Rand Miller

With the title "The Book of D'ni" and the last book, "The Book of Ti'ana", I half expected them to go even further back in D'ni's history. Maybe a story about the inception of D'ni! Which, that would be a great tale in itself. Despite this expectation, and not getting it, this still ended up being, probably, my favorite in the trilogy. "The Book of D'ni" picks up where "The Book of Atrus" leaves off and brings us into a world of struggle, rebuilding, and astonishing beauty.

I will make this an uncommonly brief review because this book just grabbed me at every turn I do not want to give away much of anything. Basically Atrus has learned a great deal more about D'ni and its writings. With some natives from other ages he's seeking to, essentially, rebuild D'ni to its former glory, much like his father Gehn was trying to do, rather unsuccessfully by himself. While they were clearing away debris in one area they uncovered a sealed library that must've been there about as long as D'ni has. He had people look through them to see if any of the Ages seemed stable and decided to go visit one. I'm going to leave it there, the mystery and beauty will give away far too much of the story line.

I think readers will be very pleased with this book because it is everything we love about Myst. It has the beautiful worlds, the mysterious intrigue, everything we could possibly want! At this point I could only hope that this would be a continued novel series, but as I write this in June, 2008, that doesn't seem to be the case. A "Book of Miriam" was supposed to be in the works and we got a taste of a first part in the Limited Edition version of Myst V: The End of Ages. So the series was intended to continue! Unfortunately I recently found that "The Book of Miriam" has been pulled and it will not be released. I can only relay how dismayed I am and I will still hold out hope that someone will pick it up and eventually publish the book. With the success Blizzard's video games have had in the world of novels, why can't Myst, a game about books, maintain a solid foothold for the reading public. These three books are held in very high acclaim by readers and fans, so it only seems prudent to me that one should continue with this amazing storyline. That's my piece, if you're already a Myst fan I do not think this book will disappoint in the least.… (altro)

Needless to say after finishing "The Book of Atrus" I had fairly high expectations for this series going forward. At the end of "The Book of Atrus" we think the story is going to continue forward from that point, but there is a major story that has not been told yet. The fall of D'ni. This tale is frequently alluded to in the game and the prior book. In fact most of the prior book is trying to rework what was lost during the fall of the D'ni Empire.

Journey with us to a long ago time when Atrus' grandmother was a lot younger and originally known as just Ana. Unlike the other Myst stories so far, this book deals on the level of an entire society. Most areas in Myst that we've visited have been fairly desolate and uninhabited, except for one section in "Riven", but we never interacted with the native population. Well in this book you get to see the height of the D'ni Empire. This story is actually pretty epic in scope and it starts during a time when D'ni was expanding their empire. They knew they were underground and politically there were some people pushing for a way to the surface of the world they were on. You get really involved in all of this political intrigue and that's what makes the book really exciting. I must point out here that as a reader I typically don't enjoy this type of thing and I go more for the action or mystery based types of books. "The Book of Ti'ana" has the perfect blend of political intrigue and mystery as far as I'm concerned.

So the book starts off with the digging teams working their way to the surface and this is where Aitrus (Atrus' grandfather) is introduced into the story. Something happens and the political winds change and the project is put to a halt. At this point you're brought further into the D'ni culture and Aitrus' background story. The D'ni culture is so fascinating that I honestly couldn't stop reading the book. However, going in tandem to this world underground is also a surface world where Ana and her father survey the land areas that haven't been used yet. The surface culture is also on the expanse and often Ana and her father are commissioned to go and explore.

Honestly, I can see how some people would think the book is sort of dry at first because there isn't that much intrigue and it is more based on character development. Such as the introducing of Aitrus' powerful friend Viovus and so on. He becomes a very integral part of the story in the future, but at the beginning you don't know that, nor do you suspect anything... but that is the whole point! One day everything changes in the D'ni society when Ana shows up in their world. Not only that but she can learn language and the D'ni society was haughty enough to think they were the only culture on this world possible for such words and technology. Granted the D'ni technology far exceeded that of Ana's knowledge, but her ability to learn astounded them.

I don't want to give too much away, but that's just a taste for what you can expect to see in this astounding novel. Eventually the story turns into a sort of fate styled meeting for two lovers, Aitrus and Ti'ana (the "ti" was added onto her name in D'ni). They are simply destined to be together. However, this is also the tragic tale of a lost friendship which eventually leads to the fall of an entire empire. In the end it's a rather sad tale, but an incredible background story of Atrus' forefathers and why his father Gehn was so obsessed with D'ni. Let's just say, I now know why he was so captivated with that world.

