Boy this was a stinker. After the very good last book in the series that surprised me with above average characterization this was a severe disappointment. Apparently both books have been written at the same time for there are a multitude of continuity errors regarding both story and characters. From Master Chief starting to crack bad army jokes over Cortana forgetting that she already saw Halo both books don't mesh very well.Even more damning - and I'm aware that this is not the writers fault - is the fact that the story basically retells the story of Halo I. The problem here is, of course, that video games rarely have good scripting and that rolling out this paper thin story to full book length shows off both its conceptual weaknesses as well as forcing the author to make something of all the long stretches of repetitive combats that comprise a shooter but are irrelevant to a story.As a result we get a lot of boring combat and inventory management sequences that read like even the author has given up on this thing.Example: "Having broken through the perimeter of the battle, the Master Chief was able to follow the nav indicator into a second valley where he came upon a group of dead Marines, loaded up on ammo, and tried to decide whether to stay with the scatter gun or trade it in for a sniper’s rifle or a rocket launcher. It would have been nice to have all three, but that many weapons would be unwieldy, not to mention damned heavy. In the end he went with the rifle and shotgun and hoped it was the right decision. [...] He pulled back, switched to the assault weapon long enough to ice a couple of overly ambitious Grunts, and switched back to the S2 as he rounded the opposite side of the big boulder. [...] [Tank encounter] which meant there was only one thing the Spartan could do: hike back to the weapons cache and trade the rifle for the launcher. It was a major pain in the ass, but he didn’t have much choice, so he pulled out. It took a full half hour to make the round trip between the valley and the weapons cache [...]"Gripping, right?There is pages and pages and *pages* of this shit. "And then he shot at the grunt using the S2 and then he shot the elite in the head with the shotgun and then ...". It's been a while since I have read such a hackery. The few attempts by Mr. Dietz to bring in some variance are limited to renaming the Master Chief every few sentences (we get "the soldier", "the Master Chief", "the noncom", "the Spartan" and "the Master Chief" respectively). Unfortunately, especially if there are other soldiers around, this adds more confusion than fun.To top things off there is a completely unnecessary "and then everyone dies" ending which made this book a real chore to read. My personal count of "There are still pages left? I have been at this thing for ages." moments was around six iirc.The only point of light is the side story of an Elite/Grunt team sent to kill the Chief. In all honesty I would have preferred a full story about them instead of the dross I got. A total waste of my time.
When I walked into reading this room , i assumed it would be like the video game its based off of, long, boring, and overrated. However it turned out to way more than I expected. This epic Sci Fi tell the story of the Spartan Super Soldier John/Spartan 117/Master Chief, as he awakes from cryosleep in the midst of a massive battle upon the ship The Pillar Of Autumn. Immediately John is placed with a massive amount of problems, as the ship's captain Captain Jacob Keyes, and the ships A.I. unit Cortana, declare that the ship will be crash landing on the upcoming Ring-World Halo (hence the name of the series). After crash landing on Halo, Master Chief is confronted by the stories main enemy, a group of several species of aliens known as The Covenant, whose main purpose is too ride the universe of other species to achieve religious freedom. The Main conflict in this book is Man vs Alien, as Master Chief must somehow find a way off Halo, and back to Earth. The theme is about the fight of Humanity against its new arch nemesis The Covenant. Being as though the Book is based off of the game, its was difficult for the author to stray too far from the actual main storyline, but in his craftiness he is fully able to tell a handful of mini stories going on at the same time that Master Chief is trying his escape. Halo is something that is second nature to boys of my generation. Everybody and their mother knows of the legendary Halo trilogy. It is a natural symbol of Good vs Evil. I recommend this book to anybody who would like to find a challenging new Sci Fi. The book is really different from what people would expect from the game, as the book goes more in depth of Master Chief's thoughts and motives, it really gives u a taste of what Master Chief most of gone through as he was experiencing what you were reading.
Do You like book Halo: The Flood (2003)?
This one wasn't nearly as enthralling (or well written) as the previous novel. Now, I'm not saying Dietz is a bad writer, just that he didn't have a lot to work with with this book. Why? Because it's the goddamn game in written format! It's like a freakin' walkthrough! Hell, I played the game YEARS ago and I still remembered most of the plot, so while reading this I had these moments where I actually remembered a certain scene in the book from the game. That's why I didn't really like the book - I like adaptations of video games that show a different perspective or are a prequel, not reading the damn game as a novel. I like guns and action and all, but frankly, I didn't need a play-by-play of every single battle. I wasn't exactly bored, because Dietz had a blisteringly fast pace that kept me reading, but it was a little annoying to know what was going to happen next, but, mainly I didn't like the characterization. There is no depth to the characters at all. Unless you're playing an RPG like Final Fantasy, you don't really care about the characters' motivations or background. This is true with Halo - it's a fun FPS. Fall of Reach was great because it gave substance to the characters. This novel did absolutely nothing of the sort. Chief neither grows nor extrapolates anything in this novel, and no one else was all that deep either. Hell, Yayap was the only character who had an interesting perspective. McKay was awesome, but only because she was badass - we learn nothing about her personal life or feelings. Same with everyone else! They might have one or two characteristics that made them stand out, but overall they were worse than cardboard cutouts - they were stock photos. I'm still going to read the next one, because, quite frankly, these books are fun, but this one wasn't really my cup of tea.
—Tina
Halo The Flood by William C. Dietz is a science fiction novel that has more background stories than the X-box game Halo combat evolved that it is based on. It is much more detailed and explains in much detail the story of the Flood.This story starts in the year 2552 so it is about 500 years in the future. The Covenant a collection of alien races has taken the plant of Reach while the Pillar of Autumn their ship travels through slip space to a unknown location due to the Cole protocol. They soon find they ran into something bigger, something they had never seen before, that will not only challenge them physically but mentally. There are several main characters in the story but the one that mostly intrigued me was the Master Chief John 117 which was the last of his kind. He was a Spartan. Spartans were kids that were kidnapped at the age of 7 to be trained in the art of killing. About the time they start puberty they are augmented (injected with drugs) to make them into super soldiers. Another Main character that intrigued me was McKay who is a hell jumper or odst which are highly trained marines. These two characters play a big factor in the outcome of the story.The setting of this story takes place on a ring or halo which has many of the same characteristics of a planet but this ring which was created by the Forerunners is where the battles take place. The Halo has a normal environment and atmosphere but it is not a planet. This ring they landed on holds a deep and dark secret, which they are ready to battle for.My opinion of this story is that anyone that is familiar with or has played the Halo videogames or read any of the other books in the Halo series would thoroughly enjoy this book. The authors writing style makes you feel as if you are there or in the video game with Master Chief John 117 as he faces the Covenant.
—Dakota
In order to understand this book, you have to read the first book in the series and play the Xbox game Halo: Combat Evolved. Even if you don't get it half the time, it's a good read! This book is set in 2552, in the middle of a great war between humanity and a collective of alien races calling themselves the Covenant. This war reaches its peak intensity when a human ship discovers an ancient ring-world named Halo (hence the name of the book). The ship crashes there, and among the survivors is SPARTAN-117, the Master Chief. He is a bioligically enhanced cyborg-soldier clad in special armor. He traverses the ring with the remaining Marines, fighting the Covenant and unlocking the secrets of the ring. But when the Master Chief finds a subterranean laboratory in the middle of a swamp, the galaxie's greatest horror is unleashed . . .Read it for yourself, and discover why this book is called "The Flood". To this day, I still have nightmares about them. When you read this book, you will, too.
—TempOcean
