glyphs intercepted by the Covenant at Sigma Octanus; the course takes them to a massive ringworld known as Halo, setting the stage for the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. Reception Critical reaction to the book was positive, particularly regarding the depth the book added to the Halo universe. Reviewer Eric Qualls commented that "[it was] interesting to read and give[s] you a much greater understanding" of the universe. Qualls made a positive comparison to Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers regarding the manner of story telling. GameCritics' Brad Gallaway also praised the back-story the book adds and the quality of the story. Fellow reviewer Gene Park noted the descriptions in the book went beyond what was presented in the game, calling them "vibrant and rousing." He also complimented the characters presented in the novel, saying they all "fit nicely into the Halo universe" but some times there were too many characters to remember. Sal Accardo of 3D Action Planet said of the book: "it isn’t going to win any Pulitzers anytime soon. It’s well written, and a solid page-turner, but it’s still basically an action movie presented in book form" but praised the gritty presentation of the Spartans. Don D'Ammasa of the Science Fiction Chronicle called the book "competently written", but stated the plot was "simpleminded". Though the book originally sold very slowly, it became a Publishers Weekly bestseller. The Fall of Reach would go on to sell more than 100,000 copies by 2003 and a million copies by December 2009. The novel's success convinced Microsoft and Del Rey to pen a three-novel publishing contract for novels based on Xbox games, including another Halo novel. The next entry in the Halo novel franchise would be 2003's Halo: The Flood, written by William C. Dietz. The more human Chief seen in the novel led Bungie to tone down the character model in Halo 2 to make him less an exaggerated robot and more a real person inside a suit. Stuart Beattie, the screenwriter of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, wrote a spec script for a Fall of Reach movie. Beattie, a Halo fan, wrote the script between other projects in the hope that someone would read it and agree to produce the film, but as of May 2008 there were no plans to do so. In May 2010, Tor announced that the first three Halo novels (not