Halo: First Strike

Written by Eric Nylund

Narrated by Todd McLaren

Halo has been destroyed, and the threat it posed to sentient life neutralized. But victory has come at a terrible cost for the UNSC. Thousands of valiant soldiers fell in the battle to prevent the alien construct from falling into the enemy's clutches.



Now, everything depends on the Spartan known as the Master Chief. Yet even with the aid of the artificial intelligence Cortana, the Master Chief will be hard-pressed to rescue survivors and evade the Covenant ships patrolling the remains of Halo in debris-strewn space.



Ahead lies a dangerous voyage home through a gauntlet of Covenant forces. For the sake of all, the Master Chief and his war-torn squad must not only survive but take the fight to the enemy with a decisive first strike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Audio
• Release date: Jul 15, 2008
• ISBN: 9781400171149

Eric Nylund

Eric Nylund is the author of many novels, including the New York Times bestselling works Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: First Strike, and Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, and the World Fantasy nominated Dry Water. As a writer for Microsoft Game Studios, Nylund helped develop such game franchises as Halo and Gears of War. He has also helped shape the intellectual property for some of the world’s best videogame developers, including Bioware and Epic Games, and also worked with Amazon’s game studios. Nylund lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, award-winning science fiction/fantasy writer Syne Mitchell, and their son.

Reviews for Halo

[ailinel-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First Strike continues to chronicle the careers of the remaining Spartan IIs, at first alternating between Fred's group on Reach during the Fall and John directly after the destruction of the first Halo. The discovery of significant Forerunner technology, the rescue of Fred's team and Dr. Halsey, and the destruction of the Covenant fleet at Unyielding Hierophant (unwieldy elephant) create a fast paced series of adventures. Characters tend to be either sympathetic or intentionally unsympathetic, and when Locklear crosses from one to the other it is done in a heavy-handed way. This does not, however, detract form the enjoyment of the ride that this novel takes readers on. Several scenes, including the final scene, are clear nods to the games, and are there specifically for game players. This is a fun, quick read that pulls readers further into the Halo universe and the incredible lives of the Spartan IIs.

[remy_ferrell-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Halo First Strike follows the story right after the events of Halo The Flood and the Halo video game. Master Chief is now trying to get home while evading the covenant forces. The book is filled with a lot of action, and I was enjoyed by it. The writing style is simple and it makes the events in the book flow with ease. For fans of the the prequels and/or the halo video games, then you will enjoy the adventures of Master Chief in this action-packed book.

[David Gavin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

truly enjoyed this book looking forward to more from this author and narrator

[areadingmachine · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Game = Book

[skyler2sims · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After the destruction of the halo ring, Master chief is on a dangerous voyage home. The covenant forces are destroying UNSC held planets. Master Chief must go through constant patrols and fleets of ships. On the planet Reach the covenant forces are attacking the soldiers on the planet. The spartans are forced with a dangerous objective to destroy a covanant ship. Master Chief is rescueing people in the debris field of the halo ring. The forces on Reach counter attack and push the covenant forces back. This is a good book with lots of action. I like the halo story it goes along with the video games. The events are right after Halo 1. Master Chief is a great charicter. He is a very dark person and has little emotions. The book has great action scenes throughout the book. I liked the book and recommend it. The book is great for people who enjoy sci fi aciton.

[jovanh470volny · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Halo first strike is an explanation of what happens before the big event in HALO when the humans accidently stumble across HALO. It is a sensible and plausible explanation of what the Master Chief had to accomplish after the fall of Reach. It also explains how the last surviving Spartans, besides Master Chief, had disappeared or died. What it explained is what happened after the Covenant had glassed Reach, and what kind of operations they were conducting after human presence had become nonexistent on the planet. But they had also found the location of Dr. Catherine Halsey, the Spartan program founder. She hadn’t had been located for a long period of time as she tends to slip away from the grasp of the UNSC and ONI. After, the Chief and the available assortments of UNSC personnel, along with Dr. Halsey and Cortana, devised a plan to launch an attack on a large commanding Covenant superstructure. This attack proved to be a significant blow to the Covenant and a big advantage to the UNSC and the human cause.This novel by Eric Nylund was I thought a well-constructed piece of literature. And for core fans of the game series, they would understand completely and enjoy this novel. It bases its theories off of very important evidence in the games that suggest what might have happened, to write the book entirely out of theoretical thinking, only using knowledge from the game is an astounding feat. I wouldn’t recommend however this book for all ages as it does use profanity in some parts of the book, and gruesome mental images can be created from reading, as it does a more than good job of describing combat. But overall a very good read, I’d even suggest this book to people who may not be fans of HALO.

[garybabb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read three books of the Halo series, and "First Strike" is by far the best. I was exhausted after reading this one. It was well written and rolled by page after page. Unfortunately, like all of them so far, there is no ending! There is a climax, but the subplots are left hanging for the next book. I love the characters, even those developed in the last chapter that had absolutely NO tie to the book. It leaves me wondering why the hell they were even in this book. I'm now wondering what happened to the three-legged dog. I guess the obvious answer is: read the next book. But, I'm frustrated and done with this series. I would love to read more from this author if he learns to put the end a story in the same book. I do give this book a three and a half star rating for the plot that didn't end.

[gelario20 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book shows the readers how the legendary master chief gets back to earth, after destroying one of the Halo rings. The First Strike is filled with action and space battles. This book also answers the question: Are there any spartan survivors on Reach?

[connor16 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A good book abot the events that lead up to Halo 2, but leaves a few unanswered questions.

[moka_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best halo books I am reading is first strike by Eric Nylund. It is easy to read. There are some good fight seens. You can actually see it like a movie! It takes place on planet reach before it was glassed over. First strike and the fall of reach are my favorite books in the halo books series ever. There are no inappropriate parts.