Focused Books
Enchanting in Minecraft has always been a gamble. You place a diamond sword on the enchanting table, burn through thirty levels, and hope the RNG gods smile on you. Sometimes you get Sharpness V. Sometimes you get Bane of Arthropods. Focused Books changes that entirely by letting you craft books that only accept one specific enchantment, turning a game of chance into a game of strategy.
What Are Focused Books?
Focused Books is a standalone expansion originally tied to the Pedestals mod, now available as its own experience. The core idea is simple: instead of enchanting a random book and praying for the right result, you craft a focused book that locks in exactly one enchantment. Take the Silk Touch focused book, for example. When you enchant it at the correct level, you will always receive a Silk Touch Enchanted Book. No wasted levels, no disappointing rerolls.
In its first release, every vanilla enchantment is supported. The developer has hinted at future updates that will add support for additional modded enchantments, so the system is built to grow.
How the Crafting Works
Before you can make any focused book, you need a Focus. This is crafted by surrounding an Eye of Ender with glass in a crafting grid. Once you have your Focus, you combine it with a regular book and other specific items in a shapeless crafting recipe to produce the focused book you want. Every recipe is visible in JEI, so you never have to guess at ingredient combinations.
The recipes are intentionally simple, which keeps the mod accessible for players who just want better control over their enchanting without a steep learning curve.
Supported Versions and Loaders
Focused Books targets Minecraft 1.19 and above, and it requires MowLib as a dependency, so make sure that library mod is installed alongside it. Version 1.18 was skipped by the developer, while versions 1.17 and below belong to the older Pedestals-based iteration of the mod. Two builds are offered for modern versions:
- Dev (Pack Dev "Blank") — designed for modpack creators who want to fully customize the mod. You will need to consult the wiki to learn how to create custom books.
- PnP (Plug-and-Play) — ships with preset recipes for vanilla and other modded enchantments, ideal for players or packs that do not want to configure everything manually.
If you are putting together a modpack, the Dev version gives you total freedom. If you just want to play, grab the PnP build and start enchanting.
A Few Quirks to Know
The mod avoids ASM or hacky code injection, which keeps it stable but introduces a couple of minor behaviors worth understanding. After you enchant a focused book, it converts into a normal Enchanted Book with that enchantment once it lands in your inventory. It may not always return to the exact slot you placed it in. More importantly, if you build an automated enchanting setup, the focused book will not convert until it is inside a player's inventory or dropped on the ground. Until that conversion happens, the book cannot be used in an anvil, so plan your automation accordingly.
For players who prefer a frictionless setup, the foxygame.net launcher streamlines the whole process: Focused Books sits in a curated add-on catalog, so you can install it with a single click and let the launcher handle MowLib and version matching automatically.
How to Install Focused Books for Minecraft
Getting started takes only a few minutes. Follow these steps:
- Confirm you are running Minecraft 1.19 or newer with a compatible mod loader such as Forge or Fabric, depending on the build you choose.
- Download MowLib first, since Focused Books will not run without it.
- Download Focused Books, choosing either the Dev or PnP version.
- Drop both JAR files into your mods folder.
- Launch the game and verify the mod appears in your mod list.
Once loaded, craft a Focus, check JEI for the recipe of your desired enchantment, and start producing reliable enchanted books. Whether you are a survival player tired of RNG or a pack developer building a custom enchanting system, Focused Books for Minecraft delivers a clean, dependable solution that respects your time and your levels.