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An Unofficial Gamer's Adventure #1
The Quest for the Diamond Sword
Steve likes to spend his mornings in the NPC village and trade his wheat for emeralds, armor, books, swords, and food. One morning, he finds that Zombies have attacked the villagers. The Zombies have also turned the village blacksmith into a Zombie, leaving Steve without a place to get swords. To protect himself and the few villagers that remain, Steve goes on a quest to mine for 40 diamonds, which are the most powerful mineral in the Overworld.
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First published August 5, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
May 28, 2015
My first grade son - who is a huge fan of Minecraft - gives this book 5 stars. I would normally give it 2 stars based on my actual opinion of the book, but I'm giving it 3 stars for its motivating-kids-to-read factor. Though, I admit, my son technically didn't read it himself; I read it aloud to him.
The writing is dry and matter-of-fact and lacks any kind of style. A lot of sentences are explanatory rather than narrative. On the one hand, I wonder if the author purposely wanted to make the book sound like something its target audience (kids in grades 1 to 7) would write. On the other hand, shouldn't published books serve as examples of good writing, rather than be reflections of what the book's intended audience can write themselves?
Mostly, though, I was bothered by how the events in the book do not adhere to the "rules" of Minecraft. For example, at one point, a zombie snatches a sword out of Steve's hands. I don't think that's possible in the game. Also, the characters find 40 diamonds in one place. Again, I'm no expert in the game, but that doesn't sound right. There are all sorts of examples like these, but admittedly, my son - who is arguably a Minecraft "expert" - didn't mind the inconsistencies at all.
Finally, I found the mistakes in editing to be distracting. Page 2 refers to "iron ignots". On page 14, one line reads, "...there was one only way to escape," and on page 39, a character shouts, "Looks a cave!"
On the plus side, there is actually some nice character development. The main character Steve is a homebody, but when his villager friends get attacked by zombies, he is motivated to go exploring in order to acquire a diamond sword, which will help him to defeat the zombies and save his friends. Steve meets new people, makes new friends, and learns to be brave and adventurous.
The writing is dry and matter-of-fact and lacks any kind of style. A lot of sentences are explanatory rather than narrative. On the one hand, I wonder if the author purposely wanted to make the book sound like something its target audience (kids in grades 1 to 7) would write. On the other hand, shouldn't published books serve as examples of good writing, rather than be reflections of what the book's intended audience can write themselves?
Mostly, though, I was bothered by how the events in the book do not adhere to the "rules" of Minecraft. For example, at one point, a zombie snatches a sword out of Steve's hands. I don't think that's possible in the game. Also, the characters find 40 diamonds in one place. Again, I'm no expert in the game, but that doesn't sound right. There are all sorts of examples like these, but admittedly, my son - who is arguably a Minecraft "expert" - didn't mind the inconsistencies at all.
Finally, I found the mistakes in editing to be distracting. Page 2 refers to "iron ignots". On page 14, one line reads, "...there was one only way to escape," and on page 39, a character shouts, "Looks a cave!"
On the plus side, there is actually some nice character development. The main character Steve is a homebody, but when his villager friends get attacked by zombies, he is motivated to go exploring in order to acquire a diamond sword, which will help him to defeat the zombies and save his friends. Steve meets new people, makes new friends, and learns to be brave and adventurous.
January 20, 2015
I forgot to ask the kids what to rate this, but I'm going with 4.5 stars. We enjoyed reading this before bed; my 10-year old son enjoyed it best. In this adventure we are introduced to Steve, Henry, Max and Lucy (but the kids and I read book 2 first so we already knew them). It was very good but I think the second book was a little better because there was a mystery to solve as well as the action. I really enjoyed learning more about the Minecraft world and I recommend this series for fans of Minecraft.
March 27, 2017
I'm giving this book 5 stars merely by how captivated my nephews, age 9 and age 7, were by this book! This was our read-aloud before bed book, and they were gripped! To the point where my 7-year-old nephew woke me up at 7:30 am, the next morning, to ask me to read more! They are big Minecraft players so they were familiar with all the characters in the book and were able to thoroughly explain the world of ender, zombies, griefers, witches, blazes and whatnot! It's a quick easy read, albeit I did notice editing mistakes too, but it had good character development. All in all, it was an exciting enjoyable adventure book that my 7-year-old nephew gave it 5 stars and my 9-year-old nephew gave it 4 1/2 stars.
January 20, 2015
The Quest for the Diamond Sword, by Winter Morgan, can be best described as a heaping helping of Minecraft adventure with some characterization thrown in. If you are into Minecraft and you just can't get enough of the stuff, then this book may be for you. For everyone else, it will leave you wondering why anyone would even bother playing Minecraft at all.
The story centers around Steve, the quiet farmer. After a zombie invasion of his village drives him off, he swears to return and help his friends defeat the zombies, but returning isn't so easy. Through luck, perseverance, and quite a bit of Minecraft knowledge, Steve takes a tour of the Minecraft world. Despite all his challenges, the dangers of this world aren't nearly as bad as the challenges posed by the dangerous and fun-destroying GREIFERS.
The text feels like it was churned out. To test that, I wrote my own Minecraft story of similar ilk, finding that I could write at 2K words per hour, which is pretty insane rate. At the end, my prose was similarly polished. So, my hat goes off to Winter Morgan, for finding a niche and profiting fiercely.
The book itself isn't very long, racking up a hundred pages, or about 20,000 words. The pacing throughout is quick, spritely, and eager to move. If there's a dull moment in this book, it will only be a moment as the story keeps moving no matter what.
If you do play Minecraft, the pages are full of many useful hints and clever tactics that you can use against your enemies. Any Minecrafter out there should find himself a better adventurer for these stories.
While I can't give this book any high rating, I also can't say that I was the target audience. So, for a non-Minecrafter, I would give this book two stars. This book is not for you. It's competent but dull. For a kid who's into Minecraft, I give the book four stars, because it contains so much of what the audience desires. The book is all Minecraft, all of the time.
The story centers around Steve, the quiet farmer. After a zombie invasion of his village drives him off, he swears to return and help his friends defeat the zombies, but returning isn't so easy. Through luck, perseverance, and quite a bit of Minecraft knowledge, Steve takes a tour of the Minecraft world. Despite all his challenges, the dangers of this world aren't nearly as bad as the challenges posed by the dangerous and fun-destroying GREIFERS.
The text feels like it was churned out. To test that, I wrote my own Minecraft story of similar ilk, finding that I could write at 2K words per hour, which is pretty insane rate. At the end, my prose was similarly polished. So, my hat goes off to Winter Morgan, for finding a niche and profiting fiercely.
The book itself isn't very long, racking up a hundred pages, or about 20,000 words. The pacing throughout is quick, spritely, and eager to move. If there's a dull moment in this book, it will only be a moment as the story keeps moving no matter what.
If you do play Minecraft, the pages are full of many useful hints and clever tactics that you can use against your enemies. Any Minecrafter out there should find himself a better adventurer for these stories.
While I can't give this book any high rating, I also can't say that I was the target audience. So, for a non-Minecrafter, I would give this book two stars. This book is not for you. It's competent but dull. For a kid who's into Minecraft, I give the book four stars, because it contains so much of what the audience desires. The book is all Minecraft, all of the time.
March 27, 2017
I'm an English teacher and this book is part of a battle of the books competition. Basically, we have a book club throughout the school year, and at the end of the year, our club competes against other schools' clubs in a quiz show style competition about the book list.
So far, I've read every single book right long with my kids no matter how childish or silly they were. I read them all to make sure I could question them and create discussion. However, this book is virtually unreadable. The writing style is so incredible dry and completely relies on simply referring to things from the Minecraft universe to keep kids engaged in it. Other than being able to construct a coherent English sentence, this author has almost zero skill in writing.
I'm sure the students will enjoy it because they love Minecraft, but I almost feel guilty for making them read this rubbish.
So far, I've read every single book right long with my kids no matter how childish or silly they were. I read them all to make sure I could question them and create discussion. However, this book is virtually unreadable. The writing style is so incredible dry and completely relies on simply referring to things from the Minecraft universe to keep kids engaged in it. Other than being able to construct a coherent English sentence, this author has almost zero skill in writing.
I'm sure the students will enjoy it because they love Minecraft, but I almost feel guilty for making them read this rubbish.
March 23, 2015
I really liked this book(not just because of Mine-craft)because it included adventure in a very "blocky" way(WARNING:there might be terrible Mine-craft puns). The Main character of the "square world" is Steve(Who you might know)and Lucy,Henry, and Max that are treasure hunters(Who you might not know). The problem was about zombies invading the village where the Squidwards live. But they solve it when they get the most powerful sword, THE ENCHANTED DIAMOND SWORD!!!
