This book review has been a long time coming! I started reading the Maze runner series around October-time last year and, to be honest, it's taken much longer to read than I would've liked. But - at last - I've finished the main series (I haven't yet got onto the prequels).
Before, I get on to the review, I'd like to warn you that there may be a few spoilers in this post. The first half will be a normal, non-spoiler review. However, in the second part, I want to go into more detail about my opinions, which obviously carries the risk of spoilers. But, don't worry, I'll give a clear warning and sub-heading when it gets to that point. So, let's get started!
Title: The Death Cure (third book in the Maze Runner Series).
Author: James Dashner
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Action/ Young Adult Fiction
Description:
Thomas and the other Gladers have endured a lot throughout the duration of the series. He's gained allies...and he's lost them. The trials are now over and WICKED are supposedly finished. But can Thomas really trust them? After many twists and turns, the Maze Runner series reaches its climax.
My Thoughts and Ideas:
Starting with the positives, James Dashner, without a doubt, is an amazing writer and has handfuls of talent (obviously, he's written one of the most successful YA series). The descriptions are great and the whole concept of the story is amazing. Seriously, what kind of person can think of these ideas? The whole series is so developed that sometimes it's hard to understand. But, mostly, the plot having so much depth is a great aspect because it makes the books interesting and exciting to read.
On the contrary, having lots of questions can be a problem when, at the end of the series, half of them are left unanswered - this what seriously annoyed me in this book. When you've devoted so much time into reading a book series, you want answers of the end of it all. When you get all of these answers and all of the puzzle pieces suddenly fit together, spending all of that time reading the books seems worthwhile. However, when you finish a book with more questions than what you started with, it is unbearable.
It sounds ridiculous but my heart practically got torn apart reading this series, all to get to the end and realise that it didn't even have a decent ending.
If you don't mind having a completely terrible ending with no answers, I highly recommend this series. Otherwise, I suggest you seriously consider the circumstances before you read it. Trust me, this series has the potential to shatter your heart into tiny pieces and tear your body apart from the inside out (if you think I'm exaggerating, read the book and find out for yourself).
That's everything for the first section! If you've already read the series or if you don't care about spoiling it, feel free to read ahead (where I'm just going to rant about everything that annoyed me in the series).
If you're yet to read (or even watch) the Death Cure and don't want to get any spoilers, this is the end of the post for you! Thank you for reading and I hope you have an amazing day!
Warning - Spoilers Ahead!
I'm presuming that anyone who's reading to this point has already read up to the end of the Maze Runner series.
Firstly, I'd just like to pre-warn you that I may have missed something important during the series and that I'm probably about to make myself look like a massive idiot. These are just the things that annoyed me, personally, whether you agree with them or not. If I say something which you disagree with or if I misunderstood something, I'd really appreciate if you let me know in the comments.
Anyway, let's start at the beginning of the Death Cure. Thomas is in the 'White Room'. He's randomly left there for weeks and then he's randomly taken out to reunite with his friends. Rat Man told Thomas that Phase Three was designed to map out the finalities of the blueprints and that each of the 'subjects' had a different 'puzzle'. That's great - only, I'm pretty sure we never find out what any of the others' trial was. Did I just miss that bit or is that the first unanswered question in the book? What was even the point in shoving a teenager into a room with nothing to do. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that he's going to be bored witless.
Next, we find out that not all of the Gladers/Group B people are immune to the Flare. And, of course, James Dashner chose to turn my favourite character into a complete psychopath. Newt. Newt is probably one of my favourite characters out of all of the books I've read. If I'm going to be honest, though, I'm not really annoyed that Dashner killed him off. Let's be real, these kids are in a pretty tough world, right? Well, if their cute little friendship group got through a literal apocalypse without losing anybody, it would be a miracle. There's got to be some losses, no matter how heart-shattering they may be. Yes, it broke my heart. And, yes, it took me about a day to semi-recover and leave my bedroom. But it was necessary pain - a book with a happy ending where all the characters are dancing with pink fluffy unicorns on rainbows is not a good book. There was only one thing that annoyed me about Newt's loss of mentality and eventual death (and it's not really directly related). I really don't understand why Thomas didn't tell Minho about Newt dying. Minho, who had known Newt about 2 years before Thomas showed up, still thinks that his best friend is walking around, zombified and killing anybody he can find. Surely, it would be a slight relief that Newt didn't have to suffer anymore and that he was 'at peace'. But, no...Thomas - stupid, idiotic, selfish, Thomas - decided to keep this information to himself. Sure, I understand that Minho might of been upset but didn't he deserve to know?
