Does it have any of the face-smashing terminology stupidity of Cole Protocol or the "CRAM IT IN" mentality of Contact Harvest? If not, then I may consider reading it.
I honestly haven't thought too highly of any non Eric Nylund books.

I..I..I'm not too sure
Here's the excerpt so you can decide yourself http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/10/halo-glasslands-excerpt
But yeah I didn't think too highly of most of the other books, Nylund is a good writer

Examples from Cole Protocol please, I'm not familiar with it?
Contact harvest was all right, except for the out of leftfield sex scene at the end. And yeah, Nylund is probably the best bet, He captures the Halo feel. Oh and I refuse to read Ghost of Onyx's sequel, Karen Traviss is a bumbling incompetent.

Wasn't the Cole Protocol the one they used on Halo: Combat Evolved, in which they flew at epic speeds leading the Covenant away from the human colonies, finally crashing the Pilar of Autumn on Halo?

Yes, the Cole Protocol dictates the need to make random jumps away from human colonies in addition to not permitting the capture of shipboard AI (I'm a bit of a sponge for random facts, even ones I couldn't care less about)

Cole Protocol is about some backwater human colony made of asteroids linked together that trades with ♥♥♥♥ Jackals. The Spartans are Grey Team (who nobody cares about).
The ENTIRE DAMN BOOK they refer to the aliens by the Covenant name, even while in Human points of view. Even the damn humans THEMSELVES call them by the covenant names, it's very annoying.
Also, he literally calls a plasma grenade a "sticky grenade", FROM AN ELITE'S POINT OF VIEW. I could understand if it was some marine using the term offhandedly, but no, it was an Elite.
There's also some silliness with the Elite culture and blood but I'll accept that as canon, it's not TOO retarded.

...I get very passionate when talking about Halo.

Is she that bad? Apparently she makes a lot of Red Vs Blue references

And yes Torrent... I agree.. the shameless disregard of faction specific words is shocking, plus I hate having to read jiralhanae and such all the time

In one Gears of War novel, she had the locust attacking a convoy full of supplies necessary for survival; the locust attacked so they could just kill the soldiers guarding it and left the supplies for the rest of humanity to take, so yes she's that bad. (I don't even like Gears of War but still...)

The Cole Protocol was a procedure upon which any human vessel in contact with the covenant and in danger of being captured was to first plot a slip space jump in a random vector away from Earth, and then promptly scrub the on board AI, in an attempt to eliminate the chance that covenant forces would be able to glean the location of Earth and the inner colonies from a defeated craft.

The Cole Protocol book, I've read it but can't remember ♥♥♥♥ all about it. You'll have to google it or consult someone else about that one.

This is mostly a quick rant about Halo 4..
Last night I had a thought about cancelling my pre-order, for at least a few days previously I've thought about how much I don't like the Xbox. I don't mind it for occasional use, but I can't stand the controls, the games, the graphics, the UI, and the system any longer. My PC of course has much better graphics, runs things quicker, and the online is free. I don't think I can justify a £65 limited edition purchase, for which I'll mostly just play the campaign, or I'll have to pay even more for online, when of course console games already cost more than PC.
Rant over
So yeah I'll probably cancel soon

Play tribes or planetside instead, same scifi setting just less stupid.

I actually play Tribes ascend and 2 with regularity, once again they are a substantially different game.

Yeah I love Tribes Ascend
I suppose I haven't really had any games to itch my Sci-Fi scratch recently
I bought lots of games during the Steam sale anyway, so it'll be alright *sniffle*
I'll miss you Halo 4, at least until you go on sale about 1 month after release and I buy you

I dont own Halo 4 yet due to Gamestop's stupidity, however I have played 85% of the campaign at my friends house, but there was something about the story progression that made it feel like an arcade-y complete the repetitive missions thing. Some of the levels are kind of bad in that way, not going to spoil anything. There was also something about the actual plot line that was weird, something that is coating it with a thin layer of cheese that I just can't seem to understand or actually believe.

