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Minecraft: Journey to the Ancient City: An Official Minecraft Novel
A brave band of adventures must enter the deep dark and face down a fearsome Warden in this official Minecraft novel!
Opal has almost done it all—fought monsters, protected people from pillagers, and even defeated the legendary Ender Dragon! But that’s all in the past. Now, Opal has hung up her adventuring hat and is living the life of a happy creafter, far more likely to build a bed than to fight a Wither. In fact, Opal has decided that her time is best spent building her dream manor outside the very village that displays the Ender Dragon skull she brought back from the End!
Meanwhile, Opal’s sister, Lisa, is at the beginning of her own journey. She’s ready to be a hero. Just ask her. Or don’t. She’ll tell you anyway. She knows every single story ever told about her sister and probably about a few other heroes as well. She admires Opal immensely—always has. But now it’s her turn for an adventure.
And that adventure might be bigger than she could ever have imagined. One day, a traveling adventurer named Braun arrives in town, claiming he knows how to defeat the Warden—a fearsome mob that not even Opal has bested. Lisa jumps at the chance to join Braun on his epic quest, and Opal reluctantly agrees to accompany the duo—only to protect her sister, of course. But along the way, Opal might just rediscover her love of adventure, and realize that it’s even more fun when someone else is there to share in the story….
Opal has almost done it all—fought monsters, protected people from pillagers, and even defeated the legendary Ender Dragon! But that’s all in the past. Now, Opal has hung up her adventuring hat and is living the life of a happy creafter, far more likely to build a bed than to fight a Wither. In fact, Opal has decided that her time is best spent building her dream manor outside the very village that displays the Ender Dragon skull she brought back from the End!
Meanwhile, Opal’s sister, Lisa, is at the beginning of her own journey. She’s ready to be a hero. Just ask her. Or don’t. She’ll tell you anyway. She knows every single story ever told about her sister and probably about a few other heroes as well. She admires Opal immensely—always has. But now it’s her turn for an adventure.
And that adventure might be bigger than she could ever have imagined. One day, a traveling adventurer named Braun arrives in town, claiming he knows how to defeat the Warden—a fearsome mob that not even Opal has bested. Lisa jumps at the chance to join Braun on his epic quest, and Opal reluctantly agrees to accompany the duo—only to protect her sister, of course. But along the way, Opal might just rediscover her love of adventure, and realize that it’s even more fun when someone else is there to share in the story….
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Published November 12, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 8, 2025
Minecraft: Journey to the Ancient City (Kindle Edition) is an exciting adventure story that captures the thrill of exploring the mysterious depths of Minecraft’s world. It’s perfect for fans who love discovering hidden secrets, ancient structures, and epic challenges. For those who want to experience similar adventures firsthand, you can dive into the game by getting the Minecraft APK Download and start your own journey to the Ancient City.
January 7, 2026
I read this for my book challenge this year. The prompt was a children’s book, and back in the day both my kids were obsessed with Minecraft. Still kind of are.
This was a very short book. I listened to this one on Audible and I think it would have been better if I read it. That being said, it was a fun adventure book. You rooted for the characters, it got intense, and there were some heart felt moments for sure.
When I was a kid, I would have thought this book checked all my boxes.
This was a very short book. I listened to this one on Audible and I think it would have been better if I read it. That being said, it was a fun adventure book. You rooted for the characters, it got intense, and there were some heart felt moments for sure.
When I was a kid, I would have thought this book checked all my boxes.
March 28, 2025
Fun and engaging, especially for a children’s story. We read this aloud to our son’s and they loved it.
November 21, 2025
I’ve been a collector and reader on the Minecraft Official Novels, so here goes my review.
Let’s start with the positives:
The front cover title looks super cool.
Lisa’s character after halfway through the story.
Lisa’s reasoning for adventuring was also pretty touching.
