I didn't like Dashner's Maze Runner series. I liked The Maze Runner quite a bit because I felt certain that the series would go somewhere and that my questions would be answered. When it turned out that the next books would make no sense and answer no questions, I was disappointed. Still, I decided to give this a shot. 
 That was a mistake. 
 Don't get me wrong, this book sounds awesome. The plot is superb and exciting. The imagination behind this story must be phenomenal. It's just unfortunate the execution of the story was, well, less than phenomenal. 
 Basically, we're in the future. And gaming has taken on new and great changes. You know hook your body up to a 'coffin' and enter into the virtual world. You feel and experience everything firsthand. This is a little similar to the book Epic, with one major difference. In Epic I was frustrated because the stakes never seemed high. Everything that happened in the virtual world had almost no effect in the real world. In this book, however, while usually you wake up in the real world when you die, it is possible to never wake up and the danger in the game is actually real-life. 
 That was well done. The stakes, the plot, and the danger. All high points for this novel. 
 Let's get to the writing. Well. It felt kind of stilted and juvenile. A lot of the dialogue fell short. You could tell he was trying to be sharp and teen-like, but it just didn't feel authentic. This made me roll my eyes a good half of the time when anyone was talking. Also, the twists weren't very twisty. (There was one good one. I tip my hat to that one, but to the others... You could see them coming.) 
 The next thing I found lacking was the characters. I didn't click with Michael, Bryson, or Sarah. They all felt like one dimensional-seen it before-not very distinct personality characters. Characters pretty much make or break a book for me. I need to be able to, if not relate, at least be able to see the character as being a human. I couldn't do that in this one. 
 I'd say that if you love science fiction that doesn't have to make sense, action, cool video games, and can ignore the characterization, then read this book. You still might like it; it still had good qualities. It just won't make it on to my 'loved' list.