This is a story I worked on for three years and put a lot of work into. I labored to stay within canon to a point where after Halo Reach came out I added new chapters to account for the altered timeline. This is the story of Kathleen 113 and her soldiers, the ODSS. After being split off from the other Spartan IIs following the augmentations Kathleen trains a new set of soldiers to be part Spartan, part ODST. ODSS follows the exploits of the Orbital Drop Shock Spartans as they fight rebels, Covenant, and even the flood.
Alright, I’m about halfway through at this point, I might as well give you some thoughts on it.
I kinda like it. While it’s no masterpiece, it’s kept me entertained, and although some bits drag on, I’d still give it a 7/10 so far.
Some bits didn’t make much sense, like Kathleen saying everyone who isn’t a soldier is selfish? Doesn’t make much sense.
Also, the part where Kathleen says she thinks it’s wrong not to face the enemy head on is bizarre, especially consider she infiltrated the rebels and shot them while their backs were turned. Worth noting that’s a war crime as well. So is giving orders to leave no survivors.
Sure, you may say “It’s the future, different rules”, but considering the UNSC was originally just the UN, I don’t think that’s likely.
> Alright, I’m about halfway through at this point, I might as well give you some thoughts on it.
>
> I kinda like it. While it’s no masterpiece, it’s kept me entertained, and although some bits drag on, I’d still give it a 7/10 so far.
>
> Some bits didn’t make much sense, like Kathleen saying everyone who isn’t a soldier is selfish? Doesn’t make much sense.
Well Kathleen has a unique view of being a soldier. She was impacted personally by the rebels from an early age so to her if you don’t do your part to stop the rebels then she thinks you’re not doing enough. It doesn’t have to make sense to you, it’s her personal view of things, not yours, so it doesn’t really have to be logical to you.
> Also, the part where Kathleen says she thinks it’s wrong not to face the enemy head on is bizarre, especially consider she infiltrated the rebels and shot them while their backs were turned. Worth noting that’s a war crime as well. So is giving orders to leave no survivors.
>
> Sure, you may say “It’s the future, different rules”, but considering the UNSC was originally just the UN, I don’t think that’s likely.
The rebels and the covenant aren’t at all the same. The Covenant they faced a lot more up front than they did the rebels and her mission against the rebels was a direct order to be secretive. What the UNSC does doesn’t really matter as special ops missions are ONI, who kidnapped six-year-olds, indoctrinated them, tortured and augmented them, so I don’t think they care much about war crimes. Also it’s not really the UN, it’s just the united naval power of all the nations. It’s the same as the alliance. The UNSC is not a peace organization, it’s a military.
> > Alright, I’m about halfway through at this point, I might as well give you some thoughts on it.
> >
> > I kinda like it. While it’s no masterpiece, it’s kept me entertained, and although some bits drag on, I’d still give it a 7/10 so far.
> >
> > Some bits didn’t make much sense, like Kathleen saying everyone who isn’t a soldier is selfish? Doesn’t make much sense.
>
> Well Kathleen has a unique view of being a soldier. She was impacted personally by the rebels from an early age so to her if you don’t do your part to stop the rebels then she thinks you’re not doing enough. It doesn’t have to make sense to you, it’s her personal view of things, not yours, so it doesn’t really have to be logical to you.
But wasn’t she recruited and raised by Halsey, a civilian?
Anyway, I finished it, and I have one main problem with it:
(Spoilers and -Yoink-, BTW)
No-one acts like they’re in a war which may drive humanity to extinction. They make jokes while surrounded by the dead bodies of civilians. At one point James gets his arm blown off, yet no-one really cares, and it’s never brought up again and his arm magically grows back. The squad magically survive every encounter they’re placed in. Not one of them die, making any real emotional connection to them impossible. Early on, someone complains about killing fish for no reason, yet he oddly has no moral qualms about killing actual people. There are no major questions or ethical dilemmas brought up, it just boils down to “The squad killed all of the Innies/Covies/Flood and then moved onto the next area” and the lack of any major injury (besides aforementioned arm) or death (Except for the very end) make the squad come off as either mary-sues or Saturday morning cartoon heroes. I dunno, maybe it’s just that Konrad will only stop telling me what a horrible person I am until I convince everyone not to glorify violence, and that won’t happen until every single person involved in the production of COD:Ghosts is arrested for trying to set fire to all of South America.
If all you wanted to was have a dumb action novel that has the squad blow up -Yoink-, then I’ll accept that it’s a noble endeavour, and some of the action sequences were actually pretty good, and it was for the most part well written. Hell, this problem with the tone not really fitting the setting is something that the Halo games suffer from a lot.
To sum up, this is basically a Shane Schofield novel if none of the marines died. Problem is, I find the redshirts the most entertaining part of them , as there is actual tension as to whether they escape or not, while it’s practically guaranteed for Schofield. Here, Schofield’s invulnerability is extended to everyone, and it starts to drag on, since I realized it would be ages until anyone died, and then only one person did, and by then I had stopped caring.
