Review for Game of Lives by James Dashner!
Quick View Review
Overall Rating: **** (4/5)
Amazon Rating: **** (4.5/5)
One Sentence Review: A rollercoaster of a plot if there ever was one, with great characters and action-packed writing.
Playlist: Ambitions by Joe McElderry
Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots
Straight Into the Fire by Zedd
Ride by Twenty One Pilots
Run by the Strumbellas
Pairings: The Maze Runner by James Dashner, HIVE by Mark Walden
Full Review
The Virtnet is what all gamers today dream could exist: a completely immersive virtual reality that allows more fun if you possess hacking skills (but don’t worry, hacking is totally against the rules).
Michael enjoys breaking the rules of the Virtnet; luckily, he only uses his hacking skills to gain innocent advantages in insignificant situations (such as bringing weapons into games they weren’t meant to be in). Unfortunately, there’s another hacker who has a more sinister agenda, and could possibly blur the line between game and reality. The government knows they need a hacker to catch one, and since they’ve been watching Michael, they know no one better for the task. Will Michael be able to navigate the darker side of the Virtnet and ensure that reality and game remain distinct worlds? Find out in this classic James Dashner series.
Wondering what a classic James Dashner series is? Well, if you haven’t seen my reviews of the Maze Runner or the Kill Order, this different kind of classic signifies a book mostly devoid of romance with lots of heart-pounding suspense and action that will obviously have you racing to get to the last page (and you WILL find the time to finish it no matter what commitments you have, because otherwise this kind of book will consume your every waking thought).
So, as you know, the plot was exciting and a total page-turner. I thought the conflict dragged on a bit and was kinda confusing in the last book, but other than that it was a series that wasn’t at all focused on relationships, but instead on the solving of the conflict (in other words, please don’t pick up this book if you’re looking for an epic romance on an epic adventure… You’ll get the epic adventure, just not so much the romance part).
I actually really liked the characters in this novel, which is something that is different from my opinions of Dashner’s other works. I thought Michael didn’t possess the overly courageous nature that Thomas and Mark had in the Maze Runner & Kill Order, and I appreciated Michael’s flaws and realistic personality. He recognized his fear and then continued on his journey, which didn’t harm the story in any way; in fact, it made it a whole lot better in my opinion. I also loved his reliance yet independence on Sarah; I almost wish we had gotten multiple perspectives because I just know that if Dashner ever wrote about a female protagonist, that girl would become a role model for all female readers (even if Dashner is currently tailoring his writing toward a male audience).
The writing quality was, of course, phenomenal, as can be expected from none other than James Dashner.
Overall, I’m gonna be brief, because if you’ve gotten this far, I hope you got my point that this book was a crazy race that will have you sprinting until the last page… And you’ll be totally out of breath in the end cause this one ends up being a marathon.
Make sure to come back next Wednesday for a new review!
Happy reading!
Jordan
