.jpg "Myst: The Book of Ti’ana Cover") |
| (Cover Artist: The Leonheardt Group) |
Taking the form of a prequel to the prior installment in the Myst Trilogy (1995's Myst: The Book of Atrus), The Book of Ti'ana is set many decades before the start of that earlier work. Following a woman named Anna who stumbles across the thriving subterranean civilization of D'ni, The Book of Ti'ana details how Anna befriends a citizen of this insular society named Aitrus (a character whose name closely mirrors that of the protagonist of the earlier book except for a slight difference in spelling, and who is explicitly indicated here to be a different person).
Through Aitrus's encouragement, Anna begins the lengthy process of studying the D'ni civilization's greatest accomplishment--a supernatural practice known only as "the Art" by which D'ni writers use an ancient language to describe imagined realms in specially designed "Linking Books," and then use these books to physically travel (or "Link") to these worlds (which are called Ages). Thanks to the unlimited power of the Art, D'ni writers are capable of using their Linking Books to travel anywhere the citizens of their underground city require, with the only limits of this civilization being rooted, very literally, in the worlds its people are prepared to imagine possible.
I don't think it's a terribly significant plot spoiler to say upfront that The Book of Ti'ana ends with the complete destruction of the entire D'ni civilization. In the previous novel, Anna's grandson, Atrus, explored the decaying ruins of the D'ni capital, venturing down into this now abandoned realm under the misplaced guidance of his megalomaniacal father (a man who was ultimately shown to be so pathologically obsessed with uncovering the lost secrets of the Art that he was willing to destroy entire universes in order to obtain this knowledge). Throughout The Book of Atrus, that story continually referenced a mysterious catastrophe that not only left the D'ni city in ruin, but also seemingly killed every resident of this city within only a matter of minutes. Yet critically the exact nature of this catastrophe, and what it was that brought it about, remained unclear.
For this reason the fact that The Book of Ti'ana is the story of the D'ni civilization's downfall is a narrative element woven into this book's underlying concept. This is not just the story of how the D'ni civilization was destroyed, but also why this destruction occurred.
It's that last question, unfortunately, which is also the one aspect of this story which doesn't quite work. While this book initially sets itself up as a subtle narrative examining how the destruction of D'ni resulted from a bigotry woven into all layers of this society, it ends with a sequence that very bluntly negates these themes. In their place, the novel attempts to twist itself into the distorted story of two friends who tragically betray one another's trust, all while ignoring the immense violence and cruelty for which one of these individuals is clearly responsible.
General Plot Summary
I think that one way to discuss why The Book of Ti'ana ultimately struggles might be to start by establishing the many things this story does well.
As the book opens, a team of unnamed D'ni workers (called "surveyors") are introduced drilling a tunnel through the rock surrounding their underground city. In a passage that deliberately avoids introducing any central characters, the book's omniscient narrator instead emphasizes for the reader how the D'ni are a people who have developed elaborate customs and rituals permeating almost every aspect of their day-to-day existence. So entrenched are these rituals that even a task as simple as digging a tunnel through the rock is steeped in a deep historical and cultural significance, with the subterranean nature of this world meaning that even the slightest deviation from protocol could bring about disaster.
It's in this context that The Book of Ti'ana introduces one of its main characters--Aitrus. Established to be the young heir to one of the wealthy families who currently occupy a seat on the ruling D'ni council, Aitrus has as the story begins chosen to leave his family's wealth and comfort, and joined this team of surveyors in their work. Aitrus's reasons for making this choice emerge only when he is called into the office of the expedition's leader--an elderly D'ni man referred to as Master Telanis. Despite having spent over nine millennia in their underground city, the D'ni have never once explored the surface of the planet which they call home. Instead, D'ni writers simply use the Art to write Linking Books to any realm they wish to explore, with the prospect of constructing a physical passage to a new world seen as a reckless waste of resources.
