Books With Bean ~ The Eye of Minds

Title: The Eye of Minds 

Author: James Dashner 

Published: 2013

Genre: Young Adult/ Science Fiction 

Summary: Michael and his friends Bryson and Sarah are gamers. They spend most of their time in the VirtNet, a full immersion virtual reality gaming world that is the place to be. Michael and his friends are among the top hackers and gamers who love playing games and having fun in the VirtNet, but their safety and the safety of the VirtNet is in trouble. A new gamer named Kaine is a name floating around the VirtNet and it doesn't mean anything good. So now the VNS (VirtNet Security) has asked Michael and his friends to follow the clues and stop Kaine and bring safety back to the VirtNet. After following the first clues they find themselves on the Path. A place deep in the VirtNet and now they have to survive the Path and find Kaine and bring him down.

What I liked about it: You probably recognize the name James Dashner as the writer of the extremely popular Maze Runner series. This is very interesting but very different. I read the first Maze Runner book and it wasn't really my thing, so I honestly do not even know why I picked this up in this first place, not having really liked his other books, but I did and I don’t regret it. The world is super interesting and I found myself liking Michael and his friends, the mystery of who Kaine is and what he is trying to do is interesting and it kept me interested throughout all three books.

Language: There is some mild swearing.

Romance: There isn't romance in the first book, however they do go to a dance club during the beginning of the book to find out how to get to Kaine and it does mention that the woman are in kind of skimpy clothing but it is in passing and small sentence. Also Bryson does make a few  mildly dirty jokes. 

Violence: One of the games they have to go through is a war game and the people get really mauled up which he describes in moderate detail.

Magic: In virtual reality a person can do anything and they mention that there are magic games in the VirtNet but they don’t go through them in the book.

Recommended Age: 13-14 and up is a good age.