October 23, 2014
My 7 year old son was so enthralled with this book that he read the entire 105 pages in under 24 hours! He used to be really into graphic novels. This was the first chapter book without pictures that enticed him to read the whole thing by himself and he devoured it! Now, he has started reading other chapter books all on his own, of his own free will. :)
May 14, 2015
this book is a very mysteries and adventures because it has this guy name Steve that has to save his village and the world so he heads and mines and finds a very special sword and uses it to save the world.
February 23, 2017
best book ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 25, 2020
Well, this book sure doesn’t probe the psychological depths of its characters, but that probably wasn’t the point. My son liked it.
Read
March 12, 2024Well it was free on audible and I listened to it while I fell asleep. I simply have no rating lmaoo
March 2, 2016
The Quest for the Diamond Sword is a book about a person in Minecraft called Steve. Steve is a player who lives in a village and goes on an adventure to save his friends. On the way, he went to the Nether, a hellish biome where there is no time and no directions. Steve had to escape the Nether filled with lava, monsters and griefers, people who kill people and blow up stuff for fun. Once he got out of the Nether, he met three treasure hunters: Lucy, Max, and Henry. Steve needed 40 diamonds to create the ultimate diamond sword, and he trusted them to help him mine the diamonds. He had to take risks to create it. When he got back to his village, Steve found out that his new friends used to be griefers. When they promised they would not kill him, all of them threw a party for the saving of the villagers.
I think these characters are both believable and not believable. The story about the friends make sense, but the story takes place in Minecraft. Minecraft is a sandbox video game, and fighting monsters like giant spiders and skeleton and zombies is fake. Steve is a person who seems believable but uses unbelievable things. He is a regular adult who has neighbors and farms and uses the crops to trade, but no one can get diamonds and emeralds by just having them in someone’s pockets laying around. His friends are believable because they hunt for treasure and use the treasures for decoration.
Steve in my mind looks like a “stay-at home” adult who works hard to decorate his house and is always ready for anything. He is responsible but needs help, and keeps everything he gets but uses important things for times like invasions. No one works as hard as him because his farm is the most important thing to him, and he will do anything for friends.
One of my favorites quotes was about Steve, “You know me. I like to stay out of trouble and stick close to home.” This shows that Steve doesn’t like to leave his house and likes to work on his farm a lot. One thing that told me about the treasure hunters, Lucy, Max, and Henry, is from this quote, “We’re treasure hunters, we live in the desert.” This tells me that all 3 of them never stay put, and they love to move around and search for great treasures.
One way I know that Steve wants to stay close to home is when he was skeptical to save his villagers after his friends were turned into zombies during the invasion. He knew that he needed to save his friends, but he knew that meant he needed to go and find his materials to create his powerful sword and leave his farm and comfy home. His friends, however, are treasure hunters. What they do is they hunt for treasure and love to include people in their adventures. When Steve joined along, he didn’t know what to do, so he was really scared. But when Lucy, Max, and Henry told him what to do, he was really excited on what to do.
I really liked this book because it relates to my life. Steve and I share some qualities, like not going outside of our homes and community for a while and meeting new friends while being skeptical near them. The biggest reason is because we both like to take challenges from time to time. What I did is when I joined the basketball team, I didn’t score a point or didn’t play at all, but I gave it my all and I didn’t care if I scored or not, I
was just glad I was part of it. Steve had to create the ultimate sword to save his villagers from the zombie invasions, but he was skeptical to do it. But with the help of his friends, he was able to create it and stop the invasion.
I think the theme of this book is believe in yourself. Steve believed in himself to save his villagers, and he succeeded. Lucy, Max, and Henry helped him and all of them were able to finish off the invasion and help Steve’s villagers live. I thought of this because I’m trying to build up my own confidence, but I always get turned down by people. That didn’t stop me and I always believe in myself whenever I have something big coming up. I really put some thought into this and I think this is the theme of The Quest for the Diamond Sword.
I think these characters are both believable and not believable. The story about the friends make sense, but the story takes place in Minecraft. Minecraft is a sandbox video game, and fighting monsters like giant spiders and skeleton and zombies is fake. Steve is a person who seems believable but uses unbelievable things. He is a regular adult who has neighbors and farms and uses the crops to trade, but no one can get diamonds and emeralds by just having them in someone’s pockets laying around. His friends are believable because they hunt for treasure and use the treasures for decoration.
