halothefallofreach

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Book Reviews and Synopses

Halo: The Fall of Reach

Eric Nylund

Nylund, Eric. Halo: The Fall of Reach. Ballantine Publishing Group. New York, NY. 2001.

Halo: The Fall of Reach is a teenage fantasy novel about angels. After causing a relatively small bit of controversy, The New York Times said, “A delightful and captivating young adult fiction, Halo: The Fall of Reach is purely for entertainment purposes and there is no point in reading into things.” This statement was verified by the author, Eric Nylund, who said that his book has no deeper purpose than to “sell copies, make money, and get me famous,” and that his publicist told him that controversial books sell better. Nylund was later reprimanded by his publicist for that statement.

Halo: The Fall of Reach begins with the last few minutes of nineteen year old Nathan Pope’s life, as his car is run off the road into a river and he drowns. Nathan wakes up in Heaven, and is told that before he can relax in Heaven’s prestigious retirement community, he must fulfill his mandatory century of Guardian Angel duty. He meets Colonel Raziel, a harsh looking man who is the commander in chief of HALO, Heaven’s military. HALO deals with the management of the Guardian Angels and the occasional defense against uprisings from the underworld. After his time is up he will be able to choose whether he wants to stay on as a full time HALO angel or continue on to the next stage of Heaven. Nathan is taken to the transition room, where they strip him of all his worldly belongings; starting with his name. They give him a new name, Nathaniel, which means angel of fire. After being taught to use his angel powers, it is time for Nathan to return to Earth on his first assignment.

He is partnered with Kahil, a boy of about his age who died a little under half a decade ago. Nathan asks him who he was before all of this, and Kahil realizes he can’t remember. After making the discovery that he is losing his own memories, Nathan struggles to hold on to who he is. His friendship with Kahil grows stronger, and soon they become best friends. Nathan expresses his concerns about forgetting his life before HALO but Kahil doesn’t see a problem with making a new life for himself, and dismisses the issue, telling Nathan not to dwell on it. But Nathan doesn’t let go of his old life, and remains determined not to forget.

Kahil becomes worried about Nathan’s obsessive behavior, and reports it to Colonel Raziel. The Colonel comes to talk to Nathan, appearing to be concerned, but his true intentions are clear: to threaten Nathan not to continue his search for answers. Nathan is angered at the discovery of his best friend’s betrayal and the secrecy of the organization he is working for, and so flees from Heaven to the emptiness that lies beyond, called The Intersolum. There, he meets a group of fellow runaway angels called REACH who, like himself, fled in order to keep their memories. Nathan begins to feel he judged Kahil too hastily and feels bad about leaving him there to be brainwashed. He tells the leader of REACH, Paschar, that he is going back to HALO to get Kahil and bring him to The Intersolum. Paschar forbids him, saying the mission would be too dangerous and would risk exposing REACH. Nathan goes anyway, but when talking to Kahil discovers that he has been promoted to second-in-command of HALO, and has let the power go to his head, becoming cruel and arrogant. Discouraged, Nathan returns to The Intersolum.

After spending an excessive number of chapters mulling over his exchange with Kahil, Nathan comes to the conclusion that his friend’s transformation must be the doing of Colonel Raziel. Nathan insists that REACH launch an attack on HALO. When Paschar again refuses, Nathan leads the attack himself, and much to Paschar’s dismay, REACH’s troops agree to follow. Feeling obligated to protect his people, Paschar joins what he believes to be a lost cause. A battle of epic proportions ensues, causing all sorts of strange things on Earth which end up being called an apocalypse. During the battle, Paschar engages in a hand to hand battle with Kahil and Paschar comes out on top. Kahil is sent to Deimortum, the after afterlife, the land of fallen angels. Nathan is distraught at the loss of his friend and is determined to take down HALO once and for all, whatever the cost. As expected, REACH is defeated, the few survivors retreating to The Intersolum. Nathan intentionally gets captured by the enemy to get closer to the heart of the organization. Colonel Raziel doesn’t recognize him, so Nathan says his name is Tabbris. Colonel Raziel believes he has re-brainwashed him, but Nathan is just faking it. The book ends as Nathan sneaks away to Deimortum to rescue Kahil.

Halo: The Fall of Reach is a fairly good book, though the controversy it created was disproportionate to the offense it caused. Though the premise is certainly unique, some of the finer plot elements were a bit formulaic, and the characters’ actions seemed to be rather predictable. This book would have been far more enjoyable had the author’s statement about why he wrote the book not been such an unpleasantly commercial point of view. Though offensive to some, admittedly it was comically frank.

2.5 of 5 stars

Contributed by A. Wikle

3/13/13