Now however, Telanis has sought to change this, and with the help of the surveyors whom Aitrus has joined, is constructing a massive passageway leading directly to the unexplored surface of the D'ni homeworld itself. Understandably, this act has drawn controversy from the D'ni council, whose members have recently dispatched a representative to come and audit whether or not Telanis's expedition represents a dangerous violation of D'ni tradition. It's for this reason that Telanis, in this moment, calls Aitrus into his office and asks him to serve as this representative's guide. In addition to being enthusiastic about the expedition's mission of exploring the surface, Aitrus has already revealed himself to be extremely dedicated to learning the ancient traditions and protocols which the surveyors follow during their work. Telanis therefore believes that Aitrus's dedication to tradition will reflect favorably upon the group's entire project.
Yet as this sequence in the story continues, and Aitrus does his best to impress the skeptical council representative who arrives shortly afterwards, a critical disagreement emerges not between Aitrus and this representative, but Aitrus and Telanis. In one scene, both Aitrus and Telanis idly speculate about the nature of the surface realm they are digging towards, and Aitrus suggests that if they happen to discover an intelligent species living in this world, then the D'ni should formally make contact with this civilization--treating these people as equals worthy of their respect. Yet while Aitrus finds the possibility of making contact with a new civilization exciting, Telanis immediately dismisses it as ridiculous. In the process, he reveals that even he harbors a bigotry mirroring that of the traditionalism of the council members who oppose his work.
"Making contact with the surface-dwellers?" Telanis smiled. "Yes. Just so long as it is done discreetly."
Aitrus frowned. "How do you mean?"
"I mean, I do not think we should mix our race with theirs. Nor should we think of any extended relationship with them. They are likely, after all, to be a primitive race, and primitive races--as we have learned to our cost--tend to be warlike in nature. It would not do to have them pouring down our tunnels into D'ni."
"But what kind of relationship does that leave us?"
Telanis shrugged, then. "We could go among them as observers. That is, providing we are not too dissimilar from them as a species."
"But why? What would we learn from them doing that?"
"They might have certain cultural traits--artifacts and the like--that we might use. Or they might even have developed certain instruments or machines, though personally I find that most unlikely."
"It seems, then, that Master Kedri is right after all, and that ours is something of a fool's errand." (pp.41-42)
Essential to this exchange is that, while Aitrus and Telanis initially seem motivated by the same ideals, the values which Aitrus holds here are shown to be the inverse of those to which Telanis abides. While Aitrus claims to love the traditions and protocols of D'ni society, what he actually loves is not these literal protocols, but instead the ideals which he feels that D'ni society strives to represent via its customs. While Telanis sees his expedition as being valuable only insofar as it could bring new resources to the D'ni city, Aitrus sees contact with a hypothetical surface-dwelling civilization as an intrinsic good--an act which, while potentially changing the nature of D'ni culture, is nevertheless the most honest expression of what he believes this culture values.
This sequence also sees the introduction of the critical secondary character of Veovis--a former school bully of Aitrus's who has quickly risen through the ranks of D'ni society due to his unparalleled mastery of the Art. Now personally occupying a seat on the D'ni council itself, Veovis unexpectedly visits the expedition due to his curiosity regarding Telanis's work. In this way, he becomes reacquainted with Aitrus, and makes a series of awkward but also apparently genuine efforts to make amends for his past behavior. When an earthquake leaves Veovis stranded in a collapsing tunnel, Aitrus risks his life to save his former tormenter, and in so doing earn's Veovis's loyalty. In a moment which to be frank comes across as staged due to how it is clearly establishing a point of future irony, Veovis vows that he and Aitrus will be friends "until the last stone turns to dust." (p.114)
It's with that ominous promise established that the novel skips forward in time, shifting away from Telanis's expedition so as to introduce the second of its two protagonists: Anna. Living in the scorching heat of the desert representing the surface of the planet which the D'ni call home (a planet which, in one of this book's more awkward world-building moments, is belatedly indicated to be Earth sometime during the early 18th century), Anna is introduced as a British woman who lives with her father doing geological surveys in an ambiguously middle eastern country. After investigating strange patterns in the sand which the reader knows have been produced by the D'ni sounding equipment far below, Anna and her father uncover a mysterious cave clearly not created by geological processes.
Yet when Anna's father unexpectedly dies of an unknown illness, she responds to her grief by recklessly venturing down into this cave, and after becoming lost in an endless network of lava tubes, is discovered by D'ni officials and immediately taken into custody. This event quickly triggers a crisis within D'ni society, with the revelation of Anna's existence setting in motion a social and political conflict whose consequences extend far beyond what any one individual can see.
