The Death Cure (The Maze Runner #3)
by James Dashner
Summary: It’s the end of the line.
WICKED has taken everything from Thomas: his life, his memories, and now his only friends—the Gladers. But it’s finally over. The trials are complete, after one final test.
Will anyone survive?
What WICKED doesn’t know is that Thomas remembers far more than they think. And it’s enough to prove that he can’t believe a word of what they say.
The truth will be terrifying.
Thomas beat the Maze. He survived the Scorch. He’ll risk anything to save his friends. But the truth might be what ends it all.
The time for lies is over.
Source: I purchased a paperback.
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Review:
While The Death Cure was mildly better than The Scorch Trials, I’m disappointed as a whole by the series in general. The Death Cure was almost as pointless as The Scorch Trials and that fact makes the idea of The Maze Runner pointless in the end, too. The Death Cure was so utterly far fetched, improbable, and ridiculous, it wasn’t even funny. In order for me to have bought the idea of the maze in the first place, the following novels had to be pretty good. And they failed to bring about a logical reason for the entire conflict in the first place, which makes the series a complete failure.
Thomas never got his memories back, which I thought had less to do with him not really wanting them back and more to do with the fact that the author would have had no clue what to do if he had to actually create a backstory. Thomas was able to escape, which is insane to begin with. He became part of some crazy agenda involving people who had broken away from Wicked in the first place and somehow was able to infiltrate all of that.
Most of the characters were exactly the same or pointless in the end. Somehow, in The Maze Runner, I felt distinct personalities from each character. But the rest of the series failed to give me anything but bland personalities. Brenda was basically Teresa and they were both pointless. Newt was just Thomas with a bloody thrown in here and there, which was exactly who Jorge was with a hermano thrown in for good measure. They all stated the obvious ALL OF THE TIME and told terrible jokes that weren’t funny at all and were equally bland.
Honestly, I am so embarrassed that liked the first book, that I bought the movie, that I recommended the books at all, and got an entire group of friends to read it. I thought it was going to be this amazing and intelligent story when it started out with some Lord of the Flies elements in the maze, but I guess that was a fluke. And what is crazy is that the author could have easily just had the maze open up into nothingness and they all find out the world is over or something and it would have been more satisfying than to have the rest of the books exist in the first place. He should have just given us a crazy terrible ending and called it a day because I don’t believe he really had any of the rest of the story well thought out. Either that, or it really is one of those middle grade novels that can’t transcend its age group and appeal to anyone over the age of 12. And if I’m being really honest, that would be an insult to 12 year olds everywhere.
I hate to be so scathing, but it was terrible and I hated it and it was just badly executed altogether. Do not read this book. Pretend The Maze Runner is a standalone or just avoid reading it at all. I do not recommend this series at all and I will not read The Kill Order.
Labels: Adventure, Review, YA