Steve in my mind looks like a “stay-at home” adult who works hard to decorate his house and is always ready for anything. He is responsible but needs help, and keeps everything he gets but uses important things for times like invasions. No one works as hard as him because his farm is the most important thing to him, and he will do anything for friends.
One of my favorites quotes was about Steve, “You know me. I like to stay out of trouble and stick close to home.” This shows that Steve doesn’t like to leave his house and likes to work on his farm a lot. One thing that told me about the treasure hunters, Lucy, Max, and Henry, is from this quote, “We’re treasure hunters, we live in the desert.” This tells me that all 3 of them never stay put, and they love to move around and search for great treasures.
One way I know that Steve wants to stay close to home is when he was skeptical to save his villagers after his friends were turned into zombies during the invasion. He knew that he needed to save his friends, but he knew that meant he needed to go and find his materials to create his powerful sword and leave his farm and comfy home. His friends, however, are treasure hunters. What they do is they hunt for treasure and love to include people in their adventures. When Steve joined along, he didn’t know what to do, so he was really scared. But when Lucy, Max, and Henry told him what to do, he was really excited on what to do.
I really liked this book because it relates to my life. Steve and I share some qualities, like not going outside of our homes and community for a while and meeting new friends while being skeptical near them. The biggest reason is because we both like to take challenges from time to time. What I did is when I joined the basketball team, I didn’t score a point or didn’t play at all, but I gave it my all and I didn’t care if I scored or not, I
was just glad I was part of it. Steve had to create the ultimate sword to save his villagers from the zombie invasions, but he was skeptical to do it. But with the help of his friends, he was able to create it and stop the invasion.
I think the theme of this book is believe in yourself. Steve believed in himself to save his villagers, and he succeeded. Lucy, Max, and Henry helped him and all of them were able to finish off the invasion and help Steve’s villagers live. I thought of this because I’m trying to build up my own confidence, but I always get turned down by people. That didn’t stop me and I always believe in myself whenever I have something big coming up. I really put some thought into this and I think this is the theme of The Quest for the Diamond Sword.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2015
Have you ever played well umm....Minecraft because i got something to say about this interesting book. The book looks simple since its based off Minecraft,BUT......if you read it, its actaully pretty cool because its a story about steves adventure. Also it explains the story exactly how you play the game for example:Steve was very happy on his wheat farm and was looking forward to crafting a iron sword. This is just like in the game when you craft weapons to protect yourself. Well thats all I got to say oh and one more thing.........
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rea read readreadrea read OOOO readreadrea rea rea rea
rea rea readreadrea read OOOO readreadre rea rea rea
My opinion about this book is that everybody should get it cause it's really really REALLY cool.
*****SPOILER ALERT XP*****
My book is adventure. The setting is in different type of biomes,day and night. At the end of the book steve comes out of the nether portle, he saves the npc village from the mob of zombies. The conflict of the story is
readreadre readreadrea readre readread readr readr readr
readreadrea readreadrea rea rea readreadre readr readr readr
read rea rea read read read rea readr readr readr
read rea readreadrea read read read rea readr readr readr
readreadre readreadrea readreadread read rea rea rea rea
readreadrea rea readreadread read read
rea read readreadrea read OOOO readreadrea rea rea rea
rea rea readreadrea read OOOO readreadre rea rea rea
My opinion about this book is that everybody should get it cause it's really really REALLY cool.
*****SPOILER ALERT XP*****
My book is adventure. The setting is in different type of biomes,day and night. At the end of the book steve comes out of the nether portle, he saves the npc village from the mob of zombies. The conflict of the story is
February 26, 2015
I loved reading this book with my boys was fun to read and can't wait to read book 2 and the others with them.
May 31, 2017
¡¡¡ABURRIDO Y MALO!!!
0 DE 10
0 DE 10
May 11, 2022
Me not spoil
March 24, 2024
very informational I know so much about griefers now
August 29, 2018
I am reading this series with Guyden as a mini book club. I think for what it is, it’s a pretty cool story for the kiddos! He’s reading it now, so I’ll update with his thoughts when he’s done!
December 11, 2019
2.5 stars
January 16, 2023
Kind of disappointed- it's a little bit basic and cheezy. I hope the next 6 books of the series are better.
