Halo (series)/Fanfic Recs

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Proof that the remaining 10% is worth dying for here.

These are recommendations made by Tropers for Halo fanfics, all of which have to be signed to stay on the page. Feel free to add a fanfic of your own to the list, but remember to use the template found here.

You can also add to the current recommendations if you want. Refrain from posting Conversation in the Main Page though; that goes in the discussion page. .

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Authors, and Websites

Reclaimer by Jim Stitzel (TTL Demag0gue) (AU)

• Recommended by Gaunt 88
• Synopsis: A Halo 3 screenshot-based graphic novel set in an alternate Halo universe in which Humanity made peace with the Covenant long before the Halo array was discovered, but are now losing a grueling war against the Flood. The comic follows the story of the Reclaimer, a Spartan-like super-soldier cut loose by the UNSC, as he tracks down a squad of rogue Spartans called Viper. However, it soon becomes apparent that Viper is just the pawn of a much more dangerous enemy, whose plans for the galaxy stretch back millennia.
• Comments: Reclaimer's immersive and plot-twisty story make it prime Wild Mass Guessing fuel. The comic's Big Bad, Ferial, is a Chessmaster of the highest level.

The Soulguard Trilogy (and side stories) by Soulguard

• Recommended by DKN117
• Synopsis: A trilogy of stories that cover the adventures of Palab, the Grunt Chosen One, and of the S-I Black Ops, as they fight to save the galaxy from the Covenant and the Flood, alongside a group of Sangheili Secret Service agents / apex warriors called the Mirratord. (MUCH better than my description; I simply can't do it justice). The first and second "books" - Stand, Five Feet High and If I Were Your Hero - were made before Halo 3 or Ghosts of Onyx came out, so there are some discrepancies [sic] that the author does a superb job of fixing with Book 3 - The Path of Reclamation. However, the releases of Contact Harvest & Cole Protocol have since revealed facts that place this trilogy into AU status (in particular, Soulguard's Elites have a friendlier society than the canon one).

General Fics

Stories focused on the family and the friendly relationships of the cast. Plot-focused stories or light day-in-the-life stories. Pretty much anything that isn't focused on romance.

Isolation by Quirel

• Recommended by Mercenary90,
• Synopsis: A sociopathic sniper based on the Pillar of Autumn struggles with his hate for the enemy and the ghosts of his past while fighting on Alpha Halo.

Finishing the Fight by Aratech

• Recommended by SAMAS
• Synopsis: From an altered Halo 3, The Master Chief, Cortana, Arbiter, Sgt Johnson and Captain Keyes end up riding the Forward Unto Dawn all the way to the Forgotten Realms, just before the Time of Troubles begins.

Combat Evolution by Havoc-legionnaire

• Recommended by SAMAS
• Synopsis: A detailed re-write of the battle of New Mombasa, with particular attention paid to equipment and tactics. Slight crossover with Dead or Alive, for an obvious reason.
• Comments:
  • Extremely detailed. Makes for nice technical reading, but the lack of actual technological innovation is startling.

Enemy of My Enemy by Katsuhiro

• Recommended by DKN117
• Synopsis: November 2552. On the strategically-unimportant UNSC-owned desert colony world of Crassus, an Elite-controlled ship, shot down by a Brute assault carrier, crash-lands near the ragtag city of Horizon. Now the surviving Elites, led by Shipmaster Vtan Arume, must forge an at-first-uneasy alliance with the humans there (well, uneasy on the humans' side; Arume and his subordinates have no problem with it). With both sides stranded with no way to get off the planet of to call from help from their respective factions, they must weather the storm as the Covenant Loyalists, led by Alpha-Chieftain Torikus, attempt to wipe them from existence.
• Comments: This is it; this fic is pure gold, rising into excellency above the many victims of Sturgeon's Law. The writing is solid, the story is gripping and suspenseful, the characters (even minor ones who die within five paragraphs of introduction) are well thought-out and develop nicely, and the battle scenes are described in epic detail. You can view its new page here.

