If you plan to read this book yourself, DON'T read this...it gives away the ending!
The Book of Atrus starts out with Atrus’ birth. His mother died in childbirth, and his father abandons him. His grandmother, Anna, is forced to raise him alone. They live in a cleft in the desert. Anna is very resourceful. She teaches Atrus about D’ni (pronounced “dunny”), and also gives him insight. Often, she asks him, “What do you see?”, inspiring him to look deeper, and see more. (This helps him to question everything, and not to accept everything at face value.) Atrus writes in his journal, and also conducts many experiments. Atrus and Anna are happy with their lives. All of this changes when Atrus is fourteen. His father, Gehn, suddenly appears, and wants to take Atrus back to D’ni with him. The decision is made; Atrus will return with his father to D’ni. They travel down the tunnels for several days before reaching the cavern .....
There is an enormous valley, surrounded by a lake. The lake glows orange. In the center of this lake is an island. Off to the right are different colored stones. On the far side of the lake, there are buildings.
Gehn has mad his home on the island of K’veer. Rijus, his mute servant, is the only other person in D’ni. Gehn begins to teach Atrus the art (writing and creating new ages). Once, they traveled into the city of D’ni, where they find 8 kortee’nea (blank writing books). Now they have everything they need to create their own ages.
As time passes, Atrus yearns to return, and see Anna. Now Gehn tells him of the downfall of D’ni, and how Ti’ana was responsible for it. He tells Atrus that Anna is Ti’ana!
Three years later, Gehn and Atrus ventured into Gehn’s 37th age. (Gehn never names his ages, he just gives them numbers.) Gehn leaves Atrus to study the age. He stays with an old woman in a hut. Once, a chasm appears. He rescues a girl, Salar, who has fallen in. Another time, he rides in a boat with two native men. They sail off near the mist wall. When they return, the two men are now afraid, for they have “cheated the Whiteness”. Gehn tries to fix his age by making the water warm, and getting rid of the mist wall. Now Atrus receives his very own kortee’nea. Together they link to the age Atrus has created. He had tried to re-create the cleft! Gehn is not thrilled with it, and encourages him to take more chances. However, it is time to celebrate his Korfah V’ja. (Gehn calls this the god crowning ceremony.) The people of the 37th age beg “Lord Gehn” to help them. The lake has now dried up, and the village is dying. Gehn attempts to go ahead with the ceremony. It is interrupted by a tremendous thunderstorm, which frightens the people. The ceremony is over, and both Gehn and Atrus return to D’ni. Once again, Gehn tries to fix the age by undoing what he has written. This time, when Atrus returns, the people don’t know him. He realizes that this is no longer the original 37th age that Gehn had written. When he returns to D’ni, he has a fight with his father. In his anger, Gehn tosses the linking book into the fire, forever destroying the link to that age. Atrus recognizes that his father is a mad man. He leaves K’veer, and tries to return to Anna in the cleft. Gehn catches him, and imprisons him in a room with a linking book to Gehn’s 5th age, Riven.
Left with no choice, Atrus goes to Riven. It is here that he meets Katran (Catherine). Katran has been trained by Gehn, and takes Atrus to the age she has created. Together, they decide to escape from Riven. (Gehn has chosen Katran for his wife, and it looks like Riven is also unstable.) Atrus goes to D’ni, and tries to correct the faults with Riven. With time running out, Katran takes Atrus to another age she has, Myst. Atrus leaves Katran in Myst (he thinks!), and returns to Riven to confront his father. After destroying his fathers linking books, he is captured by his father. Gehn goes ahead with the marriage ceremony. During the ceremony, there is an earthquake, and the sky has turned black. Atrus and Katran manage to escape by fleeing into the darkness. Gehn is able to follow them when a streak of lightning lights up the area. When he catches up with them, Katran is first able to escape into D’ni, with Atrus following behind. There he finds Katran, and his beloved grandmother Anna!!!! She has been with him the whole time in D’ni, hiding, and watching over him. Anna and Katran have planned Myst, and the escape together. She has also fixed Riven so that it is now stable.
Atrus and Katran marry, and have two sons.
Play Myst to find out what happen to them, and wait for Riven to get the rest of the answers!
If you liked the summary, you HAVE to read the book. The descriptions are beautiful, and it is very well written.
