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Halo #6
Halo: El Protocolo Cole
En los primeros días de la guerra entre los humanos y el Covenant, el UNSC promulga el Protocolo Cole para impedir que la Tierra y sus colonias interiores sean descubiertas por el despiadado enemigo extraterrestre. Entre aquellos a los que se les solicita que eliminen a la Tierra de sus datos de navegación se encuentra el teniente de la marina Jacob Keyes, a quien la ONI encomienda una misión secreta de alta prioridad. Mientras, el Covenant sigue cristalizando los planetas ocupados por los humanos. Más allá de las colonias exteriores, en el planeta Hesiod, los supervivientes ayudados por un bastión de Insurrectos han construido un asentamiento conocido como el Rubble. Y aunque se han instalado cerca de una colonia del Covenant, todo parece ir bien. Esta precaria tregua entre humanos y el Covenant se halla en el camino de una patrulla renegada, el equipo Gris Spartan, cuya misión es hacer estragos en las líneas enemigas.
384 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2008
About the author
Tobias S. Buckell
69 books450 followersBorn in the Caribbean, Tobias S. Buckell is a New York Times Bestselling author. His novels and over 50 short stories have been translated into 17 languages and he has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Prometheus and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Author. He currently lives in Ohio.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 261 reviews
March 30, 2020
Perhaps if I hadn’t just finished reading Halo: Contact Harvest I wouldn’t be rating Cole Protocol so harshly, but the latter dulls in comparison with the former. The pacing, the characters, the plot… there are several things I had an issue with while reading, though I’ll talk about what I liked first.
The setting was kind of cool – asteroids all linked together.
I also liked that the focus on the Covenant was consistent as with the previous novel – the races acted similarly as to how they did in Harvest, though the Elites were pretty over-the-top. I didn’t care about any of them though – they didn’t have much depth as Maccabeus and the relationship between Dadab and Lighter Than Some did in Harvest. Thal was just an arrogant jerk – he didn’t have any layers. Neither did anyone else, really, though.
To be honest, there wasn’t much I did like about the novel. The characters I thought were going to be interesting, like Watanabe or the Spartans, either disappeared ten minutes after they arrived, or they had no real face time.
The biggest problem with the story, overall, which bleeds down into all the other aspects, was that there were too many characters. You have the Spartans, you have Delgado, you have Reth, you have Thal, you have Keyes, and then you have all the bunch of minor characters like the Prophets, Keyes’ staff, Bonifacio, the other Elites, and randoms like Maria and Diego. Oh, and the AI. So we have a billion characters, a billion shifting viewpoints (just because you have a lot of characters doesn’t mean they all need a perspective!), and therefore no cohesion and no sense of depth.
A lot of the novel could have been trimmed or redirected to centralize the story and the characters.
One more thing: where did all the women go in this novel? Adriana and that traitorous wench, ok, but it seems like now there are no women in the UNSC army anymore? There are female Helljumpers, but apparently not in this novel. I just thought it was weird. I always pictured Halo more like Starship Troopers (the movie), where gender didn’t matter, so statistically, there would be at least one female fighter in all of Keyes’ staff, right?
The setting was kind of cool – asteroids all linked together.
I also liked that the focus on the Covenant was consistent as with the previous novel – the races acted similarly as to how they did in Harvest, though the Elites were pretty over-the-top. I didn’t care about any of them though – they didn’t have much depth as Maccabeus and the relationship between Dadab and Lighter Than Some did in Harvest. Thal was just an arrogant jerk – he didn’t have any layers. Neither did anyone else, really, though.
To be honest, there wasn’t much I did like about the novel. The characters I thought were going to be interesting, like Watanabe or the Spartans, either disappeared ten minutes after they arrived, or they had no real face time.
The biggest problem with the story, overall, which bleeds down into all the other aspects, was that there were too many characters. You have the Spartans, you have Delgado, you have Reth, you have Thal, you have Keyes, and then you have all the bunch of minor characters like the Prophets, Keyes’ staff, Bonifacio, the other Elites, and randoms like Maria and Diego. Oh, and the AI. So we have a billion characters, a billion shifting viewpoints (just because you have a lot of characters doesn’t mean they all need a perspective!), and therefore no cohesion and no sense of depth.
A lot of the novel could have been trimmed or redirected to centralize the story and the characters.
One more thing: where did all the women go in this novel? Adriana and that traitorous wench, ok, but it seems like now there are no women in the UNSC army anymore? There are female Helljumpers, but apparently not in this novel. I just thought it was weird. I always pictured Halo more like Starship Troopers (the movie), where gender didn’t matter, so statistically, there would be at least one female fighter in all of Keyes’ staff, right?
May 9, 2020
Update as of May 2020: I still strongly dislike this book for entirely subjective reasons. However, since I've discussed the book with another user recently, I'll be fair here: it's not the weakest book in the series anymore. I'd give that to Halo: Last Light, which was bad enough that I finally quit reading the series. Shame.
For some fairly obvious reasons, there has been a taboo about videogame-inspired literature that is in essence the same as the taboo about videogame-inspired cinema. The short of it is, in general, the quality is quite low. I don't think that this has to do with the writers hired (usually), or with the transfer of the medium itself, but more to do with the fact that in general, the tasks and logic assigned to the player during an interactive play experience are essentially different to those assigned during a reading or viewing experience. This interactivity is, of course, an illusion (you can't argue about the particulars of a quest or directive, nor can you rebuke a foolish non-player character), but it gives the player a distinct sensation of control that other media can't replicate.
There are exceptions, however, to this "quality barrier" among the available videogame literature. Among them, the Halo novels have typically carried a bar-setting craftsmanship. They may not be built to the scale of an Alastair Reynolds epic, or as personal as an Orson Scott Card narrative, nor as hard-fact informed as a Niven novel, but they are usually solid reads that you can count on to keep you interested and change the way you think about the Halo-verse. This is due in large part to the fact that the Halo design team, now 343 Industries (owned by Microsoft) has a remarkable quality-control team that keeps their license under tight reign.
Strange, then, that Tobias Buckell's novel emerged the way it did. Cole Protocol, the sixth of a rapidly growing number of Halo novels, is easily one of the weakest installments. Note here that the Halo series is not one of those that degrades in quality over time; indeed, some of the strongest entries came later. This is due in part to the fact that 343i brings in new and established authors constantly. Buckell is one of the youngest and most untested authors they have brought in, and it is a wonder that they didn't assign more of an editorial team to the book. It is rife with typographical errors and strange phrasing that snaps the reader out of the narrative on an almost chapterly basis. Sometimes these errors occur page after page.
Thankfully, Cole Protocol’s story is relatively easy to understand. There are four narratives: Jacob Keyes, a mainstay of the Halo-verse, Gray Team, a guerrilla Spartan trio, Thel Vadam'ee, a Covenant Shipmaster, and Ignacio Delgado, who is a pilot and guardian of the coveted coordinates to Earth, which are threatened under the titular Cole Protocol. Keyes and Thel are both investigating the sudden appearance of human-modified Covenant weapons into the human black market, while Delgado and Gray Team are playing cat-and-mouse with the coordinates. All four plot lines merge around the cobble-crafted space-station known as 'the Rubble,' which is the result of a joint effort of human and Kig-Yar engineering.
The Rubble alone is almost worth buying the book for. Almost. Megastructure science-fiction and Halo are like peanut butter and chocolate, but Buckell doesn't spend his time describing, exploring, or even developing the Rubble. He takes for granted that it is a marvel, only occasionally reminding us how large and uncanny this orbiting city made of anchored and colonized asteroid habitats is. This is a shame, since the time he spends enacting intrigue among the UNSC and Covenant forces makes for a pretty terrible, eye-rolling read. He had a golden goose in the form of the Rubble, and dropped the ball.
Part of this might have been due to the fact that there were just too many plotlines. Aside from Ignacio Delgado, there really aren't many compelling narrators in the book. Even the once-off guys are uninteresting. Keyes is whiny, the Spartans are too emotional, and Thel Vadam'ee is, frankly, one of the worst-written narrators I have read in some time. For an established, honorable, full-grown Sangheli master warrior, he has more self-doubt than an unggoy asked to design a nuclear reactor. For a fan of the series, the time spent in his head is uncomfortable and alien, but not in a good way. (But this makes sense, since he is breaking of one of my sci-fi rules.)
