Halo: The Flood is a military science fiction novel by William C. Dietz, based on the Halo series of video games and based specifically on the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game in the series. The book was released in April 2003 and is the second Halo novel. Closely depicting the events of the game, The Flood begins with the escape of a human ship Pillar of Autumn from enemy aliens known as the Covenant. When the Pillar of Autumn unexpectedly discovers a massive artifact known as "Halo", the humans must square off against the Covenant and a second terrifying force in a desperate attempt to uncover Halo's secrets and stay alive. Though the book roughly follows the same events of the Xbox game, featuring identical dialogue, Dietz also describes events not seen by the game's protagonist, the super-soldier Master Chief.
Revelation Space is a 2000 science fiction novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds. It was the first novel set in Reynolds's eponymous universe. The novel reflects Reynolds's professional background: he has a PhD in astronomy and worked for many years for the European Space Agency. It was short listed for the 2000 BSFA and Arthur C. Clarke Awards.
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare and originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2007. It is the first game in the Mass Effect series, and takes place within the Milky Way galaxy in the year 2183, where civilization is threatened by a highly advanced machine race known as the Reapers. The player assumes the role of Commander Shepard, an elite human soldier who must stop a rogue agent from carrying out the Reapers' galactic invasion. The game involves completing multiple quests that generally involve space exploration, squad and vehicular combat, and interaction with non-player characters.
Drew Karpyshyn is a Canadian video game scenario writer, scriptwriter and novelist. He served as a senior writer for BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and lead writer for the first two Mass Effect video games. He left BioWare in 2012 to focus on his Chaos Born novels, and returned to it three years later in 2015. On March 9, 2018, he announced he was leaving BioWare once again to pursue his independent work.
The City of Ravens is a fantasy novel by Richard Baker that is set in city of Raven's Bluff in the Forgotten Realms fictional universe. It is the first novel in the "Cities" series. It is followed by Temple Hill and various other novels by various authors such as Drew Karpyshyn and Mel Odom.
The asari are a fictional extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Mass Effect multimedia franchise developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Introduced in the 2007 novel Mass Effect: Revelation, the asari are a sapient homeotherm species who are naturally inclined towards biotics, the ability to manipulate dark energy and alter the mass of objects through the use of electrical impulses from the brain, which produce various psychic abilities such as telekinesis.
The Reapers are a fictional fleet of sentient starships that serve as the main antagonists of the Mass Effect trilogy. The design of the Reapers was inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos deities. Within the series, the Reapers cause galactic-level mass extinctions every fifty-thousand years. The Reapers and their technology are capable of brainwashing organic life through a mind control process called indoctrination. The Reapers employ servants who are often altered into synthetic-organic life forms.
Mass Effect: Ascension is a science fiction novel by author Drew Karpyshyn. It is a sequel to the video game Mass Effect, as well as to its prequel novel, Mass Effect: Revelation, also written by Karpyshyn. The novel is set approximately two months after the ending events of the first game. While the first book acted as a prequel to the first game, Ascension helps to bridge the gap between the first game and Mass Effect 2.
City at the End of Time is a 2008 science fiction novel by American writer Greg Bear. It was published in August 2008 by Del Rey in the United States, and Gollancz in the United Kingdom. The story follows three drifters in present-day Seattle who are tormented by strange dreams of the Kalpa, a city one hundred trillion years in the future. The Kalpa is attempting to ward off the Typhon, an inexplicable entity that has consumed the rest of the ancient universe and broken down the laws of physics.
Mass Effect is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the galaxy using technology left behind by advanced precursor civilizations.
Mass Effect: Retribution is a science fiction novel by Canadian writer Drew Karpyshyn set in the Mass Effect universe. It is a sequel to the video game Mass Effect 2, as well as to its prequel novel, Mass Effect: Ascension, also written by Karpyshyn. Retribution is set directly after the events of Mass Effect 2, and like its predecessors, expands on the Mass Effect universe by fleshing out its setting and providing background on some key characters.
