: . . .

I realize that constantly ragging on 343i's storytelling is annoying. We're all fans. We want to celebrate what we love, and it hurts when other people dislike it or call it terrible.

But Halo 5 will hit shelves in late October. In November of last year, Broken Circle was released. Since then, 343i has released New Blood and Hunters in the Dark and Saint's Testimony. Last Light releases later this month. Twelve issues of Escalation will have been launched onto the market.

In the 12-month period from November 2014 to October 2015, we've had more new Halo fiction published than any previous year. Going by number of stories, we'll easily have more fiction produced than any two years combined. And of all of those, I've only liked Saint's Testimony. Last Light gets a pass because it hasn't been published, naturally. Everything else has been disappointing (I've long since quit reading Escalations) but this summer has been awful for getting my thoughts down on paper. I haven't had time to sit down and do these stories justice.

Simply saying that these stories suck and 343i is terrible is a waste of time. I want to figure out why I hate these stories and and talk about how they work.

Maybe I am being negative, but I'm also trying to be positive.