These problems, combined with the many, many typographical errors and jarring, stilted phrasing, makes for a difficult read. The charm that Buckell has by way of his sense of humor, too, is often ruined by the bizarre phrasing that sounds like it came off of an internet board with over-inflated intellects. Even a casual reader will notice often that there are repeated words together in the same sentence (e.g., "The unnogy randomly bumping around complaining about their random movements was giving Thel a headache") reads as if this is actually an honest-to-god fan fiction bound and published to the mass paperback market. Buckell also uses unusual terms that other established authors step around, making him sound like a player talking about the game, rather than an author dictating new canon. For example, instead of calling the Covenant's grenades "plasma grenades," he calls them "sticky grenades." In the other fiction entries, they go by the former name. Unexplained terminology changes are rife through the novel, and leaves me wondering, Where were the copy editors?
I hadn't read a Halo book since my early college years, and I was looking forward to diving into another one while I was on my honeymoon. Cole Protocol was a poor choice (especially since I had Kim Robinson’s 2312 in the car). While it is a fun novel, to be sure, and has a fair amount of well-written action, the sheer volume of potential that was dropped makes the finished product look like a paltry, naked little thing. I know it is unfair to wonder what might have happened had the novel been handled by more sure hands, like Nylund of Traviss, but I can't help it. The Rubble was too cool an idea to dismiss as fast as it was, and if you're a high-caliber sci-fi fan, you ought to dismiss this one, too. It will only please the hardest core of the Halonauts.
For some fairly obvious reasons, there has been a taboo about videogame-inspired literature that is in essence the same as the taboo about videogame-inspired cinema. The short of it is, in general, the quality is quite low. I don't think that this has to do with the writers hired (usually), or with the transfer of the medium itself, but more to do with the fact that in general, the tasks and logic assigned to the player during an interactive play experience are essentially different to those assigned during a reading or viewing experience. This interactivity is, of course, an illusion (you can't argue about the particulars of a quest or directive, nor can you rebuke a foolish non-player character), but it gives the player a distinct sensation of control that other media can't replicate.
There are exceptions, however, to this "quality barrier" among the available videogame literature. Among them, the Halo novels have typically carried a bar-setting craftsmanship. They may not be built to the scale of an Alastair Reynolds epic, or as personal as an Orson Scott Card narrative, nor as hard-fact informed as a Niven novel, but they are usually solid reads that you can count on to keep you interested and change the way you think about the Halo-verse. This is due in large part to the fact that the Halo design team, now 343 Industries (owned by Microsoft) has a remarkable quality-control team that keeps their license under tight reign.
Strange, then, that Tobias Buckell's novel emerged the way it did. Cole Protocol, the sixth of a rapidly growing number of Halo novels, is easily one of the weakest installments. Note here that the Halo series is not one of those that degrades in quality over time; indeed, some of the strongest entries came later. This is due in part to the fact that 343i brings in new and established authors constantly. Buckell is one of the youngest and most untested authors they have brought in, and it is a wonder that they didn't assign more of an editorial team to the book. It is rife with typographical errors and strange phrasing that snaps the reader out of the narrative on an almost chapterly basis. Sometimes these errors occur page after page.
Thankfully, Cole Protocol’s story is relatively easy to understand. There are four narratives: Jacob Keyes, a mainstay of the Halo-verse, Gray Team, a guerrilla Spartan trio, Thel Vadam'ee, a Covenant Shipmaster, and Ignacio Delgado, who is a pilot and guardian of the coveted coordinates to Earth, which are threatened under the titular Cole Protocol. Keyes and Thel are both investigating the sudden appearance of human-modified Covenant weapons into the human black market, while Delgado and Gray Team are playing cat-and-mouse with the coordinates. All four plot lines merge around the cobble-crafted space-station known as 'the Rubble,' which is the result of a joint effort of human and Kig-Yar engineering.
The Rubble alone is almost worth buying the book for. Almost. Megastructure science-fiction and Halo are like peanut butter and chocolate, but Buckell doesn't spend his time describing, exploring, or even developing the Rubble. He takes for granted that it is a marvel, only occasionally reminding us how large and uncanny this orbiting city made of anchored and colonized asteroid habitats is. This is a shame, since the time he spends enacting intrigue among the UNSC and Covenant forces makes for a pretty terrible, eye-rolling read. He had a golden goose in the form of the Rubble, and dropped the ball.
Part of this might have been due to the fact that there were just too many plotlines. Aside from Ignacio Delgado, there really aren't many compelling narrators in the book. Even the once-off guys are uninteresting. Keyes is whiny, the Spartans are too emotional, and Thel Vadam'ee is, frankly, one of the worst-written narrators I have read in some time. For an established, honorable, full-grown Sangheli master warrior, he has more self-doubt than an unggoy asked to design a nuclear reactor. For a fan of the series, the time spent in his head is uncomfortable and alien, but not in a good way. (But this makes sense, since he is breaking of one of my sci-fi rules.)
These problems, combined with the many, many typographical errors and jarring, stilted phrasing, makes for a difficult read. The charm that Buckell has by way of his sense of humor, too, is often ruined by the bizarre phrasing that sounds like it came off of an internet board with over-inflated intellects. Even a casual reader will notice often that there are repeated words together in the same sentence (e.g., "The unnogy randomly bumping around complaining about their random movements was giving Thel a headache") reads as if this is actually an honest-to-god fan fiction bound and published to the mass paperback market. Buckell also uses unusual terms that other established authors step around, making him sound like a player talking about the game, rather than an author dictating new canon. For example, instead of calling the Covenant's grenades "plasma grenades," he calls them "sticky grenades." In the other fiction entries, they go by the former name. Unexplained terminology changes are rife through the novel, and leaves me wondering, Where were the copy editors?
I hadn't read a Halo book since my early college years, and I was looking forward to diving into another one while I was on my honeymoon. Cole Protocol was a poor choice (especially since I had Kim Robinson’s 2312 in the car). While it is a fun novel, to be sure, and has a fair amount of well-written action, the sheer volume of potential that was dropped makes the finished product look like a paltry, naked little thing. I know it is unfair to wonder what might have happened had the novel been handled by more sure hands, like Nylund of Traviss, but I can't help it. The Rubble was too cool an idea to dismiss as fast as it was, and if you're a high-caliber sci-fi fan, you ought to dismiss this one, too. It will only please the hardest core of the Halonauts.
December 19, 2018
I’m now 5 books deep into my “Halo” deep-dive. Of the 5 novels I’ve read thus far, 3 of them were written by Eric Nylund, while the other 2 were not…and I think I’m at the point now that I can pretty safely admit that I WAY prefer Nylund’s approach to this universe over pretty much anyone else. Neither Joseph Staten’s “Contact Harvest” nor Tobias S. Buckell’s “The Cole Protocol” worked 100% for me – both books, although well-written, feel less like fully formed stories and more novel-length pitches for novels: well-structured, nicely plotted out, but frustratingly cold and distant as a page-to-page experience.
This was especially true in the case of “The Cole Protocol,” which balances 4 or 5 major storylines – each with its own set of characters – before inevitably converging everything together for the climax. Narratively, it’s a solid, potentially very satisfying way to tell your story…but in order for that approach to work, you HAVE to have characters that you care about. Buckell, for all his plot maneuvering and adeptness at maintaining narrative traffic, ultimately is only able to give us one character that’s even remotely interesting, Jacob Keyes…and unfortunately, part of why he’s even interesting to begin with has nothing to do with “The Cole Protocol”s story itself: it’s because we know Keyes from the first “Halo” game, and that baggage that we bring with us from that prior adventure helps to give him a extra wrinkle of depth here that – had this been the first time we met him – I’m doubtful he would have had.
Look, I genuinely am looking forward to the day that I read and love a “Halo” novel that’s not written by Eric Nylund…but so far, two books past his original trilogy of “Halo” stories, I’ve yet to be completely impressed by what other authors have brought to this amazing universe. Here’s hoping Greg Bear’s “Forerunner Saga” changes that for me.
