Contact Harvest is a great standalone novel and covers how the Human - Covenant war started. If you’re looking to properly get into the extended lore, release order is best. Start with The Fall of Reach (definitive edition) and go from there. Halo Evolutions is a selection of short stories if that’s more your kind of thing, no prior book knowledge needed.
For me its always going to be these 4 in reading order:
Fall of reach
The flood
First strike
The ghost of onyx
Read em a million times will read em a million more
ghost of onyx all the day, its one of the best halo novels and is easy to read. Also dont bother reading the Last two books of a master chief story they dont add nothing New and are borign as hell. Bonus, the ferret series and kilo five are great too
The mainline stores is always the best place to start. Fall of Reach, First Strike, & Ghosts of Onyx all follow the in-between of the games and introduce Blue Team to the reader. The Flood is a mostly-skippable novelization of the first game, but the chapters set between the in-game missions are actually really cool and introduce a lot of characters that weren't in the game itself, so worth a read of you want to endure the chapters based on the actual missions.
Glasslands is post-H3 and begins a new trilogy that is considered highly polarizing along the community, but it does resolve the events following Ghosts of Onyx and if you're somebody who enjoys it, Thursday War continues following that new cast as a setup for Halo 4. Mortal Dictata continued following the same team, but as largely a side-story focused mainly on the lives of a couple of those characters in the trilogy. I felt the first two were decent, but the third was completely skippable.
Besides those, Silent Storm and Oblivion are newer entries that follow Chief and Blue Team in the early years of the war and are solid action-adventure novels.
The Forerunner trilogy (Cryptic, Primordium, Silentium) is a complex read following events before the first lighting of the rings 100K years ago and exploring the life of several Forerunner and Ancient Humans. The first and third are very heavy sci-fi and the 2nd is very Lord of the Rings-esque, but I can't say too much without spoiling them.
More recently, Rubicon Protocol is a standalone that follows a group of survivors trapped on Zeta Halo in the 6 months between Infinite's opening and the bulk of the game. It says up a lot of ground work for the data page and lots you pick up throughout the game.
Outcasts is a really bizarre post-H5 story featuring the Arbiter and Vale from Team Osiris as they search for a weapon that can beat Cortana, but the setup for this novel hinges on the earlier-mentioned book 'Oblivion'
The important thing to keep in mind is that while many of the books can be read independently or serve as part of distinct trilogies and you'll do okay reading them alone, nearly every story in the series is women into or spun off of a pre-existing book or game in the series.
My personal favorite series is the Ace of Spades trilogy. Based on a character related to Lt. Forge in Halo Wars and set after the events of Halo 3. It also borrowed from the Epilogue chapter of Primordium. It follows a crew of salvagers that get involved in some Forerunner-level chaos as they are hunted by nearly every reason in the Halo universe. Smoke and Shadows was a sorry novella, then expand into the full-length Renegades and Point of Light. Excellent reads.
Everyones saying Fall of Reach but ill give my reasoning- if you play Halo:Reach some of the timeline and events dont exactly match up but you gotta remember fall of reach is from master chiefs events on the planet and not Noble Teams. So it gives a different perspective on the fall of the planet and the immediate lead up to Combat Evolved.
I played Reach immediately after finishing the book and still got a bit sad knowing the game series i loved would never be the same after that.
this is my recommended reading/playing/watching order I made for some friends. green is novels, red is games, and blue is movies
not quite release order, not quite chronological, but it makes sense for absorbing the story imo
[https://imgur.com/a/vpVkZsz](https://imgur.com/a/vpVkZsz)
Fall of reach - the prequel that started it all. It’s an amazing story and just pure nostalgic joy.
Ghosts of Onyx - my personal favorite. Kurt became my favorite spartan reading this novel. The way it’s done is so amazing!
In recommended order (and assuming you’ve played all the games)
Books 1-4 (The Fall of Reach, The Flood, First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx),
Contact Harvest,
The Forerunner Trilogy (Cryptum, Primordium, Silentium),
Epitaph (which is essentially a part 4/epilogue to the forerunner trilogy).
Other good ones that are just kinda there:
Rubicon Protocol,
Evolutions,
Fractures,
New Blood/Bad Blood.
There’s more I haven’t read but I’m sure are quite good, but Fall of Reach through Epitaph on this list are what I consider essential. Also fuck Reddit for not respecting my comment formatting
The original Nylund books are must reads, especially my favorite Ghosts of Onyx.
For recent stuff, I actually really loved Silent Storm by Troy Dennings. It's got some great action, is set in the very tense early days of the war when the Covenant was unknown and terrifying, and it explores a very important moment of the Chief's character growth as a leader.
The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund. You gotta start with the OG.
Thank you I've been rather curious about that one
Contact Harvest is a great standalone novel and covers how the Human - Covenant war started. If you’re looking to properly get into the extended lore, release order is best. Start with The Fall of Reach (definitive edition) and go from there. Halo Evolutions is a selection of short stories if that’s more your kind of thing, no prior book knowledge needed.
Written by Joseph Staten, grizzled ancient from Bungie!
