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Review of The Eye of Minds by James Dashner
3.5 out of 5 Stars. Dashner always does two things well — plot and setting, and this book is no different.
Setting:
The Mortality Doctrine Series is a dystopian series where a virtual reality system, called VirtNet, is the new normal. In the first book, The Eye of Minds, we follow our main character, Michael, through the VirtNet as he takes on a gamer, Kaine, who is manipulating the system.
I don’t know anything about gaming or VR, but my husband does, so I asked him. I thought it odd the characters could close their eyes and look at or change the code, but my husband told me that it is pretty typical.
It was hard for me to invest in the book because it had a few aspects of gaming/VR that weren’t believable. The VR seemed to be an excuse to make up whatever Dashner wanted to make up, especially before they got to the Path.
The Eye of Minds has no world-building. Even though it’s VR, there still should be some rules. Because our main characters can manipulate code however they want, anything was possible. At a certain point in the book, it was hard to believe the players could not do whatever they wanted.
The world had so many different names! I couldn’t keep track of them all. The VNS, Kaine, Skale, Tangent, Mortality Doctrine, Coffin…
