Halo: The Flood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Flood | |
 1st edition cover |
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| 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 |
[edit] Plot
The novel, like the video game it is based on, begins as the Pillar of Autumn exits slipspace. Surprisingly, when the Autumn drops out of slipspace it encounters a massive ringworld hidden by a moon in orbit around a gas giant. 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.Instead, the Covenant are willing to sacrifice more lives in order to board and capture the ship. Meanwhile, technicians on the Autumn prepare for battle and awaken a single soldier from cryo sleep- a SPARTAN-II known as the Master Chief.
The Covenant board the Autumn; deprived of defensive options, the Autumn's captain, Jacob Keyes, 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. The Master Chief leaves for the surface of Halo in a lifeboat; other soldiers, including a squad of shock troops lead by Major Antonio Silva and his second-in-command, Melissa McKay, land by special drop pods, and take a strategic bluff from the Covenant to use as a base of operations. Captain Keyes is captured by the Covenant, and taken aboard the Covenant cruiser Truth and Reconciliation; 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. Escaping from the Covenant cruiser, Keyes gives the Master Chief the mission of finding the Control Room of Halo before the Covenant. 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. 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 Captain Keyes.
Dropped into the swamp where Keyes and his squad disappeared, the Master Chief discovers that the Captain has been captured and both human and Covenant soldiers have been turned into zombie-like creatures by bulbous aliens. One soldier, Private Wallace Jenkins, is left still semi-conscious and painfully aware of his predicament, unable to control his movement or actions as his former friends and he attack McKay's troops. Jenkins intends on ending his life, but is instead captured by McKay for study. The Chief is approached by Halo's resident A.I., 343 Guilty Spark, who informs the Chief that the creatures he has encountered are called the Flood, a virulent parasite that infects hosts and converts them into forms for combat. To activate Halo's defenses, Spark needs the Master Chief's help. In Halo's Control Room, Guilty Spark gives the Master Chief the key 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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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 directs the Chief to a fighter still docked in the Pillar of Autumn hangar. 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."
[edit] Reception
Reception to the book was somewhat mixed. Some found William C. Dietz's style of writing subpar when compared to Eric Nylund.[citation needed] Dietz's interpretation of the Master Chief, very different from Nylund's, was alternatively praised and hated.[4][citation needed] 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.[4] This sentiment was echoed by another reviewer, who said the book "turned a game of drudgery into a book of equal drudgery."[5] 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.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Flood (Halo). Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
- ^ a b Berardini, César (2003-05-02). Halo: The Flood becomes bestseller. teamxbox.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ Latest Mass Market Paperback Best-sellers. Publishers' Weekly (2003-04-28). Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ a b Matthews, Ryan (2003-04-05). Halo: The Flood. the-junkyard.net. Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
- ^ Carter, Josh (2006-01-01). Halo: The Flood. multipart-mixed.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
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