Bioshock: Rapture - John Shirley
Who is ready for the most bias review in the world? :heheheheh: Okay in all seriousness I genuinely don't know how to review this objectively because Bioshock is one of my favourite things in the entire world and this book is just a really well thought-out, researched and well-written prequel to Bioshock 1 and surprisingly 2.
I picked this up on a whim and absolutely devoured it all day today (spoiler, I then picked up another book to counter my book hangover and it was equally good so now I'm suffering double book hangover fml). Trying my best to consider someone who is not obnoxiously hyperfixated on this series, I think that it's in-depth enough that someone completely in the dark about the game series could pick this up and just enjoy it as a sci-fi/horror/steampunk read. Fans however? God this is like catnip. All the major players in Rapture's infrastructure is represented, lots of time spent in Andrew Ryan's inner-circle and with the man himself. If you're like me and spent hours and hours listening to the in-game recordings, you're going to be delighted.
On a book level; I think the pacing is grand - the book is plotted out from the very beginning of Rapture's development (with a minor prelude into Andrew Ryan's early life) to the final days leading up to the beginning of Bioshock 1. The POV switches to many of the major players, no spoilers in this case but any who are acquainted with the story will know who that involves. Particularly for a major antagonist that presents themselves in Bioshock 2 which I was very happy to see. I think perhaps because it's an obvious accompaniment for fans of the game there is going to be a few things lost in translation to anyone going in blind.
WILDLY it seems that more than a handful of other fans did not dig this book but it made me happy and made me want to play the games again desperately so idc.