Mass Effect: Deception is a novel by writer William C. Dietz set in the Mass Effect universe. Published in 2012 by Del Rey Books, it is the fourth novel set in the Mass Effect universe, and continues the story of the previous three novels. Deception is notable for the negative reception from fans of the Mass Effect series, which prompted significant coverage from media outlets. In response to the negative reception, BioWare announced in February 2012 that they intended to revise the novel's content for future editions of Deception. No rewrite has been announced or published ever since.
Urdnot Wrex is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who serves as a party member in the first game of the Mass Effect trilogy. He is a krogan, an alien race near-sterilised by other galactic races for their violence and high population growth. Introduced as an experienced krogan mercenary, his role changes in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 where he becomes leader of an expanding krogan clan and eventual head of state for the krogan as a whole. After over 1000 years of aimless apathy, Wrex seeks to bring back hope to his people and reverse their fate by undoing the genophage. He is voiced by Steven Barr.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation is part of the Star Wars expanded universe. Written by Drew Karpyshyn and released on November 13, 2012. This novel is the fourth entry in the Star Wars: The Old Republic novel series. News of the book was released at the Del Rey Star Wars books panel at the 2011 New York Comic-Con. It takes place just after the events of the Star Wars: The Old Republic class stories and focuses on Theron Shan. The paperback edition was released on October 29, 2013, while the UK paperback was released on May 24, 2013.
The turians are a fictional extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Mass Effect multimedia franchise developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Turians are the first alien species to have come into contact with humanity within series lore, which inadvertently sparked a brief but vicious period of conflict which is eventually de-escalated due to the intervention of the Citadel Council, a multispecies governing body based on the Citadel space station. The aftermath of the so-called First Contact War as well as the underlying tensions between humanity and the turians form a recurring narrative theme in the Mass Effect series, which began with the franchise's debut work, the 2007 novel Mass Effect: Revelation. Turians are conceived as an avian humanoid species with an exoskeleton, whose biology is radically different from that of humanity and several other species, and are culturally rooted in a stratocratic society. Turian characters have appeared in most Mass Effect games and media with several playing major storyline roles, such as Garrus Vakarian, Saren Arterius, Nyreen Kandros, Vetra Nyx and Tiran Kandros. In addition, the turians are playable characters in the multiplayer modes for Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Year Zero is a 2012 science fiction novel by Robert Reid. It was published by Del Rey Books, with an audiobook version read by John Hodgman.
The Mass Effect: Andromeda book series consists of a trilogy of science fiction novels based on the Mass Effect series of video games. The books in the series are Nexus Uprising (2017), Initiation (2017), and Annihilation (2018). All three books are released in paperback, e-book, and audiobook. The audiobook formats of Nexus Uprising and Initiation are narrated by Fryda Wolff, the voice of Sara Ryder, while the Annihilation audiobook is narrated by Tom Taylorson, the voice of Scott Ryder.
The krogan are a fictional extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Mass Effect multimedia franchise developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. A member of the species is first introduced in the 2007 novel Mass Effect: Revelation. The krogan are typically depicted as large reptilian bipedal humanoids who are physically tenacious, favor mercenary work, and thrive on conflict and violence. The krogan are native to the planet Tuchanka, which is presented as a post-apocalyptic wasteland as a result of the krogan's global thermonuclear civil war in the distant past. The krogan are presented as having a complicated relationship with the rest of the Milky Way galactic civilizations, especially the salarians; a past conflict led to the other interstellar species unleashing a genetically engineered biological weapon called the genophage on the krogan, drastically reducing their population and potentially driving the species to a slow and inevitable extinction.
The Mass Effect media franchise, developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, is set in the distant future where various extraterrestrial species coexist with humanity. The developers created extensive background lore for the universe of Mass Effect and its alien species, with detailed explanations documenting the complex relationships between the universe's various factions and the setting's phenomena from a scientific perspective. The developers were inspired and influenced by numerous fantasy and science fiction works, as well as real world cultural and scientific concepts. Dark energy, a form of energy theorized to massively affect the universe, forms a key part of the franchise's concept and background.
