Welcome back to the paper trail, and in this installment we are going to look at something a tad fanboyish. Halo Encyclopedia is a over sized book on everything in the Halo universe, if one would not assume otherwise. This is going to appeal to many people who are fans of the series, however in a unique twist I am not a big fan of Halo, this series had game play that simply didn't appeal to me and I can not consider myself a fan, therefore this review is going to come from an unbiased opinion as one could get.
So the book is going to talk about the Halo universe, and it will go into detail about it. However many books like this often cater towards what we call "Gandalf Girthers." Originating in the Lord of the Ring series and has collectively carried over to any other sorts of fan base, the process of justifying various details using logic and facts presented in the works that may or may not be vital to the plot.
For example if you ever attempted to figure out how fast a speeder bike was on Endor by attempting to calculate the speed it would take to crack the average stormtrooper's helmet; have postulated the terminal velocity of a "little pony" as Rarity falls towards the Earth to determine how high cloudsdale was above the surface; or have ever attempted to calculate who would win in a race around the world between Superman and the Flash, then you have practiced the art of Gandalf Girthing.
Now the good news is that this book does not cater itself solely to these fans, there is information that one would need to answer various questions in the Halo universe, however the bulk of this book is told in a sudo-narritive as a historical tome that would be used as a reference for the UNMC historians. It goes into great detail into the story line describing various quotes from the game, what each mission was in the campaign and how it relates to the overall war, and separates itself between the various games without outright telling which vehicle came from which game.
Now you might be asking yourself that this is all fine and dandy, a look on halopedia can get me any bit of information that I would need to have on the series so what is the real motivation on me getting this book to place on my coffee table? Well the answer to that is simple, the artwork displayed is absolutely amazing.
I am serious you would think they would go with the graphics of the various games for the majority of the book, however I can say you have a mix of sketch work, full color paintings, computer graphics, and original art. For the vast majority of the time with this title I kept being bewildered at the various art in the background looking for the attention to detail the artist took to recreate the graphics of the game with various moods they were trying to emulate.
This book has all the information fans would like and brings enough to the table that a non fans can grab towards. Not a must own in my book, but worth seeking out to at least look at the amazing artwork and get a solid history of the Halo campaign without have any of the 4th wall being broken as you go and read it. Until next time finish the fight or at least that chapter in the next book.
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