Michael lives to connect to the virtual world that everyone lives in, the VirtNet. He spends countless hours with his friends Bryson and Sarah in the Sleep, completing missions, hacking code, and amassing experience points. An encounter with a girl named Tanya, who removes her Core, the program that prevents her from dying in real life if she dies in the Sleep and who then commits suicide to escape from an evil gamer named Kaine, throws everything off. Kaine has taken over the VirtNet and is sending Killsims against other gamers, destroying their characters in the VirtNet but also causing psychosis in the Wake.
When approached by VirtNet authorities to chase down Kaine, Michael and his friends at first think of it as another game. But it quickly turns deadly. Kaine is rumored to be unleashing the Mortality Doctrine, and they must find his hideout on the Hallowed Ravine before Kaine’s evil plan comes to fruition. Can the three teens prevent both a virtual and real catastrophe before it’s too late?
Dashner once again creates a dystopian world in which nothing is what it seems. In this first book of a trilogy, the main characters are fleshed out and have complex motivations for completing this mission. Reminiscent of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, the boundaries between virtual and reality become blurred as Michael wanders off into dark corners where no humans have tread before. Fans of Dashner will enjoy this new world and will want to read The Rule of Thoughts. Other books by Dashner include the Maze Runner trilogy (Maze Runner, Scorch Trials, and the Death Cure).
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