This was especially true in the case of “The Cole Protocol,” which balances 4 or 5 major storylines – each with its own set of characters – before inevitably converging everything together for the climax. Narratively, it’s a solid, potentially very satisfying way to tell your story…but in order for that approach to work, you HAVE to have characters that you care about. Buckell, for all his plot maneuvering and adeptness at maintaining narrative traffic, ultimately is only able to give us one character that’s even remotely interesting, Jacob Keyes…and unfortunately, part of why he’s even interesting to begin with has nothing to do with “The Cole Protocol”s story itself: it’s because we know Keyes from the first “Halo” game, and that baggage that we bring with us from that prior adventure helps to give him a extra wrinkle of depth here that – had this been the first time we met him – I’m doubtful he would have had.
Look, I genuinely am looking forward to the day that I read and love a “Halo” novel that’s not written by Eric Nylund…but so far, two books past his original trilogy of “Halo” stories, I’ve yet to be completely impressed by what other authors have brought to this amazing universe. Here’s hoping Greg Bear’s “Forerunner Saga” changes that for me.
August 15, 2012
"The Cole Protocol" is simply...Bad. Bucknell is a terrible, terrible writer. This book reads like a screenplay to a D-grade action movie; something even Segal and Norris would pass up. Characters are cliche' and without depth; I never came close to caring about any of them. Countless times Bucknell would repeat nouns or verbs within a sentance or two of each other, like he couldn't come up with any other way to convey meaning. "Keyes watched his people being herded toward gates...From the cargo bay they'd all been herded out at gunpoint." Ignatio Delgado "bit his lip" at least a dozen times. Bucknell has no idea what "subtle" means; he tells you exactly what he wants you to understand, like when things are going to hell, stuff is blowing up, people are dying, and Bucknell brilliantly states "This was bad."
I'm a huge fan of Halo, and this is the third Halo book I've read, but it was by far the worst. I found myself trying to speed through the last half of it, but I felt like I was running in quicksand and that it would never end.
Thankfullly it did.
Its only redeeming quality was that it gave some back-story on Keyes. Other than that it was just awful.
Frankly it felt like a piece of fan fiction I would have written when I was 12, realized was crap, and thrown away, glad that I'd never let anyone read it. Quite the stinker.
I'm a huge fan of Halo, and this is the third Halo book I've read, but it was by far the worst. I found myself trying to speed through the last half of it, but I felt like I was running in quicksand and that it would never end.
Thankfullly it did.
Its only redeeming quality was that it gave some back-story on Keyes. Other than that it was just awful.
Frankly it felt like a piece of fan fiction I would have written when I was 12, realized was crap, and thrown away, glad that I'd never let anyone read it. Quite the stinker.
October 8, 2015
It's a great book with a lot of adventure I recommend this book for halo fans who don't like to read and kids its amazing
May 11, 2018
I have always been a big fan of the Halo franchise. I used to play the games growing up all of the time. Halo to me always had some of the best stories out of all the games I played. After recent changes to developers making games for the franchise the story seemed to have gone somewhat flat. They lacked the style that the originals games had, but the novels somewhat filled that void. This book is the third Halo novel I have read and I really enjoyed it.
This book is about a group of Spartans. For those who haven't read the previous books or played the games, which you don't have to, Spartans are a type of super soldiers. The story takes place 500 years into the future where humanity has spread across the galaxy. The story takes place during a conflict between an Alien faction known as the covenant and the UNSC, which was the Earth’s main space military. Spartans being super soldiers had different types and teams. Grey team is a team of Spartan III’s. Usually spartan III’s less affective than their Spartan II counterpart. This is mainly because they were mass produced in order to be sent out on high cost missions, usually ending in death. The books follows the team going through their missions together. There were also some time spent on stories involving characters such as captain Keyes.
The book was really good at setting the mood of the difficult situations that the characters in. For many people who have read the other book, having a story that followed a different view on the war is very exciting. In other books there was always the idea in the back of your head that the main character Master Chief always had the legendary Plot armour. This story is different, the development of the characters only to know that everyone you just learned about is expendable. The constant feeling of might losing your favorite member of the team at anytime made the story really fun to read.
The one thing I didn't like about the story is the little time spent with the characters interacting with the main story line in the games. The story is to be a background story, something that people overlook while reading the main story line and having it brought into the light. I feel like having them connect to the main story line a bit more would make the story rememberable one reading the other books, giving you that “oh yeah!” kinda feel one that unknown thing in another book gets answered in this one. This would make it better for new readers to understand the entire situation in the universe of the story and for long term readers to have something to get excited about.
This book is about a group of Spartans. For those who haven't read the previous books or played the games, which you don't have to, Spartans are a type of super soldiers. The story takes place 500 years into the future where humanity has spread across the galaxy. The story takes place during a conflict between an Alien faction known as the covenant and the UNSC, which was the Earth’s main space military. Spartans being super soldiers had different types and teams. Grey team is a team of Spartan III’s. Usually spartan III’s less affective than their Spartan II counterpart. This is mainly because they were mass produced in order to be sent out on high cost missions, usually ending in death. The books follows the team going through their missions together. There were also some time spent on stories involving characters such as captain Keyes.
The book was really good at setting the mood of the difficult situations that the characters in. For many people who have read the other book, having a story that followed a different view on the war is very exciting. In other books there was always the idea in the back of your head that the main character Master Chief always had the legendary Plot armour. This story is different, the development of the characters only to know that everyone you just learned about is expendable. The constant feeling of might losing your favorite member of the team at anytime made the story really fun to read.
The one thing I didn't like about the story is the little time spent with the characters interacting with the main story line in the games. The story is to be a background story, something that people overlook while reading the main story line and having it brought into the light. I feel like having them connect to the main story line a bit more would make the story rememberable one reading the other books, giving you that “oh yeah!” kinda feel one that unknown thing in another book gets answered in this one. This would make it better for new readers to understand the entire situation in the universe of the story and for long term readers to have something to get excited about.
May 8, 2021
I was originally going to give this book 4 stars because I do not enjoy how the Spartans have been written here, however, the final two acts of the book were good enough for me to feel unsatisfied with giving it anything under five. This book was good stuff. It didn't blow my mind like some other Halo books, but it was certainly a quality story.
Back to the Spartans for a moment. These soldiers have been trained from the age of six to kill people (later Covenant). They cannot comprehend the ways in which other humans interact with each other in social circles. Master Chief has always reflected this kind of stoic detachment quite well. The man is not like most men. He is almost machine (but not entirely). I strongly dislike how some of the Spartan IIs are written in a handful of these books. They are far too unprofessional. They make jokes, for god's sake. JOKES! Spartan IIs should be focused on getting the job done and that is literally all. These Spartans have far too much personality. They are instruments of war, not relatable war buddies taking on the alien baddies. I wish they were written with more attention to their upbringing.
Now let's talk about Thel: one of the best characters in gaming history. I was thrilled to see him in here. And I'll be transparent with you; he is arguably the main reason why this book is a 5 and not a 4. Already there are seeds of doubt in him when it comes to how much the prophets can be trusted. He kills his own brothers in defence of the great journey in this book. It makes you wonder how often Thel must think about that after the Great Schism happens. His devotion to a twisted religion will likely haunt him forever, and it is always written in such a thought-provoking way.
Overall I really enjoyed the book.
P.S. It was also very sad how it ends with Keyes and Miranda going for ice cream. They both go through so much. Knowing how their lives end in the future makes the concept of their relationship all the more painful.
Back to the Spartans for a moment. These soldiers have been trained from the age of six to kill people (later Covenant). They cannot comprehend the ways in which other humans interact with each other in social circles. Master Chief has always reflected this kind of stoic detachment quite well. The man is not like most men. He is almost machine (but not entirely). I strongly dislike how some of the Spartan IIs are written in a handful of these books. They are far too unprofessional. They make jokes, for god's sake. JOKES! Spartan IIs should be focused on getting the job done and that is literally all. These Spartans have far too much personality. They are instruments of war, not relatable war buddies taking on the alien baddies. I wish they were written with more attention to their upbringing.
