Customer Reviews

Myst: The Book of Atrus

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I was in love with the mysterious and intruiging computer hit MYST, as many people were. When I picked this book up soon after it came out, I bought it, hoping that it wouldn't be a corny and boring book that was just written by cocky people who had so much success with a great game....nope!

This is the story behind MYST, and it is brilliant! But there is a glitch in the series...not written in order! The first book to really read is MYST: The Book of Ti'Ana, which is actually my favorite one! Ti'Ana tells the story of Atrus's grandparents, Aitrus and Ti'Ana (Anna), who have a son, Gehn, who in turn has Atrus. But this tells the story of Atrus, who is taken from the land that he knows by his angry returning father, Gehn. Brilliant!

Okay, disregard what I said about the order...the order is correct, but I'd still read this one first, just because it intruduces you more into the land D'ni than Ti'Ana...

Don't miss this book! A wonderous read! Enjoy!

When I first played Myst, I got confused with the puzzles and never really got past the 3rd island you travel to. So I gave up on the game. Then Riven came out and RealMyst. Then one day I was walking through (a local store), and saw the entire novel set there. I figured, I loved the game, I wonder how the novels turned out. They're pretty awesome in fact. The way the Book of Atrus starts, I pictured it like a high-budget Hollywood film. I could imagine what all I was reading like it was in a movie.

I suggest anyone who's ever been curious about the games and never bought them, to pick up this book before buying the new RealMyst game. It's a much better intro story to the games than the game was. It'll give you a in depth background and storyline to the games. This book answers pretty much why and how everything came to be how it was. Pick it up! Now! GO! lol

Based on the hot selling computer games, Myst and Riven; This book is about a boy, named Atrus, who lives quite a quiet life with his mother until his father arrives to come take him away and to teach him the ways of D'ni. As days pass on, and Atrus gets more and more experienced in the olden ways, he soon learns of a plot where his father is mearly using him a pawn in his scheme to enslave millions of people and become like a god to them... I really enjoyed this book since it gave me some insight into how the two computer games tied together as well as giving me an in depth look at Atrus. If you like reading stories full of mystical worlds and fantastic details, you'll love Myst: The Book Of Atrus.

This is one great book. I just could not put it down. From cover to cover, there is incredible description that makes you feel like you are there. It's also great for fans of the Myst game, as you discover secrets about unknown backround of Myst characters. This book also has a great storyline. It is about Atrus, a boy living in the desert with his grandmother, who finally meets his dad. His dad takes Atrus to the ruins of an ancient civilization and teaches him the ways of D'ni writing. This may not sound interesting, but the fact that his father has evil intentions a the elements of adventure and action. You will very much like this book, and be sure to also get the sequels. These are the Book of Ti'ana and the book of D'ni. The Quality of storyline and writing increase as the books go along. Knowing how good a book this is, you must buy the others. If you like a great book, buy this one.

This is an amazing book. I've never even played the games, but the characters, the locations, the fantastic places the characters see...I loved it.

The book starts with Gehn leaving Atrus with Ana, his grandmother. Atrus grows up in some lost desert land, where he has never even seen rain. Gehn returns after about a decade or so, and takes Atrus with him, to rebuild the broken civilization that was the D'Ni.

The rest of the story is about Gehn's tenuous grasp on the ideas behind making the D'Ni "portal-books," and the rivalry between father and son. Gehn is a self-absorbed fool who doesn't really know what he's talking about, while Atrus is a humble master of the language of D'Ni.

The sheer fantasy and lovely imagery of this story was enough, although it plays out rather slowly. But the beauty of the book itself was astounding. The paper was patterned, and the embossed patterns on the cover were pretty. The drawings are gorgeous, and illustrate the richness of D'Ni culture very well.

All in all, this is one of the greatest books I've read. And the story continues!

This is not the first book my son (now 14)has reccommended to me, but it is one of the best he has. Neither him nor I have played the game, but we both enjoyed the book SO MUCH!! We can't wait to read the book of Ti'ana. I loved the characters, the plot, the fantasy behind it!! It is a truly amazing book. At some points I found myself thinkng about it during the day, as if someone from my family were having Atrus' problems! After I finished, I thought about the book for a couple of days, and we discussed it thoroughly. I am buying several copies to give to my nieces and nephews for summer reading! If you haven't read it, go get a copy and read it, whether you are 13 or 50. All you need is to like fantasy and enjoy a good book.

This is my favorite book of all time. my father works with computers and is very into the games. he bought the game and the book and for a while the book just sat around the house. i'm a big reader so when i found the book i got started right away. that was the best week of my life. i hadnt been able to figure the game out till i read the book. then everything made sense in a way. i plan on reading Myst:the book of D'ni and Myst: the book of Ti'ana this summer. i'm sure they'll be just as good. this was the best book i've read in my entire life- i've read it 4 times now- it's really that good!!

