Reception
Reception to the book was mixed. Some reviewers found William C. Dietz's style of writing subpar when compared to that of Eric Nylund. Dietz's interpretation of the Master Chief, very different from Nylund's, was alternatively praised and hated. Other critics took issue with how the novel did not depart enough from the game's storyline; Ryan Matthews of gaming site The Junkyard.net stated 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. This sentiment was echoed by another reviewer, who said that "Dietz takes all the drudgery of the game and translates it, nearly verbatim, into a book of equal drudgery." Fans complained about inconsistencies with the other novels and the game itself.
More positively, the story's embracing of different and new characters, as well as telling the story of the Marines at Alpha Base, was well received. Dietz also received praise for elaborating on the threat of the Flood and the culture of the Covenant, which could not be done in the games. Responding to criticism about the book, including his interpretation of the Chief, Dietz replied:
...of that I have read, the negative ones often say something to the effect that the book is just like the game, so why read it? What those readers may not realize is that I was hired to novelize the game. That means taking the game and turning it into a book or, put another way, I did what I was hired to do. ...there must be some folks who feel that I wrote the Chief out of character. That's news to me. All I can tell you is that the Bungie folks, who care deeply about the character and the universe never raised that issue, and approved the book as written. However, there's no doubt that every author is different, and will approach characters differently. So if Nylund's rendition of the Chief is different from my own in subtle ways that would be understandable.
Despite the less enthusiastic response The Flood garnered than its predecessor, the book still sold well. Soon after release, The Flood made the Publishers Weekly top ten bestsellers paperback list. The next book in the series, Halo: First Strike, would be written by Eric Nylund and bridge the gap between Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2.
Read more about this topic: Halo: The Flood
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