The Eye of Minds

Plot

In the far future, mankind has developed a new interpretation of gaming set in a virtual reality known as the VirtNet, which contains several games including "Lifeblood", a re-creation of real life. Michael and his two friends Bryson and Sarah, all three talented hackers that can use the game code to manipulate items, are employed by VNS, VirtNet Security, to track down a cyber-terrorist known as Kaine who has been trapping people inside the VirtNet, thus the gamers who are trapped commit suicide in real life by coding out their Cores, the objects that are the layer between their virtual and their real life bodies. They also want them to find about something called The Mortality Doctrine. Using information from Cutter, a barber in the game Lifeblood, Michael and his friends hack their way into the high-end Black and Blue club. They meet Ronika, the owner, who tells them that to get to Kaine's supposed base in Hallowed Ravine, they must walk on The Path, which can be accessed through a weak spot in the code within the game Devils of Destruction. However, creatures controlled by Kaine known as KillSims, which suck the life out of VirtNet players' Auras-their computer made counterparts- and leave their real life bodies brain-dead, attack and destroy Ronika, and leave Michael with serious but occasional headaches. Michael and his friends then manage to gain access to The Path through Devils of Destruction (where the people that play it are adults, partly due to the game is for those above 25 years of age, and also because the players have become barbaric), which they find very difficult to beat. At one point, Bryson is 'killed' by some strange, empty bodies of people, that attack when people passing through unaware. Along the way, they meet Gunner Skale, a formerly legendary gamer, who helps them realize that Kaine is actually a Rogue Tangent, Tangent being the slang term used for an AI in the VirtNet. After escaping from Skale after he tries to kill them, Michael and Sarah continue on The Path, but Sarah also 'dies' (meaning she wakes up in her Coffin-the device used to enter the VirtNet- in the real world) when she is burnt by lava, leaving Michael alone to keep going. Eventually, he reaches a crossroads, where he has a choice of either leaving The Path, or entering the Hallowed Ravine, but with a silver machine destroys his Core when he 'dies', so that if he 'dies', he dies in real life. After reaching Hallowed Ravine and discovering a Tangent meeting, the VNS sends agents to his location to attack. However, in the ensuing battle, with the KillSims attacking, a large number of VNS agents die. Kaine manages to bring Michael into a room, from where Michael goes away, allowed by Kaine to do so. He is attacked by KillSims, but he uses his powers for the first time to destroy, and not manipulate things. Michael suffers another headache, and begs Kaine to save him. Michael the wakes up in a Coffin, but realizes his body is different, and also he is in different surroundings. He finds that Kaine left him a message saying that Michael was a Tangent and that he is now the first successful subject of The Mortality Doctrine, which implants Tangent intelligence inside humans, whose intelligence are stored in a quantum computer known as "The Hive". He also says that since he is now human, his headaches, which were actually caused by The Decay, a condition that occurs due to a string of code implemented by the game developers, that causes Tangents to slowly break down. Michael then realizes that he had lived in the game Lifeblood Deep and when he entered his Coffin, he entered the network used by real humans, Lifeblood. He opens the door and meets Agent Weber, the VNS agent who contracted him to stop Kaine, who informs him that Bryson and Sarah are real, and also tells him to try to impersonate the human whose body he is in.

Development

While developing The Eye of Minds, Dashner wanted to avoid creating a world that was too similar to his earlier work, the Maze Runner series. Dashner enjoyed employing the virtual reality setting, as it allowed him an "endless" amount of worlds and settings for the novel. He drew inspiration for the book from multiple book and film sources, particularly The Matrix and Inception. Dashner has stated that he plans for the series' story arc to only span three books, as he felt that it "really [works] out well for what I want to happen overall" but that he does view the series as being more open to sequels than his earlier work Maze Runner.

Reception

Critical reception has been mostly positive. The School Library Journal and Booklist both gave The Eye of Minds a positive review, as both compared it positively to Dashner's Maze Runner series, with the School Library Journal stating that it "delivers an adrenaline rush." The Christian Science Monitor remarked that while they occasionally grew frustrated with "Dashner’s love affair with his own slang", they enjoyed the book greatly and thought that it would have a wide appeal. The Deseret News cautioned that The Eye of Minds had "relentless violence, blood, injury and mayhem", but that it was also "constant tension for a debatable end reward."

Sequel

Two sequels to The Eye of Minds have been published. The first, The Rule of Thoughts, was published on August 4, 2014. The Game of Lives was published on November 17, 2015. Dashner wanted to avoid dragging out the series.