Now let's talk about Thel: one of the best characters in gaming history. I was thrilled to see him in here. And I'll be transparent with you; he is arguably the main reason why this book is a 5 and not a 4. Already there are seeds of doubt in him when it comes to how much the prophets can be trusted. He kills his own brothers in defence of the great journey in this book. It makes you wonder how often Thel must think about that after the Great Schism happens. His devotion to a twisted religion will likely haunt him forever, and it is always written in such a thought-provoking way.
Overall I really enjoyed the book.
P.S. It was also very sad how it ends with Keyes and Miranda going for ice cream. They both go through so much. Knowing how their lives end in the future makes the concept of their relationship all the more painful.
June 17, 2024
This book took a really really long time for it to spin up and get interesting, but once it did it COOKED. I really love how the writing supplements the perspective changes, especially during back to back sequences. It allows the audience to get into the mind of the current characters perspective even in the narration. I really enjoyed that bit.
I love how much Keyes we got. He’s really becoming one of my favorite characters in the whole franchise just from reading the books. His character is so interesting to me. On that same note, getting Thel ‘Vadamee story was amazing. This was a really really cool story for him and you can absolutely draw a line from his story in this book to Halo 2s story. This book did a great job of flushing out more Covenant lore and how the politics and hierarchy hold such a grip on the entire Covenant.
The Insurrectionist/UNSC conflict really got more backstory and more importantly, active perspective and events on it, not just references to other events. I really enjoyed seeing how the UNSC is viewed and vice versa. Such a cool situation to have to warring factions then a third bigger badder enemy show up. What will they do? That’s a big question in this book.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, mostly the back half, but regardless it told a very good story with really cool action and moments, and at the heart of it carried the through line of what makes Halo, heroism.
I love how much Keyes we got. He’s really becoming one of my favorite characters in the whole franchise just from reading the books. His character is so interesting to me. On that same note, getting Thel ‘Vadamee story was amazing. This was a really really cool story for him and you can absolutely draw a line from his story in this book to Halo 2s story. This book did a great job of flushing out more Covenant lore and how the politics and hierarchy hold such a grip on the entire Covenant.
The Insurrectionist/UNSC conflict really got more backstory and more importantly, active perspective and events on it, not just references to other events. I really enjoyed seeing how the UNSC is viewed and vice versa. Such a cool situation to have to warring factions then a third bigger badder enemy show up. What will they do? That’s a big question in this book.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, mostly the back half, but regardless it told a very good story with really cool action and moments, and at the heart of it carried the through line of what makes Halo, heroism.
October 20, 2014
Plot: In the book Halo: The Cole Protocol, Jacob Keyes of the UNSC is assigned to combat space rebels in the wake of recent attacks. He is given a ship, a small force of commandoes, and a choice to stay or go. The alien warrior known as Thel Vadamee has been tasked with tracking down the source of black market alien technology. The notorious assassin is grouped with a team of zealots, the deadliest of his kin. Unbeknownst to both factions is the Rubble, a collection of asteroids harboring the survivors of Madrigal. Destroyed by the covenant war machine years before, the planet was home to many roles of dwellers. It had held farmers, politicians, civilians, and it had covered the resurgence of insurrectionists that wanted to see the UNSC crumble. Now the clock ticks as Ignatio Delgado of The Rubble must defend the last coordinates of Earth in the asteroid belt before the aliens of The Covenant get to them. Now, the trio of enemies will cross paths, battling for the fate of Earth and all her colonies.
characterization: One of the main characters, known as Jacob Keyes, has been teaching after a combat wound he attained many years ago. He mostly cares for his daughter, Miranda. As the plot grows, Keyes finds himself plunged into rebel traps and naval battles in space with The Covenant. As his team arrives to The Rubble, on of his bridge crew reveals their true identity and shoots the captain of Keyes' ship. The wound is not fatal, but the insurrectionist had also placed bombs on the ship's engine room, forcing the captain to sacrifice his life for repairing the radioactive core. Keyes and his squad become captured by insurrectionists, forcing the man to fear for his life. By the end of the book, Keyes finds himself back home and he finds that his daughter has missed him. Jacob Keyes story is far from over however.
Recommendations: I would mainly recommend this book to fans of the previous books under the Halo name. The main age group would be between 12 and 16 years old. I found it harder to understand than the other books because of the foreign setting. It is the last book of the original series. My rating on Halo: The Cole Protocol is a 3 out of 5.
characterization: One of the main characters, known as Jacob Keyes, has been teaching after a combat wound he attained many years ago. He mostly cares for his daughter, Miranda. As the plot grows, Keyes finds himself plunged into rebel traps and naval battles in space with The Covenant. As his team arrives to The Rubble, on of his bridge crew reveals their true identity and shoots the captain of Keyes' ship. The wound is not fatal, but the insurrectionist had also placed bombs on the ship's engine room, forcing the captain to sacrifice his life for repairing the radioactive core. Keyes and his squad become captured by insurrectionists, forcing the man to fear for his life. By the end of the book, Keyes finds himself back home and he finds that his daughter has missed him. Jacob Keyes story is far from over however.
Recommendations: I would mainly recommend this book to fans of the previous books under the Halo name. The main age group would be between 12 and 16 years old. I found it harder to understand than the other books because of the foreign setting. It is the last book of the original series. My rating on Halo: The Cole Protocol is a 3 out of 5.
February 6, 2020
In the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its inner colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems.
The idea and concept behind this book is very fascinating, the idea that in order to protect earth and humanity, the cole protocol is in effect, no straight jumps to the sol system, if you can't escape destroy your navigational data and system or blow up your ship. The idea is flawless and makes sense but it's how it's handled that really lets it down. I found myself only really caring for 2 charecters in this book (captain keyes, and the soon to be arbiter) the rest where mostly shoe horned in and didn't have enough book time to allow me to care and grow a connection with them, like i did with the small group of charecters in contact harvest. And it's that what lets the story down to many none interesting charecters and the few that are don't get enough lime light. And that's a shame because the events of the story are quite interesting just far to much filler going on. Honestly if it wasn't for Keyes, the artbiter, and the premise/events of the story i would of given it a 2 but alas i give it 3 stars as it's just a "good" book and that's about it sadly, fingers crossed the short story connection next is better, we will see.
3.5/5 Stars on GoodReads 🌟🌟🌟
15/100 GingerPoints 🔥
The idea and concept behind this book is very fascinating, the idea that in order to protect earth and humanity, the cole protocol is in effect, no straight jumps to the sol system, if you can't escape destroy your navigational data and system or blow up your ship. The idea is flawless and makes sense but it's how it's handled that really lets it down. I found myself only really caring for 2 charecters in this book (captain keyes, and the soon to be arbiter) the rest where mostly shoe horned in and didn't have enough book time to allow me to care and grow a connection with them, like i did with the small group of charecters in contact harvest. And it's that what lets the story down to many none interesting charecters and the few that are don't get enough lime light. And that's a shame because the events of the story are quite interesting just far to much filler going on. Honestly if it wasn't for Keyes, the artbiter, and the premise/events of the story i would of given it a 2 but alas i give it 3 stars as it's just a "good" book and that's about it sadly, fingers crossed the short story connection next is better, we will see.
3.5/5 Stars on GoodReads 🌟🌟🌟
15/100 GingerPoints 🔥
Read
June 22, 2010This book is about a lieutenant in the Navy, Jacob Keyes who has been functioning as an instructor because of injuries and he has spent time in a cryogenic pod and is now to be tested to see if he is fit for another mission. He is a part of a group who has received intense body enhancements that make them considerably stronger and he is sent on a secret mission. This book is based on the Halo video game and fits into the science fiction category of fantasy. Jacob Keyes is the protagonist and he must prove himself because he is a bit older and does not want to fail. So he takes the hero role upon himself and feels it necessary to fulfill it. The events in this book take on a series of turns and quests with each one as a part of an episodic plot to simply fight and destroy anything and anyone that challenges them. My eleven year old son got this book for Christmas and yet it is clearly for a young adult. I would recommend any high school teenager that plays Halo to get the book to follow along with their gaming.
