Book Reviews

The Scorch Trials (2010)

The Scorch Trials - James Dashner (2010)

Rating: 3.7/5

Genres: YA, Dystopian, Fiction, Science Fiction, YA Fiction

I know, I know in my review of The Maze Runner I said tis series was probably better left alone and that I was probably not going to continue the series and I had no plans to, that was, until my friend bought the next one for me for Christmas.

I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I finished this one. It wasn't great but it was a hell of a lot better than The Maze Runner.

"Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end.

Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn't done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch.

There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die.

The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch-the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off.

There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers' destruction-and they're determined to survive."

Okay let's get one thing straight, when you go to see the movie don't take your younger siblings, watch it and then see if it's appropriate. If it's anything like the book this movie will have decapitation, metal murder spheres that stick to your face and do bad things and a shuck lot of deaths. There is a lot of gore if you hadn't noticed.
A LOT of stuff happens in the book, so much that I was not sure what to think when I finished reading it (I was torn between 3.7 or 4 out of 5 stars. The Scorch Trials is literally plot twist after plot twist.

The Characters:
Thomas
Thomas is still Mr Obvious.

"Too bad we don't have a flashlight."
"Thanks for stating the obvious, Mr. Thomas," Minho replied."

For half of the book Thomas was mooning over Teresa and this new girl called Brenda (I'll get to her later). This series is sort of advertised as The Hunger Games for boys but I found it to be more Let's-go-find-the-cure-no-wait-I-have-to-snog-a-few-girls-first. Like, Thomas what???

"Something stirred inside him, mused with guilt and longing for Teresa"

In my review of The Maze Runner I talked about how annoying it got when Thomas was constantly second guessing everything and questioning everything, there was less of that in this book, it still happened but Thomas' curious mind was definitely toned down in this book.

Brenda
In The Scorch Trials we get introduced to a lot of new characters, one of the main ones being Brenda. I really liked Brenda I thought she was refreshing and different. The only thing I didn't like about Brenda was how fast she fell for Thomas. Brenda is an attractive, tough and caring girl. She's a badass and she knows what she's doing, she's also a crank.

Minho
Ohmygods whhhyyyyyyy. I don't know what happened. I loved Minho in The Maze Runner, he was so sarcastic and funny but serious at the same time. In The Scorch Trials Minho took the roll of the official leader. Why? This was a terrible idea. Was he good at it? Yes, but he's also arrogant and doesn't always think before acting.

Newt
Where was Newt? Why wasn't there more Newt? I swear to god Thomas talked to Newt twice. I value Newt's opinion and think he is a very valuable member of the group so where the shuck was he?

The Cranks

"I'm a Crank. I'm slowly going crazy. I keep wanting to chew off my own fingers and randomly kill people."

Well let's get started, shall we?

"Rose took my nose, I suppose."

There are now cranks and there are cranks that are just too far gone, those are the cranks you should be really scared of these Cranks are absolutely mad, they can walk butt they're all completely nuts.

"Rose took my nose, I suppose," he repeated; the bubble of phlegm in his throat made a disgusting crackle. "And it really blows."

Relationships:
Teresa/ Thomas
No. N.O. Just no. Why, James Dashner why? Ohmygods just no. I found this aspect of the book painful to read because I'd never shipped them and I never had any intention to, I still don't to be perfectly honest.

"Once again, Thomas felt like a ridiculous surge of guilt like he was cheating on Teresa. He couldn't help that this girl was so touchy feely."

Brenda/ Thomas
I do ship Thomas and Brenda (Blemas? Thenda?) but, I found that Brenda fell for Thomas really hard, really fast (just a few days).

Dislikes:

I only had a few dislikes concerning this book. Thomas/Brenda, Thomas/Teresa, Minho and the rush of about a thousand plot twists in the end being a few of them but something that really bugged me was that Thomas seemed to be sleeping or passed out A LOT during the book. I mean it, seriously, he passed out roughly 29 times. What the hell Thomas???

Honestly, I'm not sure what happened in the end, there were so many plot twists that now I'm just really confused.

Although the writing is not the best (ever heard of 'show, don't tell' Dashner?) I thought it was better than it was in The Maze Runner.