The Game of Lives (The Mortality Doctrine, Book Three)

by James Dashner

Overview

From James Dashner, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling MAZE RUNNER series, comes the final book in the Mortality Doctrine series, an edge-of-your-seat cyber-adventure trilogy that includes The Eye of Minds and The Rule of Thoughts. 

Includes a sneak peek of The Fever Code, the highly anticipated conclusion to the Maze Runner series—the novel that finally reveals how the Maze was built!
 
Michael used to live to game, but now, the games are over. The VirtNet has become a world of deadly consequences, and cyber terrorist Kaine grows stronger by the day. The Mortality Doctrine—Kaine’s master plan—has nearly been realized, and little by little the line separating the virtual from the real is blurring. If Kaine succeeds, it will mean worldwide cyber domination. And it looks like Michael and his friends are the only ones who can put the monster back in the box—if Michael can figure out who his friends really are.

The author who brought you the #1 New York Times bestselling MAZE RUNNER series and two #1 movies—The Maze Runner and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials—now brings you an electrifying adventure trilogy that takes you into a world of hyperadvanced technology, cyber terrorists, and gaming beyond your wildest dreams . . . and your worst nightmares.

Praise for the Mortality Doctrine Series:
 
“Dashner takes full advantage of the Matrix-esque potential for asking ‘what is real.’” —io9.com
 
“Set in a world taken over by virtual reality gaming, the series perfectly capture[s] Dashner’s hallmarks for inventiveness, teen dialogue and an ability to add twists and turns like no other author.” —MTV.com
 
“A brilliant, visceral, gamified mash-up of The Matrix and Inception, guaranteed to thrill even the non-gaming crowd.” —Christian Science Monitor

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375990038
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	11/17/2015
Series:	Mortality Doctrine Series , #3
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

James Dashner is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series: The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, The Kill Order, and The Fever Code, as well as the bestselling Mortality Doctrine series: The Eye of Minds, The Rule of Thoughts, and The Game of Lives. Dashner was born and raised in Georgia but now lives and writes in the Rocky Mountains. To learn more about him and his books, visit JamesDashner.com, follow @jamesdashner on Twitter, and find dashnerjames on Instagram.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the Mortality Doctrine Series:

“Dashner takes full advantage of the Matrix-esque potential for asking ‘what is real.’”—io9.com
 
“Set in a world taken over by virtual reality gaming, the series perfectly capture[s] Dashner’s hallmarks for inventiveness, teen dialogue and an ability to add twists and turns like no other author.”—MTV.com
 
“A brilliant, visceral, gamified mash-up of The Matrix and Inception, guaranteed to thrill even the non-gaming crowd.”—Christian Science Monitor

"An exhilarating adventure story with touches of Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider books and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game."—Booklist.com

“More realistic and addictive than any video game—The Eye of Minds sucked me in from the very first page. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets The Matrix in a vividly rendered world of gamers, hackers, and cyber-terrorists. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!”—Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Beautiful Creatures and author of Unbreakable
 
"Dashner's descriptions are screenplay-ready. . . . This book will satisfy the author’s fans . . . [and readers] in search of an adrenaline rush."—SLJ

“A gripping page-turner, Dashner’s latest is sure to please.” —BookPage
 
“Full of action [and] a rather surprising twist that will leave you flipping pages.”—fanboynation.com

“High on concept, this is an intriguing read for the digital generation.”—Kirkus Reviews

"Dashner once again creates a dystopian world in which nothing is what it seems."—VOYA

From the Publisher

The Game Of Lives provides a quick but compelling finale to the series. This fast-paced book tells the classic tale of good versus evil as Michael tries to prevent the destruction of the human race at the hands of rogue Tangents. Lacking any major plot twists, this book uses timely cliff-hangers to keep the reader engaged from beginning to end. Neatly tying up all the loose ends in this must-read series, The Game Of Lives is a perfect book for teens. Reviewer: Eric DuBois, Teen Reviewer; Ages 12 to 18.

VOYA, December 2015 (Vol. 38, No. 5) - Eric DuBois

Michael and his friends, Sarah and Bryson, face new threats following the destruction of the VSN firewall. More and more Tangents are using the Mortality Doctrine to take possession of human bodies, downloading into them while their users are imprisoned in a virtual-reality universe. The Tangents have fractured, however, with those who oppose Kaine and those Kaine leads toward his ultimate goal of immortality. At the same time, Agent Weber’s plans of making VSN the world power and destroying all Tangents are coming to fruition. Armed with only code, can Michael stop both Weber and Kaine before it is too late? Dashner concludes this gripping tale by starting immediately where Rule Of Thought (Random House, 2014/Voya December 2014) ended. Well written and with an exciting plot, this third and final book wraps up all of the loose ends and hints cleverly placed in the first two books. Nonstop action leaves little room for introspection on the part of the main characters, yet their motivations are clear. The love triangle that emerged in the second book fizzles out, with Bryson bowing out of the relationship between Michael and Sarah. Readers who loved the first two of the series will enjoy this satisfying conclusion to the Mortality Doctrine. Reviewer: Etienne Vallee; Ages 12 to 18.

VOYA, December 2015 (Vol. 38, No. 5) - Etienne Vallee

2015-10-06
After narrowly escaping the villainous Tangent Kaine's clutches at the conclusion of The Rule of Thoughts (2014), Michael, Bryson, and Sarah are joined by Michael's old nanny, Helga, and a group of rebel Tangents to thwart Kaine's evil plans once and for all. But not all is as it seems. Tragedy occurs, motives are revealed, and foe becomes friend in Dashner's exciting finale. Dashner throws everything he has in to this volume, making for a breathless, action-packed read that will have readers on the edges of their seats. He further explores his hard sci-fi premise, in which beings flow like water between a computer world and a real world, lending the book as much speculative fun as action. The characterization still leaves a bit to be desired; few characters are given the depth and shading the author gives to Michael and Kaine. Moreover, Dashner doesn't seem to have quite enough guts to keep a particularly painful death permanent; the novel's final pages allude to a resurrection that, while sweet, will make a few readers roll their eyes. However, in the broadest of strokes Dashner has stuck the landing, crafting a complete sci-fi trilogy that has little fat to trim and plenty of action, laughs, thoughts, and emotion. These books have notably improved with each outing, making this the best of the bunch. A fitting end to an exceptional trilogy. (Science fiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews