The Eye of Minds, by James Dashner

James Dashner's newest book, The Eye of Minds, didn't impress me as much as I'd hoped. I loved the "Maze Runner" series, and I was very excited for the release of this new book.


The Eye of Minds is about, in short, videogames. Main character Michael lives in a world in which people are obsessed with their videogames. Games have advanced, too. Rather than watching on a screen, people enter a 'coffin' which actually virtually transports them into the game. They experience everything in the game as if it were actually happening to them, but then when the game's over they're "lifted" back to their real life, and are completely unharmed, regardless of what may have happened in the game.

Michael is a pretty advanced gamer, and finds himself spending lots of time in the games, which are called "The Sleep". Soon, Michael is contacted by VirtNet Security. There's a dangerous hacker infiltrating the games - called the VirtNet - and murdering people. Somehow, their murders transfer into the "Wake" (real life), which isn't supposed to happen. VirtNet enlists Michael's help to stop the hacker. This sends Michael on an action-packed, constantly twisting adventure. In the end, he learns some things about himself that he probably never wanted to know.

This is the start of a series, and while I did find it interesting - the premise was pretty neat - I didn't really feel like it gripped me or made me think like I like books to. I'll probably read the rest of the series when it comes out, because I'm invested now, but I really wasn't too impressed with it. It would definitely appeal to boys over girls and anyone who's into gaming.