When it came out, it was 10/10. The first time that my friends and i touched new weapons we were like "Hnng ahmahgawd its a scattershot~~" and indeed the new things are very nice. The graphics are fantastic but every level has a single color scheme that just makes me dizzy sometimes.

I dunno, I like everything about halo 4, but again, there is this thin layer of something that is just irritating me about the game that just doesn't seem to do the series justice. I still think its buy worthy though.

And also, the matchmaking took two steps forward and three steps backwards, mainly because of all of the little similarities to CoD Battlefield modern shooters (perks, sprinting, dying faster,...).

Ah, Halo 4.

My ratings of the game:
For newbies: 4/5
For veterans: 3/5

As for my more comprehensive review, I'm considering Halo 4 fanon, because it lacks the Bungie touch, and has some degree of inconsistency with the series. The new stuff, like the Prometheans and their weapons, the Covenant Liches, the UNSC Mammoth, etc. is all great. However, I noticed a lot of details that really put me off.

Details/features/items that irk me: (because they're missing or they're not as good as before)
* The lack of equipment/items/whatever they were called; e.g. deployable shield, bubble shield, EMP, cloak, jammer, etc. (This means having both items AND armor abilities, not one or the other. They can do whatever for campaign, but this gives a wider array of options for custom gametypes.)
* The covenant's deployable shields no longer /look/ very deployable, nor do you see enemies deploying them anymore, and I prefer the actual shield's appearance from before. (The mini-shields on the covenant turrets look bland now, too)
* The UNSC weapon drop pods looked more believable previously (the ordnance pods now are completely shredded, with the weapon standing fixedly in the middle, completely intact; whereas, previously, they were in comfy pods full of foam that were mostly intact)
* Covenant road barriers looked better previous, and it might just be me, but I think they were also more effectual as road barriers before
* The new Warthog sound, the new Pelican cockpit
* The Scorpion Tank feels way slower than in previous titles, and that goes without mentioning that real-world tanks such as the Abrams can travel up to 40mph.
* Shades, Spectres, Prowlers, Choppers, the Elephant, Troop Hog, Longsword, Scarab
* Might just be me, but the Gauss Hog's Gaussgun feels... off.
* Lack of SMG, Plasma Rifle (Yes, I know it was replaced by the Storm Rifle, but it would've still been nice to have for nostalgia's sake in Forge), ODST's variant weapons, Brute weapons (with the exception of the gravity hammer), incendiary grenades, grenade launcher, missile pod, flamethrower, whatever else Reach added, etc.
* Lack of dual wield
* Brutes, Drones, and Engineers are MIA
* Spartan Ops is nice and all, but I still want Firefight, too
* Lack of ODST, probably due to the crazy overabundance of Spartans
* The screen on the cockpit of the Ghost no longer provides a view of what's in front of you. (Bungie, evidently, had greater attention to detail.)
* The previous sniper was better; had a better scope (it was actually easier to see through, even if you weren't meant to use it for aiming; talking about the green filter), and it seemed to have been based on the Denel NTW-20 anti-material rifle, which made me like it and the Spartans a lot more for using it.
*The armor permutations in multiplayer that are notably missing from previous games, the few that are returning that were changed for the worse, and some of the new permutations, which are arguably tacky; have you seen what they've done to the Recon and Scout helmets? Good god, man. On top of that, I also feel like it's a departure from Bungie's armor aesthetic.
* etc., etc.


The Story: (or only the things I care to touch upon about it)
* The story never explains why the Covenant forces are fighting the UNSC and fighting for [insert spoiling antagonist name here], why the elites are participating in such an endeavor, and why the brutes are missing (correct me on anything you know better about)
* The story's ending was a bit of a let-down ("HTF CAN SHE EVEN DO THAT? HE SHOULD BE... NO. THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. GO AWAY.")
* Where's the flood? Now, I'm not too sharp on my Halo lore, but I doubt that Halo 3's gravemind was the last.

And to think the guys and gals over at 343 call themselves Halo fans. Not nearly fanatical enough.
Halo will always be Bungie's game.

In other news, keep an eye out for Bungie's new project, Destiny. It's been hinted at since ODST.