BOOK REVIEW: THE RULE OF THOUGHTS (THE MORTALITY DOCTRINE #2) BY JAMES DASHNER

TITLE: The Rule of Thoughts
AUTHOR: James Dashner
SERIES: The Mortality Doctrine #2
RELEASE DATE: August 26th 2014
RELEASED BY: Delacorte Press
PURCHASE: Amazon

SYNOPSIS:

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.

REVIEW:

How lucky I am to have picked up this series when all the books have already been released? Because if not, the cliffhangers would’ve killed me! How do readers who have read the books at the time of the release handled it?? Seriously, James Dashner’s knack for writing explosive endings is astounding. This is my fourth James Dashner book and so far, I have not read a single book by him that didn’t leave me with my jaw dropped, but in a totally good way!

The Rule of Thoughts picks up right after the events in The Eye of Minds in which the readers are immediately thrusted into a roller coaster of events right off the bat, which is not surprising at all what with all the revelations in the first book. What caught me off guard though was how huge the scale is of this matter with Kaine like it all just came down to me while reading The Rule of Thoughts.

In this book, Michael finds himself a wanted criminal after disobeying Kaine’s orders. He flew all the way to Sarah’s house to finally meet up with her and later, with Bryson. One thing led to another and soon all three of them, the Trifecta to Dissect-ya, became criminals too, but the whole course of the book is not only about them escaping the authorities. Sarah’s parents were abducted and the matter with Kaine is nowhere near from being finished and who’s to say that the VNS are the good guys? That said, The Rule of Thoughts is supremely action-packed. I was hit by the surprises one after another and the thrill did not disappoint. To say that I enjoyed it immensely would be an understatement.

However, my issues with the first book are, unfortunately, still present in this book, although there is a huge improvement with the dynamics among Michael, Sarah and Bryson . I’ve really c to appreciate Bryson here – no, honestly, he is quite possibly my most favorite character in the series. Bryson is hilarious and he is so smart. Granted, all three friends are incredibly intelligent in terms of hacking. But Bryson’s wit gives cheer to the sometimes flat narration. As well, the friendship among the three no longer has that superficial feel to it and I actually found myself rooting for the trio a handful of times. I loved their little moments in the midst of this war with Kaine and I hope that Dashner’s portrayal of their friendship gets more light in the final book.

RATING: 4 Fairy wings