Ok quickie before bed ;-)
What books should I read in preparation? The last halo book I read was the ghosts of onyx.
The Forerunner Trilogy by Greg Bear
Kilo-Five Trilogy by Karen Traviss (though is a hit-or-miss, I personally liked them as flawed as they were.)
New Blood (Shows Buck post-Halo 3) digital novel which you can get for cheap on Amazon.
Hunters in the Dark (releases next week) which we see the return of the Ark post Halo 3 and introduction of the red Spartan on Locke's team.
I would also try and get caught up with the Halo comic: Escalation. Since similar to Hunt the Truth, it's one of the more 'up to date' lore happenings.
If you don't want to read them though, the comics that is. You could check out the Halo canon channel on youtube. I haven't watched all of his Escalation videos but he's pretty good at giving a clear overview.
I do wonder at what point in the story will Chief and blue team get Mark VII armor, Naomi is the only Spartan 2 equipped with with it ATM so it only makes sense that they'd get it as well.
Unless they find Halsey and she creates new armor for them but who knows lol
Huh? Mark VII was the first of the [GEN 2] armor, which I believe is now just under the umbrella of [GEN 2] rather than Mark VII and is the standard issue armor that all Spartans use as of 2558.