I daresay I'm not going to be the only person on this forum who hasn't read the Halo books...can people tell me why I should or shouldn't read them?

1 because they are pretty good and 2 because they give a HUUUUUGGGGEEEE amount of background information on the halo series.

Haha, but you guys have pretty much already told me what I need to know.

yeah we only say some stuff. there's still a whole lot more to all the stuff

I suppose there is the chance it could be incorrect...I mean, guys over at the Maw are constantly arguing about details, and I'm here like...WTF?

Also, are there any faults to the books?

who knows

Well, someone out there will. There is always criticism for stuff.

lol well we get our info from the books and they get it either from their minds or bungie.

Something I continuouously forget, so I'll get it answered here (so it won't disappear)...are the books based on the games or is it the other way around?

The books are based on the game.

well at least they revolve around the game. but they are far more detailed and well theres more of them.

So which book is based on which game? Or is it kind of like a..."Yeah, we have a storyline, we'll start and finish each book in a random place?"

Well Fall of Reach ends just before Halo:CE starts. Just as they find the ring... So I think the next one would be about Halo:CE, the one after that based on Halo 2 etc.

Fall of Reach is from the start of the Spartan-II project (the MC's start basically), The Flood is during Halo CE, First Strike is after Halo CE but before the start of Halo 2. Ghosts of Onyx is at the same time as all three of those books i believe and Contact Harvest is the Start of the Human Covenant War which started sometime during the First book.

So...they're all over the place? It's not so much a chronological series as a series focusing on different aspects of the books?

yeah, Fall of Reach, The Flood and First Strike all have an order (the order which i said them) and then the other two do their own thing sort of.

i think that the books would be a good idea to read.
they cleared up some stuff for me.
because i was confused and i also wanted to know more about how everything came to be and what not.
so i went and read them.
well the first two.
but i am almost done with the thrid one,[first strike] and it all helped me.
well the first book did.
that helped the most.

I've read the Fall of Reach and First Strike and they really do give a lot of information. Although whoever came up with the story-line really seem to like killing the characters off...

lol all throughout Halo characters are killed off. Have you ever tried to count how many things you kill in the games lol.