The Book of Atrus, the first in the Myst trilogy, by Rand and Robyn Miller along with David Wingrove, is one of my favorite science fiction novels of all time. That can likely be attributed to the fact that it was one of the earliest science fiction adventure novels I’ve read as a child. I was blown away by the ability of the characters to create an unlimited amount of worlds by simply writing them out in books. This is likely my second or third time re-reading this incredible story. What I found extremely interesting is how I never found myself reading the subsequent sequels, The Book of Ti’ana and The Book of D’ni.

I’d expect that having matured a lot more since my last reading, I’d have a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the characters and story. While that is somewhat true, I also discovered that the story itself could have been expanded just a bit more. As a child, reading this book of over 300 pages for my book report basically cemented my reputation as a bookworm as well as a nerd. Whereas kids my age selected books that were much smaller and less complex, I wanted something that could stimulate my mind. The Book of Atrus did exactly that. Fast forward to the present, and while I still consider this novel to be one of my most beloved, I found that it could have been so much more. Like so, so much more!

“Yes, Atrus, awe. And so they should, for are we not gods? Do they not owe their lives, their very breath, to us? Would they be here had I not written on the whiteness of the page?” – Gehn

I think the story could have expanded beyond Gehn being the tyrannical father to Atrus and wanting to play God in the worlds he creates. While that obviously is pivotal to the development of Atrus as a character, I just think that the story could have added more overall elements and themes to make things just a bit more interesting. I realize as I’m writing this that I’m only saying these things because of how much I actually loved the world of Myst, Riven, and K’veer and never want it to end! Atrus is an incorruptible person with not one bad bone in him. Sure, this made me root and cheer for him when I was also a young kid, but nowadays? I just can’t help but imagine how the story may have expanded if Atrus saw things with not just a black-and-white lens or from a purely evil or purely good perspective. The ability to create worlds is a tremendous power to hold as a D’ni. It’s hard to believe that one would be able to resist all temptations and not try to play God as his father did.

“Did you ever wonder what it would be like to go swimming out among the stars?” – Catherine

Regardless of all that, I think this series is severely underappreciated. I rarely see this series mentioned during discussions of some of the best science fiction works there are. The writing is a bit simple, but that also makes the series that much more accessible to the masses. This time around, I will definitely complete the final two sequels and see for myself if the series can hold up to my high expectations.