Review: #922
Title: The Eye of Minds
Series: The Mortality Doctrine – 1st book
Author: James Dashner
Comments: The Eye of Minds is set in a world where virtual reality has advanced to the point if being indistinguishable from reality. People go into “coffins” where a series of connections allow the user to experience physical sensations. Following Michael, who is your typical teen with an attitude, he is recruited to try and find the latest menace in the virtual world. He is joined by two friends and throughout the whole adventure; you can’t help but feel this is extremely familiar to other stories before it. Everything feels predictable and well trodden, leaving you with no surprises. The author tends to saturate the text with pointless descriptions. The journey is supposed to be one of intelligence but none is shown by the characters. It constantly uses jargon and references techniques which are made up but never once is it explained what they actually mean by it. This means that whenever the characters “look at the code”, you don’t know what they are actually doing. The virtual world is too realistic to feel virtual and everything feels contrived. The saving grace is the end which was what all the mystery was leading up to. It manages to hide a neat twist (but not the most original) that allows you to see the characters’ actions in a new light. Despite its flows, the ending was worth the lead up.
Rating: 6/10