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| Paperback ©2016 | -- |
Computer games. Fiction.
Virtual reality. Fiction.
Cyberterrorism. Fiction.
Terrorism. Fiction.
Gr 7 Up-Beginning where The Eye of Minds (Delacorte, 2013) left off, The Rule of Thoughts finds Michael reeling from the knowledge that he isor wasa Tangent: a nonhuman string of code that lived only in the VirtNet. Thanks to Kaine's experiments, Michael now possesses the body and mind of human Jax Porter, and he is doing his best to process what has happened. He realizes that Kaine is out to get him and that Agent Weber, from VirtNet Security, isn't going to protect him as promised. Michael/Jax reunites with Sarah and Bryson and the "Trifecta to Dissect-ya" heads back into the Sleep, to code and hack their way to find answers. As in The Eye of Minds , Dashner's action-packed short chapters are divided into numbered sections. The gamers leap from one dangerous situation to another in the Wake and in the virtual reality of Lifeblood Deep. Dashner's descriptions are screenplay-ready, with Portals in malls, virtual battles, and a giant purple Ray of Power. This book will satisfy the author's fans, reluctant readers, and gamers in search of an adrenaline rush. Suggest to fans of Debra Driza's "Mila 2.0" trilogy (HarperCollins) and William Campbell Powell's stand-alone Expiration Day (Tor, 2014). This title will please older teens comfortable with a slower narrative pace.— Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX
ALA BooklistMichael was born as a line of computer code, an avatar, but somehow evil genius Kaine (himself a computer program) takes him out of the VirtNet and implants his consciousness into an unsuspecting victim, thereby bestowing human life upon him. Michael feels no loyalty, but he does worry about Kaine's ultimate goal. That's why friends Sarah and Bryson help him locate the megalomaniac's base of operations deep in the virtual gaming world so they think en a hideous twist of fate puts them back in Kaine's power. This sequel to The Eye of Minds (2013) explores issues of identity, humanity, and virtual worlds in an exhilarating adventure story with touches of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (1985). Redundancy slows the start, but the pace quickens and careens to a surprising ending, complemented by cleverly placed hints that leave plenty of open questions and latitude for what will be a highly anticipated next installment. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With the movie adaptation of The Maze Runner finally here, even more attention than usual will be directed at the popular Dashner.
Voice of Youth AdvocatesMichael is the first Tangent to become human. He was unaware that he was a computer program until Kaine, a Tangent villain who controls the VirtualNet, told him. Now in Jackson Park's body in the real world, Michael is hunted down by Kaine's agents. His only hope is reuniting with Sarah and Bryson so they can put an end to Kaine's plans. When artificial intelligence and virtual reality are so good that they are indistinguishable from the real deal, whom can the trio trust? Is reality even "real," or is it simply another computer simulation? Michael is running out of time to discover the truth, and it may very well cost him the human life he just gained.Dashner has once again written a gripping tale that picks up immediately where Eye of Minds (Random House, 2013/VOYA December 2013) left off. The book is well written, and the plot, pitting three teenagers against an all-powerful entity, is well executed (if not new). The action is nonstop, and the characters never have time to reflect on the events in which they are involved, yet they are well fleshed-out and their motivations are clear. A small element of romance is inserted, with the possible emergence of a love triangle between the characters. Readers who enjoyed Eye of Minds or the Maze Runner trilogy will devour this volume and clamor for the third part, as the action ends in a cliff-hanger.Etienne Vallee.After a nonexistent introduction and virtually no action, The Rule of Thoughts dives into the thrilling story of the "Trifecta to Dissect-ya" and their adventures as they try to destroy the untouchable Kaine. Once the story line develops, readers will be unwilling to put the book down until they have read the final plot twist. This book shares ideas of technological immersion similar to those in Brain Jack by Brian Faulkner (Random House, 2010/VOYA December 2010). 4Q, 3P.Eric DuBois, Teen Reviewer.
Horn BookMichael and friends Bryson and Sarah (The Eye of Minds) continue their deadly cat-and-mouse game with cyberterrorist Kaine. The trio doesn't know whom to trust as twists and betrayals lurk around nearly every corner. Questions of artificial intelligence, sentience, and reality lend a philosophical tone, while astounding revelations, nonstop action, and intrigue propel the story along to its cliffhanger ending.
