they are technologically superior and their troops are physically imposing. Also, they are intent to wipe out the human race.
But this book is about how the military took a Spartan out of active duty and sent him to the planet Onyx to train the new generation of Spartans with the help of Chief petty officer Mendez, (he also helped train the original Spartans). After the first wave of candidates finished their training, they were sent on a highly dangerous mission and the mission succeeded but only 2 of the 300 Spartans survived. It was considered a victory. So the Spartan in charge then got those two Spartans to help train the new ones. But the same exact thing happened with the next generation of Spartans and this time there were no survivors. So the Spartan in charge changed the chemical mixture slightly so that the third wave will survive.
I personally considered this book one of the greatest books I've ever read. I mean even the boring parts were good. Also the theme of this book I thought was survival. I think this because there were many parts that talked about war and invasion. There were also many separate kinds of perspectives that made it so that you could see just enough of the big picture to be willing to turn the next page. I think that this was best use of money I've seen in a while (the first was Halo 1 the game). I mean I could see no fault in this book. So I give it a perfect grade, five stars, two thumbs up, A+, and any other symbol that means awesome.