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Halo: The Flood

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The Flood

1st edition cover
Author William C. Dietz
Country United States
Language English
Series Halo
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publisher Del Rey
Publication date April 1, 2003[1]
Media type Print (Paperback)
Pages 352
ISBN ISBN 0-345-45921-0
Preceded by The Fall of Reach
Followed by First Strike

Halo: The Flood is a 2003 novel based on the 2001 Xbox video game Halo: Combat Evolved; it is the second Halo novel written, following Eric Nylund's 2001 prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, The Fall of Reach. It is largely an adaptation of the game's story by William C. Dietz. The novel depicts the struggle of the human crew of the ship Pillar of Autumn, who crashland on an ancient ring known as "Halo". The humans must fight against the Covenant, a collection of alien races bent on human extermination, as well as another terrifying force hidden on the ring, as they struggle to uncover Halo's secrets.[2] Although the book roughly follows the same events of the Xbox game, it also describes events and experiences seen through the eyes of people other than the Master Chief and the A.I. Cortana, the protagonists of the game. Since most of the video game's action is seen expressly through the Master Chief's eyes, the book fills in several holes in the plot, including what happened to the Marines on Halo. The book cracked the Top Ten Bestsellers List for Paperbacks upon its release.[3][2]

Contents

Storyline

Sections I to III

The novel, like the video game it is based on, begins as the UNSC cruiser Pillar of Autumn exits Slipspace after retreating from the fallen human bastion at Reach.[4] Surprisingly, when the Autumn drops out of slipspace it encounters a massive ringworld in orbit around a gas giant.[5] In the system are a host of Covenant, who notice the lone ship. A Prophet forbids the fleet to fire on the Autumn, for fear of damaging the ring.[6] Instead, the Covenant are willing to sacrifice more lives in order to board and capture the ship.[6] Meanwhile, technicians on the Autumn are preparing for battle and thawing out a single soldier from cryo sleep- a SPARTAN-II known as the Master Chief. The Covenant proceed to take out the Autumn's defenses and board the ship.[7] Deprived of defensive options, the Autumn's captain, Jacob Keyes, initiates Cole Protocol and tells the crew to abandon ship. The Master Chief is entrusted with the A.I. Cortana; given the wealth of tactical information the A.I. contains, Keyes cannot allow Cortana to fall into enemy hands.[7] The Chief fights through the Covenant invaders, reaches a lifeboat, and heads to the surface of the ringworld.[8] At the same time, a special contingent of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODSTs, leave the Autumn by "Human Entry Vehicles", which rocket the ODSTs to the surface.[9] On the ground, the ODST commander, Major Antonio Silva and his second-in-command, Melissa McKay, prepare to establish a ground base from where the human forces will launch their guerilla resistance against the Covenant. Silva is aided by a minor A.I. named Wellsley as they prepare to take a tall bluff from the Covenant.[10] Meanwhile, a Covenant Grunt named Yayap leads his squad into the Pillar of Autumn. Extremely cautious and cowardly by nature, Yayap and his team decide to rescue a Covenant Elite wounded by the Master Chief, rather than fight the humans. The five small aliens drag the Elite back to their craft and escape the deteriorating Autumn as it plunges into the ringworld's atmosphere.[11] The Master Chief lands on Halo and helps rescue Marines from their lifeboats. The ODSTs secure "Alpha Base" after a clash with Covenant forces. Captain Keyes is captured by the Covenant, and taken aboard the Covenant cruiser Truth and Reconciliation.[12] Yayap is rewarded for his rescue of the Elite, Zuka ’Zamamee, with a terribly dangerous assignment as the Elite's assistant.[13] The Master Chief and a squad of Marines board the Truth and Reconciliation, rescuing the captain. Keyes has learned that the ringworld they are on has vast significance to the Covenant- they believe that "Halo", as they call the ring, is a weapon of unimaginable power.[14] Escaping from the Covenant cruiser, Keyes gives the Master Chief the mission of finding the Control Room of Halo before the Covenant.[15] Meanwhile, Zuka ’Zamamee and Yayap are given permission to hunt for the Master Chief, but fails in several assassination attempts.[16] Meanwhile, Keyes, along with a squad of Marines, is dropped into a swamp in an effort to discover a weapons cache. Pushing deeper into a mysterious structure, the squad finds only dead Covenant. In a locked room, the squad discovers the cause of the fatalities- bulbous aliens that attempt to latch themselves onto the Marines. Despite being fragile, the sheer numbers of the creatures overwhelm all the soldiers,[17] tapping into their nervous systems and taking over their bodies. One soldier, Private Wallace Jenkins, is left still semi-conscious and painfully aware of his predicament, unable to control his movement or actions.[17]