Unfortunately that’s where all the positives end for me. When I first bought this book, I did notice a red flag to see just how small this book was, even compared to the other Minecraft Novels. 157 pages means a very short story, or cramped up if you will, with very fast paced or no character development at all. And the moment I started reading this book past the 8th chapter, I knew I was gonna hate myself for being right. This book has very bad pacing, fast scenes that come and go for the sake of trying to add tension without building much of it up. It has a very dull and dry climax, and the main titular antagonist is used in a very lacking way. There is no enough memorable action scenes. This book’s adventure was definitely not worth the $13 spent and I would have got a refund if I didn’t have a collection. If you’re a first time reader and want to get into these Minecraft Novels, then I suppose this book would do you just fine. But if you expect it to be better than the other Novels (so far I’ve read all except The Village, The Tournament, The Outsider), you may be generically disappointed. It’s not a bad book, but it’s definitely the most underwhelming of the Novels series so far. (I’m writing this review as of late 2025). You could make the argument that this is aimed for a younger audience, for that I have to counter: 1) the other novels were aimed at kids too and were great to read. 2)it seems even the younger readers found the story to be lacking action when I asked them about it, siblings and friends.
SPOILERS below this point, please read the book yourself before I dive into why I think this is currently the weakest of the Minecraft Novels in my own opinion.
Opal’s character is so unbearable for most of the book. She gets glazed by her sister almost at every chance until the story finally decides to stop it when they reach the Nether. Her achievements are more of tell instead of show. She’s suppose to be this pro adventurer that lost their wit and courage after a bad encounter with the Warden (the book straight up tells us this via thoughts and flashbacks). She correctly thinks Braun the Brave was a phony, but ends up making the same mistakes he made which led her to fully realised he wasn’t a pro himself. Braun screwed up many times, but she too also made the same mistake during the creeper incident. Her reason for being mad at him is reasonable, but also played out as overreacting forced tension. Her trauma of the Deep Dark is well written and is the only proper build up of the enemy they face. (Problem is the enemy being the Warden, barely had any time to show for it.)
Lisa’s character is clearly my favourite of the three main cast. After she finally stops glazing Opal the Great (Opal the Glazed more like), she starts to keep the plot rolling forward and realistically is the more understandable one. Her reason to adventure into the deep dark as a reason is to not only get her sister’s stuff back (meh) and to bring back the courageous Opal she once knew (very good!). It was at that moment in the book that I decided to keep reading to see if they’ll make it out alive instead of putting down this book.
Braun. I’m surprised the author didn’t write them out to be the next Prince Hans. So I’ll say I am surprised at his twist being a phony instead of a stranger betrayer. The impact of his twist on the other hand is almost exaggerated. (The Lost Journals, The End, The Crash have more impact with their twists). I would write about the possible hints between him and Lisa, but there’s not much to comment on that. He exists as a character, and there probably wouldn’t have been a plot for adventure without him. Was he wrong to lie? Duhhh Ofc. I’m sure you’ve already stories about lying by now.
The Journey:
This very very small book is titled “Journey to the Ancient City.” I get it, obviously they won’t just throw us readers into the Deep Dark without the journey to get there in the first place, right? Besides, getting there is suppose to be half the fun. But boy, was this trip boring as hell. There were so many detours before they finally settled on getting to the Deep Dark. I understand they needed to prepare first, you need wool in shulker boxes (cause I guess in this story, wool don’t stack in players inventory, which is fine). They spent a portion of the trip surviving the Nether, they spend another portion of the story in the End to get shulker boxes. (The Dragon is already dead, no dragon fights sorry, Opal the Glazed has already done the work before the story had begun and still has a tough time with the shulkers.) Out of 157 pages, 129 of the whole book is not even in the Deep Dark! That’s like 80% of the book just being side quests/detours. What a waste of pages and story material. This could have been the perfect opportunity to be one of the first books to have their adventurers explore Lush Caves, Amethist Geodes, Dripstone Caverns and such! All of these locations were added just before the Deep Dark was made for crying out loud. The lush caves would also have been perfect for lore building cause the Axolotls that live there are hinted to be related to the Warden and such. Visiting these areas in the story could have tied in with the Warden whose suppose to be the main threat that we keep seeing Opal getting trauma from.
The Climax:
The Warden is no doubt a very strong mob in Minecraft. The book at least does the hype part of it correctly. Fear and darkness all embodied in a towering husk of heartbeating terror. And yet, because we only spend roughly 20-25 pages in the Deep Dark, we only get a measly 11 pages of scenes with the Warden. Now anyone who has played the game knows while fighting the Warden is futile, there are ways to make the story believable.
If the author wanted to make the trio win against it in combat, dripstones and end equipment as well as bows could be written in to the plot.
