Bioshock: Rapture

Bioshock, Book 1

By: John Shirley

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

It was the end of World War II. FDR's New Deal had redefined American politics. Taxes were at an all-time high. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had created a fear of total annihilation. The rise of secret government agencies and sanctions on business had many watching their backs. America's sense of freedom was diminishing... and many were desperate to take that freedom back.

Among them was a great dreamer, an immigrant who'd pulled himself from the depths of poverty to become one of the wealthiest and most admired men in the world. That man was Andrew Ryan, and he believed that great men and women deserved better. So he set out to create the impossible: a utopia free from government, from censorship, and from moral restrictions on science, where what you gave was what you got. He created Rapture - the shining city below the sea. But this utopia suffered a great tragedy. This is the story of how it all came to be... and how it all ended.

©2011 Take-Two Interactive Software, Incorporated (P)2012 Tantor

Amazing

If you are a bioshock fan this books tells so much about the people who built rapute is so fulfilling.

Awesome Story

I great prequel to the games with some excellent narration!

Makes me want to go back and replay all the games as this has revived all the imagery from it.

An Amazing Story for an Incredible Game

I've loved Bioshock for so many years now. To finally get a full understanding of how Rapture came to be is so satisfying. There are so many characters I never really knew until this book. As a true Bioshock fan, I give this book a five star approval rating. A must read for any Bioshock fan, and anyone looking for a deep, powerful story.

George Orwell meets system shock in this dystopia

Brings philosophy, politics, history with a mix of a great setting, story and character in Andrew Ryan.

Love it

I have always loved bioshock and this is my second time going through the book and both times I have wanted to go back through the games. I love how accurate the book is to the game seeing the people and the audio logs and events that happened in the book in the game again. It gives me a new understanding of the world of rapture. I really hope to see more great bioshock books!

Would you kindly...

I highly recommend reading this before you play bioshock. I played the game many times over and have just read this book for the first time. It's EXTREMELY accurate. There are even some new things I've learned for the first time. As some of you may know, the audio diaries in the game are very low and it can be challenging to find every one of them, which you need yo do yo completely get the story of rapture.
If you're not into games then I would recommend at least listening to the audio diaries from the game on youtube. I did all three. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

Great Book, So So Narrator

I read this book years ago - still have it on my bookshelf - and it’s one of my absolute favorites. Bioshock is one of my top game series of all time and the book does a great job acting as a prequel with deep characters, great atmosphere, and a satisfying set of story arcs. All that said, Jeffrey Kafer is just a very “Meh” narrator. He’s got good diction, volume, and a decent “narration” voice, but it’s his character voices that really big him down. Emotion rarely shows through, especially for loud dialogue where he goes to a kind of whisper like he’s recording in his house while his kids are sleeping. Female voices are rough as all hell too - I get that he’s a guy and finding variance and confidence in acting out opposite sexes can be hard, but he doesn’t do very well at all. They sound raspy and make my skin crawl - I’d rather him just use his regular narrator voice rather than make my hairs raise in his efforts. All in all not terrible, but not very good either.

Ignore the critiques

It was flawed at points but it was a fantastic read, especially being a Bioshock fan. I highly recommend it

True to the Games

It was true to the subject matter (had elements of both 1 & 2), and made for a great origin story of Andrew Ryan and the city of Rapture.

Love Bioshock

I am a huge fan of the Bioshock franchise that I just had to listen to this audio book. It was cool to delve more into what happened to Rapture and how it became the way it is in the games.