Chains of the Kindred by Solvdrage

• Recommended by Angel_of_Death
• Synopsis: What if the Warhammer 40,000 Universe and the Halo Universe came together? What if the Imperium of Man allied itself with the UNSC? What if the Covenant began being utterly curbstomped by said alliance?
• Comments: This is a well written fanfic, using only canon info, and making sure that neither side gets too great a advantage. It also answers some questions like: Titan vs Scarab, or Flood vs 'Nids.

Kyle-091 by general MB

• Recommended by amitakartok, Medicus
• Synopsis: Kyle Stevens is just your average 17 year old kid and he's a major Halo fan. Well, what happens when he somehow ends up in the Halo universe, how will he react, how will he survive and will he risk altering history with the stuff he knows?
• Comments: while self-insertions are rarely good, this one rocks hard. Has an ongoing sequel and a smaller, M-rated "Eyes Only" section.

Je Mourrais by Kavek

• Recommended by Dommie222
• Synopsis: High Charity is Cortana's physical prison, but the prison of the mind can be far worse. What if you could never touch the one you loved? Would you... break? Rating subject to change.
• Comments: What can I say? Well, I can always say that this story is truly worth to read. This story focuses heavily on the relationship between Chief and Cortana and how they react to it, and it's very developed, specially how Cortana's rampage begins to take over and how it affect her and Chief. The OCs appears as well and develop too on the psychological levels, especially the Covenant one, which include a Brute Chieftain and his Grunt bodyguard. The titles on the chapters is on French and it helps the story to become more exciting each chapter, but the best part is that Jack Bauer appear as a SPARTAN-II turned a ONI agent, ready to find Chief and Cortana on the Ark and take them with him. Read it, it won't disappoint yo.
  • It now has a page

The Last Spartan by Dino Jake

• Recommended by Gamerex27
• Synopsis: An AU fic in which the Halo and ME universes share the same galaxy. After a well deserved rest in Cryo-Sleep, Master Chief finally awakens...to a whole new galaxy.
• Comments: This may very well be the only well-written Halo and Mass Effect crossover this Troper has ever read. Everyone is in character, the alien races of Halo do a very nice job of changing up many different events in the game (all for the better), and the few OC'S in it (which are not introduced until chapter 10) are very realistic and engaging characters.
  • Now has its own page

The Knife's Edge series by CaptainRaspberry (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

• Recommended by Gaunt88, Medicus
• Synopsis: The UNSC is battered and weak after the Human-Covenant war. Hungry for independence from Earth's government, an Insurrectionist faction called the Baszac took advantage of this weakness and captured the capital city of the colony world Barthes. Despite its reduced resources, the UNSC mounted a vicious counter-attack. Now only a small pocket of Baszac resistance remains, the two sides are locked in a bloody urban close-combat stalemate, and a harsh winter is approaching.
• Comments: Extremely well written and very engaging. Raises some interesting issues, like how a soldier who’s been fighting aliens all his career deals with having to shoot humans. I don't read a lot of fanfic, but this one made me stop and read the whole thing. The only criticism I have is that it felt too short - I thought it could have been expanded a bit without loosing steam.
  • Seconded. This really is a wonderful story; the only complaint I have is that it's far too short. It's possible read it all in under an hour. Fortunately, it's only one part of a loosely-connected series. It seems CaptainRaspberry may hold my attention longer than I thought. -- Medicus
• Status: Complete

Halo: A Sangheili's War by levihoff.

• Recommended by Dommie 222
• Synopsis:
• Comments: Interesting and a promising story. Its take place some months after Halo 3, there the Covenant Civil War is still ongoing. The Elites had pushed the Brutes back to their homeworld, which now is under siege, but their new chieftain ain't just gonna give up. The Arbiter must assassinate him first before the main attack, and I tell you, this story makes us all interested about how it'll end. Unfortunately, it's a short story, but yet an action filled one.
  • It now has its own page!

The End of a War by Mr. Clark

• Recommended by: Sephirose
• Synopsis: Truth has taken the Forerunner ship and is on his way to the Ark. Keyes and Johnson have stopped Installation 05 from firing, but the failsafes have been activated. Janissary James and the others on Earth are ready to take the fight to the Covenant.
• Comments: A brilliant masterpiece. That's all I can say about this fanfiction. It seamlessly combines the books, the games and the I Love Bees ARG, and expands on the histories of the Covenant and the Forerunners. If you want epic literature, look no further.

