A BETTER PARADISE: Volume One (An Aftermath)

A Better Paradise, Book 1

By: Dan Houser

Narrated by: Ray Porter

The first novel from Dan Houser, writer of the Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto series

Everyone tries to escape from paradise. Mark Tyburn dreams of building the perfect video game. Kurt Fischer dreams of being a rich and successful executive. Daisy Tyburn dreams of having the ideal father. John Tyburn Smith dreams of fitting in. NigelDave just dreams of becoming human.

Set in the near future, A BETTER PARADISE tells the story of the ill-fated development of an ambitious but addictive video game project that goes very wrong. As the software they developed starts to produce unexpected and disturbing results, the project is shut down and abandoned. Until now.

©2025 Dan Houser (P)2025 Audible, Inc.

A taste of the future or simply Sci-fi?

I read about this book and the idea of AI escaping and assuming a course of its own and thought it sounded exciting and provocative. It is of course and is a theme for this generation to debate and fret about. But I wasn’t blown away by the format of the book and still don’t really understand what actually happened as the company broke apart and the world went into a crisis. I presume the author wishes me to purchase volume two but there are so many amazing authors out there and competition for my precious credit is steep!

The thoughts of the AI Nigel Dave

Story dragged on forever. Thr main character Kurt sounded so whiny all the time. I couldn’t wait for his parts to be over. Story was always interesting from the AI Nigel Daves POV and also when John Tyburn Smith was added later. The Russian in the holding cell also dragged. He sounded like a Russian version of Kurt.

Mental?

After getting thru half the book I began to pick up the story. That is the most problematic aspect of the book. The story itself is good but is delivered in a schizophrenic dissociative pattern.
I like the book, but like a good mind frock. The performances of the various voicers help with that. Great delivery. Dripping with anticipation, I am going to leave my blindfold on the bedside table while waiting for the next volume.

Meh

Repetitive with no conclusion. Not interested in what happens next. Ray Porter is great as usual but the story is lacking and the characters have no redeeming qualities.

Good story, great narration, too many monologues

The writing and narration are great. The story is good. I want to finish this book but it’s just internal monologues, one after another. Each character just rambles to themselves at great length. It’s hard to stay engaged.