Halo: The Fall of Reach

***Halo: The Fall of Reach*** is the first *Halo*book in the main series, as well as the first *Halo*book ever made. It was written by Eric Nylund and published by Del Rey Books. The book is a prequel to the events of *Halo: Combat Evolved*, and a midquel of *Halo Reach*.

The book was released on October 30, 2001, just before the release of the first game in the series, *Halo: Combat Evolved.* It follows the events of the Fall of Reach, mostly from the point of view of John-117. The book was reportedly finished in seven weeks, and became a *Publisher's Weekly*best seller with nearly 200,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom and United States.

The novel was reissued on August 3, 2010 by Tor Books, with many of the typos and mistakes present in the original being ironed out; the reissue was also given a new cover art. In addition, a comic book adaptation series titled *Halo: Fall of Reach*, comprising of three book arcs was published by Marvel Comics and 343 Industries, starting with *Boot Camp* on September 14, 2010. Recently, released with *Halo 5 Guardians*, was a Halo: The Fall of Reach Animated Series, with an animated version of the opening section of the book.

 Date Released
August 3, 2010 (reissue)
 Price
 Length
 ISBN

## Story Synopsis

The book begins on the planet Jericho VII on February 12, 2535, and reveals the Spartans as a whole, as well as their purpose. As the seemingly unstoppable Covenant war machine moves into place to glass Jericho VII, Spartan Red and Blue Teams are sent to prevent the destruction of the planet. The Spartans manage to kill a thousand Grunts and even take down a Covenant airstrike with fougasses. However, soon the situation in space deteriorates, and the Spartans are forced to retreat before the surface of Jericho VII is glassed.

### Section I: Reveille

The story then flashes back to 2517, with Dr. Catherine Halsey and Lieutenant Junior Grade Jacob Keyes on board the *Han*, a UNSC diplomatic shuttle. Their mission is to identify a potential candidate, John, for Halsey's SPARTAN-II Program. Dr. Halsey finds John in a school playground in Elysium city on Eridanus II. Here, she tests if he is good enough to be a Spartan. Using a coin, she tests John's reflexes by flipping the coin in the air and having him identify the side it will land on. John catches and correctly identifies the side: the eagle. During this time, Halsey gives John the coin, which is later taken from him.

### Section II: Boot

The plot then goes on to show in detail the brutal indoctrination and training regime that John and his fellow Spartans are put through. Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez trains the Spartan-IIs, showing them the many necessary virtues of a soldier (e.g. courage, teamwork, skill, etc.) while dumb AI Déjà teaches them history, mathematics, and physics. After a daring training mission in the wilds  of Reach, where the young Spartans regroup and escape with pieces of a map that they all put together and steal a dropship back to base, where John-117 is made squad leader of the remaining Spartans. When the Spartans are fourteen, they undergo intense biological augmentations, such as effectively increasing their strength by three times, drastically decreasing reaction times, making their bones practically indestructible, increasing blood flow to the eyes so that they can almost see in the dark, and other various improvements. However, of the 75 Spartans, less than half emerge still fit for combat; the rest washed out (died during the operations) or were horribly deformed by the augmentation progress. While recovering on the UNSC *Atlas*, John gets into a fight with a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, killing two of them easily. The speedy arrival of Chief Mendez leads John to suspect that the incident may have been arranged.

After returning to Reach, the Spartans quickly prove that the augmentations have surpassed all expectations, and their cohesion in battle is amazing. The Spartans are then issued orders to capture Colonel Robert Watts, an Insurrectionist leader and UNSC defector in the Eridanus asteroid belt. John leads a small team consisting of Samuel-034, Linda-058, Kelly-087, and Frederic-104, which manages to infiltrate the Insurrectionists' asteroid base and capture Watts. John is wounded during this mission and is subsequently awarded a Purple Heart.

