#BookReview :: The Eye of Minds (The Mortality Doctrine #1) by James Dashner

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.

I have been crazy about James Dashner ever since I read the Maze Runner Series. I have been trying to get my hands on the ‘13th Reality Series’ and ‘Infinity Ring’ since then. So when Random House India came up with thisbook on their Review List, I just couldn’t stop myself from getting it.

Michael is a gamer who spends most of his free time in the virtual world. His one goal is to reach the Lifeblood Deep status. Lifeblood is a realistic game on VirtNet. And it's the most popular game too. And what is VirtNet, you may ask? Why, VirtNet is a cool concept in itself! But with being a gamer has its cost too as Michael and his friends soon find out when they are cornered to accept a challenge of finding ‘Kaine’. Kaine is a terrorist hacker trapping people inside the game. There have already been many real life casualties as a result of this virtual kidnapping. Are Michael and his friends up to the task or are they in too deep to get out of it alive?

Micheal, the protagonist is a typical teenager. At times he is confused and foolish and then again he is intelligent and daring at the same time. I loved cheering for him and his friends. I loved the concept of VirtNet where one can virtually experience just about anything without harming oneself in real life. Eat – Jump – Dive – Live and Die virtually without getting a scratch. It’s a world where anything that you can imagine is a potential reality. Like Maze Runner, The Mortality Doctrine also offers its readers a vast and completely new world to explore. A world that is beautifully dangerous and can be really complicated too. The novel is fast paced and action packed. And one thing that you have to give special credit to Dashner for is his eye for detail. He gives out a lot of it and most of it, no matter how insignificant it might seem at the beginning, end up being crucial to the overall plot. And God the twists and the ending of this book…!!! When is the next part be out again?

A must read for any action and adventure lover. If you have read and enjoyed the Maze Runner series, you are going to like this too.

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