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Subject: Why is everyone in love with Eric Nylund?

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*WARNING* IT IS MY OPINION.

Eric Nylund is best Halo writer. I could say Greg Bear are best writer for Forerunner Saga as well.













[Edited on 01.16.2012 6:10 PM PST]

  • 01.16.2012 6:09 PM PDT
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I don't like his books.

  • 01.16.2012 7:08 PM PDT

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I liked his books more than any other author's.

  • 01.16.2012 7:11 PM PDT

Vengeance only leads to an ongoing cycle of hatred.


Posted by: Elder Bias
Eric Nylund is best Halo writer. I could say Greg Bear are best writer for Forerunner Saga as well.

Yeah, I think Nylund is the best for -how do I put this- "current" Halo lore (as in, close to the time of the trilogy). And I think Bear is great with dealing with it's history, the forerunners, etc. Like, for example, I think Bear wouldn't do too good of a job writing a book like TFoR. And I'm not sure Nylund would be too good with a novel like Cryptum. I could be wrong, but that's just how I look at it.

  • 01.16.2012 7:19 PM PDT

Nylund did good for the stories he was given to write, which is to say broad epics and large battles, but not usually anything small. That said, I often felt a lot of the times I was reading a text book on the Haloverse, in that they covered events and battles more so then individuals, except First Strike.

But I think people revere him because he wrote the first Halo book (technically, he wrote the first Halo anything, if you consider that TFoR was out before Halo 1, I think). So some people think that any other Halo media needs to abide by his writing style, and so forth.

  • 01.16.2012 7:43 PM PDT

Swag punks, fu­­ck off!


Posted by: Makar
I don't like his books.
Me neither.

  • 01.16.2012 10:20 PM PDT
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Whit this blade I make a pact with my fathers,
with this blade I'll enlithen the road for my sons,
I renounce to my name, to my family and to my owns to protect my people,to become a zealot.

First I ahave to say I read them in italian so tanslation could change something but I didn't like much his choice to not write a unique story: he writes only important moments but not what happens between this moments, for this chioce action appears faster then it really is and loose credibility.
but this is only my opinion.

  • 01.17.2012 1:36 AM PDT

I don't feel like you guys are explaining yourselves very well. If you don't like them, fine. But explain yourselves better than "he can't write". Clearly that's not true.

I thought Cole Protocol was a great read. The whole point of these is to flesh out the universe while telling a good story. We learned a lot about Keyes and Thel Vadamee along the way. That's what I wanted and that's what I got.

That said, Contact Harvest by Joe Staten is definitely my favorite of the novels. The way he made a grunt and an engineer so endearing and important to the lore was awesome! I love the origin of the Brute Chopper!

  • 01.17.2012 3:50 AM PDT

Posted by:ScubaToaster
Posted by: HipiO7
This man, this man right here put it so eloquently that I actually cancelled my own 2000+ word long post.
/slow clap for respect


:)
The person who said participating is important, not winning, obviously never won anything.

Posted by: privet caboose
Nylund has been consistently good. Even if his works aren't excellent, they are never bad.


This.

  • 01.17.2012 7:24 AM PDT

Bip Bap Bam in the brainpan!

I liked Nylund's writing style, sure, it may have not been the best during The Fall of Reach and First Strike but it was still better than most of the other video game books I've read in the past. Personally, I love all of the Halo books, the canon of the Halo universe is something that I really enjoy and actually makes the games a lot more fun to play. Cole Protocol was amazingly awesome, and Contact Harvest was most likely the best. Sgt. Johnson has always been my favorite character of the Halo series.

[Edited on 01.17.2012 7:41 AM PST]

  • 01.17.2012 7:39 AM PDT


Posted by: wcd45
He is by far the best Halo writer.


Agreed. Of course his Halo novels aren't masterpieces, but keep in mind that Halo is a Space Opera. It's meant to be exciting, not mind-blowingly deep. I think his novels served their purpose perfectly, and I love them for that. Trying to get a Pulitzer grade piece of literature from a Halo novel is like trying to watch Transformers for an Academy award winning film. You just don't do it. I watch transformers to see giant robots beating the crap out of each other and I love it. Just take them for what they are, and stop expecting so much from them.

