HALO: Shadows of Reach

By: Troy Denning

Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins

Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

USA Today best seller

A Master Chief story and original full-length novel set in the Halo universe - based on the New York Times best-selling video game series!

October 2559. It has been a year since the renegade artificial intelligence Cortana issued a galaxy-wide ultimatum, subjecting many worlds to martial law under the indomitable grip of her Forerunner weapons. Outside her view, the members of Blue Team - John-117, the Master Chief; Fred-104; Kelly-087; and Linda-058 - are assigned from the UNSC Infinity to make a covert insertion onto the ravaged planet Reach.

Their former home and training ground - and the site of humanity’s most cataclysmic military defeat near the end of the Covenant War - Reach still hides myriad secrets after all these years. Blue Team’s mission is to penetrate the rubble-filled depths of CASTLE Base and recover top-secret assets locked away in Dr. Catherine Halsey’s abandoned laboratory - assets which may prove to be humanity’s last hope against Cortana.

But Reach has been invaded by a powerful and ruthless alien faction, who have their own reasons for being there. Establishing themselves as a vicious occupying force on the devastated planet, this enemy will soon transform Blue Team’s simple retrieval operation into a full-blown crisis. And with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance, mission failure is not an option....

©2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Halo, the Halo logo, Xbox, and the Xbox logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio

Excellent

I read a few reviews here before listening to the audiobook which complained about the narration. Though I do love Brick's narration of other titles, I found Hopkins' narration enjoyable and entertaining. The pronunciation of a few names and locations were a little jarring for me, but overall a great performance. The story is fantastic and worth a listen.

OMG

This is a MUST read for any and all halo fans who are interested in expanded lore.

Can’t get enough!

Oh man. What a time it was waiting for this and it is over too quick.

Great story if you are a fan of this universe.

Accent Change, Really?

This is the first time Kelly has had a European accent. There was no reason to change it. Would have been fine if she had a European accent from the first book in the entire series, but it wasn't. It is a tragedy you changed it.

Great read

If you love halo and the old halo books you'll love this one. Another adventure with the master chief n crew!

Just get it and start listening!

If you're a halo fan, you will love it. No questions asked. just go for it.

not enough to shake my itch for all things halo $

it was great, just wanted the story of veda lopez fleshed out. she's a new Halsey.

Lechatelierite

Another great story by the talented Troy Denning. He knows his material and the characters, shaping the two together in a story that you can get right in with.

While I think it isn't his best, Shadows of Reach is thoroughly enjoyable and competes with Troy's other Halo novels. He does a good job of introducing you to some of the factions we will most likely see in Infinite and paints a picture of how desperate the UNSC is post-Created Uprising.
The narrator was......eh. He is certainly talented and I can see being an excellent choice for other books, but I believe he was not a good fit for this book. Due to him having a lighter voice, he is unable to capture the lower, gravelly voices of Chief, Jiralhanae, or Sanghili. They sound very forced and constipated. As much flack (unwarranted in my opinion) as Scott Brick gets for sounding dull, he nails those voices and I am curious as to why he did not voice this book. It also doesn't help that 343i did a short section of the first chapter read by Steve Downes himself on YouTube. That was honestly a poor choice on their part as it shows the fans the possibility of a book read by him. They should have had him read it entirely or not at all. Felt like they were teasing us.
As for the story, I do wish they made a few more tie-ins and references to the events/locations in the Fall of Reach, or Halo: Reach. Not enough to lean on fan nostalgia, but just enough for some cool moments. The beginning also felt too slow and drawn out. Lastly, maybe a few hundred less uses of the word Lechatelierite would have been nice.
Definitely worth the read and I look forward to see what Halo: Infinite brings us. Maybe 343i will make a good game this time. Fingers-crossed.

Very good book

Troy Denning did a fantastic job writing this, and Hopkins also did an amazing job narrating it. I never lost interest at any point throughout the book. This book actually makes blue team fun and interesting, unlike halo 5 lol. Would 100 percent recommend to any halo fan

Voice acting was ok.

Story was amazing but the voices seemed a bit off for some of the characters. They weren't bad just took some time getting used to.