People have raved about Dashner. I gave up on Maze Runner but because a respected friend enthused about the whole Mortality Doctrine saga, but I really must say The Eye of Minds didn't do much for me.

The writing was almost too high level. There was very little world-building, and it's so hard to empathise with Michael that by the end of the book I really didn't give a hoot about what happened to him. Equally, Bryson and Sarah are taken out of things without any real damage done to them, so their loss is so evidently a way to make Michael go on alone there's no joy in his solo progress. Cutter's introduction and build-up was far too overblown, Ronika's mystique seemed pointless and the ending was so Matrix as to be visible from the dust jacket.

I'm not saying I won't give the series as a whole a try, but I came away thoroughly unimpressed with the quality of Dashner's writing, characters or plot.