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Loading... Myst: The Book of Atrus (1995)by Rand Miller, Robyn Miller, David Wingrove
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I listened to the audiobook version, and really liked the voice actors, especially of Atrus's father. The story is good, simple, and ideal to give us a background of Atrus's young ages and dive us deeper into the story of the video game. There is not over-explaination of events, however I believe this idea can expand into many stories and provide us a beautiful book series. In any case, I liked the book and recommend it to people who have played and enjoyed the game. The first in a trilogy of books that fill in the lore of the Myst universe, The Book of Atrus is the story of Atrus and his tutelage in the D'ni art of world writing under his domineering father, Gehn. At it's core, it's a story of a father-son relationship that goes sour, and of the corrupting ideas of god-like power. I won't spoil it, but the story ends where the game Myst begins. I read this book back when the Myst series of PC games were popular in the 1990s. I enjoyed it at the time, but rereading it after all these years, my opinion has naturally changed somewhat. Given that the games are so heavily based on the pre-rendered visuals and puzzle elements, the series is probably best suited to the realm of gaming. In the case of these books, there are a few illustrations scattered throughout, but most of the narrative relies on descriptions. Another change in my opinion has to do with age. That is to say, this book is more or less written as a young adult piece of fiction. Upon recently finishing the book, I didn't find the characters terribly penetrating or the personal conflicts very unique, but I've read many books over the years. For a story aimed at teens, I'd say it's decent, but as an adult, I don't find this to be a classic piece of literature. Overall, I would say that the book serves as a good prequel to the first Myst game. no reviews | add a review
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Based on the best-selling CD-ROM game, a fantasy novel fills out the lives of the games characters, tracing the strange apprenticeship of Atrus to his father, Gehn, who wields the power to create worlds. Reprint. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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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! ( )