This one is not to be missed. MYST is a well written, intriguing, and wonderfully crafted fantasy novel, a page-turner. The entire series is amazing, and a fantasy fan should not miss this for the world. Though very explanatory for those who play the game, this book doesn't need to be read by someone who has played or in the proccess of playing the game. I thank rand miller gratefully for his wonderful books. Don't wait to read this! Atrus is a complex, interesting character, and also the hero. Then we have Gehn, the father which he has never known, and his ways as you come to realize are twisted and in a sense evil. i recommend this to everyone, of all ages. Enjoy!

The Book of Atrus is the fascinating prequel to the exciting CD-ROM game called MYST. The book begins in the desert on earth with Atrus being raised by his grandmother Anna, after being abandoned by his father, Gehn, the last of the race of D'ni. Anna spends many years teaching Atrus the Art, the D'ni craft of linking to other worlds through the descriptive art of writing in special books. For the most part, Atrus thought these stories and teachings were only ancient legends of the D'ni. Then his time came to explore the magnificent underground realm of D'ni. When Atrus is fourteen years old, Gehn takes him from Anna to D'ni where Gehn teaches him more properly the Art, and even gives him books in which he may begin his own Ages. In time, however, Atrus realizes that his father does not understand the power of the Art. His fathers Ages are unstable and weak. He also sees the obsession of power in his father, wanting thousands of Ages to be "lord" over, regardless of how he does it. In this book, beauty and intrigue, mystery and betrayal, good and evil meet. The Book of Atrus is a tale of son against father; of truth versus evil, and of love and redemption. One will travel to wonderful new Ages and experience many awesome things. This story ends where the surrealistic world of MYST begins.

As Howard Cosell titled his autobiography, "I never played the game." I don't even have a CD-ROM drive yet. But I would have had to have been living in a fissure in the earth to be totally clueless about MYST, the phenomenally popular CD-ROM game that has become multimedia's first bestseller and first classic. From people who have played it, I know that MYST is more than a game, it is an experience--an immersion into another world, where things are strange and wonderful. The game works, they say, because it is as rich in its complex storyline as it is in its state-of-the-art graphics.

MYST is more than a game in another respect as well now, with the publication of Myst: The Book of Atrus written by the game's authors, Rand and Robyn Miller, in collaboration with David Wingrove (author of the Chung Kuo series of science fiction novels). A novel based on the game was inevitable, given the rich source material. The fact that the Millers chose to write the book themselves rather than sharecrop it to a third party showed an extreme level of hubris. Doubtless the y realized this, and approached Wingrove as an expert novelist, to help them accomplish a seamless transition from computer game to novel.

Myst: The Book of Atrus is a story that details the background behind the story of the CD-ROM, much like J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion is the background behind The Lord of the Rings. The comparison is particularly apt--the brothers Miller, like Tolkien, are meticulous craftsmen and took the time to build the myths and legends of their world, creating a much more complex and involving tale in the process. Atrus, the protagonist of this novel, is the father of the two brothers upon which the story of the CD-ROM is based. The story itself is not that unusual for fantasy--a young boy is orphaned by the death of his mother and the disappearance of his father. Raised by his grandmother, he comes to value her teaching but longs for more than the simple life that she has made for herself. Then the father returns, demanding his son to follow him to help reestablish their noble race, the D'Ni.

But as any reader knows, it is not the simple plot that defines a book, but the details that embellish a novel, and the Millers and Wingrove have provided not only the embellishment, but the exhilaration of wonder necessary for a genre novel. The conflict between authoritarian parents and inquisitive children, between goals and means, are the basic building blocks of any good work of fiction, and the authors do not neglect it. But it is in the description and workings of The Art, the "science" behind the world creation of the D'Ni, that brings to the book its driving interest and captivation. I am sure it is no accident that The Art, with its emphasis on the power of the written word, of the proper placement of description, also describes the process of novel creation itself; in academic circles, this self-reflection is called metafiction, and the authors here carry it off with panache if not subtlety. What is interesting is that this description of The Art can be broadened to include any act of creation, with a special nod to the creation of an artificial world such as those portrayed in novels, movies, and multimedia computer games.

I thought it would be interesting to read Myst: The Book of Atrus and see if it was a self-contained piece of fiction that could be enjoyed by those of use who remain CD-ROM challenged. Does Myst: The Story of Atrus stand alone? Yes, and surprisingly well. I have no doubt that this would have been well received without the phenomena of the game behind it. And, unlike Tolkien's The Silmarillion, this was a book that the authors had the opportunity to polish and prepare for their audience. Tolkien's masterpiece spawned the modern fantasy industry, of which some novels barely masked their inspiration. Myst has already inspired several productions similar in nature--as well as a couple of parodies, the next sincerest form of flattery. The publication of this pre-history will only further cement its seminal nature on the burgeoning multimedia industry.