Now what the author did was keep the scare factor of the Warden by making sure it will not be fought/killed in this story, and that’s all good and fine. The problem was, instead of having an awesome chase and run scene, or perhaps a hide and seek sequence in the massive Ancient City, what we GOT was the trio surrounding it and playing what’s basically called “Marco Polo” with the Warden. They escape by taking turns to call out or make noises, Braun and Lisa get away after after Opal throws her sword and shield at it, takes a slam from the beast, (she’s probably on critical health since Netherite armour can only tank two blows from a Warden), and she runs to safety as the Warden gives up chase. They get back Opal’s maps and stuff, the end. Now I don’t think it’s the author’s writing skills that resulted in this very lacklustre climax. I blame the amount of pages that allowed to showcase the antagonist. 157 pages isn’t enough to tell a good paced story, 20 pages and such isn’t enough to make a satisfying description and adventure of the Ancient City, and 11 pages DEFINITELY ISNT ENOUGH to show what the Warden is truly capable of!
It felt like this book just slapped a cool cover on, wrote an easy generic essays story and then boom, people will buy it. There was very little care done with the pacing and progression with this. But it could have been so much better. The Deep Dark and Ancient City has almost an abundance of story lore that could tie in with the real game and Minecraft player experience alike. Take for example, the broken hidden discs, the portal structure at the Center, the Redstone hidden rooms. I would add that this story would have more stakes if there were more side characters to be attacked by the Warden, but judging from the aim at young readers, they wanted to keep it very safe. If you enjoyed this book, then I’m very glad it found its way into your hands to make your day pleasant. Thank you for making it this far with this massive detail of a review paragraph.
To the author, I hope I get to see more of your work if it comes my way, keep writing adventures. There was so much potential this book could have. If it can be helped, the next story you make, make it a long lasting one. There’s no harm in writing long adventures, no matter the time it takes.
Let’s start with the positives:
The front cover title looks super cool.
Lisa’s character after halfway through the story.
Lisa’s reasoning for adventuring was also pretty touching.
Unfortunately that’s where all the positives end for me. When I first bought this book, I did notice a red flag to see just how small this book was, even compared to the other Minecraft Novels. 157 pages means a very short story, or cramped up if you will, with very fast paced or no character development at all. And the moment I started reading this book past the 8th chapter, I knew I was gonna hate myself for being right. This book has very bad pacing, fast scenes that come and go for the sake of trying to add tension without building much of it up. It has a very dull and dry climax, and the main titular antagonist is used in a very lacking way. There is no enough memorable action scenes. This book’s adventure was definitely not worth the $13 spent and I would have got a refund if I didn’t have a collection. If you’re a first time reader and want to get into these Minecraft Novels, then I suppose this book would do you just fine. But if you expect it to be better than the other Novels (so far I’ve read all except The Village, The Tournament, The Outsider), you may be generically disappointed. It’s not a bad book, but it’s definitely the most underwhelming of the Novels series so far. (I’m writing this review as of late 2025). You could make the argument that this is aimed for a younger audience, for that I have to counter: 1) the other novels were aimed at kids too and were great to read. 2)it seems even the younger readers found the story to be lacking action when I asked them about it, siblings and friends.
SPOILERS below this point, please read the book yourself before I dive into why I think this is currently the weakest of the Minecraft Novels in my own opinion.
Opal’s character is so unbearable for most of the book. She gets glazed by her sister almost at every chance until the story finally decides to stop it when they reach the Nether. Her achievements are more of tell instead of show. She’s suppose to be this pro adventurer that lost their wit and courage after a bad encounter with the Warden (the book straight up tells us this via thoughts and flashbacks). She correctly thinks Braun the Brave was a phony, but ends up making the same mistakes he made which led her to fully realised he wasn’t a pro himself. Braun screwed up many times, but she too also made the same mistake during the creeper incident. Her reason for being mad at him is reasonable, but also played out as overreacting forced tension. Her trauma of the Deep Dark is well written and is the only proper build up of the enemy they face. (Problem is the enemy being the Warden, barely had any time to show for it.)
Lisa’s character is clearly my favourite of the three main cast. After she finally stops glazing Opal the Great (Opal the Glazed more like), she starts to keep the plot rolling forward and realistically is the more understandable one. Her reason to adventure into the deep dark as a reason is to not only get her sister’s stuff back (meh) and to bring back the courageous Opal she once knew (very good!). It was at that moment in the book that I decided to keep reading to see if they’ll make it out alive instead of putting down this book.
