The Flood [Paperback]

William C. Dietz (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (April 1, 2003)
• ASIN: B001JDOZL2
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (145 customer reviews)

More About the Author

William C. Dietz is the best-selling author of more than thirty science fiction novels some of which have been translated into German, Russian, and Japanese. He grew up in the Seattle area, spent time with the Navy and Marine Corps as a medic, graduated from the University of Washington, lived in Africa for half a year, and has traveled to six continents. Dietz has been employed as a surgical technician, college instructor, news writer, television producer and Director of Public Relations and Marketing for an international telephone company. He writes full-time and lives with his wife in Washington State. For more information about William C. Dietz and his work visit: williamcdietz.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good adaption, but not as good as The Fall of Reach..., April 9, 2003

By 

errorfound482 "errorfound482" (Walla, walla Washington) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Flood (Halo #2) (Mass Market Paperback)

The author does a good job bringing the game into the book -- complete with most of the dialogue and quotes you hear with the game and the book adds a great dimension to the events happening on Halo.

However - just as the game - it's very action-oriented with a majority of the book being about how he tosses a grenade and sidesteps. Focusing on the action instead of the story or characterization gets a little boring. The first book really lets you get to know the characters AND lets you get in on the action.

Also, the other difference from the first book is that in "The Fall of Reach", the Covenant are tough and mysterious, making them interesting. "The Flood", the Covenenant are pretty dumb and easy to kill, which... well, which makes them dumb (regular marines puts them down with a bullet). Master Chief is inexplicably a lot less strong here also. It's like "The Fall of Reach" was played on HEROIC or LEGENDARY level, while the setting for "The Flood" was EASY level.

This is still a good read (unlike other series such as the STARCRAFT line), and you'll love it as long as you don't get your hopes up.

40 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Really Bad Book, May 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Flood (Halo #2) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was excited to read The Flood because I really enjoyed the Fall of Reach (the first Halo book) and was looking forward to a new installment in the Master Chief's adventures. The great thing about the Fall of Reach was the creative license taken by that author to create a new universe and to explain the origins of the Master Chief as well as the war with the Covenant. Unfortunately, The Flood is more of a walk-through of Halo, the video game, then a good story. In my opinion, the author abandoned artistic license in his attempt to reproduce a level by level description of the game. At many points while reading the book I found myself wondering if the author wrote the story based on notes he took while watching someone play the video game.

The story-line in the book suffers from several major defects, including, but not limited to: (1) stilted adherence to the many missions and sub-missions found in the video game, including the necessity in many cases that each wave be separated by a door which the Chief must open, (2) the inclusion of automated non-player dialog found in the video game, (3) repetitious battle scenes between the Chief and the unending waves of enemies attacking the Master Chief (even the author starts describing these as "all too familiar"), (4) repetitious descriptions of weapon selection (switching from shotgun to rifle and back again) and reloading, (5) the Master Chief's unexplained inability to carry more than two weapons at time, even for short distances (even though the armor provides him with enough strength to flip over a jeep laying on its side), and (6) the ever present availability of reloads and replacement weapons. These aspects may make for great game play, but they make for a lousy book.

A better story would have been one which follows the essential elements of the game's story line but which provided a more detailed account of the actions taken by the Master Chief, the Marines and the Covenant.

When a movie is made into a video game, the video game must make certain sacrifices from the original story so as to improve game play. The opposite is also true: an action oriented video-game does not contain the level of character development necessary to support a written story line. In the case of The Flood, the author should have eliminated most of the game-play scenes (which provide minimal detail and maximum action) and created a more detail oriented story with better story and character development. I would recommend another of the author's books "Legion of the Damned" as a good example (think: The French Foreign Legion in space).

Do we really need chapter after chapter of the Master Chief shooting up wave after wave of the Flood, then Covenant, then Protectors, then all three combined? Much of this could have been eliminated in favor of a few strong chapters of story development. The story is so stilted in remaining loyal to the game that an observant reader can almost detect where level changes and cut scenes would have occurred in the video game.

I strongly recommend against this buying The Flood and I do not consider it to be a true sequel to the Fall of Reach. Play the game instead, you'll get the same exact story either way. Buyer beware.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine book, just not what i was expecting, April 20, 2003

By 

Sir Poom A Lot (Coto de Caza,CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Flood (Halo #2) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've beaten Halo multiple times. No, i don't own the game. Yes, i've read the "Fall of Reach", yes, "The Flood" isn't perfect. I like this book, but it doesn't deserve a 5. The Master Chief seems...weak. The battles aren't written "right". IT skips thru verrrrrrrrrry important levels in diologue like "he ran through many corridors filled with covenant and flood. He took them out. After the 20th corridor..."
It bugs me. I like it. i don't love it.

On to the good:
"the flood" has a MUCH deeper storyline than the game. You learn things that weren't in it, and it make you want to play the game through parts that you already have beaten, just to hear "that one crucial line". The Master Chief is shown as an emotionless person, good or bad? You're choice. The ending about the marines is simply breathtaking. Cap'n Keyes is strict, and Cortana is funny. The flood are...well, they're the flood. Freaky creatures that need phsyciotrists. And food. The twists in this book are nothing new if you have beaten the game, but it makes you gasp if you haven't. A great companion with the "Fall of Reach", a completely awesome 5 star official prequel to the book and the game.Although "the flood" is slightly dissapointing, it's an awesome read. Buy it.