The last thing I'm going to touch on is the thing which is annoying me the most. I finished reading Death Cure weeks ago and I still can't get this thing out of my mind. Brenda (and Jorge, I guess). Okay, so it turned out Brenda and Jorge were originally put into the Scorch by WICKED. Though, in the third book, she explained herself and Thomas forgave her. Not only that, but I forgave her - I trusted her! All the way through the Death Cure, she was fine - she was loyal to Thomas and showed no signs of betrayal or weirdness. But, then, in the very last chapter, she was being completely and utterly suspicious. She said: "There are over two hundred of us and we're all immune. It'll be a good start." Even Thomas - stupid, idiotic, Thomas - got suspicious at this point. Until, of course he "put it all out of his mind" and returned to the land of oblivious. At this point, I was really creeped out. What was she talking about? But, I felt like I could maybe let it go - it was probably just a harmless statement and I was being paranoid. But, then, the epilogue happened...
It was another of Chancellor Paige's emails but the only thing that I actually cared about was this: "With the help of my partners, two wisely placed Immunes..." Two wisely placed Immunes? Could this, perhaps, be Brenda and Jorge? Well, I guess we'll never no because THAT WAS THE END. Yes, I'm annoyed. Can you tell?
So, here is just a quick summary of the questions which were never answered?
1) Were Brenda and Jorge WICKED spies all along?
2) What did the other characters have to do for Phase 3?
3) Why did Chancellor Paige save Thomas? Wasn't she meant to be head of WICKED?
4) How did the trials even work? How could WICKED possibly know that the decisions the subjects made would reflect their capability as a cure.
5) What happened to Vince and the Right Arm?
6) Where even are the Immunes? Was Thomas actually stupid enough to go to the place where the leader of WICKED told him to go and then burn down the only exit? (The answer to that question would probably be 'yes' because, well...it's Thomas.)
7) Why must author's crush our lives with all of these unanswered questions?
If you know the answer to any of these, please enlighten me.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post because I certainly didn't enjoy writing it. I thought that, maybe, it might make me feel better if I did I rant - but it didn't. In reality, it's just stressed me out more.
Please let me know your opinions in the comments below (and also let me know whether you read this second section).
Before, I get on to the review, I'd like to warn you that there may be a few spoilers in this post. The first half will be a normal, non-spoiler review. However, in the second part, I want to go into more detail about my opinions, which obviously carries the risk of spoilers. But, don't worry, I'll give a clear warning and sub-heading when it gets to that point. So, let's get started!
Title: The Death Cure (third book in the Maze Runner Series).
Author: James Dashner
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Action/ Young Adult Fiction
Description:
Thomas and the other Gladers have endured a lot throughout the duration of the series. He's gained allies...and he's lost them. The trials are now over and WICKED are supposedly finished. But can Thomas really trust them? After many twists and turns, the Maze Runner series reaches its climax.
My Thoughts and Ideas:
Starting with the positives, James Dashner, without a doubt, is an amazing writer and has handfuls of talent (obviously, he's written one of the most successful YA series). The descriptions are great and the whole concept of the story is amazing. Seriously, what kind of person can think of these ideas? The whole series is so developed that sometimes it's hard to understand. But, mostly, the plot having so much depth is a great aspect because it makes the books interesting and exciting to read.
On the contrary, having lots of questions can be a problem when, at the end of the series, half of them are left unanswered - this what seriously annoyed me in this book. When you've devoted so much time into reading a book series, you want answers of the end of it all. When you get all of these answers and all of the puzzle pieces suddenly fit together, spending all of that time reading the books seems worthwhile. However, when you finish a book with more questions than what you started with, it is unbearable.
It sounds ridiculous but my heart practically got torn apart reading this series, all to get to the end and realise that it didn't even have a decent ending.
If you don't mind having a completely terrible ending with no answers, I highly recommend this series. Otherwise, I suggest you seriously consider the circumstances before you read it. Trust me, this series has the potential to shatter your heart into tiny pieces and tear your body apart from the inside out (if you think I'm exaggerating, read the book and find out for yourself).
That's everything for the first section! If you've already read the series or if you don't care about spoiling it, feel free to read ahead (where I'm just going to rant about everything that annoyed me in the series).
If you're yet to read (or even watch) the Death Cure and don't want to get any spoilers, this is the end of the post for you! Thank you for reading and I hope you have an amazing day!