Overall, I give it 5/10. Slap-bang in the average section; “Meh”.
I would say it’s far better than some stories that are actually officially licensed halo novels, at least. Cough the flood Cough
> But wasn’t she recruited and raised by Halsey, a civilian?
No,the Spartans weren’t raised by Halsey. Halsey wasn’t really as important to them as you might think. They also had families before they became Spartans, something Kathleen didn’t drop. Her parents were the thing that drove her in her training.
> Anyway, I finished it, and I have one main problem with it:
>
> (Spoilers and Yoink!, BTW)
>
> No-one acts like they’re in a war which may drive humanity to extinction. They make jokes while surrounded by the dead bodies of civilians. At one point James gets his arm blown off, yet no-one really cares, and it’s never brought up again and his arm magically grows back. The squad magically survive every encounter they’re placed in. Not one of them die, making any real emotional connection to them impossible. Early on, someone complains about killing fish for no reason, yet he oddly has no moral qualms about killing actual people. There are no major questions or ethical dilemmas brought up, it just boils down to “The squad killed all of the Innies/Covies/Flood and then moved onto the next area” and the lack of any major injury (besides aforementioned arm) or death (Except for the very end) make the squad come off as either mary-sues or Saturday morning cartoon heroes. I dunno, maybe it’s just that Konrad will only stop telling me what a horrible person I am until I convince everyone not to glorify violence, and that won’t happen until every single person involved in the production of COD:Ghosts is arrested for trying to set fire to all of South America.
What do you expect them to do, spend decades falling into deep depressions with what their life is? Did you not play Halo 3: ODST and realize what ODST are like. They have to joke like that or else they would go insane. And the one you’re referring to, the one that didn’t want to kill the fish, is Max and that was before their training had really started. He doesn’t go out of his way to kill things, though he has no problem killing the Covenant as he’s more interested in saving humans but he’s a soldier, and they have to kill. Why do people have to die for you to be emotionally connected to them? None of the soldiers in ODST died and I felt very connected to all of them.
I’ll ask you a question. What’s the major question or ethical dilemma brought up by Fall of Reach? First Strike? Any of the Halo games? None, because that’s not what the series is about. Halo is an action series, and you must have missed the underlying story about a human who puts her hatred aside to become friends with someone she wanted desperately to kill and although she struggles still screws up sometimes. Why does there have to be a big question? It’s a story. Stories don’t have to be all about the big questions. In fact name one Halo book that’s major focus was a major question or ethical dilemma, and don’t say Kilo-five because those were judgmental of a breach of ethics but not actually a wondering on the ethics.
You must have missed at Reach where she was nearly killed, when she almost killed Edward,when they almost died on High Charity, and a lot of smaller injuries. James did have his arm blasted off, and if you’ll remember that took him out of the fight. It wasn’t no big deal, it was what took him out of the fight. I’ll also have you remember that the same thing happened to James, the Spartan II. They have the ability to replace limbs. People often forget that because of Kat’s prosthetic but she only took that because it was faster. James was willing to wait.
Maybe you’re interested in the wrong series. Halo is extremely violent, but it’s a nessisary violence. It’s to save people, to try to make peace. If you want a game that doesn’t glorify violence play hohokum. Even PVZ is violent. This isn’t about glorifying violence, Kathleen is not someone you should hope to be. Other than her confidence in who she is at the core. Other than that she’s a soldier who gave herself over to the violence to try to prevent is from reaching others.
> If all you wanted to was have a dumb action novel that has the squad blow up Yoink!, then I’ll accept that it’s a noble endeavor, and some of the action sequences were actually pretty good, and it was for the most part well written. Hell, this problem with the tone not really fitting the setting is something that the Halo games suffer from a lot.
Dumb seems a bit mean but it is an action novel, like all Halo novels. I’d have to agree with the tone being wrong for the entirety of Halo. I think it suits it perfectly. It’s a series about a person giving everything he can to try to save his race. I’ll say that COD does glorify it but that’s because it’s senseless violence with a dumb plot. Halo has a bigger story, one that’s not just shoot things mindlessly.
> To sum up, this is basically a Shane Schofield novel if none of the marines died. Problem is, I find the redshirts the most entertaining part of them , as there is actual tension as to whether they escape or not, while it’s practically guaranteed for Schofield. Here, Schofield’s invulnerability is extended to everyone, and it starts to drag on, since I realized it would be ages until anyone died, and then only one person did, and by then I had stopped caring.
>
> Overall, I give it 5/10. Slap-bang in the average section; “Meh”.
>
> I would say it’s far better than some stories that are actually officially licensed halo novels, at least. Cough the flood Cough
Is people dying the only thing that makes a good story for you? Admittedly because you know the plot of the other books it takes away some of the surprise, but that’s what I had to do. I wasn’t going to break canon just so I could do some big thing. I’ll also point out that both Maria and Saran die. For Kathleen for years all the Spartans were dead as well.
The Flood was a bad novel. Though that’s what they get for trying to make the exact game into a novel.