A dive into the audiobook club of Halo: Expanded Universe began with Joseph Staten’s recorded version of Halo: Contact Harvest. This newly created initiative allows players to listen to some iconic Halo stories and discuss them on an official Discord server. This stirred mixed reactions from a few gamers. While some gamers are excited, others… well, things went whirling downhill.

Advertisement

It really is a great start; Contact Harvest is loved by many and features Sergeant Johnson, and who doesn’t love Johnson? The book club will then be carried into October for each month to feature yet another audiobook. And of course, the tweet throws a big shout-out to buying the audiobooks from Simon & Schuster. Gotta monetize that lore, right?

And then, Bad Andrew was born. I mean, the replies! Some players were all in; @TheComixWill seems to be almost done with reading The Flood (that’s a good choice, friend). Others were kind of worshiping Contact Harvest as one of the best Halo books ever, says @dozerbgr. Then… there was just the rest of them really weren’t into a calm, chill book club vibe.

Some took an almost rude turn off-topic. Like, far off-topic. @KnightOfGod2004 went off on a rage that had nothing remotely to do with anything–Halo, books, or audios–except him just good-willed-not-so-well-directed-on-something-else anger. Meanwhile, @Mrmoose_85 declared that nobody should support “this activist company anymore,” which, okay, sure. @SassyMan93 just casually dropped a “And no gay allowed,” which…what?

We have the shedder of altogether different grievances, too. @ABadCommunist accused 343 Industries of not paying Halo book authors their royalties and linked to an article concerning the issue. @SudsMcRaff was mad that Halo didn’t acknowledge Men’s Mental Health Month (fair, but also…this is an audiobook announcement?). And @Stikkilicious flat out refused to join anything Halo-related because of…child mutilation? Again, what?

Some intentioned voices spoke in between the chaos to restore a semblance of sanity. @Billy_Osteen went down memory lane and took out Johnson’s most badass moments in Contact Harvest, like turning some poor bastard into pink mist with a Gauss cannon. Meanwhile, @RomanAr0und said, “Time to read up, Spartans,” and we collectively vibe in agreement.

Advertisement

Yeah, so the Halo audiobook club is definitely going down; it has a lot of good potential for lore-loving Spartans. But the community response? Eh, that’s a mixed bag-some from hype, some from salt, and much from “What does this even have to do with books?!?!” This is what being a classic Halo fandom really is. Who’s down for some deep lore and tragedy-induced madness? One thing is certain: the Halo Universe is as divisive as ever. Maybe just stick to the Discord for actual book conversations and avoid those replies unless you have that kind of stamina.