10 Best Halo Books, Ranked

The Halo franchise has millions of fans worldwide and has only grown since the first game launched in 2001. As the Master Chief reached infamous status in the gaming and pop-culture scene, fans wanted more from their green armor clad hero. From comics to novels, the Halo universe has been fleshed out and explored in a multitude of ways.

The life of the Halo book series began soon after the first game reached success and the series has seen releases yearly since then. With a total of thirty-five books as of April 2022, Halo stories range from trilogies to digital novellas and collections featuring short stories and poems. The Halo book series has gained a life of its own, allowing readers to fully explore the unknown reaches of the Halo Universe.

10 Explore The Early Days Of The War In Halo: The Cole Protocol

Written by Tobias S. Buckell, the origin of the mandatory "Cole Protocol" follows a new group of Spartans, Gray Team, as they fight alongside UNSC forces in the early days of the Human-Covenant war. The UNSC wanted to safeguard the location of Earth, knowing that with their incredible power and forces, the Covenant could easily cripple the military power and wipe out humanity itself should they find Earth's location.

Lt. Jacob Keyes, the same Keyes of the first game, is a major character in the story, and fans receive more insight into the inner-workings of the Covenant itself. This adventure sheds light on the early days of the intergalactic war which lead to the events of the first Halo game.

9 Halo: Last Light, A Sci-Fi Noir Tale

This detective noir tale features the Spartans of Blue Team, minus the Master Chief, as they assist a maverick detective on the planet Gao. Through the search for a serial killer, possibly among the Spartan ranks, Blue Team discovers hidden Forerunner artifacts and an unlikely team-up of Insurrectionists, anti UNSC factions, and a rogue dangerous group of Covenant forces.

The detective nature of the story adds a new perspective on the events of the Halo universe and seeing the members of Blue Team act on their own is a nice change of pace. As players saw the Humans and Elites join forces to fight the Flood in the games, this story offers an interesting view on how other motives align in order for two rival species to come together — albeit for a menacing and dangerous result.

8 Halo: Ghosts of Onyx Introduces A New Batch Of Spartans

The early Halo novels continued to expand on what was happening elsewhere in the universe while the games were taking place. Ghosts of Onyx saw the return of Kurt-051, a Spartan II thought to be dead, as he spearheaded the training of the new Spartan IIIs. On planet Onyx, they discover the ancient Forerunners had built installations deep underground.

When these artifacts are activated, it signals a race between the Humans and Covenant to capture their secrets. The return of Dr. Halsey and Kelly-087 from Blue Team offers fans more of the scheming scientist and a tease of what her motives truly are.

7 Halo: Glasslands Introduces A New Spartan Team

Karen Travis writes the first book in a trilogy depicting the effects of the Human-Covenant war's conclusion at the end of Halo 3 and leading into the events of Halo 4. Glasslands picks up where Ghosts of Onyx left off, following Halsey and the Spartan IIs left there while they search for the Forerunner Shield World.

ONI (The Office of Naval Intelligence) sends covert team Kilo-Five to deal with the growing problem of splitting Sangheili factions and to arrest Dr. Halsey once they locate her. The "Kilo-Five" trilogy is a great set of books exploring the events and political fallout between the two Halo games, and Glasslands kicks it off wonderfully.

6 World Expanding Poems And Stories In Halo: Evolutions

Evolutions is a collection of stories by several authors which delve into the universe of Halo. It tells different stories from around the Halo universe offering different perspectives from Humans, The Covenant, and even The Flood.

The collection features short stories, poems and even some emails and communication transcripts. The collection of tales served its purpose to further expand on the lore of the games, presenting new perspectives to events covered in previous books, and giving the Master Chief a new adventure or two.

5 The Master Chief Continues His Adventure In Halo: Silent Storm

Silent Storm aims at the early missions of the Master Chief and the Spartan IIs during the first year of the Human-Covenant war while the Insurrectionists continue posing problems for the UNSC. Seeing the Covenant as a force to destroy the UNSC, the Insurrectionists get involved and try sabotaging the Chief's mission.

Troy Denning, author of several Halo novels, does a great job exploring the early months of the outbreak of war and detailing more backstory on the UNSC and Insurrectionist conflict in this story of a three-sided war.

4 Halo: Contact Harvest Tells Of The First Covenant Encounter

Written by Joseph Staten, a writer on the original Halo trilogy, Contact Harvest details the first encounter between humans and the Covenant. The encounter takes place on the planet Harvest and the story follows the cigar-chewing, mustache toting icon, Avery Johnson. The Sergeant became a fan favorite character in the first three games and any story giving fans more of him is worth every word.

Since the major focus of the Halo series is the Human-Covenant war, it only makes sense to cover the first conflict between the two super-powers. This book does a great job setting the stakes for the future of the Halo games' story which takes place soon after.

3 Halo: First Strike Fills In The Gap Between Halo 1 And 2

First Strike, by Eric Nylund, fills in the gaps of the events which occurred between the first two Halo games. Detailing more of Master Chief and his fellow Blue Team Spartans's adventures, it continues telling the story of Dr. Halsey and her Spartan program, her dealings with ONI, and her place in the war.

The story also gave fans the answer as to how Sgt. Johnson survived the attack of the Flood in the first game. First Strike gave fans hope they might see more Spartans in the games, but they would have to wait a few more years for that to happen.

2 Get ODST Buck's Origin Story In New Blood

When Halo: ODST dropped into player's hands, Gunner Sgt. Edward Buck became an instant fan favorite, and not just because he was voiced by Nathan Fillion. Buck was a courageous leader who had the charm and charisma that let him storm into the hearts of fans.

Written by Matt Forbeck, New Blood gives fans more insight into the dynamics of the ODST squad from the game, and more history between Buck and Veronica Dare — resulting in a fun, thrilling adventure that enhances a replay of the ODST game.

1 Halo: The Fall Of Reach Tells The Origin Of The Master Chief

The Fall of Reach was the first book published from the Halo series. Written by Eric Nylund, it details the origins of the Spartan program, Dr. Catherine Halsey, and the Master Chief himself. This book took on the responsibility of explaining much of the Halo Universe's lore, from space travel to the war between the UNSC and Insurrectionist forces.

This book explains the unscrupulous, shady operations Dr. Halsey used to create the Spartan program as humanity began losing the war against the Covenant. Fans were also now privy to the information that there are a lot more Spartans out there in the Halo universe. The story also gives the origin of the AI Cortana, portraying the beginnings of her relationship with the Chief.