Main Review (a discussion of this story's strengths)
For much of the ensuing novel, one of the driving elements of The Book of Ti'ana is the subtlety with which Anna's arrival in D'ni is depicted, and the contrasting ways in which her existence is interpreted by the people of this city.
This is demonstrated best via the two characters who first learn of Anna's existence--Aitrus and Veovis. Initially assuming that Anna must simply be a strange wild animal from the surface (rather than an intelligent being), both Aitrus and Veovis immediately perceive this woman in wildly contradictory terms--alternately interpreting the mounting evidence of her intelligence as either a threat which she poses to their city (as in the case of Veovis), or proof that she should be treated with respect and kindness (as in the case of Aitrus).
For instance, in one scene, Aitrus debates with Veovis the implications of a recent discovery that Anna, while being held in a prison cell, has single-handedly taught herself the basics of the D'ni language, and then used this language to politely request that she speak with the city's leaders so as to negotiate her freedom. After learning this fact, Aitrus explains to Veovis that Anna's ability to communicate proves she should not be treated with the hostility she has already faced. Yet in the first instance of a paradox that emerges repeatedly in the ensuing story, Veovis interprets Anna's rapid mastery of the D'ni language as proof that she cannot be trusted. As both Aitrus and Veovis debate with one another whether Anna should be allowed to speak for herself at an upcoming hearing, the text reads:
"You think it might be dangerous, then, to let the girl speak?"
Veovis glanced at him. "Is there any doubt? No, the more I think of it, the more certain I am. The girl has a natural cunning. It is that, more than anything, that has allowed her to master our tongue."
"You think so?"
"Oh, I know it. And I fear that she will use that same cunning to try to manipulate the council. (p.227)
This disagreement between Aitrus and Veovis, when coupled with the earlier exchange between Aitrus and Telanis, further establishes a silent bigotry that permeates D'ni society--a bigotry which Aitrus struggles to recognize in those around him even as he seems to instinctively reject it. While Aitrus is a character who honestly believes in what he thinks are the ideals of the D'ni civilization--an egalitarian dedication to the pursuit of exploration and science--Anna's arrival gradually causes him to realize that even those close friends of his who claim to value these same ideals are perfectly willing to abandon them the moment the status quo is called into question.
One scene in particular highlights this contradiction. After Aitrus has become more acquainted with Anna, he arranges a meeting between she and Veovis. Aitrus's rational is that if Veovis were to speak with this woman directly, then he would recognize her to be a person who values the very same ideals to which Veovis claims to have dedicated his life. Instead, while Veovis agrees to the meeting, and treats Anna with a warm (if not also condescending) hospitality, the sequence ultimately concludes with a moment highlighting how Veovis's distrust of Anna derives not from the ways in which he thinks she is different from him, but the ways in which she is, at least in Veovis's mind, similar.
Veovis grinned. "We are alike, you and I. We are both straightforeward people." He looked pointedly at Aitrus. "Blunt, some call it. But let me say this. I was not disposed to like you. Indeed, I was prepared to actively dislike you. But I must speak as I find, and I find that I like you very much."
She gave the smallest little nod. "Why, thank you, Lord Veovis."
"Oh, do not thank me, Ah-na. I did not choose to like you. But like you I do. And so we can be friends. But I must make one or two things clear. I am D'ni. And I am jealous of all things D'ni. We are a great and proud people. Remember that, Ah-na. Remember that at all times."
Anna stared at him a moment, surprised by that strange and sudden coldness in him, then answered him.
"And I, my Lord, am human, and proud of being so. Remember that," she smiled pointedly, "at all times." (p.258)
Essential here is that even when Veovis chooses to show Anna kindness, he does so because he believes these qualities are uniquely D'ni, and attempts to assert this fact in the above passage. Yet rather than accepting Veovis's assertion of his superiority over her, Anna instead negates it by simply repeating Veovis's own sentiments back at him--noting that just as how he takes pride in his identity as D'ni, she too takes pride in her identity as human. Yet because this pride is something which Veovis in turn is incapable of accepting, this leads to the implication that his distrust of Anna is rooted, whether or not he realizes it, in his perception of her as D'ni.