August 6, 2009
While the premise of the book was an interesting one and the story worked hard to maintain the same breakneck pace that the games hold, the constant jumping back and forth between three or four different groups all doing their own, but related, things every couple pages for the latter half was rather jarring and at times tiresome to keep up with. That said, the book does follow the normal formula for entries in the Halo universe, with Spartans, ODSTs and AIs on the verge of rampancy galore, as well as introducing a few new angles on the old concepts. If you only have time to read one book in the series this might not be the one.
October 21, 2009
Halo: The Cole Protocol expanded the Halo universe a bit. The writing style and quality, the characters, the dialogue, and the settings are below average. This is a quick and easy read that has some decent action scenes but not much else. The basic premise could have been the starting point for a very exciting, well developed science fiction novel, yet somewhere the author fumbled the ball.
January 12, 2010
As a Halo fan I have read most of the other volumes in the series and this has to be by far the worst. It was dead boring and took me far longer to get through merely because I could not stay interested. But, I battled through and as it is Halo it got one more star than it was worth. Endurable, but not noteworthy.
June 26, 2016
to say this book is action packed is an understatement. i enjoyed every bit of it mostly the whole cast of characters and their wittiness.
July 17, 2015
3.5
Entertaining.
Entertaining.
October 4, 2021
Halo: The Cole Protocol by Tobias Buckell is a video game tie-in novel based on the HALO video game franchise, and the first book of the Grey Team Trilogy.
The basic idea of HALO is the war set between the aliens of The Covenant and Humanity as defended by the UNSC or United Nations Space Command. The Cole Protocol is set in the early years of the Human – Covenant War although we are not told exactly when. The Cole Protocol has been set up by the UNSC to safeguard Earth and The Inner Colonies from detection by the Covenant. What this means in reality is that any spaceship detected must destroy its navigational data revealing Earth and the Inner Colonies and, if capture is imminent, must self destruct the spaceship.
The plot centres on a group of survivors and some insurrectionists from the human-occupied planets surrounding the gas giant Hesiod and their precarious alliance and tenuous links with a group of Covenant Jackal pirates who have formed The Rubble. A group of Spartans, known as Grey team, stumble upon the Rubble while on a mission to destroy any navigational data found in deep space and they are also joined by a group of the Covenant Elites who are on a holy quest led by the ruthless Thel ‘Vadamee. This further complicates matters and to top it off we also have Lieutenant Jacob Keyes of the Office of Naval Intelligence, ONI, who is on assignment to ensure The Cole Protocol is being upheld on commercial vessels.
The story starts slowly but after the first fifty or so pages I began to get into it. It also takes a while for the Spartans to enter the fray, but once they do the chapters become shorter and hold the attention more. The story centres on the characters Keyes, Thel ‘Vadamee and Ignatio Delgado of The Rubble and this gives us a perspective from all angles of the action, although I felt the interaction of the Grey team could have been touched on more and certainly the concept of Spartan II. The narrative can occasionally get confusing as it shifts perspective around a lot, but not to the point of distraction. The writing is brisk and punchy and that is exactly what is needed in Military Sci-Fi. I enjoyed the character of younger Thel ‘Vadamee and learning more about the Elite and their politics, especially the fact that they cannot shed their own blood or else they must die. It is definitely a book for hard core Halo fans who are interested in learning more about the Halo universe and the Elites.
Whilst not as action packed as previous Halo books, it was an interesting concept for a story and I would recommend it as the place for a Halo newcomer to start. It is interesting to learn the history prior to the games and to understand more of Captain Jacob Keyes’ character, the Elites and of the desperation of the civilians of the Outer Colonies. This adds a little depth and shading to the Halo universe, and while the writing is not going to blow you away, it is pitched as it should be for this genre. It is nothing more than pure Military sci-fi fun without a hint of a love story and should be enjoyed in the same way as you would enjoy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. It will just about satisfy you but not fill you up. If you are not a fan of Halo, and I believe you probably need to be to fully enjoy this book, and you want to try Military Sci-Fi I would look at Robert A. Heinlein’s ‘Starship Troopers’ or Orson Scott Card’s excellent ‘Ender’s Game instead.
All in all, this is one of the better Halo books I've read. If you like any scifi novels based on video games then you should give this one a try. It's not huge battles or massive space fleets facing off, but it's also not a cookie cutter story. It will make you think a little.
The basic idea of HALO is the war set between the aliens of The Covenant and Humanity as defended by the UNSC or United Nations Space Command. The Cole Protocol is set in the early years of the Human – Covenant War although we are not told exactly when. The Cole Protocol has been set up by the UNSC to safeguard Earth and The Inner Colonies from detection by the Covenant. What this means in reality is that any spaceship detected must destroy its navigational data revealing Earth and the Inner Colonies and, if capture is imminent, must self destruct the spaceship.
The plot centres on a group of survivors and some insurrectionists from the human-occupied planets surrounding the gas giant Hesiod and their precarious alliance and tenuous links with a group of Covenant Jackal pirates who have formed The Rubble. A group of Spartans, known as Grey team, stumble upon the Rubble while on a mission to destroy any navigational data found in deep space and they are also joined by a group of the Covenant Elites who are on a holy quest led by the ruthless Thel ‘Vadamee. This further complicates matters and to top it off we also have Lieutenant Jacob Keyes of the Office of Naval Intelligence, ONI, who is on assignment to ensure The Cole Protocol is being upheld on commercial vessels.
The story starts slowly but after the first fifty or so pages I began to get into it. It also takes a while for the Spartans to enter the fray, but once they do the chapters become shorter and hold the attention more. The story centres on the characters Keyes, Thel ‘Vadamee and Ignatio Delgado of The Rubble and this gives us a perspective from all angles of the action, although I felt the interaction of the Grey team could have been touched on more and certainly the concept of Spartan II. The narrative can occasionally get confusing as it shifts perspective around a lot, but not to the point of distraction. The writing is brisk and punchy and that is exactly what is needed in Military Sci-Fi. I enjoyed the character of younger Thel ‘Vadamee and learning more about the Elite and their politics, especially the fact that they cannot shed their own blood or else they must die. It is definitely a book for hard core Halo fans who are interested in learning more about the Halo universe and the Elites.
Whilst not as action packed as previous Halo books, it was an interesting concept for a story and I would recommend it as the place for a Halo newcomer to start. It is interesting to learn the history prior to the games and to understand more of Captain Jacob Keyes’ character, the Elites and of the desperation of the civilians of the Outer Colonies. This adds a little depth and shading to the Halo universe, and while the writing is not going to blow you away, it is pitched as it should be for this genre. It is nothing more than pure Military sci-fi fun without a hint of a love story and should be enjoyed in the same way as you would enjoy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. It will just about satisfy you but not fill you up. If you are not a fan of Halo, and I believe you probably need to be to fully enjoy this book, and you want to try Military Sci-Fi I would look at Robert A. Heinlein’s ‘Starship Troopers’ or Orson Scott Card’s excellent ‘Ender’s Game instead.
All in all, this is one of the better Halo books I've read. If you like any scifi novels based on video games then you should give this one a try. It's not huge battles or massive space fleets facing off, but it's also not a cookie cutter story. It will make you think a little.
February 16, 2022
Preface: I’m doing the delightful task of listening to every single Halo audiobook because I want to
Of the first 6 books I’ve *experienced* (idk if I should say “read” or “listened to”), this one is weirdly the hardest one to rate. I guess let’s pretend I have it 3.5 stars instead of just 3.
I feel like Ingatio Delgado and Gray Team have a great storyline and are all excellent characters but the story of Keyes and the ODSTs kinda sucks?! All the best characters kinda die off early or just disappear and Keyes is sorta inconsistently portrayed.
The story of the Kig-Yar (Jackals) and The Rubble is neat and has some nice twists, I think overall it’s a strong storyline.
Thel ‘Vadamee is Thel ‘Vadam aka the Arbiter - it weirdly took me a while to figure that out.
I’m a big Arbiter fan from the games but in this book he’s kind of a bastard. But I think it’s supposed to show the culture of the Sangheili?? But like they become good guys in the video games by the end of Halo 2 which is hard to believe after what goes down in this book and the ones before it.
