Halo: Contact Harvest

Fiction by Joseph Staten
Reviewed by Ethan S.
Not in the NVHS collection as of this post


Halo: Contact Harvest, written by Joseph Staten, takes place on the world Harvest, a farming colony on the edge of human controlled space. Harvest is a peaceful and prosperous colony that isn’t very densely populated to say the least. This undersized world is protected by a weak militia, men who believed that they would be patrols rather than soliders, who are trained by a few United Nations Space Command (UNSC) soldiers. Their leader is a young staff sergeant named Avery Johnson, who is battle-weary of fighting in the UNSC civil war. This civil war is called the Insurrection, where the “Innies,” a group that desperately wants out of the UNSC, will do anything to get out, including killing citizens. However, the human race is in for a much stronger, potent enemy. This enemy calls itself the Covenant, and is made up of a collection of alien races. This Covenant is an aggressive, hostile alien empire which, for religious reasons, wants the human race obliterated. This conflict is not a war, it is a genocide.

Halo: Contact Harvest is told from two points of views, as well as some other side sections. One part tells the story of the human race and their ongoing struggles. The other tells the tale from the prospective of the Covenant, showing their motive for this fierce confrontation. With a prologue that gives insightful details about Johnson’s past, this book is exciting to the very end. Battles happen throughout this novel, some between each other, others between themselves. Staten gives the reader a clear picture of what the characters are facing and uses a strong vocabulary to do so.

If you enjoy this book you will fly though it, while taking an epic journey on the way. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes for an exciting book with conflicts between two foes. I also recommend this book to anyone who has played the Halo games, because this book takes place before those events and may offer some inside details about the story line within the games. All around I think anyone would like this book.