The Game of Lives by James Dashner

Series: The Mortality Doctrine (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Action-Adventure

Subjects: action, adventure, artificial intelligence, gamers, games, hackers, technology, thriller, video games, virtual reality

Setting: The VirtNet, Atlanta, Georgia

POV/Tense: Limited 3rd person POV, past tense: Michael

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 336 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Random House: Delacorte Press

Summary/ product description: “Michael used to live to game, but the games he was playing have become all too real. Only weeks ago, sinking into the Sleep was fun. The VirtNet combined the most cutting-edge technology and the most sophisticated gaming for a full mind-body experience. And it was Michael’s passion. But now every time Michael sinks, he risks his life.

The games are over. The VirtNet has become a world of deadly consequences, and Kaine grows stronger by the day. The Mortality Doctrine—Kaine’s master plan—has nearly been realized, and little by little the line separating the virtual from the real is blurring. If Kaine succeeds, it will mean worldwide cyber domination. And it looks like Michael and his friends are the only ones who can put the monster back in the box—if Michael can figure out who his friends really are.”

My Review:  It may be just me, but I enjoyed this final book less than the previous 2. There were not as many crazy mid-blowing twists are part of the reason. It could be that I’ve had a stressful past week and instead of reading the book consistently, I had to work of projects. Still, I love the idea of this series. It’s so creative. It kind of make me think of the Matrix because the VirtNet’s life-like virtual reality. If you haven’t read the previous two books, you shouldn’t read this review because. (SPOILERS FROM PREVIOUS TWO BOOKS AHEAD).

As a review, Michael is a Tangent and he’s in the body of Jackson Porter. Michael and his friends are trying to stop VNS and Kaine’s enactment of the Mortality Doctrine. Tangents are continuing to be downloaded into people’s bodies, possessing them and creating chaos around the world. Michael’s nanny appears to him in a real body and she and other have a plan to fix the situation.

They’re going to an embassy to virtually witness a UE meeting (Like the UN). They get side tracked and end up meeting other tangents that want Michael to join them. Bad stuff happened along the way. Some die, some live. Michael finds out there’s a lot more to what’s going on, and he doesn’t know whom to trust. His greatest enemy might just be his greatest ally. 

I did enjoy the action and all the stuff about coding and the VirtNet. The characters still feel a bit flat personality-wise, but the dialogue is good. I like Bryson’s sense of humor, and Sarah’s okay. I really liked the funny possibly connection of this series to The Maze Runner. Bryson says he has Griever nightmare, supposedly from a game, and “Flare-infested Crank” is mentioned near the end. Also, in The Kill Order, the VirtNet is mentioned.

Overall, it’s a good finale. I might not have read it at the right time. I hope James Dashner continues to write fun action-packed book series like this one. I’m sure I’ll read it. I recommend this to fans of James Dashner. Also people who enjoyed these books: Elusion by Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam, Insignia by S.J. Kincaid, and Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza. Fans of the Matrix movies, and Transendence and any sci-fi movie about technology will enjoy this.

Cover Art Review: It fits the book, but it’s kind of boring. I wish the title wasn’t so big and centered.

Remember Me by Romily Bernard

Series: Find Me (bk. 2)

Genera: Suspense/Thriller/Realistic/ Contemporary Romance

Subjects: hackers, computers, high school, mystery, murder, crime

Setting: Peachtree, Georgia

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Wick Tate

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 355 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “In the sequel to Find Me, Wick Tate, sarcastic teen hacker, is back and once again dealing with criminals and corrupt cops…and a brooding new love interest. Will Wick persevere when some secrets refuse to stay hidden?

Wick had thought her troubles were over.

But she should’ve known better.

Not only is she embroiled in a new murder case, which starts with a body with “Remember Me” carved into it and doesn’t stop there, but she also discovers new evidence surrounding her mother’s suicide…which leads her right back to her imprisoned deadbeat dad. And she has to deal with her flirty new hacker friend, Milo, sniffing around—which her boyfriend, Griff, isn’t too happy about.