On February 3, 2525, first contact is made with an alliance of alien races that refers to itself as the Covenant. A single Covenant warship exterminates the entire surface population of the Outer Colony of Harvest. Three CMA warships, the destroyer *Heracles* and the frigates *Arabia* and the *Vostok*, are sent to investigate this incident, initiate first engagement protocols, and attempted contact. Failing this, they engage the Covenant ship in battle, and are subsequently routed. Only the *Heracles* manages to return to Reach, having been badly damaged. By December of the same year, the UNSC has mobilized a massive fleet under the command of famed war hero Vice Admiral Preston Cole, with orders to reclaim the Harvest colony and stop the Covenant advance.

In response to the emergence of the Covenant, the Spartans graduation occurs earlier than anticipated, while Chief Mendez leaves to train the next class of Spartans, giving John some advice before and returning the coin Dr. Halsey gave him years earlier. Dr. Halsey takes the Spartans to Chi Ceti IV to begin Project: MJOLNIR. Upon arriving in the system, the UNSC *Commonwealth*, the frigate  carrying the Spartans, is attacked by a Covenant ship. The *Commonwealth* engages the Covenant ship and is able to drive it off, but with significant damage. Heading to the Damascus Testing Facility, Dr. Halsey introduces the Spartans to the MJOLNIR power armor, which enhances the Spartans' already significant strength and speed even more. While returning to the *Commonwealth*, John comes up with the idea to go EVA and board  the Covenant vessel and destroy it using HAVOK nuclear weapons on the Pelican. Only three Spartans — John, Sam, and Kelly — manage to board the ship. They fight their way past the crew, a birdlike race later dubbed Jackals, and are able to make their way to a reactor, but Sam's armor is penetrated and he is forced to stay behind or die from upon exposure to vacuum. John and Kelly are able to escape as the Covenant ship is destroyed.

### Section III: Sigma Octanus

Admiral Cole's fleet manages a victory at Harvest, but at a high cost: two-thirds of his ships are destroyed. Despite significant tactical brilliance on the part of human commanders, the superior technology possessed by the Covenant gives the latter a crucial advantage in the war. One by one, the Outer Colonies fall to the onslaught and, by 2536, virtually all have been destroyed.

To protect the location of Earth, Vice Admiral Cole establishes the emergency order commonly known as the Cole Protocol: if any Covenant forces are present, selective purges of databases on all ship-based and planetary data networks are to be activated. When human forces are forced into retreat, they must not execute a slipspace jump in the direction of Earth, or any major population center, even if this forces them to jump without the necessary navigational calculations (a "blind jump"). If such a jump is not possible, and if capture is imminent, the commanding officer must order a self-destruct. The on-board ship artificial intelligence construct, normally imperative to navigation and tactical decisions, must either be destroyed or removed.

Due to the shortage of effective officers, Jacob Keyes is promoted to Commander and assumes command of the UNSC *Iroquois*. In 2552, he foresees a Covenant attack on Sigma Octanus IV thanks to a paper by Spartan Fhajad-084. His actions result in the destruction of a Covenant destroyer and two frigates as well as the routing of a DDS-class carrier with a daring maneuver dubbed the "Keyes Loop". This unprecedented victory against a Covenant force earns him a promotion to Captain and helps him to become recognized by the entire UNSC. Keyes and the *Iroquois* remain in the Sigma Octanus system to partake in the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV.

On the ground, the Marine force is slaughtered save a small group of survivors, so Spartan Blue, Red, and Green Teams are sent to destroy a Covenant occupation force in the city of Côte d'Azur with a nuclear bomb. In the city, they find the Covenant has occupied a museum and discover a new race called Engineers. While Green and Red Teams escort a group of civilian survivors to the landing zone, Blue Team — John, Kelly, Fred, and James-005 — enter the museum and discover two massive aliens — Hunters. They have a rock which is being scanned, the contents of the scan transmitted to a stealth ship discovered and destroyed by Captain Keyes. The Spartans are able to neutralize the Hunters, acquire the rock, and escape to the landing zone, where they detonate the bomb and eliminate the Covenant presence. Keyes later returns to Reach, inadvertently disclosing the location of the planet to the Covenant via a homing beacon attached to the *Iroquois*. He is debriefed by an ONI committee. Here he meets John-117 once again. Scans of the rock produce a set of alien symbols that do not match any Covenant dialect. Dr. Halsey concludes that the artifact is from a separate race from the Covenant.

