Audiobook Club: New Blood
As part of our audiobook giveaway series with Simon & Schuster, we’re inviting Halo fans to join a community book club in our official Discord server, where we’ll focus on a new novel from the Halo canon each month. Join the #audio-book-club channel to listen along!
This month’s book club title is Halo: New Blood, a tale that covers the lengthy service record of ODST-turned-Spartan Edward Buck as he recounts some of the most important moments in his life. Join Buck, Veronica Dare, and the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of squad Alpha-Nine as a conflict with the United Rebel Front pushes their friendships to the breaking point.
Halo: New Blood is written by Matt Forbeck, a New York Times bestselling author and game designer. The audiobook edition is narrated by acclaimed actor and writer Scott Brick.
PLOT PREVIEW
Spartan Edward Buck recounts his extensive military career, starting in the latter years of the Covenant War and detailing the fraught political tensions that followed as Buck’s homeworld, Draco III, comes under attack by a human rebel group.
Along the way, Buck tells the story of his troubled romance with Veronica Dare, explores his journey to the SPARTAN-IV program, and relays the tragic events that led to the dissolution of the Alpha-Nine ODST squad.
CHARACTER GUIDE
Learn more about the events of Halo: New Blood with these brief character bios.
Edward “Eddy” Buck
Former UNSC marine, erstwhile ODST gunnery sergeant, and reluctant SPARTAN-IV.
Buck hails from Draco III, a human colony devastated by Covenant invasion shortly after the attack on Harvest. Upon learning of his family’s massacre and the destruction of the tight-knit, maritime community he'd known in Karnak, Buck enlisted in the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, where he soon became the leader of Alpha-Nine squad.
He is later inducted into the SPARTAN-IV program by Jun-A266 after suffering a loss.
Veronica Dare
As an agent of the Office of Naval Intelligence, the strictly “need-to-know” basis of Veronica Dare’s work has put understandable strain on her romance with Eddy Buck. Dare acts as ONI’s mission liaison during the events on Talitsa, tasking the Spartans in Buck’s command to save Vergil and Sadie from their Insurrectionist captors.
Halo: New Blood recounts their troubled first meeting on a furlough near Saturn, their fiery reunion during the Battle of New Mombasa, and a series of uncertain rendezvous as they try to maintain a relationship within the confines of their separate military careers.
Sarah Palmer
Long before she signed up for the SPARTAN-IV program, Sarah Palmer served as an ODST, distinguishing herself as a ruthless frontlines combatant. She first met Buck during a failed mission to defend a UNSC munitions factory from the Covenant. When her position was overrun, Buck disobeyed Dare’s orders to mount a foolhardy rescue—but the rest of Palmer’s squad had already been eliminated.
Their fateful second meeting occurs on Draco III years later, after Palmer had become a Spartan-IV.
Jun-A266
A Spartan-III of Alpha Company and the only member of Noble Team to survive the fall of Reach. In the aftermath of the Covenant War, Jun served as an advisor and recruiter for the burgeoning SPARTAN-IV program, an initiative that used revolutionary technological advancements to turn adult volunteers into super-soldiers.
Kojo Agu ("Romeo")
Ace sniper, former ODST, and current Spartan-IV. After suffering critical wounds during the Battle of New Mombasa, Buck worked tirelessly to save Romeo’s life, thereby earning his unwavering loyalty, even in the face of a changing wartime political landscape.
Jonathan Doherty ("The Rookie")
The youngest member of Alpha-Nine and the nameless protagonist of Halo 3: ODST. Though relatively inexperienced, the Rookie proved himself during the Covenant occupation of New Mombasa and became a highly valued member of Alpha-Nine in the years to come. On Draco III, he takes part in a mission that forever alters the trajectory of the squad’s lives and careers.
Taylor Miles ("Dutch")
A hardened ODST and a God-fearing man, despite all his time in hell. After witnessing the glassing of Earth firsthand, Dutch grew beleaguered by war against human separatists. The ONI-led operation on Draco III ultimately tests his resolve more than any other mission.
Michael Crespo ("Mickey")
Demolitions expert and former ODST. As the UNSC turns its attention to insurrectionists in the wake of the Covenant War’s end, Mickey joins the SPARTAN-IV program seeking a more noble appointment. Soon the reignited flames of civil war and a traumatic event lead him to question his personal loyalties.
Quick to Adjust ("Vergil")
A Huragok who defected from the Covenant. Known to humanity as “Vergil” (after the Superintendent AI whose data he assimilated in New Mombasa), he is best known for providing valuable intel on the Covenant’s quarry during the Battle of Earth.
Sadie Endesha
Vergil’s companion and assigned handler. As a child, her father programmed the “Vergil” subroutine of New Mombasa’s Superintendent AI to watch over her. Sadie later helped rescue the Huragok Quick to Adjust, who inherited the absorbed AI’s affinity for Sadie, leading them to become inseparable.
GAME CONNECTIONS
Halo: New Blood connects several plot threads from the Halo universe.
Told in the style of a memoir, Buck’s recollections form a time-hopping narrative that bridges the gap between Halo 3 and Halo 4, in the years when the Master Chief had been declared MIA (still adrift on the wreckage of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn), and explores the troubled “peace” that followed the end of the Human-Covenant War.
Buck revisits Alpha-Nine’s pivotal rescue of Vergil, as experienced in Halo 3: ODST, and outlines the personal tragedies that culminated in his desire to move away from leadership and reassignment to Fireteam Osiris (a story that continues in Halo 5: Guardians).
Along the way, we are reunited with Jun-A266, the last surviving member of Noble Team (the tragic Spartan heroes of Halo: Reach), who now recruits candidates for the SPARTAN-IV program. We also encounter Sarah Palmer in her early years as an ODST, well before she attains the rank of Spartan Commander aboard the UNSC Infinity in Halo 4.
To learn more about the Halo novels, visit our Official Halo Book Guide.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matt Forbeck is a New York Times bestselling author with over thirty-five novels and the designer of countless published games. His projects have won a Peabody Award, a Scribe Award, and numerous ENNIE and Origins Awards. He is also the president of the Diana Jones Award Foundation, which celebrates excellence in gaming.
Matt continues Buck’s story in Halo: Bad Blood.
ABOUT THE READER
Actor, writer, and award-winning audiobook narrator Scott Brick has narrated almost 900 audiobooks, including over a dozen Halo-universe titles. To date, his narrations have earned him over 65 Earphones Awards, five Audie Awards, five SOVAS Awards for voiceover, and a Grammy nomination for the multi-cast recording of The Mark of Zorro (2011). Scott reads Halo: New Blood and its sequel, Halo: Bad Blood.
AUDIOBOOK GIVEAWAY
Enter to win an audiobook copy of a new book-club title each month now through October! To participate, react to the Halo: New Blood post in the #giveaways channel of the official Halo Discord server before August 8.
Stay tuned to @Halo on X later this month for more ways to win! See full contest rules and entry directions.
JOIN THE BOOK CLUB
Listen to a new Halo title every month in our Discord book club! To participate, simply join the #audio-book-club channel of the official Halo Discord server, where we’ll select a new title from the Halo universe to discuss each month now through October.
Share your favorite moments and engage in discussion topics for a chance to find your words featured in an upcoming Halo Waypoint post! At the end of the month, we’ll host a special Spartan Chatter episode on Discord to discuss the audiobook and answer questions from the Halo community.