Mortality Doctrine: The Eye Of Minds (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
eyeofmindsDiving in to James Dashner's "The Eye of Minds" was as addictive and immersive as one of my favorite video games. Which is apt, since this young adult novel (hey, I'm still young enough to enjoy those!) is about an adventurous teen named Michael who journeys daily into the popular and dangerous world of VirtualNet, or VirtNet for short. With his friends Bryson and Sarah, Michael seeks to progress from Lifeblood, their favorite game, to Lifeblood Deep, a level reserved for only the most elite gamers. They plan to attain this vaunted status by persistently winning, hacking and modifying the code, and searching for "The Path" as they seek to defeat a dangerous entity known as Kaine.But something isn't right. His parents keep extending their trip longer and longer, his nanny Helga abruptly disappears, and Michael begins to suffer from anguishing, skull-splitting headaches which render him senseless. Is it Kaine's doing? Can the VNS, Virtual Net Security, do anything about it? What's going on?This book was a gift from my husband David, who knows me well. I too love virtual games, so it was really fun for me to imagine a virtual reality game to play with friends (hey, we might not be too far away from such a possibility; check out the virtual reality headset called Oculus Rift, which I got to try out at an elearning conference at Duke last year!) The teen angst was fairly low in this book, somewhat different from other YA novels I've read recently. The adventure level was high, which I love! Perhaps my favorite part was the fact that Bryson, Sarah and Michael were talented hackers who could "see" the code from within the game and adapt it to their own needs. For example, in a particularly difficult game set in primitive Greenland where they were at a severe disadvantage and had only knives as weapons, they cleverly copied the code from another game to enable more advanced weaponry and magical skills.Room for improvement: I do have to say that there were certain holes in the plot, undeveloped ideas about "coding" and "hacking" which were frequently mentioned but amateurly referenced, a hasty ending which didn't seem fully logical, and a somewhat lackadaisical attitude from the main character, Michael, which I couldn't connect with. For example, I would be way more worried that my parents were absentee, but he isn't truly concerned until the end of the book, and it's brought up out of the blue, without any trigger. Additionally, the ending is full of fireworks (don't worry, no spoilers in this review!) and slackjawed amazement at the outcome, but it didn't seem to quite make sense to me in terms of where his loyalties lay. (If anyone reads it and then wants to discuss, I'd love that!)I would also caution any parents whose teens may have depression or suicidal tendencies, as there is a bone-chilling suicide scene right in the beginning of the book, which is sickening and not fully explained or made better. :( To me, that is a highly serious and delicate topic which probably should not have been thrown into the plot; there were myriad other ways Dashner could have shown how some gamers in the game too long can lose their mental sense of separation between reality and gameplay.However, I give this book a solid 3 out of 5 stars for its high adventure content, interesting concept and good writing. Enjoy! eyeofmindsDiving in to James Dashner's "The Eye of Minds" was as addictive and immersive as one of my favorite video games. Which is apt, since this young adult novel (hey, I'm still young enough to enjoy those!) is about an adventurous teen named Michael who journeys daily into the popular and dangerous world of VirtualNet, or VirtNet for short. With his friends Bryson and Sarah, Michael seeks to progress from Lifeblood, their favorite game, to Lifeblood Deep, a level reserved for only the most elite gamers. They plan to attain this vaunted status by persistently winning, hacking and modifying the code, and searching for "The Path" as they seek to defeat a dangerous entity known as Kaine.But something isn't right. His parents keep extending their trip longer and longer, his nanny Helga abruptly disappears, and Michael begins to suffer from anguishing, skull-splitting headaches which render him senseless. Is it Kaine's doing? Can the VNS, Virtual Net Security, do anything about it? What's going on?This book was a gift from my husband David, who knows me well. I too love virtual games, so it was really fun for me to imagine a virtual reality game to play with friends (hey, we might not be too far away from such a possibility; check out the virtual reality headset called Oculus Rift, which I got to try out at an elearning conference at Duke last year!) The teen angst was fairly low in this book, somewhat different from other YA novels I've read recently. The adventure level was high, which I love! Perhaps my favorite part was the fact that Bryson, Sarah and Michael were talented hackers who could "see" the code from within the game and adapt it to their own needs. For example, in a particularly difficult game set in primitive Greenland where they were at a severe disadvantage and had only knives as weapons, they cleverly copied the code from another game to enable more advanced weaponry and magical skills.Room for improvement: I do have to say that there were certain holes in the plot, undeveloped ideas about "coding" and "hacking" which were frequently mentioned but amateurly referenced, a hasty ending which didn't seem fully logical, and a somewhat lackadaisical attitude from the main character, Michael, which I couldn't connect with. For example, I would be way more worried that my parents were absentee, but he isn't truly concerned until the end of the book, and it's brought up out of the blue, without any trigger. Additionally, the ending is full of fireworks (don't worry, no spoilers in this review!) and slackjawed amazement at the outcome, but it didn't seem to quite make sense to me in terms of where his loyalties lay. (If anyone reads it and then wants to discuss, I'd love that!)I would also caution any parents whose teens may have depression or suicidal tendencies, as there is a bone-chilling suicide scene right in the beginning of the book, which is sickening and not fully explained or made better. :( To me, that is a highly serious and delicate topic which probably should not have been thrown into the plot; there were myriad other ways Dashner could have shown how some gamers in the game too long can lose their mental sense of separation between reality and gameplay.However, I give this book a solid 3 out of 5 stars for its high adventure content, interesting concept and good writing. Enjoy!
What do You think about Mortality Doctrine: The Eye Of Minds (2013)?
So I literally nust finished the book.As of right now, I don't think it's one of my fav books.I wont give it 3 stars because I think it might be too low, but I'm honestly not sure abput the 4 star rating either...Anyways-The plot was good.-The characters I liked [although I dont feel like I really got to know them if they make sense. I mean Bryson & Sarah. Maybe even Michael too?]-The twists were also pretty good. The thing about the twists is, I dont really know if I really liked them. I didn't find myself really gasping at any of the twists. I was a little surprised at one of them but there wasn't a large reaction.Which is odd.But I dont know there's just something about this book that didn't really CATCH me. I can't put my finger on it.Everything came together and made sense but it just doesn't really WOW me.So it was a little underwhelming I suppose.|SPOILERS COMING| |SPOILERS COMING| |SPOILERS COMING|Real quick, am I the only one who wondered why Bryson, sarah, & michael were not holding hands while they were trynna get to Kaine? Passing through those zombie things, and that dark room and what not. I mean hold hands, feel safe lolPlus I wanna know who the tangents were that they met, when they were walking in the game.And it was so obvious Bryson was gonna be offed and out the game to give Sarah and Michael some alone time. And I'm not really sure how I liked the dynamic between Sarah and Michael. It was obvious that there was an attraction there, but I never really felt it for real. I wasn't rooting for them or not rooting for them. But maybe the chemistry will build up more in the second book which ill be starting soon. Maybe I'll like that one better...
—Mizzaynmalik
this book already scares you in the beginning. then it get even better leaving you with cliff hangers all the time. No escaping in that world a word form the book says the "virtual is now becoming the reality". I was convinced by my friend to read this book.lets say I have to say I have no regrets. I loved it so much there are all different types of books but this one has a special touch.
—GarySP
He powered through the pain to finish his mission. It was great
—hanaa2910
