So I just finished "The Flood"

Community Halo Universe
#1

I just finished The Flood recently. Was anyone else disappointed with this one? Especially having just finished Fall of Reach.
First of all, during the parts of the book that are in Combat Evolved, it feels like the author is just trying to rush through them and uses “dropped a frag, gore happened, finished them off with 7.62mm rounds, etc” … just to move the story along. Parts were okay, but it felt forced and lacked any sort of literary flow.

I know at the time, there wasn’t much to Chief’s personality, and that was on purpose for reasons of immersive gaming. But Chief seems way out of character, the author adds dialog that makes him seem like an apathetic sarcastic wise-a**. What with all the “Let’s just get this over with.”
The Chief I know blindly does whatever Cortana asks of him, crazy or not, but in this book, well, here’s an excerpt regarding the 1st Pulse Generator in “Two Betrayals”:

> “I have to walk into that thing?” the Chief inquired
> doubtfully. “Isn’t there some easier way to commit suicide?”
> “You’ll be fine,” Cortana replied soothingly. “I’m almost sure of it.”

And could you picture Chief saying this:

> “I didn’t know you, Sarge, but I sure as hell
> wish I had. You must have been one hard-core son of a b*tch.”

Or

> Spark:“Oh, hello! I’m a genius.”
> Chief:“Right. And I’m a Vice Admiral.”

Chief to me is cautious, patient, curious, considerate, and quiet. He’s not a loudmouth like me who blurts out everything on his mind half the time. He listens and learns. He’s a man of few words and he’s certainly not judgmental.
During Cortana’s “breakdowns” in Halo 4, the way he spoke to her was pretty much to the book how one deals with people going through episodic schizophrenia. Calm, patient, and understanding.

I guess what I’m saying is, in The Flood, Master Chief’s behavior and dialog was something I’d expect more from a Sarah Palmer or Emile character.
I’m about to start First Strike and I can only hope it’s as good Fall of Reach.
I did enjoy the non-Combat Evolved story about the ODSTs and McKay and Silva and Keye’s flood-mind; that was the book’s redeeming factor.

#2

You think that’s OOC, you should have seen some of the dialogue he had in Halo 3’s original script!

#3

> You think that’s OOC, you should have seen some of the dialogue he had in Halo 3’s original script!

Do you have some examples of his dialogue or perhaps a copy of the script by any chance?

OP, I agree about Chief’s dialogue. I never finished The Flood, it just didn’t have that spark that interested me like the other novels. Shame really. I have a compulsive need to finish things as well so thats kind of a big deal.

#4

As much as people dislike Travis’s writing and 343’s new direction with the story. The Flood was the absolute pits. To put it into perspective the same author did so poorly writing a novel for Mass Effect that they had to strike it entirely from canon.

He made the one gay character in the novel straight
Aged up the Characters by something like 5 years
Had the main character “Grow out of” -Yoink!-

There is a google doc with all his errors and it is actually horrendous. Three pages long with major canon errors, plot holes, and then minor details.

#5

> As much as people dislike Travis’s writing and 343’s new direction with the story. The Flood was the absolute pits. To put it into perspective the same author did so poorly writing a novel for Mass Effect that they had to strike it entirely from canon.
>
> He made the one gay character in the novel straight
> Aged up the Characters by something like 5 years
> Had the main character “Grow out of” -Yoink!-
>
>
> There is a google doc with all his errors and it is actually horrendous. Three pages long with major canon errors, plot holes, and then minor details.

Bloody hell really? Which novel is that?

#6

> Bloody hell really? Which novel is that?

He honestly shouldn’t be allowed near another franchise for the rest of his writing career.

Deception here is the list.

#7

> As much as people dislike Travis’s writing and 343’s new direction with the story. The Flood was the absolute pits. To put it into perspective the same author did so poorly writing a novel for Mass Effect that they had to strike it entirely from canon.
>
> He made the one gay character in the novel straight
> Aged up the Characters by something like 5 years
> Had the main character “Grow out of” -Yoink!-
>
>
> There is a google doc with all his errors and it is actually horrendous. Three pages long with major canon errors, plot holes, and then minor details.

Amen to that. The only good thing that Dietz gave us was Yayap, and I’m half convinced that was a case of Monkeys with Typewriters, as the saying goes.

#8

> Amen to that. The only good thing that Dietz gave us was Yayap, and I’m half convinced that was a case of Monkeys with Typewriters, as the saying goes.

God I loved Yayap R.I.P. little guy you were one of the best grunts in Halo history.

#9

i really love some parts of the flood but is still the 2nd worst halo book in my opinion still i think you should try to come back to it in time.

#10

Personally I found The Flood to be the best novel but to each there own.

#11

Everyone is going to have their own opinion on everything. It’s not the worst Halo book, but it’s not the best either.

#12

I didn’t find The Flood very enlightning or interesting. The only plot line I considered worth it was Zuka and Yayap’s.

#13

My only criticism of the novel was that the combat got very tedious, very often.

I admit that the Chief’s “shift” in personality was a little disarming, but one should consider the circumstances in which he was in. All of his friends were thought dead, he was stranded on an ancient ringworld with Spark only giving him half-explanations, and he was truly alone for perhaps the first time in his life, fighting hundreds of a new and deadly alien parasite. John was no doubt somewhat angry and frustrated, even if he did a fairly good job of staying composed, and his personality would be a little “off”.

Of course, that’s probably not the reason why Dietz portrayed the Chief in this way, and it was most likely just a writing oversight, but it sometimes helps to interpret things for yourself. In any case, The Flood was not a bad novel by any sense of the word; it did what it was supposed to do: novelize Halo CE.

#14

huh I must be crazy. The flood was my favourite book. The only problem I had with it were the chapters were rather long compared to Nylund’s books (not a big problem).

With his remarks to the dead marine, this is just me speculating but he when he says he wishes he could have known him he probably means “you would have made an excellent spartan”

I’d probably be a little out of character too if I was stranded on an ancient alien ring world having to fight through endless hordes of mind eating zombies and covenant.

#15

If it weren’t for the Kilo-5 Trilogy, The Flood would be what’s at the bottom of the list in terms of the Halo books and the one I would consider the absolute worst. Too many silly things in it to even begin listing, I didn’t even find the parts from the perspectives of other characters who weren’t Chief to be all that interesting. Not as bad for the Halo series as the book Mass Effect: Deception was for the Mass Effect series, The Flood and Deception were written by the same author, and man, he really screwed that one up. Bioware had to come in after Deception was done and say the book was no longer canon and IIRC, that it was going to be edited to line it up with canon.

> You think that’s OOC, you should have seen some of the dialogue he had in Halo 3’s original script!

Is this the one that you mean? http://forums.qj.net/xbox-360-games/19667-halo-3-script-revealed.html

The one that was confirmed to be fake back when it first came out?

#16

I liked it.

I liked the Covie’s and Jenkin’s perspectives.

Every time I play the Library mission, I always think about that marine that died there.

Now, that main reason I probably liked it was because my favorite enemy in Halo, the Flood, played a major part in it.

Oh, and Hunger…

#17

> Oh, and Hunger…

That little morsel was pure genius.