I hope it wasn't anything I said that made you fork over that money. I've tried to remain neutral relatively speaking about the Halo ancillaries within the context of what they are -- supplemental and individual extensions of the core fiction targeted to a specific market demographic. I read a lot, especially lately: Tolkien, Herbert, Follet, Crichton, King and I'm currently on McCarthy's "The Road" which is an amazing piece of literature -- so I hope I'm not being pigeonholed into something I'm not.
I mean, it's pretty crystal clear who the Halo books are being written for. I'm not judging the quality of the novels themselves, they are what they are. Nylund, Dietz and Buckell are far more accomplished than I am or likely will ever be, but they wrote these books with a specific fan in mind (the largest cross-section of the Halo fan base) and it's pretty clear that they hit their target right on the nose judging by the sales.
And I'd argue vehemently that Halo's main narrative and elements like the terminals are absolutely worth the pandering offered by blogs like the one I write for. I honestly don't think that many of us would be here if that hadn't been the case from day one.