Also, I ship Elliot and Steve.
Also, I ship Elliot and Steve.
June 14, 2021
Fun little story
November 13, 2015
By following the quest for the diamond sword there was a guy called Steve and he live in a village he have a farm and every night the monsters came out and kill the villagers so he decides to protect so he need to leave the village and find the diamonds for the sword along the way there are many dangers and he found friends along the way they are nice to him but at the end he will still going to have the greatest adventure he ever had in his life because why find out more in the book
I love this book because the adventure that they are going is so exciting it maybe be a game book but it still fun because I can feel it like in front of me is something.I think this book is really easy to image a picture like you are in the book I think because the book is so easy to know is because the writing of each pages every page it just drag me in and want to read more and more about it because this book did not have a award but it still a great book to read when you have a free time it like you are playing the game in the book.Readers who all love Minecraft might like this book especially someone like books about adventures to be in a game of a fun and sad book
I love this book because the adventure that they are going is so exciting it maybe be a game book but it still fun because I can feel it like in front of me is something.I think this book is really easy to image a picture like you are in the book I think because the book is so easy to know is because the writing of each pages every page it just drag me in and want to read more and more about it because this book did not have a award but it still a great book to read when you have a free time it like you are playing the game in the book.Readers who all love Minecraft might like this book especially someone like books about adventures to be in a game of a fun and sad book
September 29, 2015
Have you ever played Minecraft? what about read it?, well we'll be talking about that. When I read the book I thought it was GRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT!!!! The reason why I say this is because the story is made to sound just like the game for example: Steve was living a simple life on his wheat farm and was looking forward to crafting a iron sword. Crafting is a big part of Minecraft so yeah. the book is great since its based off Steve's adventure. And this is why I chose this book and one more thing....... OOOOO OOOOOOOO OOOOO
OOOOOOO OOOOOOOO OO OO
OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO
OOO OOO OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO
OOOO OOOO OOO OOO OOO
OOOO OOOO OOOOOOOO OOO OOO
OOOO OOOO OOOOOOOO OOO OOO
OOOOOOO OOOOOOOO OO OO
OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO
OOO OOO OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO
OOOO OOOO OOO OOO OOO
OOOO OOOO OOOOOOOO OOO OOO
OOOO OOOO OOOOOOOO OOO OOO
October 17, 2014
I liked reading the Quest for the Diamond Sword book because I like playing Minecraft. When I was reading the book, I didn't have any trouble getting into the story because I knew what most of the Minecraft items were. It was a very cool story. If you like Minecraft then you will really like this story, it has Steve and also villagers and also a spider jockey. I give it 5 stars because I know about Minecraft and all the items in the game, but if you don't play Minecraft you might not understand what the story is about. I recommend the book to all my classmates that play Minecraft.
December 15, 2017
The book is interesting because the begging of the book shows all the villagers getting attacked and steve is frustrated and goes out to adventure than meets his newly to come friends along the way he goes mining and then he has a goal to craft a diamond sword to kill the mobs because they attack his village population they finally get the swords and get back in time to save the village so they can take it back and kill the mobs.
May 6, 2023
I am at chapter 8 and I finally give up. I am reminding myself "benefit of doubt" is an overloaded bullshit when it comes to books. My new thing in 2023 is to "give up books without the guilt" and this one is going to be definitely one of those. What the shit. Why did I subject myself to narration of video game? It is so bad that I don't even know where to begin. In fact I will not waste any more time on this.
April 18, 2016
This story is about a farmer named Steve gearing up for a battle between him and the zombies who took over his village. On the way he meets Max, Henry, and Lucy, they help him find diamonds and saving his village. I really liked this book because I like Minecraft and because of the adventure in the story. I would recommend this book to someone who likes minecraft.
March 30, 2016
I thought is was okay.. I mean it feels kinda different, but I do like the idea about the story. It was fine in the beginning and middle. But the end had a very exciting moment that I like about it. Having to save Steve's village. Good Job! I guess it was okay because I haven't read it all then one time I started it and felt kinda Ugh. But, sorry if the review does sound a bit lumpy. :(
June 28, 2016
I liked this book. It taught me that milk is a really good medicine in minecraft. It is a Minecraft book. I like the title because it is a long title. The only thing I didn't like about it is that it only had one main character. It's an original character and I didn't like the name of it. The name was Steve.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews