The Maze Runner Trilogy: The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials,
The Death Cure
Author: James Dashner
Page Count:
Synopsis of Book One (Found on Goodreads):
Covers: 1)
Overall Rating of Series: 5/5 Stars
2)
Cover:
I bought the movie edition for book one because I
like the actors on the cover. I do wish that I purchased the other edition so
all my covers matched. I loved the theme for the covers. The Maze Runner being gray and earthy, the Scorch Trials being red because of the
flare and the Death Cure being blue
and cold looking. I later found out that my local B&N did have the whole
box set that includes the Prequel the
Kill Order. I kick myself for not getting it since it was the same price.
Characters:
Thomas: Although at first I wasn’t found of him I really did
like his motivation to become a runner. Who wouldn’t want the ability to figure
out a way out of The Maze. Thomas grows through-out all the books as a great
character who learns from his past even if he doesn’t want to remember anything
from before the maze. He suffers loses but he comes out to be a winner to
provide for the human race.
Newt: I love Newt end of story because any of my feelings
for him will be shared once you have read book 3. He is a great leader
alongside Minho and Alby. Even when things go bad he protects his friends. He
truly is the glue of the Glader group.
Minho: I want his job and personality. Minho has spunk and
an attitude to match which isn’t always a good thing. He steps up to the plate
without thinking ad takes control of situations that others don’t want to
handle. Although he isn’t the main character I feel that Minho needs a
background story because of big of a part he plays in all the books.
Theresa: Can I kill her? Did we really need to take the girl
out of the box? The gladers could have just shut the lid looked to the beadles
and said “No thank you.” Yes she plays a huge part in the series but I truly
wanted her to die after book 1. She is a betrayer and liar and never makes full
sense of anything. You can never tell what side she is on because of how big a
fence rider she is.
Plot:
SPOILERS Just a
fair warning, there will be talk about book 2 and 3 with some spoilers.
…….
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The Glade is the center of the maze filled with boys of
various ages of teenage hood. The have created their own society and way of
surviving. Every boy has a job and they must do their part to keep the Glade
running. The Runners have the most important task of all, to map out the maze
to find a way out. One thing to know about the maze is that every night is
closes the Gladers in. They all know this is an experiment because every week
there is food brought in from the box as well as once a month a new boy is left
in the box. This way of life changes as soon as Thomas shows up and the next
day a girl arrives. The Glade starts shutting down and everyone is desperate to
find a way out.
Spoiler: Once Thomas figures out the code to exit the
maze the boys fight their way out against the Grievers (creatures that are
mechanic and slug like) and even though Alby sacrifices himself as well as the
loss of some of the other glader boys a portion do escape and find themselves
in an observatory room where adults are watching them. All hell breaks loose
and we lose a great boy named Chuck.
The Scorch Trials: The second book in the series was filled with
lots of actions, death and feelings. This one was probably my favorite out of
the three. When they realize they are being rescued from the adults staring at
them the boys and Theresa settle down devouring food and getting a good night’s
rest. When they wake up to find these creepy crazy people called Cranks outside
their windows trying to get in they run to the main room only to find their
“rescuers” are hanging from the ceiling. The boys are not calm when they see
this and things get worse when Theresa is not in her room and in her place they
find a strange boy who says he is from the maze also. The Scorch Trials have begun and the heat is
terrible after the boys get through the tunnel. Cranks are everywhere and the
boys fight to stay alive long enough to do what the Rat Man tells them. There
are lightning storms that injure or kill the boys, there is a Group B out to
complete the task of killing Thomas, Cranks around the town looking to feast on
people since they are past Gone.
The Death Cure: This one
starts out intense then slows way down but near the end the plot picks up and
finishes with a bang. Thomas is left alone in a room for quite some time and he
is starting to go a little nutso when Rat Man (whose name is Jensen) comes in
to tell him that he is one of the lucky people to be Immune to the Flare
disease. Thomas asks to be reunited with his friends and that is when they find
out who in the group is immune and who carries the flare in the genes. Newt who
has been the glue to the group since book one is not immune and Minho, Frypan
and Thomas are not happy with that. Rat Man Jensen tells everyone they can have
their memories back and when some of the boys decide not to they are held
against their will in a room and then Brenda a person they met in The Scorch
helps them get to a berg and escape to Denver. Denver is a safe place for
people to live who have not gotten sick yet. They leave Newt in the berg since
he will test positive for the flare and take off to find the Teresa and the
others. Newt gets captured and goes to live with the other Cranks who aren’t
past the Gone yet. When they go to bring him back he yells at them and tells
them to leave. Thomas has a note that Newt gave to him to open when the time
was right and Thomas does after the incident and feels like a horrible friend.
When The Right Arm a secret group set on destroying Wicked (the program that
runs the Maze) recruits Thomas and friends things go a little crazy, Thomas
completes the task Newt asked of him, they get the immunes to safety, lose a
few more people including Newt and Theresa, and are able to live life in a
Paradise set up (in the epilogue) by Chancellor Paige-a member of Wicked.
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END OF SPOILERS
Overall I loved this trilogy and will be picking up the
prequel just to have the complete set. I enjoyed the characters-even those like
Theresa- and how the plot kept me interested and flipping pages. Cannot wait
until the movie comes out and will be trying to do a book-2-movie review
without a lot of biasness I hope.
TTFN,
Ashley
(Also this was my longest review but I thought all three
books being reviewed would be fun)
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