Halo: Ghosts of Onyx

This is the fourth novel in the Halo universe. While John-117 appears briefly, and Blue Team and Dr. Halsey play a pivotal role in the second half of the book, the story focuses on Kurt and Ackerson's Spartan III project-- a program creating waves of Spartan-like disposable child soldiers.

For the first time in a Halo novel I found a large portion of the key characters unsympathetic, and felt that the attempt to present characters as ready to be martyred heroes failed. The group dynamics were neither as strong nor as compelling as those in other Halo novels. For me, the positive aspects of well-written actions scenes, Blue Team, new Forerunner technology, and having Dr. Halsey's skills showcased failed to make up for and the new Spartan show more III group in general and the Kurt's character ark in particular. show less

i hate to admit that it took me so many months to read this book but it was an enjoyable read! it wasn’t my favorite along with the previous three, but it was a nice transition between the generations of spartans.  it was hard to become integrated with the forerunner technology and it felt as if there was more to be said? i understand it was intentional but more could’ve been said

overall a good edition to the halo series! 

Once again Nylund hits the target with his elaboration of the story from the Halo video game. Most of the characters are new, or at least new as center of the action, and there is a new breed of Spartans, the genetically altered soldiers who are trying to save humanity from an invading species. The book could probably stand on its own, and it's wonderful space opera.

This book was a nice backstory of how John-117, better known as Master Chief, came to be the deadly and perfect soldier that he is in the games and in the other novels. It shows his growth of how before he thought only of how he can succeed and win as a child back in the training camp, but then he learns how to be part of a team. This is shown when during an assault on a Covenant ship that he decides to leave his friend and comrade Sam behind on the exploding ship in order to buy time for him and another Spartan, Kelly, to escape, which teaches the Cheif a lesson between the difference of a life wasted and a life spent.

Bleh. A quick read, but not necessarily a good read. Too many times you wonder about the time line of the universe. Too many times you say, "deux ex machina". I'm enough of a geek to enjoy a sci-fi novel and videos games, but not enough of a geek to immerse myself entirely in the minutiae of the Halo universe. In my opinion, this book will please neither. It appears sloppy with an ending as bad as Halo 2 the video game.

This was a little harder to get through than the previous halo books. There was a lot of military activity that was sometimes difficult to follow and only a few glimpses of characters that drew the reader in

Halo Ghosts of Onyx follows the adventures of the Spartans as they go to planet Onyx to attain Forerunner technology. The book is really good. The writing is simple and makes the contents of the book flow with ease, not boring the reader. One thing that surprised me, was that Ghost of Onyx contains mysterious elements in it, which made the book even more better, as this element was not in the other Halo books. For fans of the Halo universe, you will enjoy this action-packed novel.