### Section IV: MJOLNIR

By 2552, many of humanity's Inner Colonies have been destroyed by the Covenant. In a move of desperation, ONI Section 3 orders the execution of a secret plan to capture a Covenant ship using the Spartans. The ship would be taken to the Covenant homeworld in order to capture a Prophet, one of the aliens' religious leaders, and then use the Prophet as a bargaining chip to negotiate a truce.

To aid the Spartans in their mission, an AI, Cortana, is created from Dr. Halsey's cloned brain. John is introduced to Cortana during a live-fire mission to test their capabilities working together, and they perform spectacularly. With Cortana's aid, John manages to overpower a full squad of ODSTs, pick his way through a minefield, destroy automated chain guns, and even evade an airstrike from a Skyhawk fighter, all of which are using live rounds. These were authorized by Colonel James Ackerson, Dr. Halsey's main rival for NAVSPECWEP funding. In a move of revenge, Cortana arranges for a substantial amount of the Colonel's private funds to be sent to a brothel and forges a request to be reassigned to front line duty.

Every available SPARTAN-II boards a specially outfitted *Halcyon*-class light cruiser called the UNSC *Pillar of Autumn*, which is under the command of Captain Keyes. The *Pillar of Autumn* moves to the edges of the system to make a slipspace jump to begin the mission.

### Section V: Reach

*Autumn'*s mission is interrupted when a massive fleet of 315 Covenant ships enters the Epsilon Eridani system. Captain Keyes orders the *Autumn*back towards Reach, but John-117 convinces him to allow the Spartans to continue their mission by finding a damaged Covenant ship to capture and take to Covenant space. Reach's fleet, with about a hundred ships and twenty orbital defense platforms on hand, engages the Covenant fleet, but takes heavy losses. However, the Super MAC platforms manage to repulse the initial Covenant assault.

The Covenant return and land troops on Reach with the objective of destroying the generators for the Super MACs, the only things which are stopping the Covenant. At the same time, the UNSC realizes that the UNSC *Circumference*, a prowler, is still docked at a station orbiting Reach just before its fall and has not initiated the Cole Protocol. John-117 takes Linda-058 and James-005 to deal with the *Circumference*, while the rest of the Spartans are sent down with Fred-104 to the planet to defend the MACs' power generators.

John-117's team crash-land their Pelican on Gamma Station, to which the *Circumference*is docked, and move towards the NAV data. Among the Covenant attack force are Elites, the leaders of the Covenant military. However, James-005's thruster pack is hit by a Needler shard and explodes, sending him flying uncontrollably into space. John-117 and Linda-058 proceed to the *Circumference*, where they find Sergeant Johnson and his marines, including Jenkins and Bisenti, also fighting to wipe the data. With John-117's help, the marines are successful, but Linda-058 is shot by five seperate plasma blasts. The humans fall back to the *Autumn*; Linda-058 is clinically dead because of the extensive wounds she receives, but is placed in a cryotube in the hope that she can be resuscitated.

The surface of Reach is also overrun. The Spartans who John-117 sent to the surface are presumed by the *Autumn*crew to be overrun and all slaughtered. Without the generators, the Super MACs fall silent and are destroyed by the Covenant, who soon begin glassing the planet. The remaining UNSC ships are all destroyed, except for the *Pillar of Autumn*, as Cortana plots an exit vector in compliance with the Cole Protocol, though not completely at random. A comment by John-117 leads Cortana to interpret the alien symbols from the Sigma Octanus artifact to be star charts. The NAV coordinates lead the *Pillar of Autumn*to what the Covenant have been searching for: Halo, an extremely sacred artifact to the Covenant. The book ends with Captain Keyes looking through view screens at the ring, asking Cortana to identify the object.

