Halo: Ghosts of Onyx

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx is the title of the fourth Halo book, which is by Eric Nylund and published by Tor. It was released on October 31st, 2006.

In addition, the announcement of the title also included a confirmation that Ghosts of Onyx is not the last planned Halo book. At least two more novels are planned to follow it as part of a contract with Tor. The first book, Halo: Contact Harvest, was released October 30th, 2007

Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot and ending details follow.

Characters

 * Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-II John-117 (mention only in revised records)
 * Senior Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-II Fred-104 (Presently Lieutenant, Junior Grade)
 * Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN-II Kelly-087
 * Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN-II Linda-058
 * Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN-II Will-043
 * Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose (Formerly SPARTAN-II Kurt-051)
 * SPARTAN-III Shane-A???
 * SPARTAN-III Robert-A???
 * SPARTAN-III Jane-A???
 * SPARTAN-III Tom-B292
 * SPARTAN-III Lucy-B091
 * SPARTAN-III Adam-B004
 * SPARTAN-III Min-B174
 * SPARTAN-III Ash-G099
 * SPARTAN-III Holly-G003
 * SPARTAN-III Olivia-G???
 * SPARTAN-III Mark-G???
 * SPARTAN-III Dante-G188
 * General Howard Graves (Leader of the United Rebel Front)
 * Dr. Catherine Halsey
 * Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez
 * Fleet Master Voro Nar 'Mantakree
 * Paruna Xido Konna Lekgolo Pair (Lekgolo are the Covenant Name for Hunters)
 * Waruna Xido Yotno Lekgolo Pair (Lekgolo are the Covenant Name for Hunters)
 * Kwassass Unggoy
 * Xytan 'Jar Wattinree (Imperial Admiral and Regent Command of the Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose)

Errors
On his blog, Eric Nylund has confirmed that there will be a reprint some time in the future, fixing many errors in the book. The time for this is not yet known.

List of Errors

 * On pages 260 (chapter 29) and 367 (chapter 39), MA5B is misspelled as MAB5.
 * On pages 56-57, the dates that they looked for Spartan 051-Kurt span 4 years. The year in the beginning of the chapter is November 7 2531. In the after action report it says that they looked for Kurt and were joined on 1/13/2335 at 1105 hours, by the UNSC frigate Tannenberg.
 * On pages 51 and 314, UNSC is misspelled into USNC
 * On page 320, Holly is misspelled as Holy.
 * On page 287, Commander Lash mentions a watch given to him by his father upon graduation of OSC, but it is likely that he graduated from OCS, or Officer Candidate School.
 * On page 67 the date given is December 27, 2531. It states Kurt had been developing a training regime for the Spartan IIIs for 6 months. However, according to page 57, he had become involved on December 14, 2531, a mere 13 days prior.
 * On page 79 the date is listed as July 30, 2537 and states it has been 15 years since the indoctrination of the Alpha Company of Spartan IIIs, when in fact that would only be 5 years later.
 * On the cover, Kelly's gauntlets have the square with the five holes on it, like on the Mark VI. However, she was wearing a Mark V.

Trivia

 * The cover features an MA5B and two new rifles, which are revealed in the book to be MA5K carbines.
 * Ghosts of Onyx is supposedly derived from the song Ghosts of Reach on the Halo 2 Soundtrack.
 * Before the confirmation of the book itself, the book's placeholder name was "Ghost of Coral". This raised much speculation about the I Love Bees involvement in the Halo series.
 * The cover of the book displays the three primary armor types worn by the Spartan-IIs and Spartan-IIIs. The figure in the left (Presumably Kelly-087, as she did not return to Earth to recieve the upgraded armor as the other Spartans did) wears MJOLNIR Mark V armor. The Center figure (The book reveals this figure to be Fredric-104, Will-043, or Linda-058) wears the newer MJOLNIR Mark VI Armor. The figure on the right (revealed to be either Kurt-051 or one of the Spartan-IIIs) wears SPI Mark II armor.