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Halo: The Flood

(Halo #2)

William C. Dietz (Goodreads Author)

3.71 · Rating details · 12,292 ratings · 506 reviews

The Human-Covenant War, a desperate struggle for humankind's very survival, has reached its boiling point on the mysterious, ring world called Halo. But the fierce Covenant warriors, the mightiest alien military force known, are not the only peril lying in wait.

As the fortress world of Reach and its brave defenders were bombarded to rubble, a single cruiser fle ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 341 pages

Published April 1st 2003 by Del Rey (first published 2003)

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Nov 08, 2007 TempOcean rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: any Halo fans

Shelves: halo

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-11 ...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Jason added it

This book was such a let down and unworthy of the sequel to "The Fall of Reach". This book was a novelization of the first Halo game (Combat Evolved). That said, it reads like the author played the Xbox game and wrote play-by-play what happened, where he goes, what he shoots, etc. You're not reading a story, just a re-telling of what happens in the video game. If you play the video game, it's fine, because you're playing the video game, not reading a page of words of what someone did in the vide ...more

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May 22, 2012 Tina rated it it was ok

Recommended to Tina by: Matt, Hunt

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 - ...more

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Aug 05, 2014 Mike (the Paladin) rated it it was ok

Shelves: space-opera

Okay I suppose you can only get "really involved" in a story based on a video game for so long. This isn't really a bad book. For what it is it can be fun. The fight for Halo has begun...and the search to find out what Halo is of course.

Lots of explosions, some human drama (sort of) even some prejudice involved in the story. As I said, not bad but not one I think I'll follow up. If you're looking for action and science fiction combat this may be your cup of tea. I love action books, ...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Mike (the Paladin) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: space-opera

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Apr 16, 2017 Chris Gordon rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, video-games, action

Halo: Combat Evolved, the video game version of this book, is easily worthy of 5 stars. However, its novelization, Halo: The Flood, is the definition of a 3 star book. I don't hate the book; I don't love the book; I'm left in the middle thinking the book was okay overall. It had its moments, for sure, but it also had its share of problems. Being as how this was a novelization of my favorite video game of all time, I expected a lot more out of it. Although I wasn't wholly disappointed, I wasn't t Halo: Combat Evolved, the video game version of this book, is easily worthy of 5 stars. However, its novelization, Halo: The Flood, is the definition of a 3 star book. I don't hate the book; I don't love the book; I'm left in the middle thinking the book was okay overall. It had its moments, for sure, but it also had its share of problems. Being as how this was a novelization of my favorite video game of all time, I expected a lot more out of it. Although I wasn't wholly disappointed, I wasn't totally impressed either.

The book shifts between four perspectives that build upon a grander narrative. The first perspective follows the Master Chief and Cortana, his A.I. companion, as they venture across Halo to complete a litany of missions and objectives. These scenes were taken straight from the video game, Halo: Combat Evolved, and were rarely altered for the book. The only times the Chief's story changed was when it intertwined with the other side stories being told in the book, which weren't included in the video game. Also, I noticed that many of the lines from the game were altered slightly for no apparent reason. The changes were minor enough to not affect the story, but also noticeable enough to peeve me, as I know virtually every line of the video game verbatim and felt the need to recite the lines properly in my head during my read through just to atone for these pointless changes. On the plus side, we were treated to additional dialogue between the Master Chief and Cortana which helped to flesh out our protagonists in a way the video game was not able to accomplish. Although this was the main story in the book, I found it to be a bit dry at times, especially as it concerned the battle sequences. There are only so many ways one can describe a gun being fired or an enemy being killed before it gets really old. The lengths taken to describe these moments went way too far, and they detracted from an otherwise strong story.

The second perspective followed Captain Keyes and his crew after evacuating the downed ship, the Pillar of Autumn. These parts were some of the most interesting to read for a few reasons. For one, I think Captain Keyes is a great character, and he is written very well in this book. Following him was also a new experience for me because the video game only extended so far as to include him in three levels out of ten, therefore he was seldom involved in the major happenings of the game. In Halo: The Flood, we get a much more in-depth account as to what happens to Captain Keyes after landing on Halo. Apart from the Master Chief and Cortana, I found Captain Keyes to be the best character in the book and was disappointed to find that more of the book was not dedicated to his storyline.

