Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition)

The Halo Encyclopedia is an official guidebook of the Halo Universe, published by Dorling Kindersley. The encyclopedia has a foreword written by Frank O'Connor, head of the Halo Franchise Development Group, with Tobias Buckell editing. It was released on October 19th, 2009. An updated version is scheduled to be released on September 19th, 2011.

Official DK Summary
"This is a must-have guide to the Halo universe. Humanity teeters on the brink of extinction, as hostile forces and ancient mysteries threaten to snuff out our first fiery foray into the universe. Take a trip into the world of Halo and discover everything you ever wanted to know about the characters, weapons, vehicles, equipment and locations from Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST. From the Colonial Administration Authority to the UNSC, you'll find an overview of Halo's human history and structure and gain insight into key organizations. Discover all about the Covenant - its history and religion - as well as the Forerunners, Flood and much more. It's what Halo fans have been waiting for."

- Dorling Kindersley

Contents

 * Foreword by Frank O' Connor
 * Introduction
 * 1) Timeline
 * 2) Humans
 * 3) Spartans
 * 4) The Covenant
 * 5) The Flood
 * 6) The Forerunners
 * 7) The Human-Covenant War
 * 8) Science and Technology
 * 9) Transport
 * 10) Locations
 * 11) Weapons

Reception
Reception to the Halo Encyclopedia was mixed. Some reviewers and readers praised the book's detailed approach to its content. However, other reviewers stated that the book's images were often of poor quality and "at times seem[ing] haphazardly thrown together."

Others criticisms centered on the work's poor editing, most notably its poor spelling and grammar. Misattributions were also frequent, with Scout and Rogue being mistakenly confused as one armor type.

Later printings of the encyclopedia showed improved editing, where many mistakes that existed in the initial printing had been eliminated, such as numerous mislabelings and missattributions.

Nonetheless, a dispiriting number of errors remain. The ranking system of the Brutes is mangled, with a picture of a Major labelled as a Minor, and the colour of Ultra's armour mis-cited as cyan instead of violet, The Spirit dropship is not even mentioned in the vehicle section, nor is the Halo 2 variant of Scarab, along with many other errors.

Trivia

 * A number of descriptions in the book seem to be quoted from or based upon those of Halopedia; For example, the article for Locust mentions that the Locust's cockpit is based on that of a Banshee. This comparison was first made in the "Trivia" section of this website's Locust page.

External

 * Official Halo Encyclopedia site