Braun. I’m surprised the author didn’t write them out to be the next Prince Hans. So I’ll say I am surprised at his twist being a phony instead of a stranger betrayer. The impact of his twist on the other hand is almost exaggerated. (The Lost Journals, The End, The Crash have more impact with their twists). I would write about the possible hints between him and Lisa, but there’s not much to comment on that. He exists as a character, and there probably wouldn’t have been a plot for adventure without him. Was he wrong to lie? Duhhh Ofc. I’m sure you’ve already stories about lying by now.
The Journey:
This very very small book is titled “Journey to the Ancient City.” I get it, obviously they won’t just throw us readers into the Deep Dark without the journey to get there in the first place, right? Besides, getting there is suppose to be half the fun. But boy, was this trip boring as hell. There were so many detours before they finally settled on getting to the Deep Dark. I understand they needed to prepare first, you need wool in shulker boxes (cause I guess in this story, wool don’t stack in players inventory, which is fine). They spent a portion of the trip surviving the Nether, they spend another portion of the story in the End to get shulker boxes. (The Dragon is already dead, no dragon fights sorry, Opal the Glazed has already done the work before the story had begun and still has a tough time with the shulkers.) Out of 157 pages, 129 of the whole book is not even in the Deep Dark! That’s like 80% of the book just being side quests/detours. What a waste of pages and story material. This could have been the perfect opportunity to be one of the first books to have their adventurers explore Lush Caves, Amethist Geodes, Dripstone Caverns and such! All of these locations were added just before the Deep Dark was made for crying out loud. The lush caves would also have been perfect for lore building cause the Axolotls that live there are hinted to be related to the Warden and such. Visiting these areas in the story could have tied in with the Warden whose suppose to be the main threat that we keep seeing Opal getting trauma from.
The Climax:
The Warden is no doubt a very strong mob in Minecraft. The book at least does the hype part of it correctly. Fear and darkness all embodied in a towering husk of heartbeating terror. And yet, because we only spend roughly 20-25 pages in the Deep Dark, we only get a measly 11 pages of scenes with the Warden. Now anyone who has played the game knows while fighting the Warden is futile, there are ways to make the story believable.
If the author wanted to make the trio win against it in combat, dripstones and end equipment as well as bows could be written in to the plot.
Now what the author did was keep the scare factor of the Warden by making sure it will not be fought/killed in this story, and that’s all good and fine. The problem was, instead of having an awesome chase and run scene, or perhaps a hide and seek sequence in the massive Ancient City, what we GOT was the trio surrounding it and playing what’s basically called “Marco Polo” with the Warden. They escape by taking turns to call out or make noises, Braun and Lisa get away after after Opal throws her sword and shield at it, takes a slam from the beast, (she’s probably on critical health since Netherite armour can only tank two blows from a Warden), and she runs to safety as the Warden gives up chase. They get back Opal’s maps and stuff, the end. Now I don’t think it’s the author’s writing skills that resulted in this very lacklustre climax. I blame the amount of pages that allowed to showcase the antagonist. 157 pages isn’t enough to tell a good paced story, 20 pages and such isn’t enough to make a satisfying description and adventure of the Ancient City, and 11 pages DEFINITELY ISNT ENOUGH to show what the Warden is truly capable of!
It felt like this book just slapped a cool cover on, wrote an easy generic essays story and then boom, people will buy it. There was very little care done with the pacing and progression with this. But it could have been so much better. The Deep Dark and Ancient City has almost an abundance of story lore that could tie in with the real game and Minecraft player experience alike. Take for example, the broken hidden discs, the portal structure at the Center, the Redstone hidden rooms. I would add that this story would have more stakes if there were more side characters to be attacked by the Warden, but judging from the aim at young readers, they wanted to keep it very safe. If you enjoyed this book, then I’m very glad it found its way into your hands to make your day pleasant. Thank you for making it this far with this massive detail of a review paragraph.
To the author, I hope I get to see more of your work if it comes my way, keep writing adventures. There was so much potential this book could have. If it can be helped, the next story you make, make it a long lasting one. There’s no harm in writing long adventures, no matter the time it takes.