The pressure might be too much as secrets—including Wick’s own—climb to the surface.

Remember Me is an edge-of-your-seat thrilling read that’ll have readers turning the pages at lightning speed!”

My Review:  Remember Me, the sequel to Find Me, is an awesome thrill ride full of hacking, mystery and murder. This series is one of the few realistic fiction series that I actually enjoyed. It’s like something out of a movie or TV show. Wick Tate is a funny and sarcastic heroine. She like all you favorite hacker/techie characters combined. In the first book her hair was red (Like Charlie on Supernatural) but now it’s blond. She and her sister Lily have been official adopted by Bren. She’s got a new life and an awesome boyfriend named Griff. Things are going well…sort of.

Carson, that blackmailing cop has got another case for her to investigate with her hacking skills. Something about Judge Bay, who he thinks is a dirty judge. Wick goes to the judge’s costume party and a woman there is murdered and there’s message on the body saying REMEMBER ME. Wick continues to look into Bay’s past and start helping his son with a school project. She’s also looking into the murder.

We meet a new character name Milo, who’s the best “builder” and creates awesome tech. There’s some romance and fight and stuff happens. Wick’s got a lot going on and her sister and Bren could be in danger. Also she’s getting these anonymous DVD of her mother being interviewed by cops. Her mother died jumping off a roof, so Wick hope that she can find out why.

This series is kind of cyber-punk, but mostly and story of suspense and a thrilling mystery. It’ll keep you guessing who the killer is. It’s also got southern style, since it’s set in Georgia, near Atlanta. Awesome guys, and kickass heroines. It’s a real page-turner.

Cover Art Review: I wish that this cover wasn’t gray. Black or white would have given it more contrast so the image that the test is over could stand out better. It works well when it’s really small.

Don’t Let Go by Michelle Gagnon

Series: PERSEFoNE (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Realistic Fiction/Action Thriller

Subjects: hackers, technology, diseases, adventure, fugitives, conspiracies

Setting: Contemporary times, Throughout the USA

POV/Tense: 3^rd person POV, past tense: Noa, Peter, Daisy and Teo

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 335 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “In this pulse-pounding final installment of the Don’t Turn Around trilogy, which in a starred review Kirkus called “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens,” Noa and Peter race across the country in their search to destroy Project Persephone before time runs out.

After a devastating loss, Noa Torson is out of options. On the run with the three remaining teens of Persephone’s Army, she is up against immeasurable odds. The group is outnumbered, outsmarted, and outrun. But they are not giving up.

When Noa and Peter realize they can’t run anymore, and that Noa’s health is failing, they know they must go back to where this began. But when they come face-to-face with the man who started it all, the question becomes, can they win?

This riveting final book in the Don’t Turn Around trilogy ratchets up the action as Noa and Peter confront the evil that has chased them and won’t let them go.

My Review:  This is the first book in this trilogy that I was fully able to enjoy. Maybe I was just in the right mood for it this time. The first two books just didn’t have the epic amount of action and adventure that this book did. There was some romantic stuff, but it wasn’t the most important thing. I really liked that Noa and Peter were back together for this book. They are both amazing hackers (and Zeke was too). They have great dialogue. Also Teo and Daisy are so cute together. All their dialogue is lovey-dovey and funny.

Don’t let go had a dystopian-esque feel to it. It was very much a thriller. It’s a little on the sci-fi side with Noa’s implanted thalamus and the made up disease of PEMA. This book is so much fun, but there’s also some questionable subjects. Kidnapping and organ trafficking and murder and whatnot. You can discuss it. The book leads into an epic conclusion and we finally discover what PEMA really is.

I’d compare it to the Unwind series, but instead of unwinding AWOLs, street kids were being kidnapped to be experimented on and used to find a cure for a disease called PEMA. I love to hacker stuff. I always feel like hackers have superpowers because they can manipulate technology (but hackers can be bad when they use their powers to steal you information). /ALLIANCE/ is a hackivist group that Noa and Peter are apart of. It is like the real hackivist group, Anoymous. I watch Agents of SHEILD and Skye is a hacker, and I also watch Scorpion on CBS, another great TV show about hackers. Anyone who’s a fan of those shows or thriller maybe enjoy this series.

Cover Art Review: I like the silhouetted hand and fist and the title. The color scheme is good. It’s a sticking cover. Wish it were metallic.

The Rule of Thoughts by James Dashner

Series: The Mortality Doctrine (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Action-Adventure

Subjects: action, adventure, artificial intelligence, gamers, games, hackers, technology, thriller, video games, virtual reality

Setting: The VirtNet, New York City and Atlanta, Georgia

POV/Tense: Limited 3^rd person POV, past tense: Michael

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 328 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Random House: Delacorte Press

Summary/ product description: “From the New York Times bestselling author of the Maze Runner series comes The Rule of Thoughts, the exciting sequel to The Eye of Minds. Fans of the Divergent series by Veronica Roth and The Hunger Games will love the new Mortality Doctrine series.

Michael completed the Path. What he found at the end turned everything he’d ever known about his life—and the world—completely upside down.

He barely survived. But it was the only way VirtNet Security knew to find the cyber-terrorist Kaine—and to make the Sleep safe for gamers once again. And, the truth Michael discovered about Kaine is more complex than they anticipated, and more terrifying than even the worst of their fears.

Kaine is a tangent, a computer program that has become sentient. And Michael’s completing the Path was the first stage in turning Kaine’s master plan, the Mortality Doctrine, into a reality.

The Mortality Doctrine will populate Earth entirely with human bodies harboring tangent minds. Any gamer who sinks into the VirtNet risks coming out with a tangent intelligence in control of their body.

And the takeover has already begun.”

My Review:  This is such a creative and interesting dystopian series. The fist book blew my mind. This one continued from where it left off. It makes you question reality. Michael was a Tangent. An AI in Lifeblood Deep and he never knew it. Now he’s been downloaded into a real body and experiencing real life for the first time, but it’s not all that different. He has to find his friends in the real world so they can go to VNS and stop the Tangent called Kaine. When he meets Sarah for real, some bad stuff happens and they have to leave and find Bryson. When the threesome and together, even more trouble happens. Michael, who’s in the body of a boy named Jackson, has a warrant out for his arrest because they think he’s a cyberterrorist.

I love all the games and worlds of the VirtNet. I’m not a gamer, but I love the idea of being whisked away into a different world, even if it’s only virtual. People can change their appearance and do cool stuff they couldn’t do in real life. Also, Michael and his friends know how to hack the VirtNet, which is illegal, but useful. This book is all action and adventure. Lots of stuff happens. So much happened that I cannot even remember what else I wanted to say. Just know that it’s a great sequel. Not as good as the first book because that one blew my mind, but still awesome.

I definitely enjoy this series more than the Maze Runner series. There’s a lot more tech stuff. I noticed how in the book The Kill Order, which is the Maze Runner prequel, VirtNet and NetTabs and whatnot are mentioned too. So, is Eye of Minds on the same time line as The Maze Runner? Is this the pre-flare world? If so, then I wonder if the 3^rd book will end with the VirtNet being destroyed by the solar flare. James Dashner, you are one devious world-builder and plotter. I’m onto you!

I recommend this to fans of James Dashner. Also people who enjoyed these books: Elusion by Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam, Insignia by S.J. Kincaid, and Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza. Fans of the Matrix movies, and Transendence and any sci-fi movie about technology will enjoy this. If this series even became a movie I’m sure it would be even more epic than the Maze Runner.

Cover Art Review: Good illustration but the title is less interesting looking this time.