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Bionicle: Makuta's Guide to the Universe
The vast BIONICLE Universe comes together in this guidebook from creator Greg Farshtey! Featuring the only map of the BIONICLE Universe ever publish, exclusive information, and the inside story from Makuta Teridax himself, "Makua's Guide to the Universe" is a great addition to any BIONICLE fan's collection. As the BIONICLE saga prepares to begin a new chapter, followers of the series can take a look back at the stories that have thrilled millions!
- GenresFantasyScience Fiction
96 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2009
About the author
Greg Farshtey
242 books92 followersGreg Farshtey is the author of the popular BIONICLE chapter books and Level 3 readers, as well as the long-running BIONICLE comic book series. His day job is Editor-in-Chief and head writer for the LEGO Club Magazine and the LEGO BrickMaster Magazine.
Greg has been writing since fourth grade. After earning a degree in Communications from the State University of New York at Geneseo, he worked as a reporter, sports editor, game designer and editor, and copywriter before joining LEGO Company in 2000. Before becoming involved with BIONICLE, he wrote game material for such diverse properties as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Tales From the Crypt.
Greg is the author of more than 30 novels and guidebooks, as well as the author or co-author of more than 35 game sourcebooks and adventures.
He lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Far...
Greg has been writing since fourth grade. After earning a degree in Communications from the State University of New York at Geneseo, he worked as a reporter, sports editor, game designer and editor, and copywriter before joining LEGO Company in 2000. Before becoming involved with BIONICLE, he wrote game material for such diverse properties as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Tales From the Crypt.
Greg is the author of more than 30 novels and guidebooks, as well as the author or co-author of more than 35 game sourcebooks and adventures.
He lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Far...
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 16, 2013
Haha, yeah, I know. A grown girl of teenage years reading Makuta's Guide to the Universe? Yeah..heh, heh. I can't help it, I just love the Bionicle! It's such a rich story with a wonderful, complex world and system. I'm infinitely attracted to good, strong fantasy worlds with lots of accurate details; I just can't stand weak worlds that fall apart. This definantly ISN'T. It's one of the strongest worlds, and that is one of the many reasons why I love Bionicle and Greg Farshtey is near the top of my Fave Authors list (number one being yours truly--lolx, just kidding. But seriously)
I read all the Bionicle books, and I love them all. No twaddling. No tediousness. And no dumb romance. And NO book-ruining love triangles. Just fast-packed, nonstop, dramatic ACTION. I know almost everything about the Bionicle universe. One of my fave groups of Bio's being the Piraka...yeah, yeah, I know, they're the bad guys. But I love them! Just now, my bro quizzed me on them.
"Who's the strongest Piraka?" he asked.
"Reidak," I said instantly.
"who's the leader?"
"Zaktaan." no less quickly.
"Who's the most dangerous?"
Spilt-second pause, cuz they're all really dangerous. Then I remember. "Hakann," I say, pronouncing it the joke way me and my siblings do: "Hakam" as in the Arabic word for "Judge"
"Who's the meanest?"
"Vezok"
The only one I missed was, "who's the mechanic?" cuz I didn't know any of them went to University.
But It's Avak, apparently.
I read all the Bionicle books, and I love them all. No twaddling. No tediousness. And no dumb romance. And NO book-ruining love triangles. Just fast-packed, nonstop, dramatic ACTION. I know almost everything about the Bionicle universe. One of my fave groups of Bio's being the Piraka...yeah, yeah, I know, they're the bad guys. But I love them! Just now, my bro quizzed me on them.
"Who's the strongest Piraka?" he asked.
"Reidak," I said instantly.
"who's the leader?"
"Zaktaan." no less quickly.
"Who's the most dangerous?"
Spilt-second pause, cuz they're all really dangerous. Then I remember. "Hakann," I say, pronouncing it the joke way me and my siblings do: "Hakam" as in the Arabic word for "Judge"
"Who's the meanest?"
"Vezok"
The only one I missed was, "who's the mechanic?" cuz I didn't know any of them went to University.
But It's Avak, apparently.
May 17, 2025
I give this one four stars only because it does not really function as a guidebook. There are sections like that which go over the characters, but it is more story-summary than anything else. However the story it does tell is the Bionicle narrative but from the pov of the winner. But Makuta’s Recontextualization of Events in the Universe doesn’t really make for a good title. Great parts here are the dedicated entries of Makuta’s diary which show his side of the story (and make the awful depiction of the battle between Vakama and himself in the 2004 movie more palatable) and the map of the universe. Must be a coincidence the universe is kinda shaped like a human being.
March 22, 2020
Przewodnik w łatwy i przystępny sposób przedstawia fabularne wydarzenia z uniwersum Bionicle z lat 2001 - 2008. Dobry sposób do uzupełnienia swojej wiedzy na temat Wszechświata Matoran.
