If you're a fan of the The Elder Scrolls-series, I recommend the two Greg Keyes novels.
There's a lot of lore, so they're definitely not for everyone, and the whole "Kitchen Wars"-part (yeah, seriously) isn't all that interesting, but they do a great job of painting the situation in Tamriel 40 years after Oblivion. There's also some interesting views at the Planes of Oblivion and the nature of Oblivion itself.
I'm still waiting for Amazon to deliver my copy of the second book. Slow bastards.
And, as mentioned above, Halo's Forerunner saga is awesome.
Orcastar said:
Greg Bear writes Halo books nowadays? Holy crap.
Haven't read any books based on video games myself. I know it's ridiculous and snobbish, but I kinda feel like I'd be wasting my time with them when I could be reading "real" novels instead.
If you're into sci-fi, you should definitely give these a read. It's a series even non-Halo sci-fi fans will enjoy. The first one reminded me a lot of the Ringworld series: can't wait to see how Primordium delivers.
Tor.com has a
preview chapter online for the first novel, so does
Halo Waypoint.
And for the Halo fans who want a bit more, definitely give "The Fall of Reach", "Ghosts of Onyx", "Contact Harvest", "The Cole Protocol" and "Evolutions" a read. The events in "The Fall of Reach" are in a bit of a dubious state right now, though, as Halo: Reach apparently retconned a lot of it. 343's trying to resolve part of the issue with the upcoming "Glasslands", though, of which you can read
a few preview chapters online.
There's also "The Flood" and "First Strike", but those are a bit "meh" in my opinion. "The Flood" is a literal retelling of the game (with some interesting parts added in). "First Strike" serves as a bridge between Halo and Halo 2, but does it by dangling a lot of potential plot points in front of your nose, only to have none of them materialize in later materials. You're not missing much by skipping these two.
.