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Horn Book
He lay on the bed of a stranger, staring up at a ceiling he had seen for the first time just the day before. He'd been disoriented and sick to his stomach all night, catching sleep only in fitful, anxious, nightmare-fueled jags. His life had blown apart; his sanity was slipping away. His very surroundings--the foreign room, the alien bed--were unforgiving reminders of his terrifying new life. Fear sparked through his veins.
And his family. What had happened to his family? He wilted a little more every time he pictured them.
The very first traces of dawn--a gloomy, pale light--made the shuttered blinds of the window glow eerily. The Coffin next to the bed sat silent and dark, as foreboding as a casket dug from a grave. He could almost imagine it: the wood rotting and cracked, human remains spilling out. He didn't know how to look at the objects around him anymore. Real objects. He didn't even understand the word real. It was as if all his knowledge of the world had been yanked out from under his feet like a rug.
His brain couldn't grasp it all.
His . . . brain.
He almost burst out in a laugh, but it died in his chest.
Michael had only had an actual, physical brain for the last twelve hours. Not even a full day, he realized, and that pit in his stomach doubled in size.
Could it really all be true? Really?
Everything he knew was a result of artificial intelligence. Manufactured data and memories. Programmed technology. A created life. He could go on and on, each description somehow worse than the one before it. There was nothing real about him, and yet now here he was, transported through the VirtNet and the Mortality Doctrine program and turned into an actual human being. A living, breathing organism. A life, stolen. So that he could become something he didn't even understand. His view of the world had been shattered. Utterly.
Especially because he wasn't sure if he believed it. For all he knew, he could be in another program, another level of Lifeblood Deep. How could he ever again trust what was real and what was not? The uncertainty would drive him mad.
He rolled over and screamed into his pillow. His head--his stolen, unfamiliar head--ached from the thousands of thoughts that pounded through it, each one fighting for attention. Fighting to be processed and understood. And feeling pain here was no different from feeling it as a Tangent. Which only served to confuse him more. He couldn't accept that before last night he'd just been a program, a long line of code. It didn't compute. That did make him laugh, and the pain in his head intensified and spread, slicing down his throat and filling his chest.
He yelled again, which didn't help, then forced himself to swing his legs off the bed and sit up. His feet touched the cool wooden floor, reminding him once again that he was now in a strange land. Lush carpet had blanketed the apartment he'd always known, which seemed homier, warmer, safe. Not cold and hard. He wanted to talk to Helga, his nanny. He wanted his parents.
And those were the thoughts that almost did him in completely. He'd been avoiding them, pressing them back into that pulsing swirl of thousands of other thoughts, but they weren't going anywhere. They stood out and demanded attention.
Helga. His parents.
If what Kaine had said was true, they were as synthetic as Michael's programmed fingernails had been. Even his memories. He would never know which ones had been programmed into his artificial intelligence and which ones he'd actually experienced within the code of Lifeblood Deep. He didn't even know how long he'd existed--his true age. He could be two months old, or three years, or a hundred.
He imagined his parents and Helga as fake, or gone, or dead, maybe never there in the first place. It just didn't make sense.
The ache that had crept its way into his chest filled his heart, and grief overtook him. He slumped back onto the bed and rolled over, pushing his face into the pillow. For the first time in his existence, Michael cried as an actual human being. But the tears felt no different than they ever had before.
Excerpted from The Rule of Thoughts by James Dashner
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
From James Dashner, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling MAZE RUNNER series, comes the second book in the bestselling Mortality Doctrine series, an edge-of-your-seat cyber-adventure trilogy that includes The Eye of Minds and The Game of Lives.
Includes a sneak peek of The Fever Code, the highly anticipated conclusion to the Maze Runner series—the novel that finally reveals how the Maze was built!
Michael thought he understood the VirtNet, but the truth he discovered is more terrifying than anyone at VirtNet Security could have anticipated.
The cyber terrorist Kaine isn’t human. It’s a Tangent, a computer program that has become sentient. And Michael just completed the first step 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. The VNS would like to pretend the world is perfectly safe, but Michael and his friends know that the takeover has already begun. And if they don’t stop Kaine soon, it will be game over for humanity.
Praise for the Bestselling MORTALITY DOCTRINE Series:
“Dashner takes full advantage of the Matrix-esque potential for asking ‘what is real.’” —io9.com
“Set in a world taken over by virtual reality gaming, the series perfectly capture[s] Dashner’s hallmarks for inventiveness, teen dialogue and an ability to add twists and turns like no other author.” —MTV.com
“A brilliant, visceral, gamified mash-up of The Matrix and Inception, guaranteed to thrill even the non-gaming crowd.” —Christian Science Monitor