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The Eye of Minds by James Dashner

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Brief synopsis (no spoilers)
Michael and his two best friends are teenagers, and they spend a great deal of time together in a virtual reality world called the VirtNet. They have a special knack for programming and use that to hack the game. There is a terrorist in the world named Kaine, and Michael and his friends are recruited by the VirtNet security group to help track down the terrorist. As they try to track him, the path gets harder and more perilous.

 Category
YA, Sci-Fi

 Why I chose this book
Listed on sale on Amazon, so I borrowed it from the library to see if it's worth the cost

 My personal opinion (the review)
Beware: the ending is a total cliffhanger. Lots of things get worked out just fine, but it clearly sets up for the next book. The story is moderately interesting, the characters are plausible, and the ending is a nice twist. But I didn't really enjoy the story-telling method. Many details were spelled out explicitly, instead of allowing imagination to fill in the gaps. But it was a clean story, and that is becoming rare these days. I probably won't buy this book, or continue the series.

 Warnings
Language: Maybe 1 minor swear
Violence: Yes, some of it pretty intense
"Adult" situations: None
Death: Yes, and of major characters

 Movie rating equivalent
PG-16 (not R, but I wouldn't let my 14-year old read it)

 Protagonist description
Michael doesn't appear to be anything special, but he has the attention of both the VNS (essentially the government) and Kaine (the biggest terrorist of the VirtNet).

 Point of view of story
Third, focused on Michael

 Book length
Medium

 Story flow
Great

 Grammar and spelling issues
None

 Character connection (no spoilers)
I'd like to know more about Michael's friends, and I'm sure the next book covers that

 For series:
Independent or integral (stand-alone or back story dependent)
Probably integral

 Series review as a whole
If you really like James Dashner books, you'll probably like this series. I am not a big fan, so I'll pass.

 If you only have time for one, read: (which one)
Skip it

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