The third perspective, the worst of the four, followed a group of surviving ODST soldiers after abandoning the Pillar of Autumn. The bulk of their story took place on a makeshift base called Alpha Base and entailed very little in the way of meaningful story. They take their interim base from the Covenant early on, hold the position down for 90% of the time, and complete one reconnaissance mission to their downed ship close to the end of the novel. They don't do much, and whenever something big happens with them, it ends up being a very long, overly drawn out, poorly written battle sequence that I recommend glossing over lest you wish to be bored to tears. When this particular side story came to a whimpering end, I was relieved beyond belief that they wouldn't be returning in the next installment of the Halo book series.

The last and most unique perspective of the novel followed a commando Elite name Zuka 'Zamamee and his Grunt companion Yayap. 'Zamamee is nearly killed by the Master Chief at one point in the story and is rescued by Yayap. Given a new lease on life, 'Zamamee is assigned to track down his assailant and take him down. As you could probably guess, this plan does not go too well for him, but it was still fun to read a Halo story from the Covenant's perspective. Despite this story not amounting to much, it was interesting to read because of the insight given into the hierarchy and operations of the Covenant side of the war. These parts were pretty bare at times, however, so I hope future Halo novels take more time to tell the Covenant's side of the story.

The persisting problem of the book is that it attempts to novelize a sci-fi shooter that was scarce on story from the start. The video game did a well enough job conveying its simplistic story without all the extraneous material. The author tried to artificially imbue more substance into the main story with the addition of side plots and new characters, but it just felt out of place to me. Truth be told, Halo: The Flood was an unnecessary read in the grand scheme of the Halo series and is better substituted with a playthrough of Halo: Combat Evolved. You will get the same general story out of the game as from the book, but you will no doubt have more fun playing the game. Yet, its flaws notwithstanding, I still managed to enjoy reading Halo: The Flood to some degree – but that's just a testament to my love for Halo. If you do not have a similar passion for the series, then I fear you may not be as lenient towards this book as I managed to be. ...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Liam rated it it was ok

Shelves: owned-books, science-fiction, 2016

I never really liked The Flood very much, but I feel obligated to read it regardless. Maybe it's just because I've played through the story in a game and so trying to transfer it into text falls flat for me, but I think there are several problems with the book because of its direct game-to-book heritage that the other Halo novels avoid.

Firstly, the author feels compelled to at least note every other encounter with enemies in the game and after a while it gets pretty dull. The combat I never really liked The Flood very much, but I feel obligated to read it regardless. Maybe it's just because I've played through the story in a game and so trying to transfer it into text falls flat for me, but I think there are several problems with the book because of its direct game-to-book heritage that the other Halo novels avoid.

Firstly, the author feels compelled to at least note every other encounter with enemies in the game and after a while it gets pretty dull. The combat in the other novels is well executed and spaced out because it can choose when, story-wise, it makes sense for there to be a big fight, rather than needing to entertain a player through 12+ hours of gameplay. In First Strike and Fall of Reach the combat feels important and scary because it only happens every now and then, rather than being a throwaway sentence ended with "-and reloaded his weapons."

Similar to above, the author - I suppose through some sense of loyalty to the source material or whatever - feels the need to repeat as rote the dialogue in the game, a lot of which is unnecessary or clunkily phrased in order to provide the necessary amount of tutorialisation or exposition. It could be reworded much nicer, but as I said - loyalty to the source material I guess.

He also gave the Chief a lot more emotion and personality than in the other novels - not to say he didn't have any in the others but some of the things he says and thinks in The Flood seem downright out of place for a straight-lace, genetically engineered super soldier.

On the other hand, I quite like the ideas and plot that he brought to the story - Silva and the ODSTs, 'Zamamee's vendetta against the Chief, etc. It shows an ability to write interesting original ideas within an established world that I wish he had brought to the rest of the novel. It probably would have been a better novel if it had focused entirely on that sort of thing rather than providing an abridged re-telling of the adventures of Chief and Cortana. I think it's telling that they never did another direct game-to-book adaption of Halo.

Anyway, onto First Strike. ...more

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Mar 20, 2015 Melisa Ramonda rated it did not like it

DNF at 40% percent.
If I ever get this over, I might come back and tell you why I couldn't take it anymore.

--------------------------------

Ok. I'm back. I will review this book with a single, definitive and utterly accurate phrase:

OUT OF CHARACTER.

