VGLN.com General
News >> Article
Halo: First Strike
by Jolex Del Pilar
Thursday, December 18, 2003
The second Halo based novel continues where the game left off.
Eric Nylund novel attempts to lure gamers back into the maelstrom of the Human-Covenant War―and explores the further adventures of the Master Chief―in Halo: First Strike (Del Rey Mass Market Original; December 15, 2003; $6.99), the official prequel to the highly anticipated Xbox game Halo 2 from Bungie and Microsoft Game Studios.
Halo: First Strike picks up where the previous novel, Halo: The Flood, leaves off. The alien artifact Halo has been destroyed, and the threat it posed to sentient life has been neutralized. But victory has come at a terrible cost. 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. 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.
About the author: Eric Nylund has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in chemical physics. He has published five novels: virtual reality thrillers A Signal Shattered and Signal to Noise; contemporary fantasy novels Pawn’s Dream and Dry Water (nominated for the 1997 World Fantasy Award); and the science-fantasy novel A Game of Universe. He is also the author of the first Halo novel, Halo: The Fall of Reach, the official prequel novelization of the Xbox game. A graduate of the 1994 Clarion West Writer’s Workshop, Eric Nylund lives near Seattle on a rain-drenched mountain with his wife, science fiction novelist Syne Mitchell.
--- Jolex Del Pilar |