That is, the qualities in Anna which Veovis perceives to be a threat to the D'ni city are, in effect, the very qualities that Veovis sees as defining D'ni culture itself.
Criticisms (major plot spoilers follow)
Flaws in this fascinating dynamic only begin to emerge in the latter half of the novel. As the story continues, Aitrus succeeds in ensuring that Anna is formally granted D'ni citizenship, with the two ultimately using the Art to author their own Age together, and then (as the years of their lives progress) choosing to become married, and then later to have a child whom they name Gehn (the eventual villain of the earlier novel and accompanying games).
Yet as Anna comes to be more fully accepted into all layers of D'ni culture (even assuming the D'ni name "Ti'ana" to which this novel's title refers), the rift between Aitrus and Veovis continues to grow. Eventually, Veovis becomes so enraged at the threat which he thinks Aitrus has brought upon the D'ni civilization by marrying Anna that he begins working to ensure that both are permanently exiled from this society--forcibly condemned to live the rest of their lives in solitary "Prison Ages" devoid of all other intelligent life.
Had the novel focused itself on a more direct critique of Veovis's bigotry, then I think The Book of Ti'ana would have succeeded in becoming the sprawling yet also subtle story that its early chapters promised. This could have been a novel examining the ways in which Veovis's fears of Anna are paradoxically rooted in his fears of himself, hence why his baseless distrust of her only grows the further she comes to be integrated within the very culture to which he belongs.
Unfortunately Veovis's shift from a close friend of Aitrus's to, by the time of this novel's conclusion, a depraved mass-murderer personally responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people is largely ignored by the book's plot. As Aitrus and Anna progress through various milestones of their lives together, Veovis by contrast grows increasingly enraged at the abstract fact of Anna's continued existence. Eventually it's this ever-present hatred of first Anna, and then later Aitrus, that morphs into an irrational desire to enact what Veovis describes as revenge against not just Anna and Aitrus, but all of D'ni itself.
Yet throughout this story, the nature of this hatred--and the conflicted reasons why Veovis sees Anna's existence as a threat--remain unexplored. For instance, this very brief passage appears immediately after Veovis learns that Aitrus and Anna intend to become married.
Veovis stormed into the room, slamming the door behind him. He grabbed the inkwell from the desk beside him and hurled it at the wall, shattering it into tiny fragments.
"Never!" he said, glaring at the empty room. "Not while there's breath left in my body!"
His father, Rakeri, had broken the news to him an hour back. Aitrus was to be betrothed. At first, if anything, he had been indifferent to the news. He had not heard that Aitrus was seeing anyone. Then abruptly, he had understood. The girl! The surface dweller!
Veovis stormed across the room and threw himself down into his chair, gnawing on a thumbnail.
"Never!" he said again, the word hissing from him with real venom. (p.324)
Critically here is that in spite of the vivid imagery with which Veovis's hatred of Anna is depicted, the nature of this hatred remains unexplored. Does Veovis still believe that Anna represents a threat to the D'ni city as he initially claimed to Aitrus? Is he simply enraged at the thought of Aitrus marrying an outsider? Does he somehow see Anna's existence itself as an invalidation of his own identity as D'ni?
All of these possibilities represent valid stories in and of themselves, but while it's firmly established that Aitrus and Veovis are characters who claim to love the traditions of D'ni culture, the novel never explores why exactly it is that Veovis's claimed love of D'ni society leads him to reject Anna in the way he does, even as Aitrus's outwardly parallel love of D'ni society allows him to accept her.
Had this story focused on exactly why it is that Aitrus's inclusive love of the values that he associates with D'ni differ so much from Veovis's, then I think The Book of Ti'ana could have become an astonishingly political work of epic fantasy. This could have been a narrative which, essentially, explored why bigotry like Veovis's so easily conceals itself within institutions of power, as well as why people like Aitrus--socially privileged individuals who claim to oppose such bigotry--often fail to recognize it in even their closest friends. Despite their outwardly similar values, Aitrus and Veovis ultimately show themselves to be very different, and the nature of this difference is one that demanded further exploration.