  • 01.17.2012 9:40 AM PDT

-blam!- Was that actually blammed out? Or did I just type it? You'll never know.

Well I'd never hazard to say that any of the Halo novels are great works of sci0fi, but Nyland's entertain.

  • 01.17.2012 9:50 AM PDT

"This is the prototype NOVA Bomb, nine fusion warheads encased in lithium triteride armor. When detonated, it compresses its fusionable material to neutron-star density, boosting the thermonuclear yield a hundredfold. I am Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, temporarily in command of the UNSC military base Reach. To the Covenant uglies that might be listening, you have a few seconds to pray to your damned heathen gods. You all have a nice day in hell..."

In terms of the writing, its very linear and restrictive for an author, especially when you have a story already planned out for you. Making it interesting and engaging for the reader under these circumstances is hard.
In my opinion he done a damn better job than the other writers comissioned to complete the other novels. This is not a slight on their abilities, but praise for Eric Nylund who was able to keep me interested better than the rest.

  • 01.17.2012 10:10 AM PDT

erAsed is RIPPIN

Once you go Black you never go back!

Nyland captured my emotions very well in TFoR and FS and really opened my eyes to the Halo Universe. The way he depicted the Spartan's as a family and a team was great. I loved how he portrayed the Chief as having affection for his fellow Spartan's but taught us that he needed to "spend" their lives rather than "waste" them. The space battles were always epic and really had me on the edge of my seat, much like Keyes would be in his command chair.

  • 01.17.2012 10:13 AM PDT

If you're passionate about the thing you're talking about, I'll always lend an ear.

Nylund give a personality and atmosphere that's simply unique within the Halo Universe. It eventually became the Halo Universe in terms of literature. [Granted you were there from the start]

You really felt for the Spartans as they lost Reach in TFOR and Kurt and the S-IIIs during the events at Onyx.

The Spartans had character, you cared about them. Linda, Fred, Kurt, Kelly etc. He's able to give you a narrative which drives your imagination. Although his writing style may be considered standard, it's the images and themes he conveys in the Universe that are simply magnificent.

  • 01.17.2012 11:34 AM PDT

The Fall of Reach was the first Halo novel I read, and I was very skeptical at first because how good could a book about a game be? After awhile I couldn't put the book down.I found that his writing style really fit Halo, its very military at parts and he can capture that feeling and put you right in the middle of a battle and you feel like you're a part of it. He also got into Chief's mind a bit and made him into an actual person. The Fall of Reach answered so many questions I had about the Halo universe. He actually developed other spartans that were believable and were interesting to read about especially in First Strike. Eric Nylund is by far in my opinion the best Halo writer.

  • 01.17.2012 12:05 PM PDT
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Deva Path


Posted by: DecepticonCobra

We are all going to get banned aren't we?

He was the first author therefore he is the best/logic


It is no different than still admiring for First lover despite knowing how Flawed they were. It is a simple human concept.

  • 01.17.2012 12:42 PM PDT

I just get the sneaking feeling we're going to be where Halo is in under a century, if not less. By 2552 we'll most likely have colonized and uncovered every square inch of the Galaxy - look at how much our technology has come since WWII, about 70 years. In another 70 years we'll probably be at the interplanetary stage of our development.

If you're arguing realism I'm not sure your projection of the future is any more realistic. Technology has improved a lot since WWII, but when was the last time we even went to the moon? Space travel has to improve before any colonies would be made on other planets. Let's talk Mars. The Mars Science Laboratory that was launched in November isn't even expected to get to Mars until August. Until more viable transportation is created its hard to believe that we'll have more than a few people on Mars by 2082. Inhabiting Mars is another story, some estimate it could take 1000 years to terraform Mars.

Also, Eric Nylund might not be the best author ever, but his style does have a realism to it. Its been a while since I have read The Fall of Reach, but the story was interesting, I know I wanted to read the next chapter as soon as I finished the one before it. However, the characters seemed flat, but it was still good as far as video game literature goes.

  • 01.17.2012 3:20 PM PDT
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Do not waste your tears, I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

Posted by: goldhawk
We should know better, because we are better.

Thinking about it, Nylund was a good starting choice. He was not so bad that it reflected poorly on the whole series and he was good enough that it showed the series was willing to find good talent to expand.

