Halo: Shadows of Reach
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Halo: Shadows of Reach - A Master Chief Story is a Halo novel written by Troy Denning, originally set to be released on September 22, 2020[2] but later delayed to October 20, 2020.[1] It is the fourth installment of the A Master Chief Story project. Limited-edition copies exclusive to Wal-Mart contains an additional short story, Sacrifice.[3]
On October 15, 2020, a short excerpt of the story was released on YouTube, narrated by Steve Downes - the voice actor for John-117 in the Halo games.[4]
Official summary
Plot synopsis
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
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Shadows of Reach opens with the Master Chief and blue team aboard a UNSC stealth insertion craft en route to the surface of the Covenant plasma glassed ex-military planet, Reach. Blue team has been given an order to retrieve potential war altering cargo from within Castle base, which is hidden deep under the mountains of Reach. Delivery of blue team and their excavation equipment to the planet is tasked to a small flight crew of three of the UNSCs best remaining operatives. Blue team and crew shortly find that their simple snatch and grab mission is going to be a lot more involved than they anticipate. Narrowly making it to the ground, the crew and blue team realize that multiple factions of alien and human forces are inhabiting the planet and competing for its resources. Out of the air and back on solid ground, blue team isn't given much time to recoup and reorganize before alien incoming makes them dance. John, Kelly, Fred, and Linda are forced into a desperate defensive hold while attempting to unload their cargo and crew to safety and on with their mission. After briefly gaining control of the situation, John notices something on a damaged enemy craft that leaves him worried about the current inhabitants of their home training world. They finally get clear of their LZ and start heading toward their mission point. Not long after they get moving another wave of alien forces are quick to move in. With very little in the way of cover and distractions on the surface of the planet (everything has been burned away since the plasma bombardment), blue team is soon forced under the glassed ground in an attempt to loose their pursuing pests and extend their lives. After a few hit and miss engagements with the local aliens blue team and crew hit a snag and are forced apart. Shortly there after, John, Kelly, and Fred come into contact with the local human resistance force attempting to thrive on the planet despite the alien presence. John soon finds that the aliens on Reach are of competing factions but oddly enough are working together.
John soon learns that most of the humans remaining on Reach are from families and former employed inhabitants of the planet before the Covenant catastrophe. The humans are initially hesitate to work with the Spartans because they are not convinced they are not against them. John tries to alert the humans that blue team is not on Reach to help the resistance fighters, but their leadership doesn't pay attention at first. Eventually John gets through to their leader saying that they have other obligations beyond helping the humans fight and that their mission takes precedence over all other situations, even fighting for their home planet. Ultimately, John realizes that the only way to get his team back on the move towards their objective is to help the resistance fighters with their dilemmas. Once in agreement, the survivors and blue team organize and implement a strategy to destroy as many aliens as possible and get them closer toward their goal, Castle base.
Once the major battle is nearing its conclusion blue team and crew make a break for Castle base. They quickly note that the aliens on Reach are also digging in the same area of the mountains that Castle base resides in. Initially believing that the aliens are after the same thing as they are, blue team picks up the pace and rushes to the location of Castle base. Upon closer inspection of the pre-entrance to Castle base, blue team sees the aliens already doing their work for them by unearthing the entrance. John allows the aliens to continue their work while he and blue team take out the surrounding guards and attacking opposition. Blue team eventually fights their way through the alien excavators and their defense to make their dissent into Castle base.
Descending thousands of meters into Castle base, blue team soon realizes that the aliens are not after Castle base at all, but something else much further down under Castle base, in an ancient forerunner tomb. As the team descends they find many unwanted guests waiting for them. A close quarters battle ensues as John, Fred, and Kelly drop into the planets innards. They finally reach the door to Castle base after an awkwardly fierce battle with some jetpacking jiralhanae. Then they realize there is another alien operation going on down past the door to Castle base. John and Fred narrowly escape destruction with Kelly's help and they drop to the bottom of the excavation shaft to eliminate the attending aliens. They find another corridor leading away from the main shaft. John and Kelly go back up and enter what is left of the collapsed Castle base in search of the objective. Fred is sent further down the alien corridor.
John and Kelly creep and crawl their way through the tight packed wreckage of Castle base towards Halsey's lab. They cautiously make it to the lab door, then John is left to support the ceiling from collapsing as Kelly slithers her way into the lab and returns with all of the containers they were dispatched to retrieve. Fred stealthily creeps down the passage in hopes to find out what the aliens are up to before they call for an evac. Almost to the end of the tunnel Fred encounters an unknown foe that momentarily gets the best of him. He quickly realizes, to his own disbelief, the foes are actually old friends posing as enemies. Fred meets back up with John and Kelly and they leave the fortified Castle base and head back to the surface of the planet for extraction.
Synopsis by RR
Appearances
Production notes
- Troy Denning began work on Halo: Shadows of Reach in 2019,[6] and, before its delay, ended up having 130,000 words.[7] In the first draft of the novel in the first chapter, Troy Denning had Kelly-087 listening to the song Killer Queen,[8] however it was removed before he sent in the draft due to copyright infringement fears.[9] Still, an allusion to this was included in the fourteenth chapter where John-117 notices that Kelly-087 is listening to an old song about "a killer queen."[10]
- The cover art was illustrated by Chris McGrath,[2][11] who also illustrated the earlier cover of Halo: Silent Storm.[12] The composition of the artwork echoes the original release cover art of Halo: The Fall of Reach.
Gallery
Cover art artwork
The full cover art for the book.
Edition covers
Original 2020 edition.
Other
The original cover art for Halo: The Fall of Reach, for comparison.
Sources
- ^ a b Amazon, Halo: Shadows of Reach: A Master Chief Story
- ^ a b Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Shadows of the Former
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Despite Distance
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n YouTube, Halo Shadows of Reach - Special Excerpt Voiced by Steve Downes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Pen Umbra
- ^ Twitter, Troy Denning: "About a year ago"
- ^ Twitter, Troy Denning: "We all know there are more important things to worry about right now. But yes, I am hearing that Shadows of Reach is delayed until October 20. To tell the truth, I'm glad to have to the extra time. SoR is 130K words of action, so a little more time to polish is a good thing!"
- ^ Twitter, Troy Denning: "Oh, all right. It's not a spoiler, so it's probably okay. In the first scene, Kelly is listening to music. In my first draft, it was . . . Killer Queen."
- ^ Twitter, Troy Denning: "I'm afraid I did cut it before sending in the draft. I was worried about copyright infringement --- but we'll all know what song she was listening to!"
- ^ Halo: Shadows of Reach, chapter 14
- ^ Artstation, Halo: Shadows of Reach
- ^ Artstation, Halo: Silent Storm
