I'd have to admit (and this is hard for a hardcore fan of Myst and everything D'ni) this has to be the worst Myst book in the series. And that's not bad; the other two were the best books I've ever read. And this is a good book in its own right, but overall it does not live up to the high standards the other two put upon it. The beginning was a bit 'disorienting' as one of these fellow reviewers put it, and you had to read it over again to actually let it sink it where the characters were and who the characters were. The middle was absolutely wonderful, with its descriptiveness of the Terahnee culture, and it moved on quite well from there. But...
The ending, although a great one, was incredibly succinct, almost to the point of completely killing the story. It was almost as though the authors, who have taken monthes before to do the extensive plot, took a week to rap it all up. I felt as though I was gypped, and after reading all of the series, the hundreds of pages, building up to a point...I was angry. The ending was good, but it could have been written better. And, hopefully, the authors know this. I'm not going to even blame the analytical Atrus stepping out of character. And I still love the series. And I have read worse books, believe ME on that. But this book could have been better. And that's kind of sad.
On another note, even after all of this bad press, this book is still worth buying, if only to finish off your Myst collection.
The Book of D'ni takes place when Atrus is 'all grown up' and after the disasterous earth quake. He ventures into another book/world after finding suriviving D'ni people in hope of finding a place for them. He discovers a world of slavery and much more...
Don't pass this one up! Enjoy!