Sections IV and V

The Master Chief and Cortana discover the location of the Control Room, and with the help of some Marines, insert Cortana into Halo's computer network.[18]However Cortana realizes that the ring is not a weapon as they understood at all- but before the Chief can press her with questions, Cortana tells the Master Chief to find the Captain, unaware that they are too late.[19] The Master Chief is dropped alone into the swamp where Keyes disappeared. Heading into the same structure, the Master Chief follows the subterranean passages down to the same room where Keyes and his men were attacked. The Chief recovers Jenkins' helmet, which contains a camera. Watching the recording of Jenkins' encounter with the Flood, the Master Chief is attacked by more of the balloon-like creatures.[20] The Chief fights his way back to the surface, where he encounters the horribly deformed remains of fellow Marines and Covenant Elites. Suddenly, the Chief is teleported away from the swamp by Halo's resident A.I., 343 Guilty Spark. The Master Chief is informed that the creatures he has encountered are called the Flood, a virulent parasite that infects its enemies to produce more of itself. Guilty Spark wishes to activate Halo's defenses to wipe out the Flood, but needs the Master Chief's help in recovering the "index" to the installation, which allows the activation of the ring. Fighting more and more Flood, the Chief recovers the Index and is teleported back to Halo's control room.[21] Meanwhile, the UNSC forces of Alpha Base are forced to defend themselves not just from Covenant, but from the new arrival of the Flood. One of the Flood that ambushes the Marines is the form of Jenkins, who wrests control of his body back from the Flood infection in an effort to throw himself into the line of fire.[22] McKay instead captures Jenkins in order to study the new enemies. Back in the Control Room, Guilty Spark gives the Master Chief the Index to activate Halo, but is stopped by a furious Cortana. Cortana explains that Halo is a weapon, but it doesn't kill the Flood- it kills their food, meaning humans, Covenant, and any other sentient life.[23] Realizing that they have to stop Guilty Spark from activating Halo, Cortana and the Master Chief decide to destroy Halo by detonating the crash-landed Pillar of Autumn's fusion reactors.[24] In order to do this, they need Captain Keyes' neural implants. Cortana discovers the Captain is still alive, held prisoner once again aboard the Truth and Reconciliation, now in the hands of the Flood who are trying to escape Halo.[25] The Chief fights Covenant and Flood to the Captain, but finds out he is too late- the Captain has been assimilated into the parasite. The Chief retrieves the implants and leaves the Truth for the Autumn.[26]

Section VI

While the Chief and Cortana head to the Autumn, Alpha Base is evacuated. Silva decides to retake the Truth and Reconciliation and pilot the ship away in order to avoid being on Halo when the Autumn blows.[27] The ship is taken successfully, but McKay realizes that Silva is blinded by the thought of promotion and glory to the danger of the Flood; if even one Flood specimen escaped containment on Earth, the entire planet could fall.[28] Jenkins draws McKay's attention to a vital energy line on the ship, and realizing that the destruction of the Flood is more important then Silva's promotion, cuts the cable, sending the Truth and Reconciliation crashing into Halo, killing all aboard.[29] At the Autumn, the Master Chief is forced to destabilize the fusion reactors manually as 343 Guilty Spark and his robotic Sentinels try to stop them. Once the countdown until detonation has begun, Cortana radios for dropship evacuation, but the transport is shot down by Covenant aircraft. ’Zamamee attempts to ambush the Chief, but is killed by a hail of grenades.[30] Seeking other options, Cortana directs the Chief to a fighter still docked in the Pillar of Autumn hangar.[31] Gunning the engines, the Chief and Cortana escape the ring just as the Autumn explodes, ending the threat of the Flood. Cortana scans for survivors and realizes that they are seemingly the only two who have survived. Cortana tells the Master Chief that the fight is finished, to which the Chief replies, "No. I think we're just getting started."[32]

Reception

Reception to the book was somewhat mixed. Some found William C. Dietz's style of writing subpar when compared to Eric Nylund. Dietz's interpretation of the Master Chief, very different from Nylund's, was alternatively praised and hated.[33] Others criticized how the novel did not depart enough from the game's storyline; one reviewer noted that "the game was designed with gameplay in mind, but the excitement of killing hundreds of aliens starts to become tiresome in the book" due to repetitious fight scenes.[33] This sentiment was echoed by another reviewer, who said the book "turned a game of drudgery into a book of equal drudgery."[34] However the story's embracing of different and new characters, as well as telling the story of the Marines at Alpha Base, was well-received.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Flood (Halo). Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
  2. ^ a b Berardini, César (2003-05-02). Halo: The Flood becomes bestseller. teamxbox.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  3. ^ Latest Mass Market Paperback Best-sellers. Publishers' Weekly (2003-04-28). Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  4. ^ (2001) in Bungie: Halo: Combat Evolved Instruction Manual (in English). Microsoft Game Studios, 14. 
  5. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 9. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  6. ^ a b Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 6. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  7. ^ a b Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 21. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  8. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 32. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  9. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 29. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  10. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 40. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  11. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 28. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  12. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 77. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  13. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 53. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  14. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 102. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  15. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 103. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  16. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 126. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  17. ^ a b Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 155. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  18. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 170. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  19. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 171. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  20. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 182. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  21. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 221. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  22. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 221. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  23. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 227. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  24. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 230. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  25. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 253. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  26. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 270. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  27. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 264. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  28. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 290. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  29. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 291. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  30. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 294. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  31. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 298. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  32. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books, 300. ISBN 0-345-45921-0. 
  33. ^ a b Matthews, Ryan (2003-04-05). Halo: The Flood. the-junkyard.net. Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
  34. ^ Carter, Josh (2006-01-01). Halo: The Flood. multipart-mixed.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
 •  • e
Halo series
Main trilogy Halo: Combat Evolved · Halo 2 · Halo 3
Other games Halo Wars · Halo: Chronicles · Halo ActionClix
Novelizations and other media The Fall of Reach · The Flood · First Strike · Ghosts of Onyx · Contact Harvest · Halo Graphic Novel · Halo: Uprising
Music Halo Original Soundtrack · Halo 2 Original Soundtrack · Halo 3 Original Soundtrack
Information and fiction Official games and media · Characters
Promotion I Love Bees · Marketing for Halo 3 (Iris)

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Halo: The Flood from Wíkipedia. ©2006 by Wíkipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. View a list of authors or edit this article.

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