Halo: The Fall of Reach
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Halo: The Fall of Reach | ||||
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Illustrator(s): |
Gabriel Garza (2010 edition onwards interior art) | |||
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Todd McLaren | |||
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Novel | |||
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This novel has received two adaptions, the comic series Halo: Fall of Reach, and the animation Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series. | |||
Halo: The Fall of Reach is a Halo novel written by Eric Nylund published on October 30, 2001. The first Halo novel to be published, it serves as a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved.[1] The novel was reportedly finished in seven weeks,[1] eventually becoming a Publisher's Weekly bestseller with nearly 200,000 copies sold in the United States and United Kingdom.[2]
The Fall of Reach was reissued on August 3, 2010 by Tor Books, with the new reissued version including some content updates and additional content;[3] on June 28, 2011, Tor released the "Definitive Edition" of the novel, which fixes many of the errors introduced in the 2010 reissue.[4] A further reprinted edition was published in March 2019 by Gallery Books, featuring a slightly modified cover layout which no longer bears the title "Definitive Edition", but retains the 2011 text.[5]
A comic book adaptation series titled Halo: Fall of Reach, consisting of three story arcs was published by Marvel Comics and 343 Industries, starting with Boot Camp on September 14, 2010. It is followed by Covenant and Invasion.[6] In addition, the novel was adapted into an animated series which was shipped with the Limited and Limited Collector's Editions of Halo 5: Guardians.[7] The animated series was later released on Blu-ray and DVD.[8]
Official summaries
Original edition by Del Rey Books
Before the Human-Covenant War engulfed Halo, the planet-colony Reach came under attack by the Covenant, and Earth's specially trained and augmented warriors, code-named SPARTANs, stood alone to fight for humanity's survival.
Definitive Edition by Tor
| “ | The Definitive Edition to the First and Bestselling Halo Novel, Including Twenty-seven Pages of New Material
Legends are not simply born...they are willed into existence. Humanity has expanded beyond the Sol System. There are hundreds of planets we now call "home." The United Nations Space Command now struggles to control this vast empire. After exhausting all strategies to keep seething insurrections from exploding into interplanetary civil war, the UNSC has one last hope. At the Office of Naval Intelligence, Dr. Catherine Halsey has been hard at work on a top secret program that could bring an end to all this conflict...and it starts with seventy-five children, among them a six year old boy named John. Halsey never guessed that this little boy would become humanity's final hope against a vast alien force hell-bent on wiping us out. This is the story of John, Spartan-117…the Master Chief, and of the battles that brought humanity face to face with its possible extinction. This new Tor edition will serve as the definitive version of the novel that started Halo fans reading the series, and features brand-new material, including: Excerpts of Office of Naval Intelligence interrogations of the Covenant. Missives and mandates issued by the Covenant. Declassified transmissions regarding the defense of Reach. A personal insight into the Spartan program. The Official Evacuation Order for all inhabitants of Reach. Five sketches of cover art by 343 Industries artist, Robogabo. |
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2019 Gallery Books reprint
| “ | The New York Times bestselling origin story of the Master Chief—part of the expanded universe based on the award-winning video game series Halo!
The twenty-sixth century. Humanity has expanded beyond Earth’s system to hundreds of planets that colonists now call home. But the United Earth Government and the United Nations Space Command is struggling to control this vast empire. After exhausting all strategies to keep seething colonial insurrections from exploding into a full-blown interplanetary civil war, the UNSC has one last hope. At the Office of Naval Intelligence, Dr. Catherine Halsey has been hard at work on a top-secret program that could bring an end to the conflict…and it starts with seventy-five children, among them a six-year-old boy named John. And Halsey could never guess that this child will eventually become the final hope against an even greater peril engulfing the galaxy—the inexorable confrontation with a theocratic military alliance of alien races known as the Covenant. This is the electrifying origin story of Spartan John-117—the Master Chief—and of his legendary, unstoppable heroism in leading the resistance against humanity’s possible extinction. |
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Plot synopsis
The prologue takes place on the planet Jericho VII on February 12, 2535, and introduces the Spartans and their purpose. As the seemingly unstoppable Covenant war machine moves into place to glass Jericho VII, Spartan Red and Blue teams are sent to prevent the destruction of the planet. The Spartans manage to kill a thousand Grunts and even destroy a Covenant air strike with fougasses. However, the situation in space soon deteriorates, and the Spartans are forced to retreat before the surface of Jericho VII is glassed.
Section I: Reveille
The story itself begins with Dr. Catherine Halsey and Lieutenant, Junior Grade Jacob Keyes on board the Han: a UNSC Vancouver-class courier. Traveling to the colony world Eridanus II, their mission is to identify a potential candidate, John, for Halsey's SPARTAN-II program. Dr. Halsey finds John in a school playground in Elysium City, where she determines his suitability for the program. Using a coin, she tests John's reflexes by flipping the coin in the air and having him identify the side it will land on. John catches it and correctly identifies the side: the eagle. During this time, Halsey gives John the coin, which is later taken from him.
Section II: Boot
The plot then goes on to show, in detail, the brutal indoctrination and training regime that John and his fellow Spartans are put through. Chief Petty Officer Mendez trains the Spartan-IIs, showing them the many necessary virtues of a soldier (e.g. courage, teamwork, skill, etc.) whilst the AI Déjà teaches them history, mathematics, and physics. After a daring training mission in the wilds of Reach — where the young Spartans regroup, construct a map of the area from separate pieces, and steal a dropship back to base — John-117 is made squad leader of the Spartans. When the Spartans are fourteen, they undergo intense biological enhancements that effectively triple their strength, drastically decrease their reaction times, make their bones practically indestructible, and increase blood flow to their eyes so that they can almost see in the dark, among various other improvements. However, of the 75 Spartans, less than half emerge still fit for combat; the rest wash out and die during the operations or are horribly injured by the augmentation process. While recovering on the Atlas, John gets into a fight with a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, but ends up accidentally killing two of them. The speedy arrival of Chief Mendez leads John to suspect that the incident may have been arranged.
After returning to Reach, the Spartans quickly prove that the augmentations have surpassed all expectations, and their cohesion in battle is amazing. The Spartans are then issued orders to capture Colonel Robert Watts, an Insurrectionist leader in the Eridanus asteroid belt. John leads a small team, consisting of Samuel-034, Linda-058, Kelly-087, and Frederic-104, which manages to infiltrate the Insurrectionists' asteroid base and capture Watts in Operation: TALON. John is wounded during this mission and is subsequently awarded a Purple Heart.
On February 3, 2525, first contact is made with an alliance of alien races that refers to itself as the Covenant. A single Covenant warship exterminates the entire surface population of the Outer Colony Harvest. Three UNSC warships — the destroyer Heracles and the frigates Arabia and Vostok — are sent to investigate this incident and initiate first engagement protocols. They attempt contact, engage the Covenant ship in battle, and are subsequently routed. Only the Heracles manages to return to Reach, having been badly damaged. By December of the same year, the UNSC has mobilized a massive fleet under the command of famed war hero Vice Admiral Preston Cole, with orders to reclaim the Harvest colony and stop the Covenant advance.
In response to the emergence of the Covenant, the Spartans' graduation occurs earlier than anticipated, while Chief Mendez leaves to train the next class of Spartans, giving John some advice before returning the coin Dr. Halsey gave him years earlier. Dr. Halsey takes the Spartans to Chi Ceti IV to retrieve Project: MJOLNIR. Upon arriving in the system, the Commonwealth — the