User blog:Sonasaurus/A Review of Halo: Flight of the Phoenix

Okay, so I guess this will be Halo Fanon's first review of one of our own stories. I'm surprised we haven't thought of this yet. I mean, writing, knowledge, imagination, and the thrill of creation is what we eat, breathe, and sleep. And this wiki certainly has many stories that can undisputedly be considered outstanding. Why not do them justice and give a lengthy few paragraphs stating what you like about it? It'll tell the writer you care.

But enough rambling from me. I guess I'll get started with the actual review. And in case you didn't get the implication above, I'll only be reviewing the stories I find to be of a great standard. That doesn't mean I'll think it's perfect or anything, but a perfect story has never made an interesting review. Anyway, I'll shut up now and...let my thoughts do the talking.

Flight of the Phoenix. One of the first long stories I've read on this wiki. When it was first being written, the person we know as Maslab was just finding his way on Halo Fanon. I guess what drew me to this story was that he asked if he could use one of my characters in it, Autel 'Vadam. Of course, I was immediately interested. Back then, I was only six months into my own work on Halo Fanon, and no one had ever asked me if I wanted to collaborate on writing (this was before the days of Against All Odds, of course). According to Maslab, Autel wasn't to appear for a couple of chapters, but his involvement in this story quickly slipped my mind, because what was already introduced caught my attention instead.

The protagonist of Flight of the Phoenix is a SPARTAN-III who calls himself Wings-D339. He is one of the thousands of children who were recruited into the fourth-generation Delta Company. What really caught my interest about him is that he is a being of logic, so detached from emotion that it was considered unsettling for a human. Now, I've seen many "cold" Spartans in the Halo novels, but Wings really took the cake. It's funny how I never considered the possibility of a Spartan considered strange even among his own kind. This was going to be an interesting story.

I was hardly disappointed. The first few chapters outline Wings' childhood in his new life as a Spartan, forging together a powerful team and already earning himself a name in his Company. By the time that Autel entered the story, I became even more fascinated. There is nothing like seeing your character walking and talking in someone else's imagination, particularly when they interact with characters you never thought of before. It opens up many possibilities for both you and your fellow writer (That, I believe, was the first step to the creation of Against All Odds, but I'll return to the review before I get off topic).

At this moment, I must bring your attention to something. It is the fact that I strongly despise characters that are what we call "Mary-Sues" (or in the male form, "Gary-Stus"). A Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu is, in short, a character that was created to be cliché, or narcissistically similar to the writer, or unrealistically powerful. My description above of Wings-D339 may have you think that he is a Gary-Stu. If that's what you think, then there's only one possibility. You probably haven't read Flight of the Phoenix. Trust me, Wings is an important piece of the AAO puzzle even to today, and I don't think he would have been so if he was a Gary-Stu. One of the things that makes him a non-Stu is the fact that Maslab gave him human imperfections, albeit ones you don't pick up right away. Wings is by no means perfect, or arrogant, or (dare I say it?) omnipotent. I know what I'm talking about when I say that Maslab has carefully ensured that Wings' character fits the role he will play in his stories, and will avoid the wasteland territory where Gary-Stus reside.

If you're wondering why I'm hardly addressing the plot, then that also means you haven't read Flight of the Phoenix. The fact is, this story contains a carry-on plot. Its purpose is to follow the events of Wings-D339 and his team, and since the timeline stretches over 13 years, the plot is constantly changing. This may sound weird for a story, but each event is meant to develop the characters that it encompasses. Over time, you'll learn more about Phoenix Team, grow to like them, and pray for their survival when they are placed in perilous situations.

You might be wondering if there's anything I dislike about Flight of the Phoenix. And the way I've been describing it, I would wonder too. So I'll be honest here. Yes, there is only one thing that bothers me. It's the descriptions, or lack thereof. To be frank, Flight of the Phoenix contains very little in terms of setting or character. Yes, Maslab never neglects to tell you where something's happening, nor does he choose to use poor dialogue. But that's not what I mean. What I mean is that reading it does not give me much to visualize, nor do I feel very connected to the characters that are shown. In short, there's too much telling and not enough showing. I have seldom seen a lengthy paragraph through the length of the Flight of the Phoenix stories.

But I'm not going to be unfair here. From the way I've been reading the stories, I get the feeling that Maslab is being forced to write like this. Flight of the Phoenix is devilishly long, and if he took the time to put detail into everything, he'll be growing grey hairs before he finishes the trilogy. As it is, he's wrapping up the stories right now, and it's taken him quite a while. But I must say the effort has been worth it, for Books 1 and 2 have both won the Halo Fan Fiction Award for Best Novel of the Year (in 2 consecutive years, I might add), if not for description then for admirable commitment and imagination. And book 3 is underway, and I must say, I'm certainly eager to see how it all ends.

As an overall rating, I'd give Flight of the Phoenix a score of 8.5/10. I've already stated my reason above, and you're probably getting tired of reading this by now, so for your sake I'm not going to repeat them. I certainly hope this has caught your interest in reading Flight of the Phoenix (if it's a yes here's a link for you right now). Anyhow, I hope I did alright with this review (if I haven't, I can at least claim ignorance since this is the first on our wiki). I'll probably be writing more some other time, even though what I really should be working on is my own stories :P