Book 18

"Halo: Fall Of The Reach" by Eric Nylund

It was thin, it was on the bookshelf and I hadn't read it, so I figured I'd give it a try. And I was pleasantly surprised. This is the prequel for the game Halo (if you don't know what I'm talking about, then get of the internet and go back to the cave you live in) and tells the story of how the Spartans were picked and how the Covenant kicked the Earth forces' arse.

The action sequences are slick and well-written, giving a real sense of the battelfield. The plot itself runs smoothly, if predicatbly, and the characters even manage to have some personality. There's more than enough alien-killing and militaristic expansion to keep the hard-core sci-fi fan happy. The main downfall is the Nylund's description of the weapons and technology is often-times clunky. Still, that is only a small failing in an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable book.

Three and a half raised-from-a-child-cybernetically-enhanced soldiers.