A review by thomas_volkov
Bioshock: Rapture by John Shirley
1.0
Some things are better left unwritten. This book is one of those things.
Bioshock is one of those games I'd call a flawed masterpiece. The first half of the game is perfect with its rich atmosphere, politics, and intrigue. At the half-way point, the game drops in quality but still followed through with its story, showcasing the downfall of Rapture. The only bad part of the game would be the ending fight, which even the developers acknowledge as being terrible. The other games in the franchise aren't as great, with the second being decently enjoyable and the third being massively disappointing in delivering the same political analysis as the first game.
I went into this book not expecting a masterpiece like the game, but a decent novel able to showcase the creation and downfall of Rapture in a structured form. This book was anything but that.
The most immediate problem with Bioshock: Rapture is the writing. Terribly amateur, the writing felt empty and hollow with zero suspense or intrigue which made the first game so unique in its atmosphere. This follows through with the pacing. While events are in an orderly fashion, there is no smooth transition from moment to moment. Chapters are split into sections, each stating the location and the year.
Sections would skip entire months after elements already known to fans of the game are introduced such as plasmids, little sisters, or big daddies. There is no emotional impact in these plot devices, just references that fans of the game will say "ah, I saw that in the game!"
The atmosphere which made the game so special was also butchered. Various locations from the game were stated in the title of the chapter, expecting the reader to just imagine the level from the game. Lazy.
Character descriptions were also pointless, with the most minor of characters getting an entire paragraph of their looks. It reminded me of my writing from middle-school.
Characters were also completely pointless and ignored throughout the entire novel. Nobody grew, nobody gave any emotion or showed any kind of true characterization. Beloved characters from the game were shoved aside for one dimensional plot elements who barely appeared in the game.
Andrew Ryan himself felt like he was a walking wikipedia page for objectivism. He had no charm which made him so interesting in the game. Instead, he'd state every element of objectivism, as if screaming to the reader that he's evil and greedy and selfish. I have no love for Andrew Ryan's ideology but I felt like I being hit over the head with a crowbar reading his lines.
Outside of Andrew Ryan, every character talked liked they had only a single element in their personality. Bill is our loyal engineer. Elaine is his wife. Suchong is creepy and Asian. Tenenbaum is creepy and eastern european. Karlosky is a Russian bodyguard (the laziest stereotype). Characters would die and it would barely register onto the page due to how everybody was written, leaving nobody to stand as their own character outside of Andrew Ryan. There was also a weird selection of ethnic stereotypes which stood as replacement for making actual characters.
But I think the worst part of this novel was when characters would transition into repeating audio-diaries from the game. The writing would shift so jarringly since the audio-diaries were clearly written from somebody else. They didn't even translate well into written form as it was the delivery from the talented voice actors which made the diaries so interesting to listen to in the game. The timing didn't even make sense as these diaries were clearly written in a different context. The absolute worst offender was Tenenbaum, whose flashbacks into Nazi Germany were so forced that I almost felt like quitting the book. In fact, her whole character was so poorly butchered that it makes me want to side with Atlas out of spite next time I replay the game.
Video game tie-in books have a bad reputation. Perhaps that's for a good reason. Lore doesn't need to be painfully laid out on page. Sometimes, it's better for stuff to be left unwritten, especially when that stuff is pointless melodrama.
This is one of the worst books I've read in a while, and I recommend this to nobody especially not to fans of the game.
Bioshock is one of those games I'd call a flawed masterpiece. The first half of the game is perfect with its rich atmosphere, politics, and intrigue. At the half-way point, the game drops in quality but still followed through with its story, showcasing the downfall of Rapture. The only bad part of the game would be the ending fight, which even the developers acknowledge as being terrible. The other games in the franchise aren't as great, with the second being decently enjoyable and the third being massively disappointing in delivering the same political analysis as the first game.
I went into this book not expecting a masterpiece like the game, but a decent novel able to showcase the creation and downfall of Rapture in a structured form. This book was anything but that.
The most immediate problem with Bioshock: Rapture is the writing. Terribly amateur, the writing felt empty and hollow with zero suspense or intrigue which made the first game so unique in its atmosphere. This follows through with the pacing. While events are in an orderly fashion, there is no smooth transition from moment to moment. Chapters are split into sections, each stating the location and the year.
Sections would skip entire months after elements already known to fans of the game are introduced such as plasmids, little sisters, or big daddies. There is no emotional impact in these plot devices, just references that fans of the game will say "ah, I saw that in the game!"
The atmosphere which made the game so special was also butchered. Various locations from the game were stated in the title of the chapter, expecting the reader to just imagine the level from the game. Lazy.
Character descriptions were also pointless, with the most minor of characters getting an entire paragraph of their looks. It reminded me of my writing from middle-school.
Characters were also completely pointless and ignored throughout the entire novel. Nobody grew, nobody gave any emotion or showed any kind of true characterization. Beloved characters from the game were shoved aside for one dimensional plot elements who barely appeared in the game.
Andrew Ryan himself felt like he was a walking wikipedia page for objectivism. He had no charm which made him so interesting in the game. Instead, he'd state every element of objectivism, as if screaming to the reader that he's evil and greedy and selfish. I have no love for Andrew Ryan's ideology but I felt like I being hit over the head with a crowbar reading his lines.
Outside of Andrew Ryan, every character talked liked they had only a single element in their personality. Bill is our loyal engineer. Elaine is his wife. Suchong is creepy and Asian. Tenenbaum is creepy and eastern european. Karlosky is a Russian bodyguard (the laziest stereotype). Characters would die and it would barely register onto the page due to how everybody was written, leaving nobody to stand as their own character outside of Andrew Ryan. There was also a weird selection of ethnic stereotypes which stood as replacement for making actual characters.
But I think the worst part of this novel was when characters would transition into repeating audio-diaries from the game. The writing would shift so jarringly since the audio-diaries were clearly written from somebody else. They didn't even translate well into written form as it was the delivery from the talented voice actors which made the diaries so interesting to listen to in the game. The timing didn't even make sense as these diaries were clearly written in a different context. The absolute worst offender was Tenenbaum, whose flashbacks into Nazi Germany were so forced that I almost felt like quitting the book. In fact, her whole character was so poorly butchered that it makes me want to side with Atlas out of spite next time I replay the game.
Video game tie-in books have a bad reputation. Perhaps that's for a good reason. Lore doesn't need to be painfully laid out on page. Sometimes, it's better for stuff to be left unwritten, especially when that stuff is pointless melodrama.
This is one of the worst books I've read in a while, and I recommend this to nobody especially not to fans of the game.