On the planet Reach, a huge secret lays hidden within the military base. Kidnapped young girls and boys are brutally trained to be the strongest, fastest, and most intelligent humans. The future depends on them as the super soldiers, or the SPARTANS.
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The story focuses mainly on a particular boy named John. Competitive, strong, and smart, he quickly strives to be the best in the training camp. Although only seven or eight years old, the children become close as brothers and sisters. However, the secret is even bigger. Dr. Halsey, a scientist, knows that the training will be the easiest compared to what will come next. The next thing they know, John and his companions are changed forever, their bodies altered to become the super soldiers, to be able to see in the dark, move with unnatural speed, and possess extreme strength. Through a series of painful experiences, several lie dead from the experiments.
John and his remaining friends fight for their lost comrades, but now a bigger threat is near. A mysterious alien race who hold themselves in a religious light by calling themselves the "Covenant" destroys whole planets, planning to take over the universe. War is quickly started, and John and his extended family are introduced to MJOLNIR, the next part of their bodies that will change the world.
The review of this Book prepared by Mai Tsuji
John-117 is taken by the government and put into a secret program, called SPARTAN II. The program is to train super-soldiers as an elite counter-terrorism, counter-rebellion team. Just before their training is completed, the Covenant, a group of races led by the "Prophets", declare a Holy War on the human race.
The SPARTAN IIs are put into action fighting the Covenant, and they always win in ground engagements. However, the Covenant's vastly superior spaceships and weaponry cause the war to go bad for the humans.
Then, John-117 discovers a strange rock on one of his missions, which the Covenant are after. It leads the ship he is currently stationed on, the Pillar of Autumn, to a strange ringworld...
There the X-Box game, "Halo: Combat Evolved" begins.
The review of this Book prepared by Hawkwings
This book, while presented as a prequel to the Xbox game "Halo", is also readable as standalone SF.
It describes the beginnings and origins of the main character from the game, the Master Chief.
Taken from his family at the age of six, along with 149 others, John-117 is considered genetically superior and chosen for training in a new military program, code named Spartan.
Half the recruits wash out in boot camp, and yet more are killed or maimed when the bio-enhancements are applied to improve strength, reflexes and senses.
After all is done, 34 Spartans remain.
At first, the Spartans are used to combat pirates and rebels among Earth's fledgling Empire. Shortly after, humanity comes under attack by an alliance of alien races bonded by their religious fanaticism, referred to as The Covenant.
The review of this Book prepared by Tiepilot912