November 5, 2025
This book might as well have been called PTSD: A Minecraft Story. I really wanted to love it, but there are a few things that seriously got in the way and made the experience frustrating. That said, the story itself is not bad. It has a solid foundation with some good ideas. The relationship between the two sisters, for example, is set up with care and shows potential. The dynamic is believable, and their history feels lived-in. The side character, a young male adventurer with his own struggles, adds a bit more depth to the journey. But unfortunately, the story is far too short to let any of this fully develop, and that limits its impact.
As the story progresses, the interactions between the sisters become repetitive and grating. Opal, the older sister, is dealing with trauma after a terrifying experience with the Warden in the Deep Dark. Her constant worry and protectiveness are understandable, but the way she expresses them often feels overly negative and drawn out. And when it comes to how she treats the boy who joins them, her behavior crosses a line. Her reactions are completely out of proportion, and at times she comes across as downright unbearable. In those moments, she stops feeling like a concerned sister and starts acting like an unreasonably harsh and bitter person.
Lisa, the younger sister, is determined to go on an adventure and refuses to back down. This leads to a constant loop of arguments that grows tiresome quickly. Their big confrontation near the end of the book feels more exhausting than emotional, and instead of feeling like a climax, it feels like more of the same bickering.
The voice acting makes this worse. Each of the main characters has their own voice actor, which in theory should bring the story to life. I actually like this approach, and it can really enhance an audiobook. But here, it falls flat. The voice actress for Opal uses such a sharp and piercing tone during emotional scenes that it became painful to listen to. The actress for Lisa also did not hold my attention. Her delivery felt flat to me, and I often found myself losing focus during her parts. I had to keep rewinding just to follow what was happening, which ironically made the very short book feel slightly longer.
In the end, this is not a terrible book. It has its strengths, and I can imagine it might really speak to younger readers who have experienced fear or trauma. There is a message here about overcoming fear and rebuilding trust, and that is valuable. But due to its rushed pacing, uneven voice acting, and repetitive character interactions, it did not resonate with me. I can only give it three stars.
As the story progresses, the interactions between the sisters become repetitive and grating. Opal, the older sister, is dealing with trauma after a terrifying experience with the Warden in the Deep Dark. Her constant worry and protectiveness are understandable, but the way she expresses them often feels overly negative and drawn out. And when it comes to how she treats the boy who joins them, her behavior crosses a line. Her reactions are completely out of proportion, and at times she comes across as downright unbearable. In those moments, she stops feeling like a concerned sister and starts acting like an unreasonably harsh and bitter person.
Lisa, the younger sister, is determined to go on an adventure and refuses to back down. This leads to a constant loop of arguments that grows tiresome quickly. Their big confrontation near the end of the book feels more exhausting than emotional, and instead of feeling like a climax, it feels like more of the same bickering.
The voice acting makes this worse. Each of the main characters has their own voice actor, which in theory should bring the story to life. I actually like this approach, and it can really enhance an audiobook. But here, it falls flat. The voice actress for Opal uses such a sharp and piercing tone during emotional scenes that it became painful to listen to. The actress for Lisa also did not hold my attention. Her delivery felt flat to me, and I often found myself losing focus during her parts. I had to keep rewinding just to follow what was happening, which ironically made the very short book feel slightly longer.
In the end, this is not a terrible book. It has its strengths, and I can imagine it might really speak to younger readers who have experienced fear or trauma. There is a message here about overcoming fear and rebuilding trust, and that is valuable. But due to its rushed pacing, uneven voice acting, and repetitive character interactions, it did not resonate with me. I can only give it three stars.
March 11, 2025
That was one of the craziest reads ever! I was not expecting all of the twists and turns of all the characters. Heck, it was crazy to experience the trauma one of them went through! In the end, it was an enjoyable read.
October 11, 2025
a lot of descriptions and little action
I read this book to my Minecraft loving 7 year old and it barely held his attention. A lot of back and forth and discussion of character growth with a little action thrown in. I suggest it for an older crowd.
I read this book to my Minecraft loving 7 year old and it barely held his attention. A lot of back and forth and discussion of character growth with a little action thrown in. I suggest it for an older crowd.
July 16, 2025
This was all around a good book. It was nice to see a children's book tackling Trauma like this. I also found the writing style to be significantly better than the others.
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