In Beta

By: Prescott Harvey

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

“Prescott is one brilliant dude.” (JJ Abrams)

It’s 1993, and Jay and Colin are small-town geeks. Senior year is nearly over, and they’re still as unpopular as ever.

Everything changes when they discover a disk containing a computer program called The Build, a pixel-perfect replica of their hometown. As the boys tweak its code, they discover they can bend the laws of reality. With godlike power, they react as any teenager would: hacking high school to make it more awesome.

But someone - or something - is watching. And as their friends and neighbors begin acting increasingly strange, they buckle in for an epic battle. Jay and Colin must pull out all their cheat codes to save themselves, their town - and the very fabric of existence.

©2020 Prescott Harvey (P)2021 Audible, Inc.

A trip down memory lane

This audiobook was a whole lot of fun. What a throwback and Great time reminiscing on being a child of the 90s. Some of the pop culture references and food items mentioned that were very popular in the 90s really give this book the added charm and wonder to make it great! There is a wide range of characters some that you will love and some that you will love to hate, that’s what makes this book very very interesting. As the story progresses it introduces some really cool and unique twist that kept me on the edge of my seat. It provides a pretty big bang when you start to realize what’s going on and it all comes full circle. The narration in this audiobook was done fantastically. This was not my first performance by this narrator but he really does bring the words to life and breathe life into the characters. Just a really fun ride and a little bit of a strange ending but it left me very very happy.

Very Cool Premise Plus Early 90’s Nostalgia

I really enjoyed Prescott Harvey’s IN BETA, a story that’s chockful of action and plot twists. The protagonist Jay Banksman lives in Bickleton, a town with a 0% college admissions rate, and yet Jay is optimistic and demonstrates a youthful enthusiasm. When the villain arrives and reveals himself, he is truly malevolent, and the battle scenes with him escalate nicely with vivid descriptions. The book also presents some interesting questions, like, what if God plays Sim City? If your life is a simulation, how do you make it meaningful? Overall, IN BETA is a fun book with tons of early 90’s references that had me grinning while I read.

It filled some time.

Did you like the premise of "Off to be the Wizard?" Does the idea of the simulation theory intrigue you? Did you grow up in the 90s? Do you crave nostalgic references to a simpler time as a way of escaping the endlessly depressing world that is modern western society in 2021?

Then you'll probably find juuuust enough in this book to keep you entertained for a few hours.

That said, you won't find much more. The story is fine, but lacking in creative uses of the central plot device: a computer game that changes reality. The characters are bland and cliché, and though some might object that there is an "in-universe" reason for this, it doesn't change the fact that you're stuck reading a book where the characters are, indeed, bland and cliché. The "plot twists" (heavy finger-quotes there, as they're telegraphed throughout most of the book) are predictable, as is the relationship progression between the main character and his love interest.

On the plus side, the author seems to possess a quality that many lack in today's industry: he writes to entertain. There was no moral grandstanding, no long political diatribes, no self-insert speeches designed to force the audience to read a pretentious op-ed they would have otherwise ignored. This is a rare thing for the sci-fi/fantasy genre these days, so I was glad to see it.

All in all, the story kept moving and it didn't overstay its welcome. I would have liked a bit more set-up and exploration of the concept before everything got all "action-packed third act," but what are you going to do?

I give it a recommendation if you're getting it for free or deeply discounted on sale.