I mean I’m 6 books in now and the Sangheili are really kinda hard to defend at this point. They treat everyone like shit and only talk about whether someone is strong or weak. Talk about toxic masculinity 😡
Imagine my surprise when my actual new fav member of the covenant is the Unggoy. This book kinda treats the Unggoy like shit - which to be fair every halo book kinda does but they usually do it in a sympathetic way instead of just making them a mockery. It’s not the end of the world I just love the little guys.
I like the way this book explores the mindset of the Kig-Yar, however. Contact Harvest really blew me away by making the Jackals genuinely interesting characters and this book really builds on that. Reth is pretty well fleshed out for a relatively small role and the idea of the Kig-Yar working with Humanity is pretty neat.
All this to say that this book is fine. It hasn’t really stuck with me after reading it the way the other 5 books I’ve *experienced* did, although that could just be because I have listened to 6 Halo audiobooks in the past two or so weeks and they might be starting to blend together.
The next one is a collection of short stories so hopefully that will be a nice palette cleanser. On to #7, Halo: Evolutions!! I saw that Jen Taylor does some of the reading which is VERY exciting because I’m a big fan of hers and she KILLED IT reading the Sif storyline in Contact Harvest. Also apparently Steve Downes (John Halo himself) reads a chunk of it which will fun.
Of the first 6 books I’ve *experienced* (idk if I should say “read” or “listened to”), this one is weirdly the hardest one to rate. I guess let’s pretend I have it 3.5 stars instead of just 3.
I feel like Ingatio Delgado and Gray Team have a great storyline and are all excellent characters but the story of Keyes and the ODSTs kinda sucks?! All the best characters kinda die off early or just disappear and Keyes is sorta inconsistently portrayed.
The story of the Kig-Yar (Jackals) and The Rubble is neat and has some nice twists, I think overall it’s a strong storyline.
Thel ‘Vadamee is Thel ‘Vadam aka the Arbiter - it weirdly took me a while to figure that out.
I’m a big Arbiter fan from the games but in this book he’s kind of a bastard. But I think it’s supposed to show the culture of the Sangheili?? But like they become good guys in the video games by the end of Halo 2 which is hard to believe after what goes down in this book and the ones before it.
I mean I’m 6 books in now and the Sangheili are really kinda hard to defend at this point. They treat everyone like shit and only talk about whether someone is strong or weak. Talk about toxic masculinity 😡
Imagine my surprise when my actual new fav member of the covenant is the Unggoy. This book kinda treats the Unggoy like shit - which to be fair every halo book kinda does but they usually do it in a sympathetic way instead of just making them a mockery. It’s not the end of the world I just love the little guys.
I like the way this book explores the mindset of the Kig-Yar, however. Contact Harvest really blew me away by making the Jackals genuinely interesting characters and this book really builds on that. Reth is pretty well fleshed out for a relatively small role and the idea of the Kig-Yar working with Humanity is pretty neat.
All this to say that this book is fine. It hasn’t really stuck with me after reading it the way the other 5 books I’ve *experienced* did, although that could just be because I have listened to 6 Halo audiobooks in the past two or so weeks and they might be starting to blend together.
The next one is a collection of short stories so hopefully that will be a nice palette cleanser. On to #7, Halo: Evolutions!! I saw that Jen Taylor does some of the reading which is VERY exciting because I’m a big fan of hers and she KILLED IT reading the Sif storyline in Contact Harvest. Also apparently Steve Downes (John Halo himself) reads a chunk of it which will fun.
June 7, 2013
The real problem with the Halo universe is that so little of it was ever explored in the games. With the emphasis upon the Covenant War few background details were ever given focus. Everything from humanity’s origins, the reaction of the colonies to the UNSC, the UNSC’s policies to reasons for the SPARTAN project; all were rarely explored. While fans might have learned about them through secondary sources, they were rarely ever gone into in full. Even the few times they did look into them such as the previous Halo novels, they emphasised upon very specific events. Master Chief’s past, the Fall of Reach or even just the Battle of Halo itself. While they fleshed out the protagonist’s story they made the universe feel small. The Cole Protocol was one of the novels which to corrected this.
Set during the early years of the war with the Covenant, the UNSC is already visibly losing. With the outer colonies being glassed and the military haemorrhaging under a high attrition rate, humanity is forced to begin scorched earth tactics to try and protect the inner colonies. However, out in territory taken by the aliens the impossible has happened. A human insurrectionist settlement has encountered the Covenant and not only survived the encounter but begun trade with them. With news of this treaty reaching both sides in the war agents are deployed to discover the truth behind the matter…
The first thing worth praising the highest about this story is how it manages to juggle almost every element present in the current timeline. Everything from the SPARTAN project to plausible methods for AIs to avoid rampancy are introduced and examined. Minor sections on every side are devoted to this with flashbacks and minor intercuts in the story; yet it never interrupts the narrative flow or even feels overly cluttered. Mostly by connections to the characters.
Details of how failures and troublemakers were dealt with in the SPARTAN Project were introduced with the character Jai-006 thinking back to his past. The scenes there covering his background repeat often overlooked details about the project but also shed light upon the methods used to keep the children in line. A more prominent example is the UNSC’s constant clashes with smugglers, insurrectionists and the colonies which are being abandoned shown through the eyes of Jacob Keyes. Something which also adds a much needed shade of grey to the humans. Many events emphasise upon how the UNSC is far from being the clean cut “good guys” in this matter. It doesn’t bash you over the head with their actions, or scream that the UNSC is morally bankrupt and deserves destruction but does highlight its sins. They’re far less evil than the Covenant but aren’t without their own horror stories.
Speaking of the Covenant, the novel is also responsible for expanding upon the Sangheili (or Elites) mentality and society. For a race who consists entirely of one big a warrior caste and regard zealot as an honourable term, they’re as pious and bombastic as you can imagine. Coming across as some insane hybrid of the Ecclesiarchy and Doctor Who’s Sontarans, to who honour in battle and martial skill means almost everything. While this is taken to the extreme, it works for two specific reasons. The first is that they are written as a species who was shaped into an individual role by others. A race which was used as muscle by the San ‘Shyuum and never permitted to grow beyond feudalism, skipping stages of renaissance and technological development as a result of reliance upon others. Think what Mass Effect’s krogan became as a result of the Salarian’s intervention but to the Nth degree. The second is that it helps make them feel distinctly alien. While not as effective as the first person perspectives of Greg Bear’s Forerunner Saga, the Sangheili think in such an extreme it’s almost impossible to justify on any human level. Rather than just being the usual warrior species tropes like with Klingons, it’s ramped up to such an unfamiliar degree it’s just about believable on some level.
Still, with the good comes the bad. While the story might work due to all the different facets of the universe it explores, it is also spread thinner because of it. It might not break the story but the times when it does deviate and shift focus feel like they would be better suited to a much longer tale. One which could better afford such moments without disrupting the concentration of the plot and making better use of the characters. Speaking of which, the characters themselves are unfortunately forgettable. While most are passable the only ones which feel like they have true meaning are those established in the games and new additions feel like they are there purely to explore aspects of the universe. They don’t individually stand out so much as they do enhance certain details and often characteristics feel overly common or generic; made to better suit their role in the story.
Many characters and plots also end up being very quickly resolved part way through the book or are just dropped entirely. While these are admittedly secondary stories, largely character centric, and give the book some unpredictability their loss still feels pointless. As if some interesting ideas were introduced but then promptly discontinued before they could be fully explored in any significant way.
This also isn’t helped by Tobias Buckell’s writing style which is clearly better suited to ideas or more human touches than events or action scenes. While certain ones do work well as a result of energy and pace, such as one instance with Adriana and a Mongoose quad bike, others feel lacking in scope. Unable to fully convey desperation, continual action or the details and shape of the surroundings. The one major scene which truly worked with his style did because it was more focused upon escape and planning rather than violence or action.
Still, for all these problems The Cole Protocol is still an interesting look into the wider universe of Halo. If you’ve felt that the games were lacking in plot or the universe was simplistic, then definitely try looking at this one. It might surprise you.
