Eye of Minds

The Eye of Minds James Dashner

Michael’s parents are often traveling and like most serious gamers, he spends most of his time in his coffin-- the next step in virtual reality equipment that affects all the senses very realistically. All of Michael’s friends and hang-outs are in the VirtNet. He can usually afford what he wants, but he’s good enough he can also just look at the code that makes up his world and hack his way in.

But something weird’s going on -- a gamer named Kaine has driven gamers to suicide-- cutting out the device that acts as the shield between reality and virtual reality-- so when they die in the VirtNet, they die in the real world, too.

The police are after him, but they need the help of Michael and his friends. They go on a terrifying adventure to stop someone who is always a step or two ahead--someone who knows the code better than they do, better than anyone.

And, what they find is beyond what anyone expects.

It’s a fun action sci/fi thriller where the VirtNet setting allows for some very fun settings and landscapes that Michael and his friends have to work or hack their way through. Of course, it all leads up to a big twist reveal ending, setting up the second book perfectly. Now you just have to wait for the second book.

I probably won’t pick it up-- I enjoyed the book, but it’s not really my thing, so I’m not the right reader for it. (Although I liked it enough that I will probably make one of the teens at work tell me what happens, like I did with the Lockdown series.)

Book Provided by... my local library

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Cinder

Cinder Marissa Meyer

Cinder is a cyborg-- a cross between android and human. She's a rarity and a freak, and hides her robotic parts when she can. She's also the best mechanic in New Beijing and the main source of income for her family. A large part of this story is Cinderella (Because you couldn't guess from the title.) The other part involves the Queen of the Moon (who is way freaky and evil) coming to Earth to attempt to marry the prince and TAKE OVER THE WORLD. There are missing princesses, a deadly plague, creepy medical testing, a lot of questionable motives and alliances, PLUS! Evil stepmother + ball.

New Beijing is the capital of the Eastern Commonwealth, which seems to include all of Asia. As such, there is a mish-mash of Asian touches-- a character with the last name of Nguyen (Vietnamese) and a street called Sakura (Japanese). This is TOTALLY on purpose-- as the capital of all of Asia, of course different Asian cultures would blend in this way. As someone who's used to seeing bad Chinese settings, it initially set off some warning bells until I could talk myself down. But that's totally my own issue. I think Meyer was very deliberate in how she combined cultures and created a whole new world.

My big complaint is that I figured out all the twists about 1/3 of the way through. However, I liked the world enough that I kept reading. Only to find that nothing really resolves, the stage just gets set for the next big adventure.

Several people have complained that there's not a lot of spark between Cinder and Prince Kai. There's not. There's some "oo hot guy that I oddly respond to" but no swoon or insta-love. I'm ok with that, because it's not like we're being TOLD that they lurve each other and not seeing it. They're attracted to each other but don't really know each other and I can see this turning into a slow burn that ratchets up over the next few books.

BUT! I loved the world building. I loved the politics. I loved Kai being unexpectedly thrust into power and having no good solutions or answers to very big problems facing his people. Plus, it's a fairy tale retelling. You know how I love those. The titles of the next 3 books have already been announced-- Scarlet, Cress, and Winter. I have ideas where those names come from based on this story, but I'm also hoping for Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow Queen. Too bad we have to wait until 2013.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Dark Life

Dark Life Kat Falls

So, I'm not as awesome a writer as Kat Falls, so I can't seamlessly build a world into a story. I'll have to explain the world, then the story.

The World-- there was a massive series of earthquakes and floods and large portions of the US slid into the ocean. The remaining population live in stack cities, with millions of people crammed into a square mile. Space is at an absolute premium. The only place there is space is on the ocean floor, where farmers homestead out land and grow food for the Topside. There's a distrust between those who live Below (derogatorily called Dark Life) and the Topsiders. In addition to a lot of cool technology that makes life on the ocean floor possible, there are also the politics at play. The Commonwealth of States has been under emergency law for the past 20-some years, ever since the Rising. Now, in the Commonwealth of States, All of the forty-five states had two representatives in the assembly to vote on the state's behalf. As a lowly territory, we got on representative who wasn't allowed to vote, and we didn't even choose him.*

The story-- Tensions between the Topside and the Territory reach a breaking point when the Seablite gang keeps hijacking the territory's supply ships. Then the gang starts attacking settlements. Meanwhile, Ty finds Gemma, a Topside girl who's looking for her brother, a prospector who's missing. Then there's the whole mystery of Dark Gifts-- people think that children born below have a Dark Gift, a super power or something because the pressure messes with their brain development. Ty insists they aren't real, but he's also chasing down secrets of his own past, and hoping the territory lasts long enough so he can stake his own claim.

It's kinda hard to explain and there's a lot there, which you don't notice until you're trying to explain it, because what Falls has written is a fast-paced action/adventure/sci-fi fest of awesome. She seamlessly works in all this info about the world and the back story and the politics and Ty and Gemma's relationship and their past and the Seablite gang and how it all ties together and... damn.

It's exciting and fun, but also just really, really good.

According to my sources, there will be at least 2 sequels, and there are definitely places this story can go, especially with the political situation, but it doesn't *have* to have a sequel, but I want one, which makes it a winner in my book.


*So basically... the Benthic Territory is DC. Ok, DC gets to choose their rep, but...

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.