Warning - Spoilers Ahead!
I'm presuming that anyone who's reading to this point has already read up to the end of the Maze Runner series.
Firstly, I'd just like to pre-warn you that I may have missed something important during the series and that I'm probably about to make myself look like a massive idiot. These are just the things that annoyed me, personally, whether you agree with them or not. If I say something which you disagree with or if I misunderstood something, I'd really appreciate if you let me know in the comments.
Anyway, let's start at the beginning of the Death Cure. Thomas is in the 'White Room'. He's randomly left there for weeks and then he's randomly taken out to reunite with his friends. Rat Man told Thomas that Phase Three was designed to map out the finalities of the blueprints and that each of the 'subjects' had a different 'puzzle'. That's great - only, I'm pretty sure we never find out what any of the others' trial was. Did I just miss that bit or is that the first unanswered question in the book? What was even the point in shoving a teenager into a room with nothing to do. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that he's going to be bored witless.
Next, we find out that not all of the Gladers/Group B people are immune to the Flare. And, of course, James Dashner chose to turn my favourite character into a complete psychopath. Newt. Newt is probably one of my favourite characters out of all of the books I've read. If I'm going to be honest, though, I'm not really annoyed that Dashner killed him off. Let's be real, these kids are in a pretty tough world, right? Well, if their cute little friendship group got through a literal apocalypse without losing anybody, it would be a miracle. There's got to be some losses, no matter how heart-shattering they may be. Yes, it broke my heart. And, yes, it took me about a day to semi-recover and leave my bedroom. But it was necessary pain - a book with a happy ending where all the characters are dancing with pink fluffy unicorns on rainbows is not a good book. There was only one thing that annoyed me about Newt's loss of mentality and eventual death (and it's not really directly related). I really don't understand why Thomas didn't tell Minho about Newt dying. Minho, who had known Newt about 2 years before Thomas showed up, still thinks that his best friend is walking around, zombified and killing anybody he can find. Surely, it would be a slight relief that Newt didn't have to suffer anymore and that he was 'at peace'. But, no...Thomas - stupid, idiotic, selfish, Thomas - decided to keep this information to himself. Sure, I understand that Minho might of been upset but didn't he deserve to know?
The last thing I'm going to touch on is the thing which is annoying me the most. I finished reading Death Cure weeks ago and I still can't get this thing out of my mind. Brenda (and Jorge, I guess). Okay, so it turned out Brenda and Jorge were originally put into the Scorch by WICKED. Though, in the third book, she explained herself and Thomas forgave her. Not only that, but I forgave her - I trusted her! All the way through the Death Cure, she was fine - she was loyal to Thomas and showed no signs of betrayal or weirdness. But, then, in the very last chapter, she was being completely and utterly suspicious. She said: "There are over two hundred of us and we're all immune. It'll be a good start." Even Thomas - stupid, idiotic, Thomas - got suspicious at this point. Until, of course he "put it all out of his mind" and returned to the land of oblivious. At this point, I was really creeped out. What was she talking about? But, I felt like I could maybe let it go - it was probably just a harmless statement and I was being paranoid. But, then, the epilogue happened...
It was another of Chancellor Paige's emails but the only thing that I actually cared about was this: "With the help of my partners, two wisely placed Immunes..." Two wisely placed Immunes? Could this, perhaps, be Brenda and Jorge? Well, I guess we'll never no because THAT WAS THE END. Yes, I'm annoyed. Can you tell?
So, here is just a quick summary of the questions which were never answered?
1) Were Brenda and Jorge WICKED spies all along?
2) What did the other characters have to do for Phase 3?
3) Why did Chancellor Paige save Thomas? Wasn't she meant to be head of WICKED?
4) How did the trials even work? How could WICKED possibly know that the decisions the subjects made would reflect their capability as a cure.
5) What happened to Vince and the Right Arm?
6) Where even are the Immunes? Was Thomas actually stupid enough to go to the place where the leader of WICKED told him to go and then burn down the only exit? (The answer to that question would probably be 'yes' because, well...it's Thomas.)
7) Why must author's crush our lives with all of these unanswered questions?
If you know the answer to any of these, please enlighten me.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post because I certainly didn't enjoy writing it. I thought that, maybe, it might make me feel better if I did I rant - but it didn't. In reality, it's just stressed me out more.
Please let me know your opinions in the comments below (and also let me know whether you read this second section).
Thank you so much for reading,
Elsie A x