I simply can't recommend these books to people enough. They're simply shocking! Of all the video game based books I have read, these are probably the best in my collection. They are superbly written and they literally bring you into another world, just like the video game series can do! They are made in the spirit of Myst with small drawings and notations about what is being described in the book, so it has a bit of a journal feel just like we get in the game! I've actually read these books twice now and that's the first time I've ever done that with a book, that's how good these novels actually are.… (altro)

It really seems only fitting that a video game about books would have a series of books published in its name. For some reason when such books were first coming out I was sort of skeptical about their quality. I truly am glad I overcame this and decided to pick up the Myst books. I was an early enough adopter to be able to get all the hardcover texts and they are all beautifully designed. It's strange that a lot of books don't adopt this kind of method, because it really is eye catching and I'm glad the makers of Myst picked up on that. In terms of binding, it technically is rather cheaply done to support the mass market interest in this series. Rather than have a truly older styled binding, they have the typical style with embossed paper wrapped over the hard cover. The paper is of excellent quality and is embossed in sections, which adds a tinge of making it feel artificially handmade. I've had mine for many years now and there is barely any wear on it. However, when one inspects the design you can tell it is merely paper glued over the normal hardcover pressing and it is merely there for aesthetic appeal. The books in the game have a very old styled feel, which they should since they're all handmade books, but the makers wanted to keep that atmosphere alive with printing these books. Despite my inspection of the edition, I must say it was a great marketing idea and wish more publishers would do this rather than just adopt the typical dust jacket. That being said, the current editions more readily available to readers are the regular paperback and now the collected edition which was recently printed.

I wasn't sure what to really expect from this book when I first got it. I had beaten the game "Myst" and the game was pretty well written. However, the game had a lot of unknown elements in its story, and I'm sad to report that "The Book of Atrus" doesn't fill in all the gaps. It certainly fills in quite a bit, but not everything. This book acts as both a prequel to "Myst" and a bridge to "Riven". It's an interesting story in that regard because it tells about Atrus' childhood and goes into why the age of Riven is in dire need of our help!

At the end of Myst we find Atrus sitting at a desk in a deep cavern in place known as D'ni. We are transported there with him once we escape the island of Myst, but we are never told why he is there; just that he needs to make a decision concerning his sons. This is all well and good, but there are so many holes and questions, thus the novelization seeks to explain them. At one time Atrus lived with his grandmother, Ana, in a desert region. "The Book of Atrus" goes into detail about his life and learning there. It's almost an ideal childhood until one day his father, Gehn, returns and seeks to take him back to D'ni. See they are from a race of people who lived underground until they were all of a sudden destroyed. Ana, Gehn, and Atrus are the only decedents we are made aware of from this great society. So when Gehn was old enough he returned to the world of D'ni in search of its secrets, to see if he could find it and possibly rebuild it. Needless to say he sort of succeeded.

Gehn understands how to write in the books and knows the secret D'ni language to make different ages to create portal links between his world and others. However, he does not wield this power intelligently, but he doesn't want the knowledge to die with him, so he seeks out his son. He teaches Atrus everything, but Atrus has a keener mind for creating ages. Most of Gehn's worlds are unstable and if a world has inhabitants Gehn insists on be treated as a God. Needless to say Atrus' kindly nature has the better of him and he seeks to change this.

In this we get to see the bridge to Riven's story line. Riven had been an age linked to by Gehn, but the world was vastly unstable. So he and Atrus sought to fix it if they could. Gehn, being the overbearing man that he is, did not think most of Atrus' ideas were good ones. However, one thing would change Atrus' life forever when he got to Riven, he met Catherine there. Yes, the girl he references frequently in the first "Myst" game. Eventually she would bear his two sons Sirrus and Akenar, so as you can tell, I knew Atrus would succeed even during reading this, so I don't feel I am giving anything away. The book doesn't go into detail about the two sons growing up, so you never really know how everything started with them. Anyway, there is a solution to Atrus' problem, but I'll let the readers find that out for themselves. When we get to "Riven", the video game, there are further complications based around this story... I'll leave these mysteries to be discovered for yourself.

I don't feel I am spoiling very much of the book because it is riveting in itself. Most people who read this will undoubtedly have played the video games and already know the stories' outcomes before reading this. As any Myst player knows the interesting factor is in the details, I have left every part of these out. The book is a fascinating page turner and I really couldn't put it down at all. This book leaves a lot more mystery to the reader in the end and left us looking forward to the follow up text, "The Book of Ti'ana." I especially recommend this to any Myst fan who wants to delve deeper into the story line and world of Myst. I don't think many people would pick up Myst if they didn't already enjoy reading books to find out what new worlds they would be brought to. In that spirit these books are clearly written!… (altro)