I think many people were excited once this book has been announced, because BTS is really popular and has a huge fanbase. I’m not a BTS fan, but was searching for a quick listen and thought it would be interesting though.

• Title: Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS
• Author: BTS, Myeonggseok Kang
• Translator: Anton Hur, Slin Jung, Clare Richards
• Publish date: July 9, 2023
• Publisher: Flatiron Books
• ISBN: 9781250326751
• Number of pages: 544
• Genre: Non-fiction, Biography

THE FIRST EVER OFFICIAL BOOK—

Published in celebration of BTS’s 10th Anniversary, stories that go beyond what you already know about BTS, including unreleased photos, QR codes of videos, and all album information.

After taking their first step into the world on June 13, 2013, BTS will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut in June 2023. They have risen to the peak as an iconic global artist and during this meaningful time, they look back on their footsteps in the first official book. In doing so, BTS nurtures the power to build brighter days and they choose to take another step on a road that no one has gone before.

BTS shares personal, behind-the-scenes stories of their journey so far through interviews and more than three years of in-depth coverage by Myeongseok Kang, who has written about K-pop and other Korean pop culture in various media. Presented chronologically in seven chapters from before the debut of BTS to the present, their vivid voices and opinions harmonize to tell a sincere, lively, and deep story. In individual interviews that have been conducted without a camera or makeup, they illuminate their musical journey from multiple angles and discuss its significance.

In addition, portrait photos that show BTS as individuals and artists open the book, and throughout there are concept photos, tracklists of all previous albums, and over 330 QR codes. As digital artists, BTS has been communicating with the world through the internet and this book allows readers to immediately access trailers, music videos, and more online to have a rich understanding of all the key moments in BTS history. Complete with a timeline of all major milestones, BEYOND THE STORY is a remarkable archive—truly everything about BTS in one volume.

Well, I’m not a BTS fan, although I know some of their songs. I don’t listen to KPop a lot and definitely not when it’s mixed with hiphop, a genre I despice. Sorry, I can’t listen to it. However, some BTS songs are catchy and I just skip the full rap songs. I was not anticipating this book, but I was curious nevertheless. Therefore, i decide to listen to the audiobook when I found it on Storytel. It’s narrrated by Kim Young-Gi and Park Chan-Won. This works pretty good since the book contains interview quotes. These are read by one narrator, while the rest of the book was read by the other.

This book has been written by Myeongseok Kang, a journalist who has written about KPop before and folowed the members of BTS roughly 3 years to be able to create this book. Therefore, it’s a close source which makes the book trustworthy in my opinion. Besides interviews, lots of data and statistics are revealed, without making the book a tough read. Furthermore, it’s covering not only the happy moments, but also the deeper ones and the emotions and reflections that come with these moments. Therefore, this book is not your rainbows and sunshine KPop book, but contains much more depth.

I’ve listened to the audiobook, so I apparently miss a lot of the content the physical book provides. There are no photos, no tracklists and no QR codes. I don’t have a feeling I’ve missed those, but if you are a real fan you will. Therefore, this book is quite inaccessible for people who rely on audiobooks for their reading due to any reading difficulty (in my case, a visual impairment). I hope that the QR codes are available somewhere for these readers. Personally, I’m not that interested in them. For me, Beyond the Story is an interesting read though I’m not a fan.