Minecraft: The Island

Minecraft: The Island is an young adult isekai novel by Max Brooks, published in July 2017 by Del Ray Books. It was followed by two direct sequels: Minecraft: The Mountain (published in March 2021) and Minecraft: The Village (published in October 2023).

Background
Brooks' interest in the sandbox video game Minecraft began around 2012 when a friend introduced him to the game. In 2015, he was asked by Mojang to write a novel centered around the game. By the time his contract with Mojang had been completed, Brooks had finished a manuscript.

When he was writing the novel, Brooks was given creative freedom for everything except the protagonist's physical traits. Mojang wanted readers to picture themselves in the novel, and were, according to Brooks, "very hands on when it came to inclusiveness".

Plot
Written for a young-adult audience, the book is divided into chapters that each teach a specific life lesson. It begins with an unnamed narrator from the real world, whose gender Brooks does not identify, arriving at a deserted island and finding that they are stuck in the world of Minecraft. They are forced to learn how this unfamiliar world works.

Publication history
Minecraft: The Island was published in July 2017 by Del Ray Books. Two audiobooks, one narrated by Jack Black and the other narrated by Samira Wiley, were commissioned by Mojang in order to give listeners the option to choose between a male and female voice.

Reception
Jason Sheehan of NPR was intrigued by Brooks' ability to create a story that adhered to the restrictions imposed by Minecraft game mechanics, calling the novel "a master's thesis on internal consistency in genre literature". Tim Martin of 1843, however, found the novel to be uninteresting. Though describing the plot as "ha[ving] a mechanical feel", John Peters of Booklist wrote that the book contained "useful hints and strategies".