Halo Gear

Whether it's bringing you new books or the next Halo Legendary Crate, the same team that's working to help bring you Halo: Outpost Discovery has not slowed down on their other tasks. Let's take a look at what they've been up to, shall we?

Halo: Renegades

This past Tuesday we launched our latest novel, Halo: Renegades, which continues right where Rion Forge's storyline left off in Halo: Smoke & Shadow. The reviews I've seen from hardcore community members point to this being one of the best Halo books we've ever released. Grim also says that it's one of his favorites, so I'll definitely be picking up a copy for myself. Oh no, I mentioned Grim. That means...

Thanks Uny! We are indeed incredibly excited about the release of Halo: Renegades, the latest novel to help expand our favorite universe. I’m sure it’s gonna seem a bit biased coming from yours truly, but Kelly Gay has knocked this out of the park, and we can’t wait for more and more fans to get their hands on one of my personal favorite stories. To help get you hyped up, our community pal haruspis interviewed the lore-loving Renegades author about her experience penning this story and playing in the Halo universe. Here’s a quick taste of their conversation:

H: What’s the story with how you got into Halo? What really drew you into the series?

KG: My editor at Simon & Schuster (who also helms the Halo novels), brought me onboard when pulling authors together for Fractures. We worked together previously on my Charlie Madigan urban fantasy series and from that relationship he knew I was into gaming and sci-fi.

Summer of 2014 or 2015 (terrible memory), I get a call asking if I wanted to write a Halo short story. Being familiar with the franchise and the massive scope of the universe made it a huge draw as there was so much potential in terms of storytelling.

H: Let’s do a bit of a recap on Halo: Smoke and Shadow. What was that story about, and what other stories does it connect to?

KG: It’s about Rion and crew’s discovery of a salvage wreck, which leads them to new clues on where the Spirit of Fire might have gone. This discovery sends them to a Forerunner debris field, and puts them in direct conflict with Gek ‘Lhar. And that conflict does not end well for the crew.

The big connection, of course, is to the storyline of Halo Wars, and then some loose connections to the existing Gek ‘Lhar storyline at the time, and some of the characters have personal connections to other stories like the terrorist attack on Sedra, and Kilo-5.

H: Smoke and Shadow did a lot in just under 100 pages, whereas Renegades is three times as long. That must’ve been quite a playground for you! Can you give us any little teasers at some of the connections that Renegades might make across the series?

KG: Yes, it was! The scope of the story is huge. It covers a lot of ground and a lot of light years.

A challenge, but a whole lot of fun too.

Hmm. Teasers… well there are lots of goodies, salvagers, new ships, new settings, new technology, ONI, a one-eyed Sangheili, and the appearance of a team of Spartan-IVs who’ve been mentioned in media before, but never named or described until now.

Alright, that’s all you get for now – but trust me, there’s a whole lot more where that came from. Definitely go and check out the full interview for yourself! And for the more video-inclined, venerable story stalwart Toa Freak also put up a spoiler-free review of the book on his Halo Canon YouTube channel. Give it a watch!

Also, speaking of new lore, yesterday on the 343 Social Stream we teased that we’ve got a new Canon Fodder(!) slated for release next week, so keep your eyes peeled for that soon. Looking forward to chatting more, but for now, back to U!

<3 Grim

To get your own copy of Halo: Renegades, swing by your local bookstores or order online today!

Halo Legendary Crate

Emile-A239 is finally receiving his very own Halo Legendary Crate, and get this, the theme is Renegade. I can't believe the Halo Gear team was able to coordinate that naming and release timing so well. Regardless of whether or not that was a coincidence (or the best planning of all time), you can order yours today at loot.cr/halo!

We've been been waiting for this crate for a while now. How 'bout you?

Halo: Outpost Discovery - Discovery Dispatch

We've kicked off a new series of updates that will discuss the development of Halo: Outpost Discovery. Our first post in this series dives into how Outpost Discovery is both a canonical element of the Halo universe as well as the in-person attraction we announced earlier this month. It gives you a little more information on two Spartans, Owen and Hazel, that you'll get to know when you visit one of the locations this summer. Give it a read right here on Waypoint!