Halo: New Blood

By: Matt Forbeck

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

The New York Times best-selling series based on the blockbuster Xbox® games!

While Spartans get all the glory, no soldier - not even the legendary Master Chief - wins a war on his own. Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck and his team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) played a major role in saving the Earth from all-out invasion at the end of the Covenant War - acts of bravery and ingenuity that did not go unnoticed by the United Nations Space Command.

Now, after many Spartans have been killed in battle, and the Master Chief is listed as MIA, the UNSC decides to create a new generation of Spartans to defend humanity from threats both outside and within. When they come to Buck with an extraordinary proposition, he is forced to make a life-altering decision. With the Covenant War finally over, is it time for him finally to retire to the sidelines for a life he could only dream about...or is he prepared to step up and become part of the military's new blood?

©2015 Microsoft Corporation (P)2015 Simon & Schuster

no more Scott Brick!

a good story that was tarnished by a monotone narrator. Please stop with this narrator!

Decent story, let down by a few factors.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator - overall (once things got moving) he was good, but there's something about his tone of voice, the way he finishes sentences etc. that didn't excite the text like other narrators do.

Then there's the amount of metaphors and similes that colour the book - at some times it felt like the author was trying to squeeze too many 'descriptors' into one paragraph, and was more like a collection of metaphors and similes strung together by other text. It wasn't horrible, but made it feel more teenage than young adult / adult in audience.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Halo: New Blood?

It was great to go on such a journey across the Halo timeline and tie in so many things - the twist near the end was good, showing some raw emotion which up until then had just been bottled up into characters that were constantly "on mission". Dont want to spoil anything though.

Did Halo: New Blood inspire you to do anything?

Not particularly - was happy to go onto the next audiobook, where the difference in Narrator is like chalk and cheese (currently listening to No Country for Old Men).

I'll still be listening to future Halo books, even if narrated by Scott Brick.

Good book, poorly chosen narrator

Scott Brick doesn't change pitch ever which makes all the character personality suffer. Wish Holter Graham had narrated this, or even Johnathan Davis. They've both proven to be able to add flavor to the Halo audiobook experience whereas Scott Brick doesn't even try.

Fantastic book. Not my favorite reader tho

Fantastic book. Amazing story. Reader doesn’t grab my attention super well however. Very easy to space out and miss parts. Doesn’t sound much like Nathan fillian either

Scott BrickzzzzZZZZzz

If you want to fall asleep to his narration then go for it. zZz zZz.

Story was good, but ...

The performance was monotone and boring. I listen while driving to help keep me focused and the narrattor's voice kept making me tired.

Awesome Story

Definitely sheds light on the Spartan 4 program and events after the covenant war had ended.

Yea! For Buck!

It was nice to hear the afterstory for Alpha 9! Was only disappointed that Nathan Fillion didn't narrate it himself!

Halo New Blood was gorgeous.

This euphoric experience is a must for any fan of halo 3: ODST, or halo in general.
I was compelled the whole time, this was the story telling I've been dying to hear. I was skeptical about the pacing at first, but then it all flawlessly full circled. The way Buck explained his way of story telling really was amazing, I could relate, being a somewhat controlled scatter brain when it comes to telling long tales of the past times.
Matt Forbeck really pulled on my heart strings, making me hate yet love his plot choices. it never felt like certain characters were made just to be a plot device. All the new and old characters were given a breath of fresh air, delving deep into the psychology of just why they're, the way they're. Expanding onto Buck, showing a side that couldn't be portrayed in the video game. It let you feel the weight he carried around, the loss, the longing for veronica, the helplessness and betrayal.
Finally giving Dutch what he truly wanted, made me tear up. After following all his journeys through the years, it felt like a well deserved reward, not only for him but the fans.
with out spoiling anymore, I will say, I truly loved this novel and hope matt can make more in the future. thank you so much for putting so much heart into the ODSTs that I've grown to love and admire through the years. A big shout out to Scott Brick, you did an amazing job narrating.

Great bridge between Halo ODST and Halo 5

Explains how Buck joined the Spartans in Halo 5. Jumps around a bit much but gives just enough plot in each arc to keep things interesting.

I could only improve on it by adding sound effects and background music a La the Star Wars Audiobooks.

If you've played ODST don't bother!

Basically, about 13 chapters of the books recount the story of Halo: ODST so if you know the story to that don't bother.

There's about 6 chapters of new story & little extra here & there to pepper three ODST story with a little extra content about Buck's life but quite frankly you could get that from a Wiki.

The performance of the narrator is pretty decent, I like his voice, it feels appropriate for the military content. He doesn't do anything special for different characters (which I prefer anyway) except out as little inflective change.

The writing isn't top notch (Nowhere near as good as Karen Travis's Halo books) but if you're a Halo fan then you might like it for the story if nothing else...

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There's a surprise at the beginning of the new content concerning The Rookie (your playable character in ODDT) & another at the end of the book concerning Mickey, but again you could find all that out from a Wiki. This amounts to the only reason to buy this book...

Halo 3 ODST story COPY

Chapter 8 is literally just reading off what happened in Halo 3:ODST and several parts of the story are repeated to make up the word count. The least interesting and lazily written halo book I've read so far.

Not just a retread of ODST the game

loved it, Scott brick is an amazing narrator. the book spends alot of time explaining Buck's life before and after the game and it really does flesh out the whole squad from the game

Buck.

Bit of spoilers ahead i suppose.

I love to hear stories from other characters from the halo universe especially some as influential as Buck.

The whole book goes through who the character buck was and what he did to become such a great character. The story isn’t too indepth with how battles happen but it fits well on this story.

For someone who hasn’t played Halo 5 and doesn’t know how and why buck is a member in the fireteam instead of running it this is a eye opener. Good read, need more. Thank you.

Played ODST? If so, no need to read

The majority of this book is a rehash of the Halo 3:ODST game. Written from the perspective of Buck in an autobiographical manner. There's only a small bit of new story, story that could have been covered pretty easily in a comic or something, story that seems a little forced and half-assed given its supposed to be the bridge for Buck becoming a Spartan IV

Shocked that I enjoyed it so much.

Didn’t really enjoy buck as a character in the games but this book has changed my opinion on buck

Surprisingly Brilliant

I hadn’t heard much about this book before I listened to it and I was honestly really pleasantly surprised. Halo 3: ODST is my second favourite Halo game just behind Halo 2 so I was really pleased to realise this book was the story of Buck and Alpha 9 after the events of ODST. And it took the story and the characters in directions I never saw coming and I’m so glad I listened to this!

A fantastic mixture of backstory, worldbuilding, and character development about a character who I think gets overlooked a lot more than he should.

a great little book

if you like halo, especially if you liked halo odst you will love this book, great view of the world from tbere point of view and you find oit what happened to alpha 9 before and after the game, definitely one i shall listen to again

Good book

Great read and I'd highly recommend it however I'm heart broken RIP Rookie are time together in ODST will never be forgotten 💯

Little boring

This book should be called the life of Buck, and it’s not worth it, the story’s are ok and do tell the story of Buck but it’s not worth the extra credit I got for it.

Scott Brick is really boring in this book its hard to get behind him and follow the story and enjoy it.