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This topic has moved here: Subject: HALO: The Flood -
  • Subject: HALO: The Flood -
Subject: HALO: The Flood -

Oly Oly Oxen Free

Having reread it just recently, i think i can safely say it is my least favourite of the books.

The whole storyline surrounding Major Silva and his desire for ODST glory just seems far-fetched - obviously Ackerson is proof-positive that the UNSC let the crazies in from time to time, but Silva wasn't convincing as a character.

Also, and i'm sure this has been mentioned before, he knew some pretty top-secret hush hushstuff (via wikileaks i assume), and on top of all of that we had Keyes happily admitting his role in the SII project (a role he had received for being able to keep a secret might i add... )

Add an inconsistent writing style and, well, i'm not a fan. So what about you fine folk? Thoughts? Opinions? More discrepancies i forgot to list that we can talk over in long, glorious detail?

TL;DR

I was wondering what the general consensus on HALO: The Flood is. Warm up those opinion cannons, people.

  • 02.24.2012 6:45 AM PDT

"At the end of this day one shall stand, one shall fall"

So, Death or Bungie?

My third favorite Halo book.

1. Ghost of Onyx
2. Fall of Reach
3. The Flood
4. First Strike

  • 02.24.2012 7:56 AM PDT

"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book." --Irish Proverb
"Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, And some have greatness thrust upon them." Malvalio, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night / Interplay, RLH load screen
Foxtrot Company
Underground Pleasure

I enjoyed the extra perspectives and a look at the experience of being turned into a flood, but Silva's hatred for the spartans did seem a bit extreme.

  • 02.24.2012 9:23 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.

I liked it. Not among my top three favorites, but it was nonetheless an entertaining read, especially with the whole Alpha Base setting, which helped out a lot set where the Chief was going between missions and where the Marines were rallying.

Nothing eye opening, but still, it was good.

  • 02.24.2012 9:28 AM PDT

It wasn't a great book, but neither were Cole Protocol and Contact Harvest for instance.
Just average reads, entertaining and shedding some new light on things but nothing too memorable or epic.

What I did think Flood did right were the different perspectives, 'Zazamee and Yayap's, and the parts with Keyes and Jenkins being the best examples.

  • 02.24.2012 10:50 AM PDT

"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum

I hated the Master Chief sections. They just dragged on and on. It was almost like reading the game script.

The characterization of the Covenant was dry as hell. It was basically all the same stuff. Genocidal hate, more genocidal hate and more genocidal hate. The least that could have been done was to show a break in that, hint at some divisions that would lead into Halo 2. Caring about people who commit genocide on a daily basis is incredibly difficult, impossible if they behave like Orna 'Fulsamee. I don't think Bungie really payed much attention to its writing, because it seriously harmed my appreciation of the Arbiter's/Elite's story in Halo 2 when I read it. To be quite frank, I read the Flood and then realized that I really couldn't give a -blam!- about the Covenant anymore. If The Cole Protocol did anything right, it was that it broke that up. I sort of view CtfU as a fix for the Flood, a sort of last ditch attempt to make us say "Oh hey look, some Elites do like us. A reason to care for their misanthropic genocidal asses and not actually be rooting for the Brutes in Halo 2!". Because honestly, had I read the Flood first, I don't think I would have regarded Halo 2 as anything more than average at the time. The Elite's and the Arbiter' story was pretty much the only thing that pulled me in. And then I read the Flood... If Bungie wanted us to care about them, the Flood was a pretty bad approach.

One thing I did like was that it showed us some of the battles that normal Marines and ODSTS were having against the Covenant rather than more gung-ho Spartans mowing down everything in sight. I think it showed how effective and creative the UNSC could actually be on the ground against the Covenant and that they could actually kick ass on their own without needing a Spartan around to take them by the hands like wee babies.

  • 02.24.2012 12:18 PM PDT

*reminisces when the Bungie/Halo community wasn't made up of CoD kids*
*sighs*
*activates time-machine and sets the clock back to Nov. 9, 2004*
glory days here I come..
*vanishes*

I enjoyed it. It was a good transition of Combat Evolved into a novel. I especially liked Zuka's sections.

  • 02.24.2012 12:33 PM PDT


Posted by: anton1792
I hated the Master Chief sections. They just dragged on and on. It was almost like reading the game script.


This.

The book didn't do much for me, and while I won't say it was bad, I'd rather just play the game. It was pointless, really.

  • 02.24.2012 1:14 PM PDT