History Literature / HaloTheFlood

* BloodierAndGorier: The novel is ''much'' more graphic compared to the game it's based on with deaths and [[spoiler: everything surrounding how being infected by the flood works]] being described in detail.

* BloodierandGorier: The novel is ''much'' more graphic compared to the game it's based on with deaths and [[spoiler: everything surrounding how being infected by the flood works]] being described in detail.

* AFatherToHisMen: Major Silva and Captain Keyes.
* AGlassOfChianti: Major Silva jokes about the [=ODSTs=] not getting the wine in the officers' escape pods. Turns out, they actually have wine in them (Keyes is about to get some before noticing a cloaked Elite trying to kill him).

* AdaptationDistillation: In the game, the Library level is one ''long'' and repetitive fight with a massive number of Flood enemies, limited ammunition availability, endless sets of identical-looking rooms, and 343 Guilty Spark yammering at the player the entire time to hurry up; not coincidentally, it is widely considered one of the worst levels in the entire ''Halo'' series. In the book? One chapter.

* AdaptationDistillation: In the game, the Library level is one ''long'' and repetitive fight with a massive number of Flood enemies, limited ammunition availability, endless sets of identical-looking rooms, and 343 Guilty Spark yammering at the player the entire time to hurry up; not coincidentally, it is widely considered one of the worst levels in the entire ''Halo'' series. In the book? One paragraph.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: This was one of the first Halo books ever put out, and the attitude of some of the Elites shows this. Zuka disobeys orders multiple times and behaves very much unlike the ProudWarriorRaceGuy that the Elites would eventually turn out to be. One Elite even uses a human handgun to execute a human, when later sources would retcon it so that Elites would willingly die with fully loaded weapons at their feet simply because they were "Unclean."

* HeroicAlbino: Not exactly, but when [=McKay=] accompanies John-117 to Major Silva, she notes how pale the Chief is from all the time spent in the suit.

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: What Silva hopes the [=ODSTs=] will accomplish by hijacking the ''Truth and Reconciliation'', fulfilling the ''Pillar of Autmun's'' original mission instead of the Chief and his Spartans.

The book got an UpdatedRerelease in 2010, with several small details changed to make it mesh better with later canon.

* FictionalDocument: The 2010 rerelease to celebrate the launch of ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' includes a series of documents and transcriptions further expanding on the EU.

* TooDumbToLive: Dowski, who asks if they can surrender to the Covenant. Keep in mind that the events of this book take place near the very end of the Human-Covenant War, and the Covenant have shown themselves to be ''very'' eager to burn planets to glass for simply having a few humans on them. Twenty-seven years of knowing that this is the genocidal, single-minded foe that humanity faces... and she suggests ''surrender.'' This would be equal to an ice cube asking to surrender to the sun.

** The first chapter mentions that Jackals were also boarding the Pillar Of Autumn, though the titular level in ''Combat Evolved'' only has Grunts and Elites. The Covenant has a mistrust of Jackals being used to board enemy vessels, due to their pirating ways.

* MindRape: [[spoiler:After being infected by the Flood, Keyes is put through an absolutely excruciating ordeal as the Flood shift through his memories.]]

* AdaptationDistillation: In the game, the Library level is one ''long'' fight with a massive number of Flood enemies, limited ammunition availability, endless sets of identical-looking rooms, and 343 Guilty Spark yammering the entire time; not coincidentally, it is widely considered one of the worst levels in the entire ''Halo'' series. In the book? One paragraph.

* ZombieApocalypse: The Flood.

* SuddenDownerEnding: [=McKay=], Silva, and hundreds of other marines manage to take over the ''Truth and Reconciliation'', and are about to leave Halo... [[spoiler: when Silva firmly grasps the IdiotBall to force the ending to be an IdiotPlot; he decides he wants to take Flood samples with him, despite the warnings of Wellsley and [=McKay=]. Even worse, he doesn't plan on containing them before taking off, being convinced that his people can save that part for afterwards. Instead of either continuing to try and talk Silva down, or even assassinate him and hope (perhaps vainly) that saner minds prevail, [=McKay=] blows up the entire ship, killing everybody on board. This is probably because they were all DoomedByCanon anyways]]. The sad thing is, [[spoiler:even if Silva had ordered a full decontamination before takeoff, this trope might have still applied anyways, given that they had almost no time left before the ''Autumn'' blew up and took Halo with it]].

* AdaptationDistillation: In the game, the Library level is one long fight with a massive number of Flood enemies, limited ammunition availability, 343 Guilty Spark yammering the entire time, going through identical looking rooms over and over, and makes up a significant percentage of the overall game in terms of length. [[note]]Not coincidentally, it is widely considered one of the most disliked levels in the entire Halo series.[[/note]] In the book? One paragraph.