That's it.

John is portrayed like your ordinary Terminator: a trigger-happy douchebag focused only in engrossing his kill-count. Cortana? So forgotten that whenever she talks, nobody cares, not even the Chief. ...more

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Jan 11, 2008 Pika rated it liked it

Shelves: halo

The second book in the Halo series was not written by Eric Nylund, but by William c. Dietz. In my opinion, I think Eric Nylund is a better author, but since its a Halo book, that automatically makes it good. What was cool about this novel is that it's based on the actual game, so it was fun to say "Oh, I love that level." or "Haha, I always die there." The book answers the question "I wonder what Master Chief would do." because you can play exactly what happens in the book. One other thing is th ...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Zan rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: That which dies inside a man while he still lives

Recommended to Zan by: My Smelly Roommate

I hate myself for reading this book.

I needed something to distract myself from the joys of labor history, but choosing this was a terrible mistake. I think I read the sentence, "Master Chief threw a grenade" approximately 100000 times. I am so disgusted with myself.

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Apr 26, 2012 Ebenezer Arvigenius rated it did not like it

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 wri 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. ...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, books-i-own

Thankfully I read The Fall of Reach before I attempted this, otherwise I would have been hard pressed to understand how Master Chief could survive the sheer amount of carnage in this novel. The background provided on the Spartan project and, probably more importantly, the MJOLNIR armour, goes a long way in justifying some of the madness in this book. Those of you who have read Dietz before this will know that he is no slouch when it comes to writing military science fiction. I refer, especially, to h Thankfully I read The Fall of Reach before I attempted this, otherwise I would have been hard pressed to understand how Master Chief could survive the sheer amount of carnage in this novel. The background provided on the Spartan project and, probably more importantly, the MJOLNIR armour, goes a long way in justifying some of the madness in this book. Those of you who have read Dietz before this will know that he is no slouch when it comes to writing military science fiction. I refer, especially, to his Legion of the Damned books. So, an obvious choice then for the novelization of Halo - Combat Evolved. Again, like its prequel, this is a military science fiction novel, but with the emphasis squarely on action. I did enjoy the fact that Dietz wrote some sequences from the Covenant point of view. Reading this book in conjunction with Halopedia (the Halo wiki) is actually a great deal of fun, especially for someone (like me) who hasn't actually played the Halo games. This is a good way of finding out how the pesky aliens look, for example. The whole back story is pretty epic too.

So, pros. The action scenes are solid, although I enjoyed the battle scenes with the marines more than the scenes with Master Chief. I was reminded of the Legion books, but also of some of David Drake's stuff, maybe Redliners or something from the RCN series. The Halo construct, or array, is still fascinating, and we learn rather a lot in this novel as to its purpose. The Flood of the title, especially the despicable infection types, evoke emotions usually reserved for Ridley Scott's Xenomorph facehuggers. Revulsion and Fear, anyone?

And of course, cons. Yes, being based on a game, this book is pretty frantic, with mindless engagement following mindless engagement like clockwork. It's all here, from 'reloading' to 'weapon swapping'. Master Chief outdoes himself in this one, as far as the alien death toll is concerned. Coherence gets lost somewhere in the mix. In Dietz's defense, he was doing what was expected from him, writing the game (or re-writing someone else's story, if you will). Perhaps he should have another shot at a Halo title somewhere along the line, where he can have some creative freedom.

This is by no means a bad book, as far as I'm concerned. It's exactly what you would expect. I think Dietz has done as good a job as anyone could, given the same material. The series so far is truly enjoyable and I'll be digging in for Halo: First Strike soon. ...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Dakota rated it really liked it

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 ...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Mike Smith rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction

This book is the second in the series and not nearly as good as the first. This is not unexpected. This book, The Flood, is the novelization of the award-winning first-person-shooter (FPS) video game Halo. The first book was a prequel that gave the backstory and events leading up to the video game. It was able to cover a range of events such as the creation and training of the SPARTAN soldiers, ground battles, space battles, and character development. The Flood, however, has no choice but to fol ...more

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Nov 24, 2008 Stefan rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction

I much preferred the writing style in The Fall Of Reach, I felt that it was easier to immerse myself in, and I also felt the qaulity of dialogue was higher. It seemed Master Chief spent much time running from battle to battle, there were few back stories, and the whole book seemed less of a sequel and more of a half enthusiastic diversion to The Fall Of Reach. Overall, the character development were manageable (but in places alarming nonexistent), the setting were okay at the beginning but becam ...more

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Oct 10, 2010 Ken rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction, video-game-inspired

I felt that the Master Chief character deviated too much to the one created by Eric Nylund. Eric's Master Chief was more of a silent leader type but William's is more of a cocky gun-ho type.

