Review: The Eye of Minds

Hey guys!! First off, sorry for the span with no posts! I had them on an auto-publish that apparently didn't happen. However, I can get to the blog on my phone, so maybe I'll get back to normal posts. ^-^;

I'm not totally sure what I thought of The Eye of Minds, by James Dashner. It was good, but it was almost like there was something missing. Something about the end wasn't... right, for lack of a better word. I mentioned that to Kathryn once I finished it, and she said that Dashner seems to have a slight problem with endings, which I agree with.
But I'm not totally sure that's it.

I went into this book with high hopes, since it reminded me of an anime I've seen and loved called Sword Art Online. Here's the blurb on the inside of the cover:

Michael is a gamer.
And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it's addictive. Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends. And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?
But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he's holding players hostage inside the VirtNet. The effects are horrific--the hostages have all been declared brain-dead. Yet the gamer's motives are a mystery.
The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker.
And they've been watching Michael. They want him on their team. But the risk is enormous. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid. There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can't even fathom--and there's the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.

Random comment, but I'm impressed they were able to fit all of that on the inside cover of a book.

As I said, I was expecting it to be like SAO. It was, to a degree, but it was also different. It felt kind of pale and washed out, like it was missing a few key ingredients necessary in a book. The characters felt like they hadn't been fully developed and just had the very basics of a personality. They were somewhat cookie-cutter-esque as well, what with the (way too) thoughtful protag, the "oh come on you idjits" girl(who will probably end up to be a love interest), and the joker sidekick.
There was also a plot twist at the end which, if handled right, could have been amazing. But it didn't feel like it had any impact.
Actually, I think that's why I fell the book wasn't as good as it could have been. It didn't have any impact.
The Maze Runner books had the impact of survival and the like; this one just kind of coasted along as though it was thinking "this is an interesting plot I doubt I need much of anything else."

And truthfully, I'm a little at war with myself, right now. Because I don't want to totally bash this book, since it was kind of good, but it also could have been so much better.

And now to the ratings.
Plotline was a 7. Was a good idea, but it could have been executed so much better.
Characters were a 6. There was nothing really wrong with them, but they felt flat, like I'd said.
Family friendliness was probably around a 7. Two characters "die" in it, and the plot would go over the heads of younger readers.

What about you guys? Have you read a book you thought could have been so much better?
--Rebecca