March 9, 2026
Bionicle, over its initial run, held deceptively deep and interconnected lore, to the point of characters from years prior still often doing significant things in the background or suddenly being revealed to have even greater relevance long after “disappearing” from the main story. In fact, at the end of the eighth year of continuity, there was even a cosmically large twist, one the series had planned from day one, even baked into the name “Bionicle” itself, as it turned out. With so many elements always in motion, it is no wonder there were several guides released throughout.
Makuta’s Guide to the Universe, here, fleshes out that very big twist and how it worked its way through the main stories prior, from the villainous perspective of the Makuta Teridax, an individual so domineering his original “name” was actually his species name. Imagine one dude being so dangerous that everyone just called him Human, and thought of him first by default when someone mentions a human. That’s Makuta, except he escalates even beyond that point by more or less undergoing a little apotheosis and likewise more or less evicting the old God. It’s cool to get his perspective, to realize just how wily he was; he didn’t have “one” master plan in place where he was secretly winning. He often was just rolling with some genuine loss, other times deliberately counting on his opponent’s victories. All that being said, it is silly he calls it a “diary” when he logs these entries.
There are a few strange elements to this guide’s design, though. In between his entries, the narrator voice switches to a passive third-person explanation when very few changes would be needed to keep it in Makuta’s voice. Likewise, it goes chronologically…ish, often skipping to later details before the full guide’s structure has actually caught up. It also forgets to be chronological in the Mahri era, first listing the Toa Mahri even though they arrived much later to the scene than the Barraki, who are inexplicably listed after. The layout itself is often overcomplicated to the point of being cumbersome, dividing teams up on different pages with semi-disconnected blurbs, when a little rearranging could have made this a much cleaner presentation. It also, several times, pulls entire excerpts from the full novels, but with little rhyme or reason as to what makes the cut and what remains summarized in the guide portions; these, bluntly, feel like filler, and I would have preferred more in-depth guide entries.
Of course, half of the fun of a book like this is the detailed character art, and like other Bionicle guides, this one is pretty, though still with a few hiccups. A few character images get flipped mirror image, and while a lot of Bionicle designs are symmetrical, not all are, so some characters can be quickly spotted in the wrong orientation thanks to bits and bobs sticking out of the wrong side. It also just never rises to the occasion of guides like Rahi Beasts or Dark Hunters with unique character designs you wouldn’t see without the book, or World with genuinely beautiful art pieces deliberately sketched out throughout. And in reference to that last one, it just doesn’t get the extra oomph of building intrigue in the same way, likely inevitable considering the reveal of the story that year.
Still, this was a fun way to dust off details hidden deep in corners of my brain after a few years, and this one certainly has the best cover of the bunch for sitting on my shelf, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the best guides Bionicle put out there.
Makuta’s Guide to the Universe, here, fleshes out that very big twist and how it worked its way through the main stories prior, from the villainous perspective of the Makuta Teridax, an individual so domineering his original “name” was actually his species name. Imagine one dude being so dangerous that everyone just called him Human, and thought of him first by default when someone mentions a human. That’s Makuta, except he escalates even beyond that point by more or less undergoing a little apotheosis and likewise more or less evicting the old God. It’s cool to get his perspective, to realize just how wily he was; he didn’t have “one” master plan in place where he was secretly winning. He often was just rolling with some genuine loss, other times deliberately counting on his opponent’s victories. All that being said, it is silly he calls it a “diary” when he logs these entries.
There are a few strange elements to this guide’s design, though. In between his entries, the narrator voice switches to a passive third-person explanation when very few changes would be needed to keep it in Makuta’s voice. Likewise, it goes chronologically…ish, often skipping to later details before the full guide’s structure has actually caught up. It also forgets to be chronological in the Mahri era, first listing the Toa Mahri even though they arrived much later to the scene than the Barraki, who are inexplicably listed after. The layout itself is often overcomplicated to the point of being cumbersome, dividing teams up on different pages with semi-disconnected blurbs, when a little rearranging could have made this a much cleaner presentation. It also, several times, pulls entire excerpts from the full novels, but with little rhyme or reason as to what makes the cut and what remains summarized in the guide portions; these, bluntly, feel like filler, and I would have preferred more in-depth guide entries.
Of course, half of the fun of a book like this is the detailed character art, and like other Bionicle guides, this one is pretty, though still with a few hiccups. A few character images get flipped mirror image, and while a lot of Bionicle designs are symmetrical, not all are, so some characters can be quickly spotted in the wrong orientation thanks to bits and bobs sticking out of the wrong side. It also just never rises to the occasion of guides like Rahi Beasts or Dark Hunters with unique character designs you wouldn’t see without the book, or World with genuinely beautiful art pieces deliberately sketched out throughout. And in reference to that last one, it just doesn’t get the extra oomph of building intrigue in the same way, likely inevitable considering the reveal of the story that year.
Still, this was a fun way to dust off details hidden deep in corners of my brain after a few years, and this one certainly has the best cover of the bunch for sitting on my shelf, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the best guides Bionicle put out there.
January 15, 2010
I love this guide book. People in my class ask to read it all the time.
December 17, 2010
Flippin best birthday gift ever.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews