Does The Eye of Minds Accomplish Anything New?


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            Michael, like most other gamers, spends most of his life inside the VirtNet. Those who know their way around the VirtNet code can hack access to certain items, and Michael and his two friends are top-notch hackers. However, the existence of a strange piece of code created by a gamer named Kaine may threaten their joyful lives. This phenomenon is dubbed the Mortality Doctrine. From the code, people have been found dead inside their homes and the VirtNet Security have turned to Michael and his friends to reach the threat. Unbeknownst to Michael, his connection with Kaine and his plans are far closer than he could have ever imagined, and the VirtNet Security might even be aware of it.

            The Eye of Minds is James Dashner’s, the author of the Maze Runner series, take on a sci-fi dystopian world. This book is the first in a three-book series. I never read about any virtual reality stories, so this book gets points for adding something new. I think the virtual reality aspect of the book provided quite a few benefits. For starters, Dashner can add much more action through multiple lives without oddly making the protagonists win each time. We are also able to see the protagonists form unique strategies that require multiple lives and thus would never work in the real world. One time a unique strategy becomes shown in the book is during their attempt to find the Path (explaining it would be a minor spoiler) within a game full of people attempting to kill them. They start by going through a small portion of the game map, dying, going through another small portion, dying, and this strategy repeats until they eventually find the Path. That scene also included a lot of packed action as they found enemies during their search, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Another benefit of the virtual reality aspect is that the protagonists can hack their way through problems. For example, in order to enter an age-restricted club, they hacked information out of the club guards and threatened to blackmail them, leading to their successful entry. While it still has its errors as a solution to making sure the protagonists win, it certainly fares better than using a simple solution such as overpowered protagonists or unrealistically implementing their win.

            Another thing I particularly enjoyed about the book is the mysteries. Near the start of the book, Dashner sets us up with a general idea that Kaine wants to murder people but drops hints as the story progresses to challenge our theory of Kaine’s motives. At the end, we realize that murdering people through brain damage was only part of Kaine’s crazy master plan. I enjoyed how Dashner sets the mystery as an open book until the end while still dropping minor hints. One example of a hint that challenged the idea of Kaine wanting to kill people was during Michael’s lone struggle to reach Kaine. Michael found it odd that his only route towards Kaine, which was supposed to keep people away from him, was seemingly leading Michael straight towards him. The minor hints add a larger sense of mystery and I was genuinely interested in what Michael meant when he thought about the strangeness of Kaine’s motives, only to be blown away by the ending. Unlike the previous book I have written about, I truly want to read the second book in the series due to the ending, but fear that my blog post on that book would repeat many topics discussed in this post. I will likely read it at some later date.

            Honestly, there was not much else new that The Eye of Minds bring to the table. However, that is okay because it executes what it does contain very well. It offers a solid storyline, interesting characters, vivid imagery, realistic ideas, and more that is found in other books but is better executed here. Not everything has to be unique for others to enjoy its contents. Some of my favorite TV shows are solid executions of ideas that have been seen many times before. I believe that this book has writing solid enough to completely make up for its otherwise common ideas. If you are a fan of stories with virtual elements, this book is a must read.

Comments

  1. I like how you didn't try to over-fluff the contents of the book and explained simply what you liked about it. It's not the genre I usually read, but this book does seem really interesting. I liked the way you explained the mysteries of the book, it made me want to read the book more. Great post!

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  2. I liked how you provided a summary that got your reader interested in what you had to say. I liked how you also explained what aspects and themes in the book that you found interesting, like mystery. I've read The Eye of the Minds and I think you did a good job of reviewing the book. Great job!

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  3. To me, this blog post hits home the points I feel that closely affected by. I casually read a lot of science fiction novels and many plots seem identical to each other. Nevertheless, I still read science fiction books, and this book seems like one I would still read. Great, concise summary!

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  4. Good job on this blog post. You touched a lot on what made the book good rather than just a summary, which is good. I also liked how you touched on the virtual reality element, and the effects it had on how the story went, and how the story was able to be unique enough to the point where it wasn't too cliche. You made this book sound really interesting, even for someone who doesn't read sci-fi very much. Good job, and I'll definitely have to check this one out.

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  5. Great post! I think your explanation of them trying to find the path was really good without giving it away. I've read this series and one of my favorite parts of it was when they die and restart because you can see how they improve until they finally make it.

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  6. I liked this blog post. I felt like you were very frank and honest in this review which I appreciated. You praised the book but without exaggerating its quality. The evidence for your points was well formulated and overall this blog post was well crafted and enjoyable to read. I doubt I'd check out this book as VR-based Sci-Fi stories aren't quite my cup of tea, but if they were I'd definitely check it out based on this blog post. Good work.

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  7. I appreciate how you are being direct in your blog post and not sugar coating the pros and cons of the book. I've already read this book but I never thought too much about how good it really is.

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  8. What I enjoyed about this blog post was how you were not afraid to be honest about your opinions of the book. Like many other commenters on this post, I have not delved into the sci-fi genre too deep, but you made this book sound very captivating so I may check it out. Good job!

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  9. I respect the amount of effort put into this blog post. Concisely explaining the plot of the book, while also providing your opinion on the content. Elaborating on the content of the novel not only made it easy for me to understand what the point of this book is, but also give me insight as to how others think about certain things.

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  10. I like the idea of picking a virtual reality book and this kind of reminds me of ready player one. The short summary really set up the blog for the rest of the essay. Your explanation of how the book was written and how good of a book it was makes me want to read it (also because I love mysteries).

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  11. Your critical review of the novel is a fresh breath of air compared to the mostly positive reviews found in the blog posts. I also like how you explain what you like about the novel, but admit that it is not anything revolutionary to the table as you said. However, the summary sounds interesting. I might check it out sometime.

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  12. I really like how in this blog post, you were able to highlight the interesting parts of the novel, like how it was the first book you ever read that dealt with the subject of virtual reality, while also being honest when it came to things like not really introducing anything new in other aspects. Good job.

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  13. I have never read a book about hacking. I might read this book just to find out how James Dashner made hacking an interesting part of the book and not just a formulaic, "I hacked into the database" story with no explanation or detail of how they did it. This book also sounds like it would have a lot of elaborate and bizarre imagery, because in virtual worlds the author can make any setting or scenario, even ones that might not make sense in real life. This book sounds awesome!

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