Contradiction

I think it is absolutely fine. Books are entirely different medium to video games and sometimes events don't translate well to screens etc. also artistic ness means the guys du wat dey want

 

You aren't familiar with the term "loremaster" are you?

Like there is a lead artist who makes sure everything everybody makes conforms to a certain style, a loremaster is a head writer in a canon whose job is to keep track of all the elements, themes, occurrences and style of storytelling, and when they face certain problems such as explaining how AA's are in Reach, it is their job to search the lore for explanations, i.e. it had been mentioned Reach had experimental technology and is a military epicenter.

They aren't really as much as contradictions as they are flimsy reasons, but as the post mentioned above me, a lot of things can't be translated from one artistic medium to another. It's the loremaster's job to make sure that they match up, even in different mediums.

 

There are a few differences between the novels and the games, but Im not going to mention them here, because I'd prefer if you went out and got the novels, read them, and enjoyed them. Even though there are things that dont match up between the two mediums, the novels are still very enjoyable reads and I highly recommend them to any person that considers themselves a Halo fan.

Just a tidbit though, in my opinion, Eric Nylund's novels are the best written out of all of them. I have only read 'The Fall of Reach', 'The Flood', 'First Strike', 'Contact Harvest', 'The Cole Protocol' and 'Ghosts of Onyx', but I found the ones written by Nylund to be the most enjoyable. 'Contact Harvest' and 'The Cole Protocol' closely follow.

 

Reach doesent follow the book, fall of reach. BUT

that is not to say it isn't cannon.

Halo: Reach follows the story of noble team
Halo: Fall of Reach follows the story of master chief training with red team.

The idea that reach falls remains the same. Evac ships are the only difference.

 

I don't really read the books but I would much rather play the game no matter how it differs from the book.

 

There are many canon errors and canon breaks.

Spoiler

One of the most important ones is that HR says that Reach was invaded on July 24th and the invasion lasted nearly a month. First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx, and Fall of Reach state that Reach fell in one day on August 30th.

Also, If you're getting Fall of Reach, I recommend that you get some of the others too, like First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx and EVolutions.

 

Almost every franchise has some canon that doesn't match up. Star wars, obi wan tells luke he was trained by yoda.... yet it was qui gon jinn that was training him. In two of the x men movies, professor X is seen walking in his 50s-60s, when in the new movie it shows him being paralyzed when he was barely 20something. If you delve into comics or books it happens more often, there is always something that doesn't quite match up. its just too much to keep track of, even for a Loremaster.

 

The first three, Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike are in order, and basically go before Halo CE, during Halo CE, then after Halo CE. The Flood is alright, but the parts where the author is trying to describe what happened in the game kinda fall flat; there is an accompanying side-story that is better than the "main" story. Fall of Reach and First Strike are excellent books, though. Ghosts of Onyx, Contact Harvest, and The Cole Protocol were published in 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively, but they dont have a set order, really, and can be read any way you like.

I think there is only Halo Evolutions that I haven't read, as well as the graphic novel of Fall of Reach. But I also think there is another set of novels being written currently, so Ive been keeping my ear to the ground for those ones.

So, to summarise, read the first three, then either of the last three whichever way you like.

 

Personally, I love when a franchise crosses all mediums of entertainment and threads one single, but giant, story together.

I've read all the halo novels except for Cole Protocol and Cryptom. I enjoyed the books. they definitely tell the story of the halo universe way better than the games have.

I ignore the lame retcons and create my own story

 

Well, I didn't even know there was a novel called Cryptum, Ill have to look into buying that one. I also found out theres a novel called Helljumper, and Evolutions Volume II. Interesting what you can find on Amazon if you just look. :\