Instead, this potential avenue of conflict is neglected in favor of something much less interesting. During the middle portions of this novel, Miller and Wingrove construct a needlessly complicated side-plot wherein Veovis is contacted by a well-known criminal named A'Gaeris--an individual whom even Veovis regards with suspicion due to how he has supposedly committed a crime so heinous that it remains perpetually unspoken for the duration of the narrative. A'Gaeris claims to have obtained evidence that Aitrus is plotting treason against the D'ni council, and has been illicitly using blank Linking Books to write impossible Ages defying the laws of nature (an act that is seen as a heretical abuse of the Art's unlimited power due to the immense danger that traveling to such Ages entails). What Veovis doesn't realize however is that A'Gaeris has also simultaneously contacted Aitrus with these very same claims about Veovis, with both of these characters allowing their growing distrust of the other to be exploited by this secondary villain.
The end result of all of this is that when Aitrus eventually presents what he doesn't realize is A'Gaeris's fraudulent evidence of Veovis's treason to the authorities (evidence which results in Veovis being stripped of his wealth and status), Veovis in turn becomes convinced that his former friend has knowingly turned on him for personal gain. Because of this, the feud between both Aitrus and Veovis is depicted as being exacerbated not by Veovis's continued bigotry towards Anna, but by Aitrus's suspicion of that bigotry. Had Aitrus simply ignored Veovis's hatred of Anna, the book seems to implicitly claim, then he would not have been taken in by A'Gaeris's secret plot to turn him against his former friend.
The problem of course is that all of this unfolds despite the increasingly unremarked fact that Veovis and Aitrus are not on morally equal footing. Aitrus's distrust of Veovis is rooted in his growing recognition of his friend's bigotry, not any personal vendetta or grudge which he harbors against this individual. Meanwhile Veovis's distrust of Aitrus, in addition to originating in his baseless hatred of Anna, frequently appears to be driven by nothing more than his own ego. Of particular note is one scene later in the book during which Veovis and A'Gaeris meet in secret to discuss their motives. Here, Veovis openly agrees with A'Gaeris's explicitly stated desire to enact violence not just against Aitrus and Anna, but everyone living in the D'ni city.
It's worth noting that even though Veovis does not know that A'Gaeris is manipulating him (and therefore could be argued to honestly believe that Aitrus is secretly abusing the unlimited power of the Art in a way which could genuinely endanger innocent lives), he still doesn't even pause when A'Gaeris openly states that he hopes to one day destroy the entire D'ni civilization itself.
"What do you want, A'Gaeris? I mean, what do you really want?"
A'Gaeris did not hesitate. "To destroy it all. That is my dream."
"Then the guilds. . . ?"
"Are only the start. I want to destroy the D'ni the way D'ni tried to destroy me." A'Gaeris's whole frame seemed to shudder with indignation. "There! Does that frighten you, Veovis?"
Veovis shook his head. "No, I know now how you feel." (p.471)
Passages like these should indicate Veovis to be an irredeemable villain, because even if he genuinely believes that Aitrus has framed him for treason, or is abusing the power of the Art, Veovis is still knowingly seeking the deaths of countless people whom he knows to be innocent of Aitrus's crimes. Moreover, he is doing all of this for no reason other than the anger he feels at how Aitrus has personally betrayed his trust.
Yet despite this fact Veovis is also continually framed by the book as if he were a tragically noble figure--an individual driven to unimaginable extremes who deserves Aitrus's (and therefore the reader's) respect. This is highlighted by how even despite Veovis's hatred of Anna, the thing that ultimately compels him to seek the destruction of the entire D'ni civilization is not that hatred, but instead Aitrus's betrayal of the unconditional friendship Veovis promised him all those years prior.
The resulting storyline is therefore transformed from a genuinely radical work critiquing the bigotry of D'ni society, to a problematically individualistic narrative that pins the blame for the eventual fall of D'ni not on Veovis's bigotry, but instead Aitrus's willingness to challenge it.
Some thoughts on the ending
The implications of this flaw become most apparent after Veovis's increasingly violent obsessions have escalated to apocalyptic proportions. After Veovis and A'Gaeris release a toxic bioweapon into the primary D'ni cavern, they watch as this gas spreads across the city's central lake--killing crowds of panicked civilians who struggle to escape via the Linking Books in the massive D'ni libraries. After all of this has happened, Aitrus dons breathing gear and ventures out into the now abandoned city, and realizes with horror that he has witnessed the end of the D'ni civilization.
And it's here, in a moment that feels jarring for its narrative incongruence, that Aitrus sadly declares to the reader that the destruction of the D'ni city was not the fault of Veovis (the person literally responsible for the attack he has just witnessed), or even A'gaeris (the known criminal whose aid and expertise Veovis called upon to bring this attack to fruition). Aitrus doesn't even blame himself for having failed to notice Veovis's bigotry all those years prior, or the many ways in which that same bigotry continually manifested in the people around him. Instead, the person whom Aitrus reluctantly blames for the destruction of the entire D'ni civilization, and the calculated deaths of every one of this civilization's many citizens, is, incomprehensibly, Anna.
Specifically, while referencing an earlier scene in which Anna had suggested that the D'ni council not pursue Veovis's execution (and instead that they merely send him into exile), the text reads:
It is not her fault, he kept telling himself; she was not to know. Yet it was hard to see it otherwise. All of this death, all of this vast suffering and misery, was down to a single man, Veovis. For all that A'Gaeris had been a willing partner, it was Veovis's bitterness, his anger and desire for revenge, that had been behind this final, futile act. And if he had been dead?
Then my father would yet be alive. And Lord R'hira. And Master Jadaris. And Jerahl...
Aitrus sat up, shaking his head, but the darkness kept coming back. Ti'ana is to blame. My darling wife, Ti'ana. (p.525)
It's in this way, concerningly, that The Book of Ti'ana concludes its story about the ways that bigotry destroys society by attributing the downfall of an entire civilization to a socially marginalized woman who dared to challenge tradition.
I feel the need to say here that what I think is actually going on in this passage is that Miller and Wingrove are attempting to tie up a plot point from the earlier novel that had been deliberately left hanging. In The Book of Atrus, Aitrus and Anna's now adult son, Gehn, at one point gloatingly mentions to his own son (the Atrus of that novel's title), that the grandmother whom this boy loves is in fact the mythic Ti'ana whom Anna herself has always claimed was personally responsible for the destruction of the D'ni city. That novel's Atrus responds to this revelation with horror, and only reconnects with his grandmother much later in the book after he has realized that this history may have been more complicated than he knew. What I suspect is going on here is that Miller and Wingrove are attempting to construct a scenario which explains why many decades in the future, a now elderly Anna might look back on these events and blame herself for Veovis's actions.
However while this passage does resolve that mystery from the first book, it does so in a way that feels inconsistent with the story we have just read. At this point in the novel we have been following the events leading to the inevitable fall of D'ni for over 500 pages, and so there are many characters who it could be argued are responsible for what has just transpired. Yet in the end the one person whom Aitrus declares to be irrefutably culpable for the destruction of the D'ni city is also the only person who has arguably had nothing to do with it. Anna did not release a toxic bioweapon into the D'ni cavern, or manipulate Aitrus and Veovis into turning on one another. It's not even the case that she ignored the bigotry that clearly permeates D'ni culture--allowing (as could perhaps be argued was the case with Aitrus) for this bigotry to fester until it was too late.
If anything, Anna is the one character in this book who exposed this bigotry for what it was, revealing to the D'ni authorities the ways in which their utopian underground society fell short of its ideals. For this reason, while it is possible that Anna might years later mistakenly blame herself for the part she inadvertently played in Veovis's actions (convincing the D'ni council to forego Veovis's execution, and thereby unknowingly facilitating his future attack), it's hard to find a reason why Aitrus of all people would arrive at this conclusion.
Yet despite all of this, it is in the end Anna whom Aitrus blames for the fall of D'ni, rather than any of the many people who he should clearly know to be far more responsible.
Aitrus's story ends when, after realizing he has become infected with Veovis's deadly bioweapon, he stumbles across his former friend slowly dying in the D'ni city--with Veovis having been mortally wounded by A'Gaeris, who has likewise finally turned on him now that D'ni has conclusively been destroyed. It's here that both characters reach a mutual reconciliation in the ruins of the city they had claimed to love, with Veovis using his final moments to work to ensure that Anna and Gehn might escape to the safety of the surface.
In this way, The Book of Ti'ana concludes it's narrative by setting up the scenario via which the previous novel began, with it not merely being that the entire D'ni city has been destroyed, but Anna and Gehn seemingly being the only people in existence with any knowledge of the Art and its power.
Yet because Veovis's final decision to help Anna and Gehn escape never entails any sort of realization as to the horror of his own actions (his turn of heart is rooted only in his rage at A'Gaeris for having stabbed him), this moment feels less like a meaningful resolution to Veovis's story, and more a demonstration of a failure on the part of the authors to understand that story's function.
Some thoughts on the (other) ending
I could probably finish this review here, but I want to pull back and discuss why it is that this novel, despite its flaws, still feels weirdly inspiring.
I think the reason is not so much in what The Book of Ti'ana accomplishes, but instead the unique story that Miller and Wingrove are continually striving to produce. From this novel's sedately paced early chapters depicting the unspoken bigotry permeating D'ni society, to the book's (initially) very subtle examination of Veovis's paradoxically self-directed hatred of Anna, there are many aspects of this story that seem ready to construct a narrative which isn't just unique in the fantasy genre, but also vitally important.
Rather than being a story which centered the supposed tragedy of Aitrus and Veovis's lost friendship, The Book of Ti'ana should instead have been the story of how Aitrus and Veovis initially seem united in their love of the ideals of the D'ni civilization, only for that love to be revealed by Anna to be rooted in something fundamentally different than what either character is capable of seeing. As was foreshadowed in the scene when Veovis and Anna first met, the things which Veovis distrusted in Anna were those same qualities by which he defined himself, with it being Veovis's pride in his identity that he perceived as a threat when it was exhibited by anyone other than himself.
This in turn implies that the dangerous individual whom Veovis thought he saw in Anna--a manipulative being who conceals a brutal violence behind a veneer of power and acceptability--was effectively just his own reflection. The tragic irony of Veovis's character is that he is in a narrow sense correct in his conviction that Anna represents an existential threat to D'ni. It's just that Veovis is incapable of recognizing that the individual whom he mistakenly believes Anna to be--the person who he instinctively knows would bring about the downfall of the D'ni civilization if ever allowed to gain power--is in fact himself.
Interestingly, this is a reading of Veovis's motives that even seems to have been retroactively applied to this story by later installments in the Myst series. In the 2003 game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst (which is set some 300 years after the events of this novel, and was designed by one of this book's two authors), Anna's and Aitrus's great-granddaughter, Yeesha, very overtly blames the destruction of D'ni not on Aitrus or Veovis's feud, or even Anna's arrival in this city, but instead an ideology permeating all of D'ni culture that legitimized Veovis's bigotry. Specifically, in a recorded message that can be found by that game's anonymous player character in the Bahro cave accessible from the Age of Gahreesen, Yeesha equates the legendary founder of the D'ni system of government itself to Veovis, correlating Veovis's fear of Anna with the hierarchical nature of D'ni society itself when she says:
"Let me tell you of King Kerath, dare I speak ill of him. One of the great kings, but yet he was the maker of the proud, for it was his system of guilds which served as the foundation of power, and corruption. The powerful need control, fortresses and garrisons to guard their power, and soon the guarding is yet another thing to be proud of--layers within layers built to preserve their Ages and their pride from the weak and the least who might attack from without. And yet, it is from within that most nations fall, and so the mighty garrisons of D'ni now stand vacant."
The story implied in this quote--one in which the D'ni civilization was destroyed not by a misplaced feud between two friends, but instead a xenophobic ideology which allowed Veovis's bigotry to go unchallenged--would have been an astonishing narrative to read. It's just that this is also not a story which Miller and Wingrove have fully succeeded in writing. It's there if readers want to find it, just in half-completed fragments of ideas which hadn't yet been fully realized.
Paraphrasing the often-repeated tagline of the Myst series, it's almost as if the ending which this book most deserves is one that has been left unwritten.