The one and only novelization in the Halo Universe, Halo: The Flood accurately portrays not only the events in the game, but the Marines and Covenant as they all deal with each other on Installation 04. Written by William C. Deitz, a former Navy and Marine Corps medic, Deitz portrays the Marines with in-depth characterizations instead of the unhelpful idiots the NPCs (non-playable characters) are in game. As the fortress wold of Reach and its brave defenders were bombarded to rubble, a single cruiser fled the carnage with the battle's only human survivors--Captain Keyes, his crew of a few hundred Marines, and the last remaining SPARTAN super-soldier, the Master Chief. With the cruiser's artificial intelligence, Cortana, concealed in his battle armor, the Master Chief crash-lands on Halo in the midst of a massive Covenant occupation. Curiously, the alien soldiers appear to be searching for something hidden on the ring. Built by a long-dead race, Halo harbors many dead secrets, but one overshadows them all. Now the Master Chief must lead the scattered troops in a brutal race to unravel Halo's darkest mystery--and unleash its greatest source of power...
I'm barely going to mention the game-stuff as anyone familiar with the game is all ready familiar with it. I'm going to talk about the rest of it. So, the novel opens up with a tech officer unsealing the Master Chief while Keyes and Cortana fight the Covenant Task Force in orbit above Halo. A Sangheili warrior is tasked with capturing Keyes for information that may lead them to Earth. Needless to say, Foehammer, the rest of the pilots and Marines and ODSTs exit the ship. The Master Chief and Keyes also exit and everyone ends up stranded. Keyes is captured by the Covenant by a betrayal from a fellow officer. Major Silva takes a Covenant base and converts it to the humans headquarters. The Master Chief and Cortana rendezvous with Staff Sergeant Johnson and pick up the remaining stranded Marines. Back at base, Silva berates the Master Chief for being a freak and shows hatred for the entire SPARTAN-II program. Then, they form a plan to rescue Keyes. It's a hit and the Covenant react slowly to stop the Master Chief and a squad of Marines from their task.
The next day, The Master Chief and Cortana try and secure the Silent Cartographer while Keyes, with Johnson and his Marines attempt to take a weapons cache. It turns out to be home to something horrible and it kills everyone but Johnson, Keyes, and Jenkins. Cortana and the Master Chief find the Cartographer and head to a terminal on a snowy mountainous level where Cortana informs the Chief that Keyes is in trouble. The Master Chief arrives to find the half-dead Marines which try and kill him. With the help of 343 Guilty Spark, the Master Chief manages to retrieve the Index. Major Silva, meanwhile, is pissed with the Chief because a lot of Marines died when a Sangheili named Zuka 'Zamamee and his team of special operations Unggoy and Sangheili infiltrate the human's base and kill them while looking for the Master Chief whom they call the Demon. Zuka's Unggoy friend, Yayap, are the only survivors from that attempt and head to the remains of the Pillar of Autumn to wait for the Master Chief.
After taking down three energy pylons, the Master Chief heads for the Truth and Reconciliation's remains to rescue Keyes. They're too late and the Chief takes his neural relays to find the Autumn. Meanwhile, the humans have captured the Flood-form of Jenkins. Jenkins keeps trying to kill himself because he knows he's a threat. Silva wants to bring back a live member of each Flood-form for Earth to study. Another officer, after the Chief cleared out Truth and Reconciliation, arms a frag grenade and blows up the ship, killing all the Marines. The Master Chief destroys the Autumn's engines, much to the displeasure of 343 Guilty Spark, and kills Zuka along the way to the docked Longsword. Halo detonates and the Master Chief and Cortana sit the explosion out in the safety of space.
All in all, a very well crafted novel from William C. Deitz. He writes believable characters and situations that could very easily have been cut-scenes in the game. Reading this novel always makes me want to replay the game.
I'm barely going to mention the game-stuff as anyone familiar with the game is all ready familiar with it. I'm going to talk about the rest of it. So, the novel opens up with a tech officer unsealing the Master Chief while Keyes and Cortana fight the Covenant Task Force in orbit above Halo. A Sangheili warrior is tasked with capturing Keyes for information that may lead them to Earth. Needless to say, Foehammer, the rest of the pilots and Marines and ODSTs exit the ship. The Master Chief and Keyes also exit and everyone ends up stranded. Keyes is captured by the Covenant by a betrayal from a fellow officer. Major Silva takes a Covenant base and converts it to the humans headquarters. The Master Chief and Cortana rendezvous with Staff Sergeant Johnson and pick up the remaining stranded Marines. Back at base, Silva berates the Master Chief for being a freak and shows hatred for the entire SPARTAN-II program. Then, they form a plan to rescue Keyes. It's a hit and the Covenant react slowly to stop the Master Chief and a squad of Marines from their task.
The next day, The Master Chief and Cortana try and secure the Silent Cartographer while Keyes, with Johnson and his Marines attempt to take a weapons cache. It turns out to be home to something horrible and it kills everyone but Johnson, Keyes, and Jenkins. Cortana and the Master Chief find the Cartographer and head to a terminal on a snowy mountainous level where Cortana informs the Chief that Keyes is in trouble. The Master Chief arrives to find the half-dead Marines which try and kill him. With the help of 343 Guilty Spark, the Master Chief manages to retrieve the Index. Major Silva, meanwhile, is pissed with the Chief because a lot of Marines died when a Sangheili named Zuka 'Zamamee and his team of special operations Unggoy and Sangheili infiltrate the human's base and kill them while looking for the Master Chief whom they call the Demon. Zuka's Unggoy friend, Yayap, are the only survivors from that attempt and head to the remains of the Pillar of Autumn to wait for the Master Chief.
After taking down three energy pylons, the Master Chief heads for the Truth and Reconciliation's remains to rescue Keyes. They're too late and the Chief takes his neural relays to find the Autumn. Meanwhile, the humans have captured the Flood-form of Jenkins. Jenkins keeps trying to kill himself because he knows he's a threat. Silva wants to bring back a live member of each Flood-form for Earth to study. Another officer, after the Chief cleared out Truth and Reconciliation, arms a frag grenade and blows up the ship, killing all the Marines. The Master Chief destroys the Autumn's engines, much to the displeasure of 343 Guilty Spark, and kills Zuka along the way to the docked Longsword. Halo detonates and the Master Chief and Cortana sit the explosion out in the safety of space.
All in all, a very well crafted novel from William C. Deitz. He writes believable characters and situations that could very easily have been cut-scenes in the game. Reading this novel always makes me want to replay the game.
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