Bioshock: Rapture
by John Shirley
Tor Books
432 Pages
First Published: 2011
2K Games' Bioshock is one of the strongest examples of how the medium of video games can be used to tell intriguing, meaningful stories. Creative director Ken Levine's tale of the dangers of objectivism, a self-serving philosophy outlined by the controversial and polarizing author Ayn Rand in novels such as Atlas Shrugged, in a city built under the sea is original and provocative, and deals with complex moral dilemmas seldom found in the medium.
Rapture, the undersea would-be utopia built by industrial mogul Andrew Ryan, is a fascinating place, and the game's breathtaking visuals bring it to life even in its declining state. Noted author John Shirley attempts to capture the rise and fall of Rapture in this prequel, but it doesn't entirely survive the shift in mediums.
Shirley's effort is certainly noble, but translating a video game - a very visual medium - to one that relies so much on imagination is a difficult one. Shirley has to assume that anyone reading the novel is already familiar with the games, which is most likely going to be the case, but it's this reliance on prior knowledge that ultimately hinders the book.
From a fan's point of view, Bioshock: Rapture is, at best, spotty. Though it does what it sets out to do, it does so with odd pacing - skipping large chunks of time, particularly during the construction and early stages of the city's lifespan, and lingering too long on others. A large portion of the book is dedicated to Rapture's second age, when Fontaine Futuristics introduce the genetic alterations known as plasmids that ultimately contributed so much to the city's downfall. There is some fascinating insight throughout all three ages, but it's often crippled by relying too much on tropes from the games. There are numerous times throughout the text where it feels too much like trying to translate actual gameplay into text, and the result is usually awkward action sequences.
Certain characters are quite well-developed. Frank Fontaine, though somewhat one dimensional, is a conniving rabble-rouser, while Andrew Ryan, the founder of Rapture himself, in his attempts to adhere to his beliefs about a completely free society, ends up a hypocrite. The character arcs of these two bitter rivals are excellent, but there are far too many tertiary characters and not enough time to devote to them. Jasmine Jolene, the biological mother of the first game's protagonist, is barely mentioned. Pivotal figures such as Sofia Lamb, a political nemesis of Ryan's whose inflammatory remarks spark an uprising, and Brigid Tenenbaum, one of the scientists responsible for the iconic Little Sisters, are woefully underdeveloped.
As a prequel to an established story, the book's biggest pitfall is that many of the plot threads are simply left unresolved, assuming that the reader has played the games and knows the outcome. While this may very well be the case, it simply doesn't make for a good way to write a book. Many references that will make fans smile will be lost on anyone whose first journey to Rapture is through this book, but even to someone intimately familiar with the existing storyline (namely, myself), it feels stunted and unfinished.
It begs the question: Why did we need a prequel in the first place? Perhaps part of the appeal of Rapture, and the brilliance of the games, is the mystery behind it. We first entered Rapture after its civil war, on the brink of collapse while the weight of the ocean threatens to crush the very walls of the city itself. Gamers were immediately thrust into the remnants of a society where each man, woman, and child's only thought was for themselves, and that was all the information we needed. Exactly how it all happened didn't really matter, because it was the outcome - the creation and resultant failure of a society built around selfish ideals - that was important.
It's definitely true that newcomers to the world of Bioshock would be far better off playing both games before picking up John Shirley's prequel, but even after doing so, they're likely to be left a little disappointed. Despite a handful of well-crafted characters (Ryan, Fontaine, and Rapture engineer Bill McDonagh), it fails to reach the lofty heights set by Ken Levine and his team in the gaming medium. Rapture is an occasionally interesting companion piece, but it doesn't add much to the plot laid forth by the games beyond needless backstory.
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