In The Game of Lives, I felt that Dashner really explored his creative side. The book is a literal
rollercoaster ride in terms of its plot, filled with an endless stream of plot twists that will keep you hooked until the end of the novel. While the plot of the book is arguably its greatest strength, it is also its major drawback. Confused? Let’s dive in.
I say that the plot is the greatest asset of The Game of Lives because it adequately and I think in most cases, successfully, achieves the purpose of keeping readers engaged because it is truly so unique, and curiosity spurs the audience on. However, there are so many plot twists contained within this single book that at times it becomes confusing and difficult to process. In this sense, plot twists can be your greatest ally but also an enemy. Dashner certainly has a lot of explaining to do in his next book in the series, which I’ll check out to let you know if he does.
Also in terms of the plot, I had a problem with –rather, I was heavily dissatisfied with– how
Dashner (*Major Spoiler Ahead) treated the death of Sarah in his novel. She doesn’t die heroically –she dies in an unremarkable way. And while this is more realistic, in the context of the wildly fantastical world created within this series and all the effort put into building readers’ connection to Sarah as a character, Dashner has truly failed. Michael’s reaction to her death also seems unrealistic in that his grief doesn’t seem to be sufficiently expressed. Bryson’s reaction seems even more lacking –he’s described laughing with Michael while bantering a couple of days after the passing of Sarah.
I feel like Dashner, however, has succeeded with his antagonist Kaine. Kaine is shown to not purely be some sort of evil supervillain as he was in the first 2 novels in the series but rather nuanced here and have a moral, human side to him. These types of antagonists, in my opinion, are the best ones. You know that they’re evil/malevolent in some way but at heart, there may be moral conflicts and the such. In conclusion, I’m divided on the 2 major aspects of this book –its characters and plot– but again, the book was satisfying and engrossing enough for me to finish, so that’s good enough for me, I suppose. Check it out as soon as possible!
Review By ~ Andrew
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