The story is full of actions and plenty of supporting characters but seemed to be jumping around too much when telling the story from multiple points of view. I've never played the Halo game but I can imagine how the scenes play out on TV screen.

On the whole I thought this was a worthy ...more

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Dec 23, 2015 M Hamed rated it it was ok

Shelves: military-sci-fi, 2015

unlike the first book this felt like a direct novelization of the game play,with no story what so ever just mindless shooting after mindless shooting

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Aug 23, 2018 C.T. Phipps rated it it was amazing

Shelves: space-opera, halo

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 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.

My favorite storyline in the book is probably the tale of Yayap, a Grunt who is smarter than the majority of his cowardly brethren and tries to survive by rescuing an Elite soldier as a mission objective versus charging at Master Chief or his companions. Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse for him as he discovers said Elite wants to kill the Master Chief more than anything. He's also glad to have Yayap along!

I don't quite like this book as much as the other two 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 ...more

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Feb 15, 2017 Eric Farmer rated it liked it · review of another edition

I read a digital version of this book checked on from my local public library. I meant to finish it faster but I took a bit longer.

The book was OK. I would rate the book 3.5 stars if I could.

The book is a retelling of the game down to the dialogue being the same in some parts. The book adds some insight on the what was going on installation 04 (Halo) but nothing that really changes much. The ending is the same as the game. The only memorable characters are the same in the game. Capt ...more

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Aug 10, 2019 Trevor Corbin rated it really liked it

Novelization of the first Halo game that does an excellent job of retelling the story of the game without missing a beat, and all while adding an incredible amount of extra detail and plot points to an already exciting story.

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Apr 15, 2015 Ben rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The main problem with this book is that William Diez simply cannot write combat. Pretty much all the fights are either referred to in passing or we get something like, "Master Chief fired his gun, and the Grunts dropped dead." It's more like a wikipedia article, and the second problem is that the book is about 60% action; either that, or Chief walking around to get to the next bunch of enemies.

Deitz has somehow managed to make a super soldier fighting waves of aliens on a mystical and distant r ...more

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Oct 20, 2014 Jared Shilts rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. plot: Humanity is on its last leg, the human stronghold known as Reach has been destroyed, and all but one of the legendary "SPARTANs" is left alive. The Pillar of Autumn has evaded destruction from the alien Covenant by traveling at light speed to an unknown destination. Little does the crew of the star ship know that what they are about to uncover will change the course of history. Halo is a mysterious, dangerous ring world created by the Forerunners, a technologically advanced race of beings plot: Humanity is on its last leg, the human stronghold known as Reach has been destroyed, and all but one of the legendary "SPARTANs" is left alive. The Pillar of Autumn has evaded destruction from the alien Covenant by traveling at light speed to an unknown destination. Little does the crew of the star ship know that what they are about to uncover will change the course of history. Halo is a mysterious, dangerous ring world created by the Forerunners, a technologically advanced race of beings that abruptly disappeared from the galaxy. Worshiped by The Covenant, Halo is believed to be salvation and the final step to their "Great Journey". Now the Autumn must land on the massive structure and unlock it's secrets. Awoken to defend the ship and it's captain, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 has to fight the monstrous collection of the alien juggernaut. But the cyborg will have to muster every thing he has to defeat the enemies of the extinct Forerunners. The Chief will have to destroy The Flood, a parasite designed to infect the entire galaxy, only kept in check when the Forerunners sacrificed themselves 100,000 years ago. The super soldier soon encounters 343 Guilty Spark, a sentient hovering orb that is the steward of Installation 04, the ring they are on. In order to destroy the Flood, the Chief must acquire the Activation Index. With the "key", John will be able to initiate Halo and destroy The Flood. But the revelation he is about to hear will force the Master Chief and Spark to become enemies. The two characters arrive at the Control Room, a massive cavern designed to activate Halo for it's true purpose, to kill The Flood. Only the ring does not kill the parasite, Halo kills The Flood's prey. Human, Covenant, Forerunner; they are all equally edible. The Master Chief and his artificially intelligent counterpart known as Cortana have devised a plan to stop 343 Guilty Spark from activating the ring. They plan to use their old, grounded, unstable ship to destroy Installation 04. By downloading Captain Jacob Keyes' neural implants into the self destruct system of the Pillar, the pair of man and machine narrowly escape the explosion powerful enough to destroy The Pillar of Autumn, The Flood, and Halo. as the book and game simultaneously end, we find the Master Chief adrift in space, alone.

