The Kill Order: When Life Burns Away

The Kill Order by James Dashner

Why did I read it?

The Maze Runner series will always be tied to my boss lol. The Kill Order (the prequel to The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure) bounced across Karen's desk as a new book, and she grabbed it up because The Maze Runner series sounded familiar. But once she finished it, she was very confused hehe. As it turns out, James Dashner wrote The Kill Order after the other three, and it seems to make a little more sense if you already know the other books.

What happened?

SPOILER ALERT

Before The Glade was formed, before The Scorch was crossed, before Thomas changed the world, things were as they are now. But then the sun flares came and everyone's life was turned upside down.

A year after the sun flares, Mark and Trina are doing alright. They are a part of a close-knit group of survivors, and they are learning more and more everyday about what it will take to survive in this harsh reality.

But, nothing has prepared them for the hovercrafts that unexpectedly attack their settlement, infecting most of the people they love with a terrible mind-altering disease.

There are two realities that Mark and Trina are becoming aware of: One, they have no idea who they can trust, and Two, they don't know if they can trust themselves with an ever-evolving disease sweeping across the globe.

What did I like or not like?

When I picked up the book, I was thinking it would be a prequel about Thomas and his friends before The Glade, but this one goes even further back. By the time I figured that out, I was already a little bit confused about the timeline, even though I was able to piece it together by the end (don't make assumptions apparently =D)

Dashner once again writes a fast-paced story that keeps you guessing, but it is also invigorating to see the start of things that you figured out in the other books.

While this one isn't about Thomas exactly, it is definitely worth reading, and it definitely supports and broadens the story behind the other books.

The Death Cure: No More Lies!

The Death Cure by James Dashner

Why did I read it?

My boss is an avid reader; she can go through several books in a week. But, sometimes she enjoys a series so much that she desperately needs someone else to discuss it with, and that is what happened with this series. I had read The Maze Runner for TeenBookWorms, but then she pushed me through The Scorch Trials and the prequel, The Kill Order, in addition to this title. I'm really glad she did.

What happened?

SPOILER ALERT

WICKED (World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department) has done terrible things to Thomas and his friends, and the more he remembers about his life before the Maze, the more he realizes that he was one of THEM! With solar flares and The Scorch threatening to destroy humanity, Thomas and others like him believed that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few.

But Thomas isn't so sure anymore. After surviving The Maze and The Scorch, friends dying around him, and his best friend betraying him, Thomas has had enough. WICKED might be saying the time for lies is over. They might be saying they will give him back his memory. They might be saying they are so close to developing a cure.

But Thomas no longer believes that "WICKED is good." He has seen the evil that has been perpetrated in the name of science, and he is not going to be a pawn in their game any longer.

What did I like or not like?

One of the awesome things about this series is the fast-paced action coupled with the slow revelation of what is going on, and this third installment is no exception. We have so many more pieces of the puzzle by the beginning of this book, but their are still many questions to be answered.

Have you ever gotten to the end of a series and thought, "I read through all of those pages and THAT is how you are going to end it? You have got to be kidding me!" I don't think that will happen with this one.

Its possible that you won't like it, but similar to my thoughts on Mockingjay (the third book in The Hunger Games series), I don't think the author could have ended it any other way. The ending is definitely bittersweet, but I think it was realistic for the world Dashner set up, and it was still way more hopeful than Mockingjay was =D

The Scorch Trials: Out of the Maze, Into the Fire

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Why did I read it?

Because I couldn't stop reading the series after The Maze Runner =D

What happened?

SPOILER ALERT

While Thomas and others from The Glade thought they were finally safe...nothing could be further from the truth. It turns out that the very people who "saved" them were the very people who had put them in the maze in the beginning, and their next challenge starts now!

In the maze, the Gladers had a sense of control. They had figured out their surroundings and their was a certain amount of safety behind the walls of The Glade. But now, there is nothing protecting the Gladers from the terrifying reality of planet Earth. Apparently, huge solar flares have ravaged the surface of the planet, and if Thomas and his friends want to survive, they have to reach a haven that rests on the other side of the worst desert on the planet.

But, getting across The Scorch is going to be everything but easy. If the lightning storms don't kill them, it will be the Cranks (people who have been affected by a terrible disease called The Flare). Or will it be each other?

What did I like or not like?

Dashner does a great job of keeping this story fast-paced, exciting, and mysterious. Around each turn and new character there is danger, and slowly, ever slowly, we start getting glimpses of what might be going on here.

Thomas helps us with this as he slowly starts to remember things that happened before the Glade. But, the more he remembers, the more he wonders if he ever wants to remember at all...

While many second books suffer from a lack of story line as the author waits for the third installment, this book has plenty of action, character development, and plot. Once I got done with it, I had a hard time not reading the third and final book, The Death Cure. 

The Maze Runner: Mystery Within, Death Without

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Why did I read it?

This was the title for our TeenBookWorms group in July, but it took me a while to get a blog post up about it.

What happened?

After waking in an elevator, Thomas finds himself in The Glade, with no memory of what brought him to that point.

The Glade is a society, made up of entirely teenage boys, that depend on their own strength, wit, and ordered existence to survive in the center of an ever-changing maze, inhabited by the mysterious and deadly Grievers.

Their only chance of escape is to explore the maze, hoping that an exit presents itself. But,
their society is turned on its head when a girl arrives only days after Thomas, and claims that everything is going to change.

As if that wasn't strange enough, she is the only person that Thomas can seem to remember...from whatever happened before...

What did I like or not like?

While the book takes a little while to get going, it is totally worth it once it does. The plot is something that you aren't expecting, and the mystery surrounding what is going on keeps you guessing the whole time.

Like many Dystopian books, the characters inhabit a dangerous world, full of high-stake choices and situations,  where one false move could get you dead. This excitement is coupled with the mystery, right up until the book ends, leaving you begging for the second one, The Scorch Trials. That is what happened with me anyway hehe.