Myst, The: The Book of Ti'Ana

Rating:
Summary: I want more
Review: This book only wets the appetite for more about Myst and all the possibilities before the total destruction. Hats off to the authors for grabbing our imagination with a brand new concept in fantasy. Both Myst books are a must to read as well as the computer game.

Rating:
Summary: PERFECT!
Review: This book is completely captivating and awesome! Wait for the game : Spring 1998 (I think!) If I got it wrong, tell me

Rating:
Summary: Over powering and yet mystifying.
Review: A well spoken story of a young boy and his father. The events were astonashing and immortal, but true in the minds eye. A most observed tecnique in the authors writing was that you don't know whats going to happen next, it is a total surprize when you first read this book taht his father is insane and could do immortal things, that you just couldn't imagine possible. -Anonymous

Rating:
Summary: Excellent antecedent to "MYST -- The Book of Atrus"
Review: Co-Author David Wingrove has done a first class job developing some fictitious people into a living, breathing civilization, complete with its own customs, government, recreation, language, and all else that can be expected of a culture. Since the best selling CD-Rom video game "MYST" was released in 1993 two novels have been published, "MYST -- The Book of Atrus," and "MYST -- The Book of Ti'ana." Each novel has penetrated deeper into the MYSTerious chronicles of the ancient D'ni culture. The latter of these books, "MYST -- The Book of Ti'ana" examines the D'ni in a more involved look through the eyes of the first outsider to visit the D'ni, Anna, and exposes what brought a once powerful nation to a rash and senseless destruction. Mr. Wingrove brings topics to light such as, friendship, connivance, betrayal, and love. "MYST -- The Book of Ti'ana" decked with rich and vivid descriptions, distinct and well-developed characters, and a plot as intricate as a well-made piece of lace, made it a challenge to set down. "The Book of Ti'ana" proves t be an important corner piece to the involved puzzle of MYST. This book goes highly recommended

Rating:
Summary: A PLEASURE to read.
Review: I just finsished my first reading of Myst: The Book of Ti'Ana, and found it a VERY enjoyable book. First of all, I think it tells a better story than Myst: The Book of Atrus. It was a much more gripping and suspensful tale, and didn't seem to have as many annoying "jump" discontinuities as did "Atrus." And just the PHYSICAL experience of reading from a book whose cover is so beautiful, and whose actual pages are so rich and well-designed made the reading experience truly, truly pleasurable. Getting to the story, however, there was one thing specifically that I felt like mentioning. There were definite shades of "The Return of the Jedi" in this story, especially that passage where Lord Veovis is dying . The similarity to Darth Vader's death scene is uncanny, even down to the detail of Veovis mimicking Vader's acknowledgement that there was still some good left in him, after all. Now, some people that I know might cite this similarity as an inherent weakness of the story, but I would disagree with that. I cant' remember who wrote this (maybe Flannery O'Connor??) and I know that I'm not quoting this verbatim, but someone wrote, "There are only three or four really IMPORTANT stories in the world. What fiction writers do is to tell and retell these stories in different disguises"---well, something to that effect. It's because of this that I don't fault "The Book of Ti'Ana" for so closely resembling "The Return of the Jedi" in certain places: because the story of betrayal and redemption IS one of those important stories that we need to hear again and again in all of its various forms. To wrap this up, I'll jsut say that there ARE a few things about the story that I thought could be impoved upon, but these are just minor quibbles that I don't wish to get into now. It is most likely that I will do this book the honor of re-reading it (and "The Book of Atrus") when the third book in the sequence is published. I guess that's just about the highest praise you can give book, isn't it

Rating:
Summary: A mind forever wondering....
Review: I always wondered about that...and now I know

Rating:
Summary: A superb follow-up/look back!
Review: This is the newest of the Myst books, it takes you back to a time before Atrus and does a wonderous job in describing the land of the D'Ni! Whether you've read Myst: The Book of Atrus or not, this is a MUST READ!

Rating:
Summary: beautiful yet so sad...
Review: I cried myself to death when I read this story for the first time. I grew a strong love for Aitrus after reading this story. I fell in love with him and even now I still do. I loved it so much how Rand created his character as he is raised and born as a sweet, gentle, caring, and brave young D'ni. He is a lovable character even towards his own people. The rest of the D'ni hated the humans, but why not Aitrus and his parents? If only the world of D'ni wasn't so prejudiced, then what happened to the once grand and beautiful underground city would never have happened. A mistake that could've been prevented, but sadly, sadly did not. Veovis was a great villain, but when so far just because of Aitrus getting involved and in love with a human being. Why destroy the entire city just because one little mistake? The D'ni people should have destroyed A'Gaeris not exile him from the city. He is my most hated character even more than Veovis. A character that should have been destroyed a long time ago. A mistake, a truly great mistake.