Set during the early years of the war with the Covenant, the UNSC is already visibly losing. With the outer colonies being glassed and the military haemorrhaging under a high attrition rate, humanity is forced to begin scorched earth tactics to try and protect the inner colonies. However, out in territory taken by the aliens the impossible has happened. A human insurrectionist settlement has encountered the Covenant and not only survived the encounter but begun trade with them. With news of this treaty reaching both sides in the war agents are deployed to discover the truth behind the matter…
The first thing worth praising the highest about this story is how it manages to juggle almost every element present in the current timeline. Everything from the SPARTAN project to plausible methods for AIs to avoid rampancy are introduced and examined. Minor sections on every side are devoted to this with flashbacks and minor intercuts in the story; yet it never interrupts the narrative flow or even feels overly cluttered. Mostly by connections to the characters.
Details of how failures and troublemakers were dealt with in the SPARTAN Project were introduced with the character Jai-006 thinking back to his past. The scenes there covering his background repeat often overlooked details about the project but also shed light upon the methods used to keep the children in line. A more prominent example is the UNSC’s constant clashes with smugglers, insurrectionists and the colonies which are being abandoned shown through the eyes of Jacob Keyes. Something which also adds a much needed shade of grey to the humans. Many events emphasise upon how the UNSC is far from being the clean cut “good guys” in this matter. It doesn’t bash you over the head with their actions, or scream that the UNSC is morally bankrupt and deserves destruction but does highlight its sins. They’re far less evil than the Covenant but aren’t without their own horror stories.
Speaking of the Covenant, the novel is also responsible for expanding upon the Sangheili (or Elites) mentality and society. For a race who consists entirely of one big a warrior caste and regard zealot as an honourable term, they’re as pious and bombastic as you can imagine. Coming across as some insane hybrid of the Ecclesiarchy and Doctor Who’s Sontarans, to who honour in battle and martial skill means almost everything. While this is taken to the extreme, it works for two specific reasons. The first is that they are written as a species who was shaped into an individual role by others. A race which was used as muscle by the San ‘Shyuum and never permitted to grow beyond feudalism, skipping stages of renaissance and technological development as a result of reliance upon others. Think what Mass Effect’s krogan became as a result of the Salarian’s intervention but to the Nth degree. The second is that it helps make them feel distinctly alien. While not as effective as the first person perspectives of Greg Bear’s Forerunner Saga, the Sangheili think in such an extreme it’s almost impossible to justify on any human level. Rather than just being the usual warrior species tropes like with Klingons, it’s ramped up to such an unfamiliar degree it’s just about believable on some level.
Still, with the good comes the bad. While the story might work due to all the different facets of the universe it explores, it is also spread thinner because of it. It might not break the story but the times when it does deviate and shift focus feel like they would be better suited to a much longer tale. One which could better afford such moments without disrupting the concentration of the plot and making better use of the characters. Speaking of which, the characters themselves are unfortunately forgettable. While most are passable the only ones which feel like they have true meaning are those established in the games and new additions feel like they are there purely to explore aspects of the universe. They don’t individually stand out so much as they do enhance certain details and often characteristics feel overly common or generic; made to better suit their role in the story.
Many characters and plots also end up being very quickly resolved part way through the book or are just dropped entirely. While these are admittedly secondary stories, largely character centric, and give the book some unpredictability their loss still feels pointless. As if some interesting ideas were introduced but then promptly discontinued before they could be fully explored in any significant way.
This also isn’t helped by Tobias Buckell’s writing style which is clearly better suited to ideas or more human touches than events or action scenes. While certain ones do work well as a result of energy and pace, such as one instance with Adriana and a Mongoose quad bike, others feel lacking in scope. Unable to fully convey desperation, continual action or the details and shape of the surroundings. The one major scene which truly worked with his style did because it was more focused upon escape and planning rather than violence or action.
Still, for all these problems The Cole Protocol is still an interesting look into the wider universe of Halo. If you’ve felt that the games were lacking in plot or the universe was simplistic, then definitely try looking at this one. It might surprise you.
February 4, 2024
A nice paced book. The story is straightforward and prior knowledge to the Halo universe is not much needed.
The pacing of the book was alright although time skips of days in an else multichapter setting that spanned a couple of minutes can catch you off guard.
The Cole Protocol challenged the views of both the Covenant and as well as the Humans.
The almost deserting behavior of both was interesting as some of the actions performed were not regulated by either millitary power. It created a dynamic where, the Unggoy for example were free to breed although the covenant has breeding laws. They circumvent this in secrecy to make a army that can wreak havoc on the humans. A red book operation that few in the covenant knows about.
The operation shows flaws and strengths and challenges the covenant totalistic rule about how a army should be commanded.
The book was good and pacing with short chapters made it for a fast read through. I would recommend this book for people with basic knowledge of the universe.
The pacing of the book was alright although time skips of days in an else multichapter setting that spanned a couple of minutes can catch you off guard.
The Cole Protocol challenged the views of both the Covenant and as well as the Humans.
The almost deserting behavior of both was interesting as some of the actions performed were not regulated by either millitary power. It created a dynamic where, the Unggoy for example were free to breed although the covenant has breeding laws. They circumvent this in secrecy to make a army that can wreak havoc on the humans. A red book operation that few in the covenant knows about.
The operation shows flaws and strengths and challenges the covenant totalistic rule about how a army should be commanded.
The book was good and pacing with short chapters made it for a fast read through. I would recommend this book for people with basic knowledge of the universe.
August 31, 2024
Halo: The Cole Protocol follows Jacob Keyes and The Spartan Grey team who are far behind enemy lines in an asteroid belt around the planet of Hesiod. They must survive the Covenant soldiers as they glass the many planets around Hesiod. I loved this book as a Halo fan because I've played the games and have read into deeper lore. This book stays constant with most major Halo lore while still introducing more elements that are unique for this story. I love the use of the Grey team within this book and how they didn't feel forced in with the other major characters and story beats. The story works very well for having so many different moving parts within it. This is why I give Halo: The Cole Protocol a 5/5 and why I would recommend it to any Halo fans.
March 8, 2021
Why do I do this
January 11, 2022
A perfect show of the inserructionists in the Halo universe as well as developing thel vadam. Does perfect making you feel for the 5 different parties at play
February 24, 2024
Maybe just a bit too much crammed into one book. Covenant intrigue, Thel’s ascension to commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice (putting him on a direct course to glass Reach, fail to protect Alpha Halo, and become the Arbiter), and a character piece are all in one book, along with the introduction of some really intriguing locations and Spartans. Pair that with heaps of overly short chapters and you’ve got a book that should’ve been a lot more fun to read than it actually was.
April 24, 2021
A solid entry to the Halo series and an interesting look at a unique story early in the Covenant war. Ultimately, it doesn't reach top-tier status due to some poor writing and flat characters.
July 16, 2024
A slow burner but once it gets going it’s a good read. Showing conflict within both Humanity and the Covenant with differing political agendas causing conflict and tension in already desperate situations which may cause a crisis in belief.
March 8, 2022
Easily my favorite Halo book so far. You get new characters in the Spartan II's of Grey Team, and they are some of the coolest in my opinion.
You also see familiar faces of the franchise from earlier points in the Halo universes timelines such as Captain Keyes from Halo:CE when he was a Leiutenant in the earlier days of the Covenant War. We also see the Arbiter from Halo 2, Thel Vadamee, as a young Shipmaster that had just become a leader on his homeworld as well, and get into his head and the way he thinks in regards to combat, humans, the covenant itself, and even the Prophets, painting him in a whole new light that makes him even more impressive.
Definitely an amazing read, from cover to cover, and one I would recommend to those who have never read a Halo book before, but are looking to start.
You also see familiar faces of the franchise from earlier points in the Halo universes timelines such as Captain Keyes from Halo:CE when he was a Leiutenant in the earlier days of the Covenant War. We also see the Arbiter from Halo 2, Thel Vadamee, as a young Shipmaster that had just become a leader on his homeworld as well, and get into his head and the way he thinks in regards to combat, humans, the covenant itself, and even the Prophets, painting him in a whole new light that makes him even more impressive.
