Title: The Eye of Minds
Author: James Dashner
Genre & Age Group: Dystopian, science fiction, young adult
Goodreads Synopsis:
An all-new, edge-of-your seat adventure from James Dashner, the author of the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series, The Eye of Minds is the first book in The Mortality Doctrine, a series set in a world of hyperadvanced technology, cyberterrorists, and gaming beyond your wildest dreams . . . and your worst nightmares.
Michael is a gamer. And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it’s addictive. Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends. And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?
But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he’s holding players hostage inside the VirtNet. The effects are horrific—the hostages have all been declared brain-dead. Yet the gamer’s motives are a mystery.
The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker.
And they’ve been watching Michael. They want him on their team.
But the risk is enormous. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid. There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can’t even fathom—and there’s the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.
Source: School library
How I Found Out About It: Goodreads/Blogging
I’ve been picking up a lot of James Dashner books lately. His books don’t usually become favourites for me, but I know I can still always count on them for appealing sci-fi reads.
So, I’d finished the Maze Runner series and even though I didn’t love the two sequels, I decided that I hadn’t had enough with Dashner’s cool writing style. This is what got me to pick up The Eye of Minds, other than its super intriguing premise.
To briefly synopsize, this book revolves around Michael, who is an avid video gamer. Since Michael is a good hacker, the government hires him to help them find another hacker that has been holding some players hostage inside his favourite game. But if he accepts, would he be able to accept the risk that he could get himself stuck inside the game?
Michael was a strong and daring character who was always willing to take risks, and I definitely liked that about him. I’d consider him to be an amazing role model for anyone who decides to pick this book up and give it a read, but unfortunately, the other characters were simply flat and unmemorable. I do hope to see them grow and develop more in the next instalment, though.
The premise of this story was absolutely super captivating (I mean, come on! Who wouldn’t want to read about how life works inside of a video game?), but it didn’t hold my interest for the whole time, as with many other books of this type. It’s weird- I can always stay interested in the realm of the most cliché contemporaries but never in unique, original sci-fi and fantasy stories- what is going on?
This book ended quite well and for a first book in a series, everything was wrapped up greatly… apart from the fact that there was a cliffhanger which made me ache for the next book in the series. If a book ends on a cliffhanger, no matter how much I liked it, I always feel motivated to continue on with the series to find out what happens to all the characters (I can never stand not knowing!).
Overall, The Eye of Minds was an interesting story, but not quite interesting enough to squeal and fangirl over. I liked the protagonist and the writing style, but I just wish that the plot had been clearer. Thus, I will be recommending this book to any science fiction lover, Maze Runner fangirl (or fanboy), or video gamer- you will not be disappointed.
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