Halo: Envoy

Absolutely fantastic, in a way that I've been waiting for from the Halo universe for years now. I've been keeping up with all the Halo books (except Escalation, the comics, which are just a pain to keep track of). Some of them have been hit or miss--the last short story collection was extremely solid (even if some shorts dragged on). On the other hand, as many other people have noted, the Kilo-Five trilogy was absolute trash, and I was terrified, from when I saw some of the early reviews for this, that it was going to be the same.No, it's not. It's genuinely better than the Cole Protocol (the last entry Buckell made), at least to me. Gray Team has a lot more personality this time around, even if some of the timeline components don't make a lot of sense. Specifically, from what I recall and can find, the Human-Covenant war ended in early 2553, but numerous characters reference it ending in late 2552. It's not a huge deal by itself, but for reasons that are made clear in the book, it becomes a bit of a paradox. Maybe it's been retconned, but at the time of this review, I haven't seen that myself yet.Like some other people have mentioned, the early part of the book (roughly the first half of it, according to Kindle) is more polit-drama and diplomacy, rather than combat or action. After that it starts to pick up the pace rapidly. I love both sort of stories myself, but I figure I should point that out in case somebody's looking for one or the other.Honestly, there's not much more that I can think of to say: I HIGHLY recommend this book for any fan of the Halo series; unlike some of the others, you don't need to know much about the expanded universe as it is to pick this up and enjoy it. It's fairly self-contained, with some references to other events in the universe, but you don't need to read the Cole Protocol or anything else to be able to understand what's happening.Really, I just want as many people to buy this as possible: I want 343 to understand what proper writing is like, and the best way to do that is with outrageous sales of the best written books.

I am a Halo book fan and I have purchased most of the books and audio versions available. I almost didn’t buy this book due to the early poor reviews. I am glad I did purchase the book as it is a very good story and I enjoyed every second of it.I first purchased the paperback version but found that I could not read the book as the font was too small for my old eyes. I thought I should bring that up for those with weak vision. I immediately purchased the Kindle version for reading. The story has a lot of action with humans living in a colony on the planet Carrow. They are caught in a raging war between warring Sangheili factions over control of the planet.In addition one of the Sangheili Fleet Masters has brought along a fleet of ships controlled by the Brutes of the Jilalhanae race. That is a big mistake as the Brutes are loyal only to themselves.The human city on the planet is being destroyed and the Sangheili city on the other side of the planet is also set to be destroyed. The Brutes are blasting the human city to pieces and burrowing underground for some reason. Can the humans respond to save themselves and their city and can 3 Spartans of the Grey team make a difference in this battle when they are seriously out numbered and all of the battling parties hate them…….I really liked this book and this author. I have read 4 of his Halo books and I liked them all. This story is full of action and includes space battles and ground battles. I am a fan of military Sci-Fi and this book was the style of story that I enjoy.Once I started the book I could not stop reading. I rated the book at 5 stars. It leads you to believe that the Grey Team will face more coming action in the near future. I can’t wait for the next book.As a side note, I don’t play the Halo games but I enjoy the books. I find that many of them are the best military Sci-Fi stories that I have read.This is a very good story and I enjoyed it! It was a good set up for another book to be written about the Grey Team!! I thought the book had a lot of twists and turns in the storyline and for me it kept the book interesting and it kept the characters on edge!I am looking forward to the release of the next book of the series.

Halo: Envoy had me looking forward to every turn of the page - a feeling I hadn't experienced with many of the other Halo books since Eric Nylund's first series. This book continues the story of Spartan Grey team from Tobias' last book; Halo: The Cole Protocol. Even without reading the previous book, new readers will be able to enjoy this self-contained story.The writing is easy to understand, but the characters are well thought out and very likable. I really enjoyed reading another Halo book that wasn't so dense and overwhelming, yet had enough references to satisfy long-time Halo fans. Despite having a fairly straightforward plot, it was filled with interesting characters with good motivations.Envoy was a great read, and I highly recommend it to avid Halo lore readers and newcomers to the series as well, as long as you have somewhat of a basic understanding of the games. But even then, Tobias Buckell does a good job of explaining everything without it feeling like a slog for those who already know some backstory.

Excellent book. Buckell spins a lovely yarn, with great intrigue, overlapping plots, and weaving possibilities. Really fun to read, well-paced, easy to not put down. I'd read his previous Halo work and was very much looking forward to this: only disappointment was when it was over.What you want in this genre is a good world-build, with believable characters, enough detail but not too much, and the right balance of dialogue, action, description. Buckell has it all right here.

A fabulous read. The Halo books can be so variable in quality. This is simply either the best or the joint best Halo book I have read to date.

Various authors have contribute new books to the Halo saga,they continue to be in chronicle order full of great science fiction action and exciting story lines full of aliens new and old good and bad new worlds and enemies.

Bought as a gift - appreciated by recipient!