Zulu Company: The Last Stand by Raptor-19

• Recommended by: Gormanuyai
• Synopsis: Zeke, Samuel, Victoria, Blaine... Just a few of the Spartans III's from Zulu Company. They are the last hope for a earth after Master Chief went through the portal. They've trained for years, now it's time to see if they live up to the Spartan name.
• Comments: A action-filled story with quality writing and interesting characters. Set as a trilogy, which is part-way through the second installment: Hell On Earth. Writing has currently slowed.

New Mombasa: The Soldier's War

• Recommended by: Mutatio Nomenis
• Synopsis: I am Private Icharus of the UNSC Army. I must find my commander and retrieve important defensive data regarding humanity's last line of defense, assuming I survive.
• Comments:

Halo: the Art of War by Havoc-legionnaire (AU) (Tropes page)

• Recommended by Gentlemens Dame 883
• Synopsis: The probe attached to the Iroquois failed, setting back the battle for Reach. Now the SPARTAN-IIs, aided by two more SPARTAN teams and the Autumn, set out to conduct Operation Red Flag: Capture a Prophet.
• Comments: The author has definitely improved since his previous work, with more character development time and less dry technical stuff.

Institution by CaptainRaspberry

• Recommended by Kebab
• Synopsis: An account of the life of a Sangheilli warrior, from his rite of passage through his transition to training at the titular Institution, to the war against the humans and beyond. Expands greatly on Elite and Covenant culture, society and customs.

The Price of Unity by Lord Caelum

• Recommended by Caelum
• Synopsis: A logical analysis on a Halo-SW crossover. Technically a multi-crossover, since the bioshock verse is also included in this. Includes technical data on the applications of Forerunner tech on the UNSC war effort, what had happened to the post-covenant species, and others.
• Comments: Yes, I am recommending myself. Yes, I am ashamed. Note that most characters are OC, since nearly all the characters from the original are dead or missing, this was a necessity. Also, ONI are assholes in this fic, so don't read this if you're expecting a 'heartwarming' story. Lastly, since this is my first story, there may be typographical errors and nonsensical paragraphs, and the nature of the fic requires a heavy halo focus on the beginning. An actual SW point of view wouldn't occur until Chapter 11.

Wake Me, When You Need Me by The Meep

• Recommended by Stretch
• Synopsis: Cortana wakes up a final time, and finding the loneliness unbearable, seeks her one true companion.
• Comments: "Right away I started unconsciously comparing it to Human Weakness, and you got the Chief/Cortana relationship where Traviss never did." - kr1, a user on the site this was posted.

Scrambler by QuestionMark2401 (a.k.a. The Meep)

• Recommended by Stretch
• Synopsis: In Mexico City on the besieged Earth, Corporal Reynolds finds himself protecting an odd metallic cube under the direction of an ONI officer. With only his Mongoose ATV to protect him, Reynolds may hold the fate of Earth's largest city in his hands...
• Comments: Fast and action packed. What it lacks in character development it makes up with visceral descriptions and well structured writing. It might start off a little slow, but don't let that dissuade anyone. Overall, it explores an interesting niche in the global conflict as the Covenant attack Earth.

From Harvest to the Ark by TheAmateur

• Recommended by: Karl591
• Synopsis: Follows the life of one Albert 'Alley' Garris from when he joins the Harvest Militia to the end of the war.

When There Was a Tomorrow by General Rage

• Recommended by Crow T R0bot
• Synopsis: While investigating a wormhole in deep space after the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, Commander Shepard and his jolly Normandy crew come under attack by the Covenant and eventually escape through said wormhole and are escorted to Reach just in time for the events of Halo: Reach. While trying to assuage a xenophobic Alternate Universe humanity of his loyalties, the good Commander aids Noble Team in Reach's defense, and learns a great deal of this new galaxy...while trying to save it.
• Pairings: Male!Shepard/Tali.
  • Now has its own page.

