Myst: The Book of Atrus
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 First edition cover |
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| Author | Rand Miller, Robyn Miller and David Wingrove |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Myst franchise |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Hyperion Books |
| Released | January 1, 1995 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback or Hardcover) |
| Pages | 422 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7868-8188-7 |
| Followed by | The Book of Ti'ana |
The Book of Atrus is the first book in the Myst series of novels, set in the same universe as the Myst computer games by Cyan Worlds. A rough draft of the story was written by Ryan Miller in 1994. Later, Richard VanderWende and Rand and Robyn Miller re-worked the story into an extensive outline. Eventually David Wingrove was hired to write the story into a novel. After David Wingrove's reworking of the novel it was published in 1995 in New York by Hyperion with ISBN 0-7868-6159-2. The first chapter of the original draft was later released online on 24 September 2003 on Myst-related websites (it can be found at The D'ni Jazz Club). The second book in the series is Myst: The Book of Ti'ana and the third is Myst: The Book of D'ni.
[edit] Plot summary
The book provides a lot of background information on the D'ni and the characters of the games. The book's main character is Atrus. The story begins with his birth and early youth, where he was raised by his grandmother Anna. When his father, Gehn, returns from his explorations in the D'ni Cavern, he enlists Atrus to come with him, and they journey down the Great Shaft, entering the fallen city. Gehn teaches Atrus the Art and shows him his Age 37, for Atrus' investigative delight. Atrus writes his first Age, which he names Inception. Later, Gehn introduces his son to his Fifth Age, called Riven, where Atrus meets and falls in love with Catherine, a Rivenese villager.
Crucially, the book introduces the fact that Gehn, like Veovis before him, is under the impression that the Writers of D'ni are able to forge their own universes, which erroneously gives them divine reign over the worlds they write, when in fact, they are merely creating links to pre-existing universes. This power struggle eventually leads Catherine to hatch a plan to trap Gehn on Riven. Towards the end of the book, the stage for the games is set: Gehn is trapped and Atrus and Catherine are free on the world that Ti'ana wrote for them, Myst. Atrus drops the Myst Linking Book into the fissure that drops before the player in the first area of the original MYST game, and the closing words of the book are also the voiceover from the opening cinematic.
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Myst • Riven • Myst III • Myst IV • Uru / Uru Live • Myst V |
