The Eye of Minds (The Mortality Doctrine #1)

Since I am a bit of a nerd (ok, maybe a big nerd) I really enjoyed the ideas behind this book. It was interesting, as I read it, to see parallels with our dependency and fascination with technology and the internet. With the advent, and more universal acceptance, of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality devices (think Oculus unit and Microsoft\’s HoloLens) it is not too much of a stretch to believe we could someday find ourselves spending more time in a \”virtual\” world than our own. That is the case for Michael and his friends in this story. They find themselves more attached to the VirtNet, as it is called, and less attached to the real world. James Dashner does a great job of making the reader care about his main protagonist right off the bat and we begin to get caught up in Michael\’s \”adventure\” pretty quickly. Its hard to explain the entire book without getting into too many spoilers. The pace is nice, but at times gets bogged down with too much technical information about the VirtNet and its \”worlds\”. But, I was never bored and looked forward to getting back to reading about what would happen next. In all honesty I was not a big fan of the Maze Runner Series. I actually prefer the movies over the books on that one, which is a rarity for me. But The Eye Of Minds really captured my attention and kept me wanting for more. I have moved on to the final book in the series and have enjoyed each one a little more than the first, which is saying something. The second book was really great. This is a great launching pad for the series though and if you like the YA type of books with a technical and \”futuristic\” twist then you can\’t go wrong with this series. Give it a try!

DON\’T WORRY! NO SPOILERS! This book was good, but could have been much better. I went into this book expecting something at least somewhat similar to the Maze Runner, but didn\’t quite get what I was expecting. While this book IS good compared to others out there on the market, it didn\’t quite live up to the Maze Runner, or even the 13th Reality books. The following is an outline of the overall pros and cons of this book: PROS: ~ VERY unique idea. I\’ve never seen anything like it before. ~ Had the same kind of teen-appropriate \”gritty\” feel that the Maze Runner contained. ~ Had SOME action, but not nearly as much as the Maze Runner. ~ Really opens your eyes to the \”dangers\” of the digital age we\’re now entering. ~ Contained themes that will make me look at the world differently in the future. ~ Had a MIND-BLOWINGLY crazy conclusion, that will leave readers DYING for the second book. CONS: ~ Flimsy characters. By the end of the book I could only really tell you two things about the character\’s personal life: his name and his age. ~ Didn\’t contain quite as much action as the Maze Runner or 13th Reality books. ~ Plot driven. This CAN be an advantage to some people, but I personally prefer character driven books ~ Didn\’t really contain a climax. The \”climax\” wasn\’t really that exciting. ~ From the middle of the book, to about 10 pages before the book ends, it is mostly boring. ~ Had a bunch of jumbled scenes that didn\’t really flow together. FINAL ANALYSIS: While some people may appreciate this book, I think the majority of Maze Runner fans will be quite disappointed. The only thing that redeemed it and made me give it 3 stars instead of 2 is a piece of shocking information that is discovered in the last 5 pages of the book. (Don\’t worry, I won\’t tell you what it is.) Because of this ONE BIT OF INFORMATION, this author completely redeemed this book, and gives the rest of the series promise. While I didn\’t care much for this installment, I will definitely read the 2nd book in the series. To sum things up, this book was a disappointment, but it wasn\’t ALL bad. And if you\’re a Maze Runner fan, you\’ll likely feel the same. I DO recommend that you read this book, because the rest of the series shows promise, just don\’t expect to be blown away by this one. -Mark LeGrand Messick, bestselling author

This was not a bad book, it just read a little too much like Maze runner but set in a different world. Somewhat predictable and reads a bit like his other series. I was into it, then lost interest at the end and the Surprise ending was not surprising. I appreciate the new locale, but it still reads a bit like a computer version of Maze Runner… (think Matrix plugged in humans that live in a virtual world) I would have liked to see something other than a race to find a person before you die scenario. But still worth reading. It might be me just finishing several of the same sort of story, but it was only OK. I have read several fantastic stories about computers and virtual reality, but this is only about average. This is not a bad story and for a reluctant teen reader who is looking for a Maze Runner like action story a terrific pick. We will probably go ahead and purchase the series for our school library, but this was not a favorite of mine. Parents, this has splashy suicided, some very graphic violence set in a virtual reality (die here and wake up at home sort of thing), and lots of technobabble. And the scene changes can get frustrating, (in ice, in forest, in nothing, in a brothel….etc) This is still a teen fiction read, but possibly best for action only readers who don\’t want to think too deeply. And if they are programers they might get irritated with the story. this is not real science fiction, more like an action flick that doesn\’t try too hard to be anything else.

Alright, it was OK for a light read. The main problem was that it didn\’t connect well with the underlying premise / world within which it was set. Essentially, the skills and scenarios that underlie the core story line just \”magically happen\” with no sense of explanation of how it happens or what they do… \”they close their eyes, the code flies around them and they manipulate it\”… Umm yeah, bit like \”he closed his eyes, said \’I DO believe in fairies\’ and he found himself magically transported to fairy land\”. The end was fast and (for me at least) relatively predictable, so the \’twist\’ was unfortunately more of a \’tweak\’ by the time it happened, then the book was suddenly done. OK, it\’s part of a series, so sudden cliffhanger endings make it easier to continue, but it felt like it was wrapped up artificially quickly to meet that very purpose. It sounds like I\’m critical, I am. It\’s a critique, a review. I still rated as 3 stars though. The reason being that I did not expect a William Gibson novel, I expected a story in line with the Maze Runner series, and that\’s what I got. Was good holiday reading, endless twists and turns, and the constant questioning of \”is this real?\” In all it was a good, fun read, and I will continue the series. I just felt it was let down as it picked a \”world\” for a backdrop and just staged the story in front of it. The same story could as easily have been told against other backdrops with similar results as it didn\’t really link deeply with the world. Bit of a maze runner clone, but enjoyable holiday reading all the same. Some nice ideas touched on and interested to see where he takes the story.

Bought for son aged 14, he read it quickly and really enjoyed it.

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