In the Shadow of Gods by Anne Whyne

• Recommended by Sulimeth
• Synopsis: A Mass Effect/Halo crossover, this takes place not long after Abigail Shepard and her team have destroyed the Collector Base. They come across the remains of a giant of a ship, "like a whale against the Normandy's dolphin" to use the author's comparison, that doesn't match any known models. Shepard decides to investigate it, and they find the bisected ship's only two inhabitants, an A.I. and a soldier both far from home. And with the looming threat of the Reapers, Shepard's going to need all the help she can get.
• Comments: One of the better crossovers of its kind, and a great fanfic all around. Shepard here is Paragon, with dashes of Renegade to keep things interesting. Also doesn't speed up the trust issue between John and the rest of the team, especially after Cortana tries to hack EDI. Great characterizations all around, the fights are well done, and overall a great story!

"TheLife" by "casquis"

• Recommended by Absolute Zordness
• Synopsis: The story follows the life and exploits of one Francisco Castillo, a member of the 19th Battalion of the ODST. Frank makes friends and enemies while he does his best to survive, he also gets a little bit of help from different sides.
• Comments: The Life is a great story, it has lots of action and pretty good character interactions. Admittedly it started with shorter chapters with occasional grammar and spelling mistakes, but that is owed in part to the author's first language being Spanish. The story has gotten better and better with time in both plot, writing, and characterization. The Life has excellent character development and the writer is very knowledgeable on the subject. Despite being an action-heavy series, it still has plenty of comic relief chapters and humor of all types. Don't let the awkward first few chapters discourage you, this story's worth it.

Halo: A Fistful of Arrows

• Recommended by Tuckerscreator
• Synopsis: A Fan Web Comic following the story of Jun-A266 and Dr. Halsey as they travel to CASTLE Base to escape the Covenant during the Fall of Reach. Okay, that's just the direct plot, but it also delves into Jun's past and the beginning of his trust issues that afflict him as a sniper. It's got some utterly beautiful artwork to top that off, and sticks very close to the canon and calls back to it many times more than even canon works. It's perhaps the most requested Halo fic yet to be promoted to Ascended Fanon. Can be read at the above website or here on Deviant ART. And it even has its own page here!

Halo 3 Insurrection by Wolverfrog49

• Recommended by Ownedace13
• Synopsis: takes place after the end of Halo 3 and the Humans and Elites are once again at war because the Humans couldn't get over what the Elites had done during the last war, then the MC crashes on Sanghelios, and Mendicant Bias saves Johnson and then it just gets more awesome from there
• Comments: I love this fic, it starts out a little slow but it quickly ramps up and IMO the writing is fantastic, sadly ruled non-canon by the forerunner trilogy and Halo 4

Shipping Fics

Stories focused on the romantic relationships between the cast.

Memories by Trivun

• Recommended by Crispy Mongoose
• Synopsis: Starting with the immediate aftermath of Ghosts of Onyx (published canon work) the story focuses on Tom and Lucy, two SPARTAN-IIIs who find themselves the unlikely leaders of the group trapped in the Onyx Dyson Sphere. In an attempt to help Lucy deal with her trauma-induced muteness, Tom recalls a past operation on the long since glassed world of Meridian, only for Doctor Halsey to realise that there was more to the operation than meets the eye. Going back to Meridian's destruction and Operation SOOTHSAYER, we see just how far the Forerunner's knowledge of humanity went, and the first combat-enabled smart AI finds herself in a situation more desperate than either she or Halsey could have ever foretold...
• Pairings: Het, Tom/Lucy. Truth be told it's more of a friendship thing, though there are some serious hints that their relationship could be considered more of a romantic one...
• Comments: Not the best written piece, but still pretty damn decent compared to most stuff on the same topic. Sturgeon's Law, eh? A decent story with plenty of knowledge of the canon, in fact it seems almost as if the writer is trying pretty hard to keep as close to the canon as possible, and the result is a fan fic that is probably worth your time. Just need to watch out for the occasionally uninspired and awkward prose, and the writer doesn't seem to be able to write combat quite as well as he writes the buildup and the underlying conspiracy type subplot.