Definitely an amazing read, from cover to cover, and one I would recommend to those who have never read a Halo book before, but are looking to start.
February 14, 2020
Imagine you're living behind enemy lines, protecting a small data chip that is vital to get to Earth whilst an alien race wants it enough to attack you and your own domain wants it to trade to the aliens. Imagine you’re a military officer recently taken out of schooling and returned to the skies. Imagine you’re a recently promoted admiral and are assigned to find a human base. These all happen in the book Halo Cole Protocol.
For one thing, I really liked the Halo: Cole Protocol. Halo: Cole Protocol is the 6th book in the Halo series. It takes a bit after Halo: Contact Harvest and takes place in a place called the “Rubble”. The Rubble is a group of asteroids where refugees set up a base after their planet, Madrigal, was glassed [surface burnt to be inhospitable by the Covenant]. I enjoyed the details it presented and it was a good page turner. However, I didn’t like how the book set up chapters.
I enjoyed the details the novel gave. The details aided in describing how the Rubble looked. It also helped set up how Captain Keyes became a prominent officer and some of Thel ‘Vadam’s combat history [Thel being a main character in Halos 2, 3 and 5]. The details help the reader better understand what is going on in the Halo universe and aid in explaining some backstory for important characters to the Halo series. One example of the good details is from page 28: “Jefferies dropped out of his flight plan patter and came in low over a large park, the tops of trees whipping about in the fury of engine backwash. Birds scattered in their wake, rising to the sky in flocks of green and blue.”
I also enjoyed how the book was a page turner. In a few sections, such as chapter thirty, it gives the reader the perspective of another character in an unfortunate situation. When these situations are developed, it left me on a cliffhanger and I kept reading to figure out what happened next! It had many sections like this, which some may enjoy.
However, there was one thing I disliked about the book. The structuring of the chapters. There were many 3 paged chapters, and there were even a couple one paged chapters side by side! I disliked this because it flipped between characters extremely fast. I wish it had more time to develop the chapters and give more information instead of the one-paged chapters. This was the only negative aspect of the book in my opinion.
I really enjoyed reading this novel. It had good details and was a good page turner, but lacked chapter structure. If I could, I would rate this book 4.5 stars because of it having more positive aspects than negative aspects. I would recommend this book to Halo and science-fiction fans. I’d also recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Halo series’ background, Thel ‘Vadam, Captain Keyes.
For one thing, I really liked the Halo: Cole Protocol. Halo: Cole Protocol is the 6th book in the Halo series. It takes a bit after Halo: Contact Harvest and takes place in a place called the “Rubble”. The Rubble is a group of asteroids where refugees set up a base after their planet, Madrigal, was glassed [surface burnt to be inhospitable by the Covenant]. I enjoyed the details it presented and it was a good page turner. However, I didn’t like how the book set up chapters.
I enjoyed the details the novel gave. The details aided in describing how the Rubble looked. It also helped set up how Captain Keyes became a prominent officer and some of Thel ‘Vadam’s combat history [Thel being a main character in Halos 2, 3 and 5]. The details help the reader better understand what is going on in the Halo universe and aid in explaining some backstory for important characters to the Halo series. One example of the good details is from page 28: “Jefferies dropped out of his flight plan patter and came in low over a large park, the tops of trees whipping about in the fury of engine backwash. Birds scattered in their wake, rising to the sky in flocks of green and blue.”
I also enjoyed how the book was a page turner. In a few sections, such as chapter thirty, it gives the reader the perspective of another character in an unfortunate situation. When these situations are developed, it left me on a cliffhanger and I kept reading to figure out what happened next! It had many sections like this, which some may enjoy.
However, there was one thing I disliked about the book. The structuring of the chapters. There were many 3 paged chapters, and there were even a couple one paged chapters side by side! I disliked this because it flipped between characters extremely fast. I wish it had more time to develop the chapters and give more information instead of the one-paged chapters. This was the only negative aspect of the book in my opinion.
I really enjoyed reading this novel. It had good details and was a good page turner, but lacked chapter structure. If I could, I would rate this book 4.5 stars because of it having more positive aspects than negative aspects. I would recommend this book to Halo and science-fiction fans. I’d also recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Halo series’ background, Thel ‘Vadam, Captain Keyes.
August 26, 2022
I thought this was a fantastic book - very well written and with a lot of intrigue built in. I really liked that it had a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary plot, with interactions between the different factions in the Halo universe not always panning out as you would expect. I also enjoyed that there was a lack of plot armour for the main characters and that, just because they are the "good guys", doesn't mean that everything always has to go well for them.
If you're a Halo fan, I'd highly recommend this book to you!
If you're a Halo fan, I'd highly recommend this book to you!
Currently reading
September 29, 2016 Halo:The Cole Protocol
The name of the book I read is called Halo:The Cole Protocol, written by Tobias S. Buckell. This book has 358 pages and was published by Tom Doherty Associates. I decided to read this book because it is based off of a video game called Halo, plus I like science fiction. It was the New York Times bestselling series based on the XboxTM game.
The main characters for this book are called Jacob Keyes and Ignatio Delgado. Keyes is a officer in the UNSC navy and he's helping with a secret mission on a ship that nobody knows about except a few officers. Delgado is also in the UNSC but he was a soldier but started getting involved into political issues to help one of his old friends.
Zheng is the commanding officer for the secret ship that keyes is helping on. Spartan Adriana is a super soldier that has saved Delgado twice now and is also on a secret mission. Thel was a shipmaster for the covenant until he was betrayed and he and his ship were destroyed.
This book is a science fiction novel set in what the book calls the “outer colonies”, which is way out of our solar system. It is during the time of the 2600s and 2700s on a planet called Charybdis IX and a ship called The Midsummer Night. This book is full of action and suspense. The main characters are doing everything they can to protect the inner colonies and earth from the covenant. They succeeded with their mission for now..
My final thoughts on Halo:The Cole Protocol are that this book was a fun read and always kept me on the edge of my seat making me excited to read what will happen next. I liked this book because of the insane amount of action and suspense that keeps you wondering. In my opinion, the good points where the fact it was about something I know a lot about, its large amount of action, that it's a science fiction book, the suspense, and the choice of words and characters. I didn't like how it switched main characters every chapter, it's dry points do to pure drama, and the characters that the author killed off. I learned it's not all about following orders. It's about what you think is the right thing to do and how you choose to do it. I would definitely recommend this book to someone who likes action/suspense, Halo, or science fiction.
The name of the book I read is called Halo:The Cole Protocol, written by Tobias S. Buckell. This book has 358 pages and was published by Tom Doherty Associates. I decided to read this book because it is based off of a video game called Halo, plus I like science fiction. It was the New York Times bestselling series based on the XboxTM game.
The main characters for this book are called Jacob Keyes and Ignatio Delgado. Keyes is a officer in the UNSC navy and he's helping with a secret mission on a ship that nobody knows about except a few officers. Delgado is also in the UNSC but he was a soldier but started getting involved into political issues to help one of his old friends.
Zheng is the commanding officer for the secret ship that keyes is helping on. Spartan Adriana is a super soldier that has saved Delgado twice now and is also on a secret mission. Thel was a shipmaster for the covenant until he was betrayed and he and his ship were destroyed.
This book is a science fiction novel set in what the book calls the “outer colonies”, which is way out of our solar system. It is during the time of the 2600s and 2700s on a planet called Charybdis IX and a ship called The Midsummer Night. This book is full of action and suspense. The main characters are doing everything they can to protect the inner colonies and earth from the covenant. They succeeded with their mission for now..
My final thoughts on Halo:The Cole Protocol are that this book was a fun read and always kept me on the edge of my seat making me excited to read what will happen next. I liked this book because of the insane amount of action and suspense that keeps you wondering. In my opinion, the good points where the fact it was about something I know a lot about, its large amount of action, that it's a science fiction book, the suspense, and the choice of words and characters. I didn't like how it switched main characters every chapter, it's dry points do to pure drama, and the characters that the author killed off. I learned it's not all about following orders. It's about what you think is the right thing to do and how you choose to do it. I would definitely recommend this book to someone who likes action/suspense, Halo, or science fiction.
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