Minecraft: Exploded Builds: Medieval Fortress

If you care about how to play in Minecraft - what the rules are, what the tips and tricks for survival are... this is not the book. But if you are like my son, who wants to figure out how to build things that look awesome, and to also be able to just look at and investigate awesome builds, then this book is AMAZING. The full color, high quality images show the detail he wants. He loves getting ideas and thinking through all of the permutations for building things. And while this book shows how to build a castle and the associated village, the ideas it gives are perfect for all sorts of building projects. If there were more of the "Minecraft: Exploded ..." books, I'd be getting them. I feel like this is a great companion to David Macaulay's book "Castle," which we had already gone through, but for a 7 year old is still a little tricky to figure out how to implement. This is not a replacement for "Castle" ... but it helps show how to implement some of the key elements described in the Castle book, for example.Personally I think they should do an entire "Minecraft: Exploded ..." book on traps. That would sell like hot-cakes.Anyway, if the reader of the book likes big pretty pictures with a focus on design and structure, this book will be a winner.To echo some other reviewers, I acknowledge this book does not do a step-by-step build for the castle. It shows you isometric views of the different structures and lets you figure out the details of how the part was built. So it will show you a wall with a tower and turret and then a close-up of the tower, for example, but not a block-by-block breakdown. For my son, this is fine. But be aware of what you are getting into.Also, yes the pages look dirty. That is totally on purpose, and I love it.

This book was exactly what you would think it to be. I first want to refer to something you will read in a review that I red while trying to decide if I was going to purchase this book. One reviewer mentioned that their book arrived with dirt on the pages they sent it back it was replaced and the 2nd book they received still had dirt on the pages. This is NOT really dirt, it is printed that way to appear to be worn and dirty it is MEDIEVAL FORTRESSES it is supposed to look old and worn. One reviewer mentioned that it was not an exact set of explicit directions on building the buildings, this is true. The directions are not step by step and I do agree I would be interested in a book like this. However if you have ever built lego then you have seen how long a step by step instruction booklet for even a simple little build is so imagine the size of a step by step instruction for the castle in this book not to mention I would not think you would pick it up for under 20.00 as this book is priced. This book is exactly as it presents itself, an Exploded Build of Medieval Buildings and a really cool tool for getting an idea of how to build things and how to set up your own Medieval fortress and outer community and how to keep it safe with traps and special builds to protect against explosion and invasion. This was an excellent book at a fair price and I hope to see more like it with the same Medieval Theme.

This book provided excellent ideas for the Left Side of My Brain to utilize in future Minecraft builds! It shows the reader in some detail, how to build interesting structures, such as battlements, castles, and other cool fortifications! As soon as I got the book, I built a really cool castle from the diagrams and steps in the book. So, if you are interested in building advanced fortified structures, this is very helpful.Couple caveats... this book won't provide diagrams to build advanced modern structures, such as fancy homes, and skyscrapers. However, the ideas provided in this book will provide energy for your creative ideas to emerge in an actual structure that you can be proud of! This book, in addition to purchasing a few Minecraft Worlds on the Minecraft Store, where advanced architecture is all around you and can be studied, will get you to the next level.My only criticism - and this should be fixed next printing - the diagrams are very helpful, but very small. So small, that the reader almost needs a magnifying glass or reader helper to see all the parts and how they fit together.To summarize, a GREAT Minecraft building book, and I hope there is an entire series of Exploded Builds that follows.

Good fun. The exploded diagrams give a lot of detail, and the additional instructions for redstone machines and traps provide excellent, easy-to-follow instructions. There's even some historical trivia included for a little learning here and there. The time estimations for each room/project are a little optimistic (for a beginner), but that's my only fault with the book. The reading level is pretty easy.My copy was listed as "Used - Very Good" and I feel that's accurate. Page corners are sharp, there's some fingerprints/discoloration on the covers, but no real damage. The overall value is, in my opinion, excellent.

Great book really descriptive and easy to understand. Great for all ages that can read. You definitely should read this book.

My son is getting back into his love of playing Minecraft. He invested in this book for himself. He is happy with the variety of content, photos and tips for playing the game. I would recommend this book!

It is a good book, but it is really hard to understand the parts that include Redstone, and the instructions are not very good at showing you a lot of the specifics, but it gives a lot of cool ideas, and inspiration, i enjoy this book a lot.

This is the best book ever and I have so many questions for the writer ps Minecraft is so fun