## Features

### Characters

#### UNSC

* Aki Hikowa
* Anna Gerov
* Avery Johnson
* Bill Streeter
* Bisenti
* Catherine Halsey
* Cochran
* Codename: COALMINER
* Codename: SURGEON
* Commonwealth weapons officer
* David Brightling
* De Blanc
* Dominique
* Fincher
* Franklin Mendez
* Gerov
* Hall
* Harland
* H.T. Ward
* Jacob Keyes
* Jaggers
* James Ackerson
* Kits
* Langston
* McRobb
* McCasky
* Michael Stanforth
* O'Brien
* Preston Cole
* Robert McLees
* Roland Freemont
* John-117
* Kelly-087
* Linda-058
* Frederic-104
* Samuel-034
* James-005
* Fhajad-084
* Joshua-029
* Vance
* Wallace
* Wallace A. Jenkins
* Walker
* William Lovell
* Ysionris Jeromi
* Beowulf
* Cortana
* Déjà
* Doppler
* Toran

### Species

* Human
* Huragok
* Kig-Yar
* Mgalekgolo
* Sangheili
* San'Shyuum (mentioned)
* Unggoy
* Forerunner (mentioned)

### Organizations

* Insurrectionists
	+ United Rebel Front
		- Eridanus rebels
* Unified Earth Government
	+ Colonial Administration Authority
		- Colonial Military Administration
	+ United Nations Space Command
		- UNSC Judge Advocate General's Corps
		- UNSC Defense Force
			* UNSC Marine Corps
				+ Fireteam
					- Corporal Harland's fireteam
				+ Platoon
					- 105th Drop Jet Platoon (mentioned)
			* UNSC Naval Command
				+ UNSC Navy
					- Battlegroup
						* Battlegroup 4
						* Battle Group Leviathan
						* Battle Group X-Ray (mentioned)
					- Longsword Squadron Delta
					- UNSC Fleet
						* Epsilon Eridani Fleet
					- UNSC Fleet Command
						* Orbital Defense Command
					- Naval Special Warfare Command
						* SPARTAN-II Program
					- Office of Naval Intelligence
						* Materials Group
						* Section 3
* Covenant Empire
	+ Covenant Armed Forces
		- Covenant Navy
			* Covenant Fleet
				+ Fleet of Particular Justice
		- Special Warfare Group
			* Fleet Security

### Locations

* Chi Ceti System
	+ Chi Ceti IV
		- Vhalkem
			* Damascus Testing Facility
* Draco III (mentioned)
* Hydra System (mentioned)
* Sol System
	+ Earth
		- Sparta (mentioned)
	+ Mars
		- Reyes-McLees Shipyards
* FLEETCOM Sector One
	+ Epsilon Eridani System
		- Remote Scanning Outpost *Fermion*
		- Beta Gabriel
		- Reach
			* Rally Point Zulu
			* Highland Mountains
				+ Camp Hathcock
				+ CASTLE Base
				+ Fairchild Field
				+ Military Reservation 01478-B
					- Pillars of Loki
				+ Military Wilderness Training Preserve
					- Longhorn Valley
					- Big Horn River
				+ Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex
					- Reach Naval Academy
				+ Fleet Command Headquarters
					- Olympic Tower
	+ Lambda Serpentis System
		- Jericho VII
* FLEETCOM Sector Three
	+ Sigma Octanus System
		- Remote Scanning Outpost *Archimedes*
		- Sigma Octanus IV
			* Côte d'Azur
				+ Côte d'Azur Museum of Natural History
			* Sigma Octanus IV Grid 13 x 24
				+ Firebase Bravo
			* Sigma Octanus IV Grid 19 x 37
				+ Alpha Headquarters
* FLEETCOM Sector Four
	+ Eridanus System
		- Eridanus II
			* Elysium City
				+ Elysium City Primary Education Facility Number 119
			* Luxor
				+ Luxor Spaceport
		- Eridanus Secundus
* Epsilon Indi System
	+ Harvest
* Roosevelt Military Base
* Soell System
	+ Installation 04
	+ Threshold
	+ Basis

### Events

* Greco-Persian Wars
	+ Battle of Thermopylae (mentioned)
* World War II (mentioned)
* Hydra System Massacres (mentioned)
* SPARTAN-II Training
* SPARTAN-II Augmentation Procedures
* Insurrection
	+ Operation: TREBUCHET
	+ Operation: TALON
* Human-Covenant War
	+ First Battle of Harvest
	+ Second Battle of Harvest (mentioned)
		- Harvest Campaign (mentioned)
	+ Battle of Chi Ceti
	+ Battle of Jericho VII
	+ Battle of Draco III (mentioned)
	+ Battle of Sigma Octanus IV
	+ Operation: HYPODERMIC
		- Contingency Plan: TANGO
	+ Operation: RED FLAG
	+ Fall of Reach

### Weapons

#### Human

* 40mm Chain Gun
* Combat Knife
* Fusion Rocket
* M6 Series
	+ M6D Personal Defense Weapon System
		- M225 Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive
* M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Fragmentation Grenade
	+ ComL
* MA Series
	+ MA2B Individual Combat Weapon System
		- .390
	+ MA5B Individual Combat Weapon System
		- M118 Full Metal Jacket Armor-Piercing
* Nuclear weapon
	+ HAVOK Tactical Nuclear Weapon
* Paint Pellet Gun
* Point-Defense Gun
* SRS99 Series
	+ SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle
		- 14.5x114mm
* Fougasse

#### Covenant

* Variant Class-2 Energy Gun
* Assault Cannon
* Heavy Plasma Cannon
* Class-2 Projectile Cannon
	+ Fuel Rod
* Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol
* Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle
* Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher

### Vehicles

#### Human

* S-2 Traxus Cargo Transporter
* GA-TL1 Longsword Interceptor
* M12 Force Application Vehicle
	+ M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
	+ Missile Warthog
* M808B Main Battle Tank
* D77-TC Pelican
* Skyhawk Strike Fighter

#### Covenant

* Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle
* Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft
* Type-25 Troop Carrier
* Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage
* Type-31 Exoatmospheric Multi-role Fighter

### Ships and Platforms

#### UNSC

* Diplomatic Shuttle
	+ *Han*
* ​*Parabola*-Class Freighter
	+ *Laden*
* ​Orbital Defense Platform
* Refit Station
	+ UNSC *Cradle*
	+ UNSC *Hopeful*
* ​UNSC Carrier
	+ UNSC *Atlas*
	+ UNSC *Magellan* (mentioned)
	+ UNSC *Musashi*
* *​*UNSC Cruiser
	+ *Halcyon*-Class Light Cruiser
		- UNSC *Pillar of Autumn*
	+ *​Marathon*-Class Heavy Cruiser
		- UNSC *Leviathan*
* ​UNSC Destroyer
	+ UNSC Heavy Destroyer
		- UNSC *Gorgon*
	+ *Halberd*-Class Destroyer
		- UNSC *Iroquois*
		- ​UNSC *Pioneer*
	+ UNSC *Herodotus*
	+ UNSC *Lancelot*
	+ UNSC *Minotaur*
	+ UNSC *Resolute*
* ​UNSC Frigate
	+ UNSC *Allegiance*
	+ UNSC *Fair Weather*
	+ *​Paris*-Class Heavy Frigate
		- UNSC *Gettysburg*
		- UNSC *Commonwealth*
	+ *Stalwart*-Class Light Frigate
		- UNSC *Meriwether Lewis*
		- UNSC *Midsummer Night*
* ​UNSC Prowler
	+ UNSC *Athens*
	+ ​UNSC *Circumference*
* Yacht

#### CMA

* *Hillsborough*-Class Destroyer
	+ CMA *Heracles*
* *Charon*-Class Light Frigate
	+ CMA *Arabia*
	+ CMA *Vostok*

#### *​*Covenant

* Covenant Stealth Ship
* Covenant Corvette
	+ SDV-Class Heavy Corvette
* Covenant Destroyer
	+ RPV-Class Light Destroyer
* Covenant Frigate
* Covenant Carrier
	+ DDS-Class Carrier
* Covenant Supercruiser
	+ Unidentified Covenant Supercruiser
* Covenant Cruiser
	+ Unidentified Cruiser at Longhorn Valley
	+ CRS-Class Light Cruiser
		- *Unrelenting*

## *​*2010 Bonus Content

*See here for a list of changes in the Tor Books edition of the novel*.

The Tor Books edition of *Halo: The Fall of Reach* features a new "Adjunct" section at the end, which features several pieces of short fiction:

* ONI Directorate Memorandum Interrogation Findings - a series of excerpts from the interrogation of Subject 386 by Admiral Cole after the Battle of the Great Bear in 2530.
* Word from the Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence - a message sent by Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee to the Vice Cleric of Zeal, after the Battle of Miridem.
* A transmission from Vice Admiral Berlin M. Tursk to Captain Lucius Jiron, concerning the capture of Dr. Catherine Halsey during the Battle of Miridem and the UNSC response.
* A message from Mike to Agnes, regarding Ralph-103's upbringing and reintegration into society.
* United Nations Space Command Transmission 34670J-17 - A transmission sent by Captain Jacob Keyes of UNSC *Pillar of Autumn* to Vice Admiral Kopano N'Singile of Reach Central Command in 2552.
* An ONI post-incident investigation report on a possible security breach that may have contributed to the Covenant's discovery of Reach. It involves a transcript of a SecNet conversation between Sergeants Joseph M. Poteet and Alasdair R. Schicker.
* WINTER CONTINGENCY Declaration Supplemental Orders, an ONI directive containing orders for field agents on Reach in the event of a WINTER CONTINGENCY declaration.

## Reception

Critical reception to *Halo: The Fall of Reach* was mostly positive, though with a few negative comments. Gene Park, from *Game Critics*, stated that it "...exceeds expectations by being an intelligently written and well-paced story with enough imagination to improve on the original Halo mythos."Many reviewers praised Nylund's writing skill, saying that it was "solidly written" and had many "vivid" details.

## Trivia

* The 2010 reprint edition's cover art uses the Spartan models from *Halo Wars*, while they hold the assault rifle from *Halo Reach*.
* On page 306, John-117, Linda and James are preparing to board a space station in order to destroy the navigation data on board the prowler, *Circumference*. John-117 tells the Spartans to secure their harnesses on board the Pelican. In the book, however, it says "'All secure!' Kelly shouted." Kelly isn't on the Pelican; at this time, she is inside another Pelican with Fred to go down to Reach. This error was fixed in the 2010 reissue.
* *Halo Reach* is set roughly in Section V of the book, and possibly just before it.
* The Banshee on the original cover art of the book is seen firing the same "energy beams" that the Banshee on the cover art of *Halo: Combat Evolved* is seen firing. Both are errors, as no version of the Banshee possesses a weapon of that description.
* An excerpt from his book, as well as *Halo: The Flood* and *Halo: First Strike*, were included in the directory of *Halo PC*. It is found on the disc, in the "Goodies" section.
* Interestingly, Section I of the book is named "Reveille" and involves characters emerging from cryo-sleep onboard a starship. The opening chapter of *Halo: Combat Evolved* is also called "Reveille", and John-117 also emerges from cryo-sleep onboard a starship. Reveille is the traditional bugle call of the US military, which is sounded at the start of each day on military installations, to wake up the troops. Also, "Reveille" in French means "Awaken."
* In *Halo 3*, Cortana states many of the quotes from this book during Cortana moments, all of which are quotes belonging to Dr. Halsey. Such as: "Can I speak with you please? What's your name? It's very nice to meet you. You like games? So do I.", "You have been called upon to serve, you will be trained...and you will become the best we can make you. You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies.", and "Could you sacrifice yourself to complete your mission? Could you watch him die?" (In the game, the words "yourself" and "him" are replaced with "me", referring to Cortana). However, this may be because she was malfunctioning, since Cortana was "spawned" (created) from Dr. Halsey's mind.
* During the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, the Pelican that is used to evacuate Blue Team from Côte d'Azur is carrying fourteen marines, twelve Spartans and twenty civilian survivors, forty-six in total. However, the Pelican is only capable of holding fifteen passengers and in *Halo: The Flood* it is stated that fifteen is pushing the limit as it is. Despite this inconsistency, the Pelican is stated as taking off normally and moving off at maximum speed, even though it is overcrowded and overloaded, especially since the Spartans each weigh half a ton. It could be possible that a modified variant of the Pelican is being used, perhaps using the troop pod add-on.
* During the beginning of the book, the Grunts are said to sound like dogs and their speech could not be translated. Yet in all the *Halo*games, with the exception of *Halo Reach*and *Halo 4*, the Grunts speak English and sound nothing like dogs at all. This is because the prelude to the book takes place nearly twenty years before the events of the games, before advanced translation software was invented and utilized by UNSC armed forces.
* The book states that the *Pillar of Autumn* has a command chair, but in *Halo: Combat Evolved*, it is absent.
* In the 2010 reprint edition, most of the mistakes present in the original novel have not been fixed, despite the purpose of said reprint. Remaining mistakes include "2542" replacing the correct date of "2552" in every instance of use, Halsey still merely speculates at the existence of Sangheili, despite numerous encounters with them beforehand, on page 240 line 21, it states that Red and Blue teams were in the trees while it was Red and Green teams which were in the trees, as Blue team was coming into the evac zone, and the first contact with Mgalekgolo is still stated to be at Sigma Octanus IV. In addition, several new mistakes have been presented, and Ralph-103 is stated to have been allowed to live a normal life after failing the augmentations, despite the extreme secrecy of the program that would not allow for Spartan trainees to return to the public, while his unusual Spartan tag of "303" remains unexplained.
* In the 2010 reprint edition, after the Spartan's training mission to hike through Reach's forest to the extraction point, John says that he is in an Albatross dropship, whereas in the 2001 print he says Pelican dropship. This helps to explain how all 75 Spartans were able to fit on board, seeing as a Pelican can normally only hold 15 passengers. This edit is also seen in the comic book and animated series adaptation.
* On Page 99 of the 2001 print it says, "Admiral Stanforth might as well have told him that Epsilon Eridani was leaving the Reach system." In the 2010 reprint this is corrected on Page 121 to "Reach was leaving the Epsilon Eridani system."
* If you look very closely at John-117's visor on the reprint cover art, you can see a Sangheili wielding an energy sword.
* The book states that the *Pillar of Autumn* jumps to Installation 04 at 16:47 hours. However, in the *Halo Reach* level The Pillar of Autumn, the time is 16:52 hours and the Pillar of Autumn is on Reach, and the level takes at least 20 minutes to complete (for skilled players), which puts the time of the Autumn's jump at no later than 7:14 hours. (Additionally, *Halo: The Flood* states that the Autumn was not designed for atmosphere.)
* This book, along with *Halo: The Flood* and *Halo: First Strike*, were collected in the *Halo* Box Set, while their reprint editions were included in the *Halo* Box Set II.
* Bungie considered cancelling the book to allow players to see the Master Chief as a blank slate, and because of concerns that the book would not sell enough units to be worth the effort. Nylund's editor, Eric S. Trautmann convinced Bungie to approve the book, and it carried a dedication to him until it was reissued in 2010 by a different publisher.

## Gallery

The original 2001 cover artFull cover art for the 2010 reissueBack and front cover art of the 2010 reissue

## Links

### Internal Links

* *Halo: Fall of Reach: Boot Camp*
* *Halo: Fall of Reach: Covenant*
* *Halo: Fall of Reach: Invasion*
* *Flash Cloning*
* *Halo Reach*
* *Halo: Combat Evolved*

### External Links

1. ^ **a** **b** **Xbox.com**: *Game Worlds in Written Words*
2. **^** **Xbox.com**: *First Strike Author Eric Nylund Q&A*
3. **^** **Kotaku**: *Halo Novel Trilogy to be Republished with Updates, New Content*
4. **^** **Amazon.com** - *Halo: The Fall of Reach Definitive Edition*
5. **^** **Halo Waypoint**: Marvel Comics to Adapt *The Fall of Reach* this September
6. **^** **Xbox.com**: *Halo 5: Guardians*
7. **^** **Amazon.com**: *Halo: The Fall of Reach (Blu-ray)*
8. **^** **Game Critics**: *Halo: Fall of Reach*
9. **^** **The Sci Fi Show**: *Episode 005: DC Reboot/Eric Trautmann*
10. **^** **Eric Nylund**: *Unsung Hero of the HALO Franchise*