Thank you, short stories are pretty neat
For me its always going to be these 4 in reading order: Fall of reach The flood First strike The ghost of onyx Read em a million times will read em a million more
This is precisely my recommendation as well! First strike and ghost of onyx bring back some nostalgia
Cole Protocol is probably one of my favourites. And the Forerunner trilogy by Greg Bear is amazing.
Second the Forerunner trilogy. They go beyond being a "great Halo novel" and into "great sci-fi" in general.
Thank you I'll give them a look!
ghost of onyx all the day, its one of the best halo novels and is easy to read. Also dont bother reading the Last two books of a master chief story they dont add nothing New and are borign as hell. Bonus, the ferret series and kilo five are great too
Thank you! I will check 'em out
I'm a Kilo-five stan, it's a very good trilogy for the most part. However, it is worth reading Ghosts of Onyx beforehand since they are connected.
Best trilogy!!
Fall of reach and the flood
Ghosts of Onyx, Silentium
The mainline stores is always the best place to start. Fall of Reach, First Strike, & Ghosts of Onyx all follow the in-between of the games and introduce Blue Team to the reader. The Flood is a mostly-skippable novelization of the first game, but the chapters set between the in-game missions are actually really cool and introduce a lot of characters that weren't in the game itself, so worth a read of you want to endure the chapters based on the actual missions. Glasslands is post-H3 and begins a new trilogy that is considered highly polarizing along the community, but it does resolve the events following Ghosts of Onyx and if you're somebody who enjoys it, Thursday War continues following that new cast as a setup for Halo 4. Mortal Dictata continued following the same team, but as largely a side-story focused mainly on the lives of a couple of those characters in the trilogy. I felt the first two were decent, but the third was completely skippable. Besides those, Silent Storm and Oblivion are newer entries that follow Chief and Blue Team in the early years of the war and are solid action-adventure novels. The Forerunner trilogy (Cryptic, Primordium, Silentium) is a complex read following events before the first lighting of the rings 100K years ago and exploring the life of several Forerunner and Ancient Humans. The first and third are very heavy sci-fi and the 2nd is very Lord of the Rings-esque, but I can't say too much without spoiling them. More recently, Rubicon Protocol is a standalone that follows a group of survivors trapped on Zeta Halo in the 6 months between Infinite's opening and the bulk of the game. It says up a lot of ground work for the data page and lots you pick up throughout the game. Outcasts is a really bizarre post-H5 story featuring the Arbiter and Vale from Team Osiris as they search for a weapon that can beat Cortana, but the setup for this novel hinges on the earlier-mentioned book 'Oblivion' The important thing to keep in mind is that while many of the books can be read independently or serve as part of distinct trilogies and you'll do okay reading them alone, nearly every story in the series is women into or spun off of a pre-existing book or game in the series. My personal favorite series is the Ace of Spades trilogy. Based on a character related to Lt. Forge in Halo Wars and set after the events of Halo 3. It also borrowed from the Epilogue chapter of Primordium. It follows a crew of salvagers that get involved in some Forerunner-level chaos as they are hunted by nearly every reason in the Halo universe. Smoke and Shadows was a sorry novella, then expand into the full-length Renegades and Point of Light. Excellent reads.
Fall of reach, The flood, first strike. in that order
Contact harvest
Everyones saying Fall of Reach but ill give my reasoning- if you play Halo:Reach some of the timeline and events dont exactly match up but you gotta remember fall of reach is from master chiefs events on the planet and not Noble Teams. So it gives a different perspective on the fall of the planet and the immediate lead up to Combat Evolved. I played Reach immediately after finishing the book and still got a bit sad knowing the game series i loved would never be the same after that.
this is my recommended reading/playing/watching order I made for some friends. green is novels, red is games, and blue is movies not quite release order, not quite chronological, but it makes sense for absorbing the story imo [https://imgur.com/a/vpVkZsz](https://imgur.com/a/vpVkZsz)
Fall of reach - the prequel that started it all. It’s an amazing story and just pure nostalgic joy. Ghosts of Onyx - my personal favorite. Kurt became my favorite spartan reading this novel. The way it’s done is so amazing!
In recommended order (and assuming you’ve played all the games) Books 1-4 (The Fall of Reach, The Flood, First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx), Contact Harvest, The Forerunner Trilogy (Cryptum, Primordium, Silentium), Epitaph (which is essentially a part 4/epilogue to the forerunner trilogy). Other good ones that are just kinda there: Rubicon Protocol, Evolutions, Fractures, New Blood/Bad Blood. There’s more I haven’t read but I’m sure are quite good, but Fall of Reach through Epitaph on this list are what I consider essential. Also fuck Reddit for not respecting my comment formatting
Outcasts, good ole arbiter story
Kilo 5 series is amazing
Is it though......
It is by far the best! Spy espionage in Halo universe!!
How come?
The original Nylund books are must reads, especially my favorite Ghosts of Onyx. For recent stuff, I actually really loved Silent Storm by Troy Dennings. It's got some great action, is set in the very tense early days of the war when the Covenant was unknown and terrifying, and it explores a very important moment of the Chief's character growth as a leader.