characterization: there are many other characters with the book. One very interesting role is Zuka Zamamee a Sangheili warrior tasked with raiding the Pillar of Autumn. The elite heads for the ship's bridge but before he can reach his destination, the Master Chief shoots him to near death, saved only by a small Unggoy named Yayap. The small alien dislikes having to risk his own life, but Yayap is forced to assist the Sangheili in their quest to kill the Chief. Throughout the book, the pair of aliens lay elaborate traps to catch the man. Their plans do not succeed and near the end of the story, Yayap betrays Zamamee and abandons him. Zamamee makes on last futile attempt for revenge against the "demon" and is killed. Yayap tries to escaped the crashed Pillar of Autumn and as he escapes in a vehicle, the creature is incinerated in the ship's blast as it destroys Halo. Zamamee is first described as a strong warrior with undoubted faith, but when the Chief harms the elite, he vows to get revenge. In the Covenant, any action like this is declared heresy and even if Zuka Zamamee escaped his death, he would be publicly executed upon his arrival home.

recommendation: This is my second favorite book under the Halo name(the first being Ghosts of Onyx)I enjoy how the author included the mindsets of so many characters, going so far by having the infected mind of Wallace A. Jenkins as he is a member of The Flood. I recommend this book to people that have read the first book, The Fall of Reach, and people that have finished Halo: Combat Evolved. I give this book FIVE STARS.

...more

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May 11, 2019 Sharkie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Meh.

I mean, look, I get it. It's a book based on a video game, and it's hard to write compelling stories about killing a lot of Flood.

But I think there could've been something more interesting. The plot was barely there, it was mostly just shooty shooty bang bang.

I feel like the setting is great, and it would make a brilliant original setting for a book. But this just felt very meh.

I have heard First Strike goes back to the vibe of Fall of Reach, so I will de ...more

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Feb 25, 2017 Michael rated it liked it

This is the second book in the Halo series. This one is by William C. Dietz. This one starts where Fall Of Reach left off. Reach has been destroyed and the only ship to escape is the Pillar Of Autumn with the Master Chief and Cortana, the super intelligent A.I. Also on the ship is Captain Keyes and his Navy crew and a contingent of Marines. This book starts out as a really good read with the story of the Pillar of Autumn's flight to escape Reach and their arrival at "Halo". Halo is a ring type a ...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Steven rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, science-fiction

It seems to be a novelization of the first Halo game (Halo - Combat Evolved), the only one I'd ever played. The plot involves an Earth-military spacecraft engaging an alien enemy known as the Covenant. The story flows much in the way as events in the game. Discussions about the science project that made Master Chief are explored, and a good deal of detailed warfare against the Covenant. The Halo ring in space contains a biological weapon known as the Flood and its presence in combat can tip the ...more

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Jun 25, 2008 Nathen rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Halo Gamers

supposedly this is the second book in the series. (The Fall Of Reach was the first one). It and the other books in this series are full of action and don't have a dull sentance in them. Ok maby one or two dull sentances but they are exciting books. These books are great for reading when you are stuck at home and board out of your mind. Or when you have a strong craving to play the game but can't.

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Nov 26, 2018 Niklas Braun rated it it was ok

After a very well written first book in this series, I was seriously disappointed in this book. The writing is so flat and unemotional. It seems like Dietz watch someone play Halo and just reported what he saw on the screen. Even the parts not in the game felt tacky and thrown in for fun. Not a good book.

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Aug 10, 2019 Terry Murphy rated it liked it · review of another edition

The Halo novels have been my first foray into extended universe reading. I have always toyed with the idea of exploring the worlds of my favourite fiction, but I've held back.

In some ways, it felt like a new, unexplored tier of my own geekiness. While I am an unabashed nerd, there are levels here, folks, and even I had balked.

