Ape Man has posted his impressions of the Halo prequel novel, Fall of Reach over at HBO's forum, having just finished it yesterday:

Overall, it's a pretty good book. It's not on par with Banks or Brin or any writers of similarly-styled sci-fi, probably because of rushing and time constraints and Bungie not wanting to give too much away, but it's good. I'd definitely recommend it to any Halo fan. Good job, Mr. Nylund. I know it's the first time I'll play a game and have an emotional connection with the characters in it, especially John-117.

Interesting the reference to a character by a number as well as a name. An artificial intelligence, perhaps? So far the marines we've seen in movies seem to have ordinary human names, which seems to indicate this is someone else, not a marine. Ape also asks something about tactical nukes... hmm...