Halo: Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten, reveals how the Human-Covenant War, as seen in the Halo universe, got started. It is the year 2524. Harvest is a peaceful, prosperous farming colony on the very edge of human-controlled space. But we have trespassed on holy ground--strayed into the path of an aggressive alien empire known as the Covenant. What begins as a chance encounter between an alien privateer and a human freighter catapults mankind into a struggle for its very existence. But humanity is also locked in a bitter civil war known as the Insurrection. So the survival of Harvest's citizens falls to a squad of battle-weary UNSC Marines and their inexperienced colonial militia trainees. In this unlikely group of heroes, one stands above the rest, a young Marine staff sergeant named Avery Johnson.
The novel starts with a prologue showing Johnson, as a Marine, with his buddies taking down an Insurrectionist op in a diner. Johnson doesn't kill the target and the operation goes to hell when the Innie detonates the bomb. Next, the book goes to an AI on Harvest as it goes about its normal routine. Johnson, back on Earth, learns his auntie is dead and demands to be let back into service. Sure enough, he is assigned to Harvest and meets a Marine from the failed op, Nolan Byrne. On a Covenant vessel scouting for holy relics, a company of Jackals and one Grunt and Engineer, hijack a UNSC vessel and scavenge the ship. They decide to investigate it's point or origin: Harvest. As Johnson and Byrne settle old scores and being to settle into the routine of training new recruits (Jenkins, Mendoza, Bisenti), the Covenant comes ever closer to Harvest.
The novel deviates to two ambitious San 'Shyuum, the Minister of Fortitude and the Vice Minister of Tranquility learn of the large amount of "relics" found on Harvest and begin to plan a coup of the current Hierarchs using this as a fulcrum. To keep the Sangheili from using this discovery as a way to upset the balance of power, they utilize a Jiralhanae-controlled ship captained by Maccabeus and crewed by his pack of Jiralhanae (including a youthful Tartarus). The two began a secret attempt to seize the planet. This marks the beginning of the powerful alliance between the Jiralhanae and the San 'Shyuum, and the key to their eventual betrayal of the Sangheili leading to the Great Schism later in the war.
Needless to say, shit happens and the Humans and Covenant start fighting. The Jiralhanae glass Harvest while Johnson and the others try to hold them off, allowing the civilians to evacuate. They make a series of random jump and arrive at Earth to tell the UNSC what happened. Meanwhile, the San 'Shyuum perform a coup and rename themselves the Prophet of Truth, Regret, and Mercy and cover their tracks. At one point, they learn from the renegade Forerunner AI Medicant Bias that the Humans are the Reclaimers and thus the true heirs to the Forerunner knowledge.
All in all, a great first novel from a game designer who captures Johnson and the Haloverse as accurately as the games. Great pacing, tight plot, great characters makes a great novel.
The novel starts with a prologue showing Johnson, as a Marine, with his buddies taking down an Insurrectionist op in a diner. Johnson doesn't kill the target and the operation goes to hell when the Innie detonates the bomb. Next, the book goes to an AI on Harvest as it goes about its normal routine. Johnson, back on Earth, learns his auntie is dead and demands to be let back into service. Sure enough, he is assigned to Harvest and meets a Marine from the failed op, Nolan Byrne. On a Covenant vessel scouting for holy relics, a company of Jackals and one Grunt and Engineer, hijack a UNSC vessel and scavenge the ship. They decide to investigate it's point or origin: Harvest. As Johnson and Byrne settle old scores and being to settle into the routine of training new recruits (Jenkins, Mendoza, Bisenti), the Covenant comes ever closer to Harvest.
The novel deviates to two ambitious San 'Shyuum, the Minister of Fortitude and the Vice Minister of Tranquility learn of the large amount of "relics" found on Harvest and begin to plan a coup of the current Hierarchs using this as a fulcrum. To keep the Sangheili from using this discovery as a way to upset the balance of power, they utilize a Jiralhanae-controlled ship captained by Maccabeus and crewed by his pack of Jiralhanae (including a youthful Tartarus). The two began a secret attempt to seize the planet. This marks the beginning of the powerful alliance between the Jiralhanae and the San 'Shyuum, and the key to their eventual betrayal of the Sangheili leading to the Great Schism later in the war.
Needless to say, shit happens and the Humans and Covenant start fighting. The Jiralhanae glass Harvest while Johnson and the others try to hold them off, allowing the civilians to evacuate. They make a series of random jump and arrive at Earth to tell the UNSC what happened. Meanwhile, the San 'Shyuum perform a coup and rename themselves the Prophet of Truth, Regret, and Mercy and cover their tracks. At one point, they learn from the renegade Forerunner AI Medicant Bias that the Humans are the Reclaimers and thus the true heirs to the Forerunner knowledge.
All in all, a great first novel from a game designer who captures Johnson and the Haloverse as accurately as the games. Great pacing, tight plot, great characters makes a great novel.
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