[Edited on 01.17.2012 3:28 PM PST]

  • 01.17.2012 3:26 PM PDT

I think its best not to judge your own species' rate of advancement, because its practically impossible to prove, unless you get it wrong in which case you look like an ass.

Back to the Future Part II was set in 2015, and it had flying cars, sky highways, robots, holograms on streets, fingerprint scanners on houses and super-ovens, that could cook a pizza in seconds.

thats...let see...3 years away? do you really see all that being achieved and then constructed wide-spread, in 3 years?
People who watched these things back in the 80s believed things would be like that.

Terminator, wasn't Judgement day initially stated to occur in the year 2000? with giant killer robots with futuristic guns and time travel...that were invented by man?

Now its 2012 and Christian Bale can still enjoy his Weetabix in peace.

Now, i know they're movies, but they were based on what people thought the future would be like.

So in terms of guessing advancement, I think Nylund has done a pretty alright job combined with what was already known in Halo:CE.

That and he was the best out of the Halo writers, He should stick to them.

  • 01.17.2012 3:32 PM PDT

Expressing my strong liberal views without shame. Favorite quotes below:

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
"One starts to live when he can live outside himself."

- Albert Einstein

Ghosts of Onyx was one of the most compelling science fiction novels I've ever read. Kurt's last line not only summarized what it meant to be a Spartan, whether II or III, but also Nylund's ability make an incredible and consistent development of characters and create imagery of the future like no other author.

Bear is probably a better writer, but I always know I'm reading just a book when I read his work, I don't feel immersed like I do with Nylund.

  • 01.17.2012 3:51 PM PDT


Posted by: grey101
He was the first author therefore he is the best/logic


It is no different than still admiring for First lover despite knowing how Flawed they were. It is a simple human concept.


Way to ignore all the quality posts containing the important "why", which posters have spent time replying with.

I completely disagree with your comment here and stop generalising.

  • 01.17.2012 4:22 PM PDT

No u

I liked Nylund's books in the Halo series. He may not have been the best but I liked them nonetheless.

  • 01.17.2012 4:44 PM PDT


Posted by: Wolverfrog

Posted by: privet caboose
Nylund has been consistently good. Even if his works aren't excellent, they are never bad. He's also had more involvement with Halo than any other author, and he practically built all of the original extended media himself.


That's true; as a story-teller he's competent, it's just his writing that's lacking. Although, I did find The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole a fantastic read, so perhaps he just dumbed down his writings with his earlier books or has improved since The Fall of Reach.


I feel like it's probably the latter option (aka, he's gotten better since writing TFoR), as aside from The Flood, I feel that TFoR was probably one of weakest of the Halo books, not trying to say it wasn't enjoyable (because it was), but there were just about as many negatives in it as positives for me. Then First Strike was better than TFoR and Ghosts of Onyx was the best one he's written yet if you ask me.

Now as to why a lot of Halo fans seem to overly gush over Nylund, I'd say it's probably the whole nostalgia factor, his books certainly aren't bad by any means, but I think people make them out to be a lot better than they really are. Just my take on the matter.

  • 01.17.2012 6:45 PM PDT

Hey, now!

This is officially either the greatest or worst thing to ever happen to Star Wars. I'm going with the former.


Posted by: Oddley765
I prefer Nylund to any other Halo author thus far.

My reasons:

1. Clean simple writing that creates imaginative images in your own mind. See I rate a book at how much I forget I'm reading and just start to vividly see the book content. I simply don't get this with many other Halo authors (particularly Greg Bear).

2. The expansions to the universe and characters are relevant and precise with solid mystery and delivery on finding things out.

3. Nylund's Fall of Reach kicks arse of the game story of Halo Reach.

4. Ghosts of Onyx was brilliant. Too bad they didn't get Nylund back to finish what he started. Glasslands sux.

1. Completely agree. That's what I love about many novels, how it lets you envision how a person looks like, or how a planet appears, by yourself, and it just immerses you more.

2. Again, completely agreed.

3. Eh, I thought Reach, was decent, but I was a wee bit disappointed that they hadn't carried on with the the established FoR storyline.

4. Agreed. GoO was brilliant in my opinion.

  • 01.17.2012 6:52 PM PDT

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