HALO: The Flood: HALO, Book 2

Another great book by Nylund. Master chief takes the center stage here at the first contact of the flood. If you played Halo 1 then this book is everything but foreign. A lot of your minds eye will vision scenes and places from the video games all the while giving you more content. And a more in depth look at the flood. A halo fan’s must read.

I love Sci-Fi and the Halo series of books are some of my favorites. I purchased the Kindle version, the paperback version and the Audible version of this book. I have read or listened to it multiple times. For me it never gets old.I like this book a lot but there are several things that bother me. The audio book and the Kindle version do not agree word for word. It is like the Audible version has been corrected and updated while the Kindle version has not. Words, sentences and paragraphs have been added in the Audible version while the Kindle version is incorrect.The other item that bothered me is the weapons used in the book by the humans and the effect they had on what was shot. The Master Chief use a shotgun a lot and the Kindle book said it was an 8 gauge shotgun and it was a 12 gauge. Parts of the Audible version were corrected while the Kindle book is still incorrect regarding the gage of the shotgun. In addition the book always talked about the assault rifle blowing large holes through the aliens that were shot. High velocity assault weapons and 7.62 bullets don't do that. They pass though the body. I also wondered how many magazines the master chief could carry. He must of used many thousands of rounds of ammo.Don't get me wrong but I still like the story. It is just that being a shooter I could not relate to incorrect information regarding the weapons. I like the book and I rated it 4 stars. It would have been 5 stars if the storyline moved faster and the above mentioned items were correct.I don't play the game but the story line, of the book, was entertaining for me and I liked it. Like I said, I have read and listened to the book multiple times.

Really enjoyed the book as a halo fan

...and I do mean if you're a BIG fan of the series. I'll say up top that this book definitely isn't for people who aren't into the series on a "I consume the expanded lore" level. Not because I'm trying to gatekeep, or because only people well acquainted with the lore will understand the plot; but because, to put it frankly, it kinda drags for most of its read-time. As a direct novelization of the game Halo: Combat Evolved, most of the plot in the book is re-treading the exact plot of the source material. And by direct, I mean direct. Where in a video game, repeatedly shooting aliens in hallways can be loads of fun, it is much less interesting to read about someone shooting aliens in hallways. And this is often handled in such a way that the words start blurring together. The chapter that covered the level "The Library" was particularly grueling, with pages of text that all could be summarized as "He shot the enemy, then moved forward and shot more enemy." Almost all of the parts covering events in the source material read this way, which admittedly can be neat at times - particularly in how some events and environments are described in ways that make me go "oh, I remember that exact room/combat encounter/etc." But overall, most things dealing with Chief reads like a play-by-play of someone's playthrough of the game, which is less than interesting.This is contrasted, however, by the parts not focusing on events presented in the game, which are well written and fun to read. They don't always hit spot on, and in particular the scenes of fighting tend to get bogged down, but William Dietz's capabilities as an author shine much brighter when he's unshackled from pre-established events. Of particular note are the side plots concerning Yayap, a grunt working for an elite headhunter with a mission to hunt down Chief, and Lt. Melissa McKay, a marine leader coordinating and fighting in the resistance against the covenant. Both are quite fun, and I enjoyed them a lot.Another thing of particular note is the personality given to the characters, and the overall energy and tone of the book. They all feel particularly "mean" or "angry" or just "off" in some way or the other. Its Halo, so of course death is a common occurrence, but a lot of the killings feel mean-spirited or particularly cruel in how they're described, which is an odd thing to hone in on for a book about war, but I noticed it a lot over my read and it really didn't feel to be in the same vain is the more serious action in books like "Fall of Reach" and "Contact Harvest" or the more fun, not-afraid-to-be-playful feel of the games like Halo 2 or 3. Well established characters like the Master Chief and Cortana also seem "off-model" so to speak in their characterizations, with the duo's relationship feeling more full of anger toward each other rather than the sarcastic, yet supportive rapport they are known for having. I can't really blame Dietz for his mischaracterizations too much though, seeing as how this was quite literally the third piece of major Halo media ever released. There just wasn't that much there to guide things like tone and personality, and while the gleeful violence seems more Doom than Halo - and definitely not to my liking - I can respect the situation the author was in when this was written.Overall, while I like a lot of the additions to the story of Halo this book brings, the overall package isn't something that I can see people enjoying too much unless they're looking for those additions in particular. If not, you're better off playing Combat Evolved.CONS:- The action is monotonous and boring.- Lots of telling you what happens instead of showing.- The tone is weirdly angry and cruel.- The established characters don't really feel like themselves.- You've already seen the main plot if you've played Halo: CE.PROS:- Some of the side characters and their stories are interesting and fun. (This is what made me choose 3 instead of 2 stars, by the way. There are some very good times to be had in the B plots, just not enough to make the whole package good instead of mediocre.)- We get to see a more complete view of the battle that takes place in Halo: CE.- It is canon that Chief drives the warthog into the building in "Silent Cartographer."

HALO: THE FLOOD is an adaptation of HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED or the first Halo game. It's interesting that a game which consists primarily about Master Chief blowing up hundreds of Grunts, Elites, and Jackals is expanded into a military science fiction novel I really enjoyed. William C. Dietz is a favorite science fiction novelist of mine and I absolutely loved his work on Starcraft: Heaven's Devils.The premise of the book is pretty much the one of the games. Master Chief and the crew of the Pillar of Autumn are marooned on an ancient alien space station. The station proves to be a massive superweapon capable of wiping out all life in the galaxy. There's greater threats than the Covenant, the evil religious sect that wishes to destroy humanity, though and stopping them may require the weapon to be used.William Deitz adds multiple interesting new plots like an ODST plot to steal a Covenant starship, the first in the war, but potentially endangers all of humanity by carrying a Flood spore to Earth. There's also the stories of a human traitor, a poor Grunt who just wants to survive, and an Elite determined to avenge himself on the Master Chief despite being just another enemy to him.I don't quite like this book as much as the Eric Nylund novels in the trilogy but it's still damned entertaining and we also get some insights into how the "regular" people reacted to the events of Halo. There's some really tragic moments like the death of Captain Keyes, the fruitlessness of certain characters' attempts to survive, and even the Covenant get humanized. We also get some insight into the awesomeness of Sergeant Johnson, one of my all time favorite Halo characters.9/10

Great adaptation of Combat Evolved with new perspectives. Explains a lot like how (SPOILERS) Keyes was captured and more.

This book is a bit divisive, as it portrays the action that takes place in the game itself, with a few major discrepancies for the keen eyed.However, the 'behind the scenes' portions of the book, where it details what happened when Masterchief was somewhere else, really adds to the story in its entirety, and for that this book is definitely worth it.

You have to read this book if a Halo fan. That said I think the author portrayal of the Chief is off target. Just some things through out the book just don’t jell.

Tengo el resto de libros de la colección. Imposible de encontrarlo físicamente, o por poco interés de las librerias o una edición escasa, es una de las novelas de la saga más movido, las batallas son tremendas y supera con creces al videojuego en el que se basa. Lastima que se acabe tan pronto.

Well i get a weird feeling about this book. I really enjoyed it, we get to know more about the human presence on Halo that the original game didnt cover. New characters are well developped and interesting, not just puppets with no other purpose than to feel the blank pages. On the other hand, Dietz's writing can sometimes be a little bit repetitive, especially when it comes down to combat scenes.I strongly recommend you to read this book if you want to know more about the Halo universe. (Dont forget to read The fall of Reach first)