The 3rd & Final Post

Name: Joshua Avila
Date: Feb 12, 2010
Pages: 358
Pages Read: 131-358

Question #1: How did what you read make you feel? Why?

Response: The end of the book made me feel a little sad because at the end Ignatio Delgado sacrificed his own life to save the Rubble Space Station from the Jackals. He blew up the Jackals attack carrier by attaching a detonator to the engine of the ship while he was still inside because the detonator was malfunctioning, but in the process, he was able to stop the Jackals from taking over the Rubble. The reason it made me sad because it made me feel that he wasn't the only person to sacrifice his own life. People in our world also sacrifice their lives to save others lives and the country they protect. Another thing that made me feel different about my life form this book was when Capt Keys took down the Brute Chieftain and kept him taking over the Midsummer Night and finding the location of Earth. It actually made me feel that people can be great heroes even in times when all hope is lost. I felt excited and exhilarated when Keys took down the Chieftain.

Question #2: What surprised you in the book? Why?

Response: The one thing that really really surprised me at the end of the book was inside the Covenant's Holy City, High Charity, during a very important council meeting, the three prophets, Regret, Doubt, and Truth, where discussing what happened during the Midsummer Night and that before the Chieftain died he sent a location to the prophets and they discussed what they would do with the location. When they realized that the planet was very important to the war they sent 7 destroyers and 3 battle carriers to the location. The reason this surprised me was because the location was in the Rim the Outer Colonies and the planet was named Reach. It was surprising because they were mainly trying to reach Earth and where humans were born to destroy it but instead they found something even worse than Earth, they found the human race's military construction planet and where all the battle vehicles were made and O.D.S.T. soldiers were trained. The worst part of the Covenant finding Reach, was that they also found the mainframe for the Spartan 2 and 3 project and if they destroyed the project, along with all the Spartans with it, the war would end up in the Covenant's favor.

1st Post of Questions

Title: Cole Protocol
Date: Feb 1, 2010
Time Hours: 4-5 Hours
Pages: 358
Pages Read: 1-88

Question: What do you think of a particular Character's actions

Response: I think that the actions of Ignatio Delgado in the Prologue was a little irrational because during the fight between him and the Jackals in the cargo bay ship he told his partner Melko to grab a disk that contained the ships nav data and go through the airlock and take it to the other ship called the Disstancia and I think it was a little too irrational because he forced his friend to go into the middle of the firefight between bullets and plasma for him make him reach an airlock into a vacuumed hanger bay, full of ships, and had limited air supply left. He could have met a Jackal hiding outside the and would fallen into a trap. Instead I would have gone with him and made sure he was safe and possibly pretended to be shot or make the Jackals think we where shot so could have snuck around them and activated the self destruct then gone outside the airlock and then tried reaching the closest ship that didn't have to be a battle ship.

Question: How does the author create suspense in the book

Response: The author creates suspense by describing scenery, actions of the characters, and also their feelings. He describes the noises of the battlefield and a strong description of the character's condition. An example is when a character is in the middle of a firefight between squadron of Elites and Jackals. He is being shot at with carbines and plasma pistols and he only has a BR and 7 clips. When the author writes about this battle he made it completely intense by described the buildings, the floor, and how the character looked with fear, hatred, and the will to live in his eye. There was lots of sounds of explosions, and gun fire, and plasma grenades bursting into oblivion. The author also does a trick where he speeds up then slows down the scene, an example of this trick is when a soldier is running down a hall looking for an exit then he is running so fast that he doesn't have time to look for enemies or allies but in one final moment everything slows down and he can see a gravity hammer blade that barely misses his face and he has just the time to duck under it and shoot the wielder of the lethal weapon in the face.

2nd Post of Questions

Title: The Cole Protocol

Total Hours: 3 Hours

Pages: 358

Pages This Week: 88-130

Question: Do you think you would read another book by this author? Why or why not?

Response: I think I would read another book by this author because this book so far has been an extraordinary book full of action and suspense and has been very explanatory about what is happening in the character’s minds. For example he makes it feel like you are the character and the scenery you are around is a real war zone. He also describes the feelings of the characters by showing the readers what the characters are seeing through their eyes and what is going on through their head and seeing all the surroundings. The one thing I don’t like about the authors writing in some parts where there isn’t enough description of the scenery. In Chapter 12 he didn’t give a good description about the hallway that Captain Keys and the Commander of the Midsummer Night were walking and discussing through about their next destination. He just gave a description of a hallway not the actual hallway.

Question: What does this book make you wonder about? Why?

Response: This book makes me wonder about how this world would be if there was no war. It gives good examples of battles raging throughout the galaxy destroying millions of lives and planets in its conquest. It also makes me wonder about if there is other life forms in our galaxy and if they are brutal, vicious and genocidal like the Brutes, Jackals, and Elites how in the book. Also it makes me wonder about the risks that people in our wars are taking and if they feel remorse or sadness for the lives they have taken and for all the loss. Also what their families are thinking and how they are worried about their relatives and if they worry about losing people during the war.

Why did I Choose

The reason why I chose the Cole Protocol as the book to read for the independent reading project, was because it is based on my favorite video game series, HALO. The author's name of the Cole Protocol is Tobias S. Buckell. One of the other reasons I chose this book was because I usually intend on reading stories that are mainly based on wars, earth bound or interstellar, guns, and strange creatures that are quite intelligent, but can reveal a deadly rage.The book is about an interstellar war that it is mainly based on the stories of Ignatio Delgado, and Lieutenant Jacob Keyes, they are both soldiers for the U.N.S.C.(United Nations Space Command) and both do their part in stopping a series of genocidal aliens that are called the covenant, and their plan to destroy the galaxy, and finding earth, What the two soldiers don't know is that they're both protecting the same thing from getting into the hands of the covenant, The U.N.S.C. Navigation Data.