All-in-All, I believe this book is still my all-time favorite. It still pains me to read it to the end as I always end up crying at the end. I feel like I am there, and that is just an amazing feeling. Aitrus will always be my most favorite character in the entire story. BoT is a worth read... I highly recommend it! Get the hardcover if you can, because it is so extremely gorgeous and the map of Aitrus is just incredible. To read the story and see how talented Aitrus is when he created the map just blew me away. I love you, Aitrus! Forever!

Rating:
Summary: Intigue...
Review: This book was fantastic, the only reason that I did not give it 5 stars was basically because I felt that certain areas were overlooked and could have been embellished on...but that's just personal opinion. The story itself is amazing, with many different plot twists and the characters are wonderful. There are no "perfect" characters, but you love them for their flaws just the same. Aitrus, especially, his character has a great charm. Moving between different worlds in itself is enough to keep you reading, trying to decipher the ways of them both. Sometimes this book is very straight forward, and other times it is simply mindbending, but which ever it is, I found it to be a great ride. I am looking foward to reading more from Rand Miller. His style of writing really focuses on making the reader feel as though they are standing with the characters, and that in itself is a huge achievement. I recommend this book to anyone who is not afraid of unconventional wisdom.

Rating:
Summary: Your link to the Myst world...
Review: The basic premise behind the entire Myst series (including the games) is this: If the universe is infinite in both time and space, then every single possible scenario, every single possible world, must have existed (or will).

IS the universe infinite? We'll never know for sure, unless we bump into some kind of boundary (in which case we'll know for sure that it's NOT infinite). But we'll never be certain that it IS infinite, because we'll always wonder if the universe ends beyond the next galaxy...

Philosophy and physics cross science fiction when you learn that there's an underground civilization, a people who refer to themselves as the "D'ni," who have found a way to visit other worlds, which they call "Ages," by writing books.

But these are no ordinary books.

Although this volume in the series does not go into much detail about the book making process, suffice it to say that it is very complicated. The result is a carefully crafted book that will magically transport you ("link" you) to the specified Age.

THIS book itself won't send you to another corner of the universe...At least not physically. But you WILL eventually become absorbed in the Myst world, if you can get past the beginning, which is really slow.

In Part I you learn about Aitrus, a young "Guildsman" working on the D'ni's latest project: making a tunnel to the surface to explore what lies above. In Part II, you learn about Anna, an intelligent geologist and surveyor living with her father on the surface. Things really start to pick up in Part III, when, as you can guess, Aitrus and Anna meet.

The rest is a rollercoaster ride that leaves you mentally breathless. I enjoyed the remainder of the book greatly and delved into it with every spare second I had. And like any good story, it left me wanting more at the end. Luckily, there was a tidbit of the next book in the series at the end, and so my departure of the fantasy world that this book had sucked me into was not so abrupt.

Aside from the occasional grammatical and spelling errors (which shouldn't bother you unless you're trained as a copy editor, as I am), this was a great read. It stirred my imagination in a way that only the greatest stories do (ahem, Lord of the Rings).

There were a couple of loose ends, like **and don't read the remainder of this paragraph if you don't want any spoilers** the suggestion that Aitrus' foe/friend/foe/friend Veovis may have had a romantic interest in Anna...

But I didn't expect this book to be particularly well written and developed anyway (again I present Lord of the Rings as a fine example of both substance and presentation). The purpose of this book is primarily to give background and depth to the games.

Ultimately, The Book of Ti'Ana is a love story, right through to the end. For all you sentimental folks, especially you sci-fi-loving girls (I know you're out there), the romantic aspect is a really nice treat.

If there was anything that touched me about this book, it was Anna's comparing her bond with Aitrus to the connecting of two Ages: "...sometimes it felt as if they were the books of each other-to which each one linked." For anyone who's ever been [or wanted to be] in love, this is a powerful metaphor, and the relationship it represents is the common thread that runs throughout this book. -K.

P.S. - If you liked this review, please rate it. I enjoy sharing my reads with others, and wouldn't mind if my reviewer ranking reflected that ;-)