I may have to go back and finish Ghosts of Onyx.
I would love to see some rankings of all of the Halo books from the fans in the room. How do the Halo novels stack up against each other?
1. Contact Harvest
2. Cryptum
3. Fall of Reach
4. The Flood
5. First Strike
6. Cole Something
Haven't read Evolutions but due to it being a collection of short stories, I wouldn't rank it among the other books. Heard Evolutions is pretty sweet though.
The Flood is certainly under-rated too. It's mostly written off because it re-covers events from the first game but I thought the author did a great job with the horrible restraints that was forced upon him. Plus when/if you play the original Halo game afterwards, there's an Elite you meet at the top of an Elevator ride. Now you know him and his story. Heh!
Cryptum is awesome. Easily would have been my top pick but for the fact that it is part of a trilogy and only 1/3 of the actual story - and that is probably my biggest criticism with it. It's just not finished and ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. Harvest was a pleasure to read from start to end and you could tell the author loves Halo as much as any reader does if not more. Apparently it was his first major book - he knocked it out of the park. I have a thing for stories that feature A.I. characters as usually it's hard for a writer to convince the reader that these super intelligent beings are worth caring and reading about but Harvest pulls it off and we get a look at things from a younger Johnson. Halo always needs more Johnson.
The Fall of Reach is pretty sweet but it has some issues. I wasn't too impressed with the split between John's history and the Invasion of Reach, as the two concepts easily have enough merit to carry a book a piece and would have probably worked out better for it. I know a bunch of folks regard the Fall of Reach as the zenith of Halo fiction and Nylund as the definitive writer but I don't sing from that particular hymm book. Had FOR not revealed John's past and had simply focused on Reach's fall, Nylund wouldn't be as highly revered as he is. First Strike, another Nylund piece wasn't particular outstanding. Despite some interesting situations and events, it just felt serviceable and no more. Master Chief had to get from point A at the start of the book to point B at the end, and any writer could have filled in the blanks just as well. There's no real attempt to push the story to some place unexpected or exciting really.
Cole was so awesome that I forgot to include it.