Sunday 13 December 2009

Halo: Contact Harvest

By David Staten, I just happened to see it in the library and it looked interesting. I didn't realise until I'd read the blurb that it was based on the Xbox game (which my brother happens to quite like), but I was intrigued. Normally, these things are not the sort of book you expect to get a lot of enjoyment out of--most of the movie/game/tv show adaptations I've attempted to read have been pretty poor. But this one was brilliant. I was dubious, so I read a few pages out of it, and it seemed pretty interesting still, so I got it out. And when I got home and started reading it, I found myself hooked. I actually struggled to put it down. I was amazed at how well written it was. The action was brilliant, but so too were the characters. They just seemed so real and alive, and you actually did get a bit worried about them when they were fighting. The aliens were brilliant! I found myself utterly gripped, and really enjoying the little details about the aliens that made them seem so real, so incredible. The society on both sides was well constructed, the incidents believable. It was, basically, great sci-fi, despite the fact it was based on a world from an Xbox game.

I have to say that I'd really recommend this book, strange as it may seem. I had a look on Fantastic Fiction and it seems that the rest of the Halo series is written by other authors--I might try them as well. Unfortunately, it also appears that the man who wrote this hasn't written anything else. I certainly hope he does.

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