Thought Train to Pusan

The concluding novel in James Dashner’s “Maze Runner” trilogy has a similar, helpless and not really know what the heck is going on feeling as the preceding two novels of the series. Yet being unsure and running around just trying to figure things out fell a little flat in this book, and almost seemed redundant and like they were treading water for far too long, until a hasty (though reasonably good) showdown near the end. I am glad to have gotten to the end and to finally have at least some answers as to what the maze and everything was about, though a few things still seem to be up in the air… and I don’t know if I’m entirely satisfied. The first book of the trilogy ( The Maze Runner ) is very strong and interesting, and leaves you with so many questions that you just want answered. The second book ( The Scorch Trials ) were difficult for me to get through, and I found them tedious and not nearly as intriguing as the first novel, and even though it ended on a cliff-hanger, I f...

The Scorch Trials is the second young adult novel in James Dashner’s “Maze Runner” series. Like the first installment of the series, this novel is predicated on a group of young people placed into a testing situation, with so many questions and few answers. I’ll try to keep the description brief (and slightly vague?) so as to not spoil anything from The Maze Runner . Also, these novels are the kind that seem as though they’d be better enjoyed if you don’t know what’s coming next: The Scorch Trials begins in the middle of the night after the boys of the Glade make it out of the maze. They feel as though they have found a safe-haven with the people of WICKED, and yet, things soon go wrong: hallucinations occur, and Thomas loses his connection with Teresa, yet the Gladers gain a new member to their company from another maze that was filled with only girls, known as “Group B”. The boys find themselves surrounded by people called “Cranks” who have been infected ...

Dash ner, writing about running through a maze… huh. I just realized how much that seems like a terribly unintentional pun. In any case, The Maze Runner is the first book in the young-adult dystopian trilogy of the same name. It first came onto my radar when I saw one of those “If You Liked The Hunger Games then you might like…:” lists, and it sounded kind of interesting, if only because most of the young-adult fiction I’ve read over the years has been somewhat female-centric (I don’t know why, it just has been), and this one is centered around a society of boys. Then, I heard some internet whisperings that this was going to be another YA series being adapted for film, with actors such as the strangely endearing Dylan O’Brien, the stunning Kaya Scodelario, and that cutie-patootie Thomas Brodie-Sangster in the lead roles, and my interest was peaked all the more, hence, my delving into this novel. And was my intrigue warranted? Yes, it certainly was. While the novel has...