I took the plunge last year when I picked up the first of the EU Halo novels, and realized that the shame was unwarranted. I also knew that the joy ...more

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Oct 05, 2019 Ned Armstrong rated it did not like it

Shelves: science-fiction

An absolutely terrible book. This is how it felt: "Master Chief looked to the right, then to the left. Noticing some grunts, he threw a plasma grenade near the "A" shaped structure. As two aliens exploded, he raced to the next checkpoint." It started out fine, then it clearly became a play-by-play of an action video game that I never have and never will play.

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May 24, 2012 04juliusr rated it really liked it

My childhood game, Halo: Combat Evolved, was what I would spend hundreds of virtual hours into because the fun in the Multiplayer was far too addicting than anything you could possibly imagine a child to cling on to. For an eight year old, I'd say I was a pretty good player, and when you're good at something, you tend to give into your curiosity and explore the deeper crevices. That happened to be the campaign. The Campaign, for all of those confused, is the story mode of the game, where all the My childhood game, Halo: Combat Evolved, was what I would spend hundreds of virtual hours into because the fun in the Multiplayer was far too addicting than anything you could possibly imagine a child to cling on to. For an eight year old, I'd say I was a pretty good player, and when you're good at something, you tend to give into your curiosity and explore the deeper crevices. That happened to be the campaign. The Campaign, for all of those confused, is the story mode of the game, where all the characters are and you play as them. They put you in the in the perspective of Master Chief, but in the book, it's not like its game counterpart on that part.

Master Chief, a human super-soldier, is in cryogenic sleep at the start of the novel. The Pillar of Autumn, just retreating from battle, has just entered through hyper-space and falls near the mysterious ring-world of Halo. Captain Keyes (the ship master) has ordered evacuation and demands that Master Chief be awaken from slumber. As ordered, Chief is awaken and put on a mission to get himself and Cortana (an Artificial Intelligence) out of the ship. Keyes plans to pilot the ship onto Halo. Chief and Cortana take an escape pod and land on Halo and fight their way to survivors and gather the remaining survivors.

Captain Keyes is believed to be held hostage on a ship called the Truth and Reconciliation. Chief clears the entire ship of enemies and rescues Keyes and the remaining survivors from the Pillar of Autumn and Keyes volunteers to drive an enemy drop ship and leave. Chief and Cortana arrive on the Silent Cartographer, which hold information on the Ring where they capture intelligence necessary to figuring out how it works.

Chief is later sent on a mission to retrieve Captain Keyes and find out he is captured by a force know as the Flood, a zombie-like species. He is taken by a Forerunner artifact named 343 Guilty Spark to retrieve a key that activates Halo. Successful, Chief returns to the control room of Halo, but Cortana convinces him to leave. Chief and Cortana later arrive back on the Pillar of Autumn wreckage and activate the engines and destroy them, causing a huge explosion. Chief takes a jeep and drives to a Longsword ship and escapes as the Flood and Covenant are destroyed on the ship.

So, I love this book, it was very entertaining to read over it after playing the campaign about twenty times. Just the inner nerd in my just lit up and cried. I was very impressed. I was expecting total a bull crap version that just totally butchered the game and series, but no. It was very good. The only problem I had of it was that Halo: Combat Evolved (the game) was very repetitive and I personally didn't like that part of the game. The book was similar in the levels in the game in the repetition, but that's the only flaw, really. Aside from a few story details being inaccurate, it was tolerable.

4 out 5. :) ...more

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About William C. Dietz

William C. Dietz

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New York Times bestselling author William C. Dietz has published more than fifty novels, some of which have been translated into German, Russian, and Japanese. He grew up in the Seattle area, served as a medic with the Navy and Marine Corps, graduated from the University of Washington, and has been employed as a surgical technician, college instructor, and television news writer, director and prod ...more

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Quotes from Halo: The Flood

“Take a look around,” the instructor had advised. “Ask yourself if there’s anyone else who is better qualified to do the job. Not in the entire galaxy, but right there, at that point in time. If the answer is ‘yes,’ ask them to accept command, and do everything you can to support them. If the answer is ‘no,’ which it will be ninety-nine percent of the time, then take your best shot. That’s all any of us can do.” — 2 likes

“First of all, the Captain rates the honorific ‘sir.’ You will render that honorific or I will plant my foot in your ass.” — 1 likes

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