THE MORTALITY DOCTRINE

Hello everyone! It's the second day of the Biannual Bibliathon and I couldn't come up with an idea for today's challenge which you can learn more about on their Instagram account, but I still wanted to post something, so here we are.

I've been wanting to do a series review for the Mortality Doctrine trilogy by James Dashner ever since I read it and I'm so happy to finally have gotten around to it. I always get anxious about writing reviews so I will try my best not to ramble much and try to be as coherent as I can throughout this review.

*This is going to be a spoiler-free review so you don't have to worry about getting spoiled for the series. One last thing before jumping in; the trilogy consists of The Eye of Minds, The Rule of Thoughts and The Game of Lives.

Apologies for the bad quality of the pic, couldn't find a better one!

First of all, let's start by explaining what this book is about. It follows our main character Michael, who lives in a world where the technology is so advanced. VirtNet is a virtual reality platform filled with different types of games and it's also where Michael meets his two best friends Sarah and Bryson. Everything is completely normal, the trio go about their business, making the games more fun by hacking into the codes until a hacker starts terrorizing the VirtNet and the people start disappearing. The government gets in touch with Michael to stop this cyber terrorist as they are aware of his skills in code writing. Soon, Michael and his friends are dragged into a dark mission to stop Kaine, the hacker, and the secrets are revealed as the story goes on.

I have been checking my Goodreads review for the first book, The Eye of Minds, to refresh my memory and everything slowly starts to fall in place as I remember how fun these books were to read. I wasn't expecting anything when I started reading but Dashner definitely did not disappoint after The Maze Runner trilogy. I was immersed in the story and in Michael's narrative. He is smart and sarcastic. Like Thomas, he was an enjoyable main character but one of my biggest issues with the first book was that there wasn't enough depth to the side characters, Sarah and Bryson. This problem, however, is solved in the second book where we get to explore them a lot more.
The friendship bond between them is so sweet and gets even stronger. They go through crazy tasks, risking their lives. You can't help but worry whether they'll make it to the next one.

Speaking of characters; Agent Weber, who is the government contact, and our antagonist Kaine are also characters with complex personalities. I was interested in learning more about them and their motifs as I read because they both play crucial roles throughout the series. The first book, speaking from my own experience as a reader, wasn't quite satisfying character-wise, especially Kaine. But just like Sarah and Bryson, this issue is handled well as the books proceed.
We also have KillSims, terrifying creatures under the command of Kaine, that drain the code out of people, killing them in agony. You can imagine how nice of a contribution they are to the story.

The story begins with a light-hearted task to accomplish in the virtual reality world while the characters are safe in their coffin-like boxes in which they are connected to a bunch of wires that transfer their conscience to the VirtNet. But as the books go on, the storyline gets darker and the line between the VirtNet and the reality gets thinner. As a result of this, stopping Kaine becomes even harder and more dangerous than our characters had previously thought.

This could work for Michael too. (It becomes relevant in the next paragraph.)

If you've read The Maze Runner, you would know that James Dashner's writing style is quite fun and easy to read. It is action-packed, fast-paced and humorous. The worldbuilding is great, it can be confusing at times since the virtual reality is almost as if it was merged with the real world, but it allows the reader to imagine every single move that Michael makes, every scenery and every code that flashes through his eyes. While I was reading, I kept thinking about how good of a movie this series would make. Mr Dashner, looking at you!
Moving on with the writing, a quick comment on the Turkish translation that I had noticed while reading ('cause I'm from Turkey and I read them in Turkish -obviously Ezgi...); the second book had more errors than the first one. And by error, I mean some typos along with some phrases that I thought could've been better translated. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the writing.

To wrap it all up; this trilogy is full of fun and action, and if you enjoyed the concept of the movies Matrix and Avatar (blue folk), I would definitely recommend giving Mortality Doctrine a shot.
Also, keep in mind that you will be hit by a brick of plot twist by the end of the first book, so if you're interested in reading, make sure that you have the second book with you 😄

I guess that is all I can say about this series without giving away anything. I hope you guys enjoyed it and maybe are interested to give them a go. Now I'd better get some reading done. Thanks for stopping by and I will see you next time!


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