The Death Cure (Maze Runner Series #3) (Maze Runner Trilogy) (edition 2011)

I’m going to tell you up front that I hated this book. I looked forward to it for so long, hoping that there would finally be answers to the mysteries from the previous two books in the series.

What did I get instead? A plot line that purposefully obscures key points of information, which if told would actually explain what the heck has been going on in this series. But oh, no. We don’t get answers, we just get an ending, but no explanation of all of the things that happen before. And the reason for all of this mystery? The author is writing a prequel of course, and wouldn’t want to ruin the prequel for us by actually letting us in on any of what really happened.

The whole thing was a gigantic case of the bait and switch. The first two books were filled with unique story lines, but they come to a fizzling end in this book of non-answers.

But that’s okay because I’m sure he’ll tell us the answer in the prequel, right? Unless those secrets are destined for a sequel to the prequel, and so on and so forth.

I just don’t care anymore. This book was a huge disappointment and a waste of my time. ( )

This is a great adventure series, especially for reluctant guy readers. ( )

Dashner's series has been highly lauded by a lot of people. Many rate it just below The Hunger Games in action-packed awesome dystopia. Unfortunately, I have never liked it, as is evinced in my review for the second book. I kept hoping I would find something of serious value in it, which is why I read through to the end of the series. In fact, I liked the first book best of all of them.

Even now, having finished, I feel like so much was never explained or perhaps even though out about what was going on in this world. The ending struck me as incredibly lame and ineffective. There were so many hints about deeper things going on with WICKED and with the Flare. He has all of these dreams/memories that suggest all of this crazy, interesting, horrifying stuff, but nothing else is ever done with that. Perhaps he wanted to leave it open for more books later, but I don't think this was cool at all.

Anyway, I don't want to continue ranting about this, because, as I said, most people will really love this book and this series. However, if you're in the minority that was not impressed with the first book (or even two), you will not be thrilled with this one either. This series is more about action than explanation or really getting into a well-thought-out new universe. ( )

*Sigh*

This was such a disappointment. It pains me to say that. It really, really does, because I loved the first two books, and thought that this series had huge potential. I was so excited to read this book, to find out what was going on... And then this? This is just... it?

So. Frustrating.

I just don't even know where to start. I thought that the concept of this series was fascinating. The mysteriousness, the everyone starts at One and figures it out as we go thing was great - I loved it, although I am sure many others didn't. The action, the confusion, the mistrust... all of that was great in the first two books, which had me chomping at the bit for the conclusion.

Well let me not keep you in suspense. It fell hard, like Wile E. Coyote right after he realizes he's been duped off a cliff... again. The resulting splat was flatter than a pancake.



The ONLY reason I'm giving this two stars and not an abysmal one star, is that it WAS still exciting to read, mostly, and I kept hoping against hope, as the remaining page count grew smaller and smaller, that there would be some redemption to this book, that the revelation at the end would knock me on my ass and leave me stunned and wondering just how I could not have seen it coming.

Alas, there was not and it did not.

This was just... fluff. Nothing but 325 pages of filler and then a fucking cop-out ending. This series should have been a slightly expanded duology. About 50 pages of this book should have been tacked onto The Scorch Trials along with a decent ending, and I'd have been thrilled. But this. Ugh. All I can say is I'm glad I didn't buy them.

The characters showed zero growth. Zero. And not only zero, but... negative. NEGATIVE GROWTH. OK, so... I'm going to assume that if you're reading this review, you've read at least through The Scorch Trials. So you know that Thomas, the main character, and his best friend Teresa, have 1) secrets about their past that tie into WICKED, meaning that they worked for WICKED and helped design the program and experiments, etc and 2) have had all of their memories of those secrets, their roles as mentioned above, and the rest of their pasts, wiped. They know their names, but other than that, they're basically operating on instinct and feelings. They've determined that WICKED has been experimenting on all of the Gladers in order to find a cure for a disease that is running rampant on Earth, turning people into raging, cannibalistic psychopaths.

So... No-Memory Thomas doesn't trust WICKED, and wants to get away from them and stop them from experimenting on people... 'Cause it's all mean and they lied and stuff. (Seriously, that's pretty much his reasoning.) Given the chance to get his memories back, to remember exactly what WICKED is, and what its goal is, HOW HE CAN STOP IT USING INSIDER INFORMATION THAT HE WOULD HAVE BECAUSE HE EFFING DESIGNED THE SHIT, he decides he doesn't want them back. "Nope. No thanks, I'm good," says he.

But OK. I can get the logic of not wanting people he mistrusted to muck around in his head anymore. OK. I can go with that. So... when a person he is willing to trust is given the OK to muck around in his head, he STILL DOESN'T WANT THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS MEMORIES.

Are you fucking KIDDING ME? >_


I do not get the logic... and this is where this book started to abide by the laws of gravity, being no longer held up by the suspension of my disbelief. Oh, I disbelieved a LOT. Better believe it. If your whole goal is to figure out what's going on and stop it from happening to other people, and you're given a huge huge huge asset like the kind I just mentioned, you don't say, "Nah, I'm good. I'll just go it alone, in the dark, with a trail of breadcrumbs and a feeling." You take the fucking advantage and USE IT.

But then, my next question is, WHY is he so absolutely positive that WICKED isn't doing exactly what they say that they are doing? We do animal and human testing ALL THE TIME. If, theoretically, there was a virus or disease or whatever that affected peoples' minds, escalated in times of stress, I would WANT someone to try to find a way to stop it. Experimentation might be cruel, inhumane even, but if it helps in a big picture sense, is it not worth it? WICKED wasn't even able to complete a full round of experiments to see if they could do it.

Fucking illogical. Call me cold-blooded, but this shit is just a cop-out. It was like Dashner ran out of people he was willing to kill off, so just pulled the plug.

Ugh. UGH. I'm getting more and more pissed off the longer I type, so I'll make the rest of this short and sweet.

This book was a disappointment, a massive logic fail, and had a weak, unsatisfying cop-out ending. One hopes that with a handful of monkeys, writing for about a week, the resulting manuscript would contain a better resolution.

Yeah. Screw it. I'm giving it one star. I'm just mad. Wanna fight about it? ( )

I found the conclusion to the series a very good read, but was somehow left vaguely unsatisfied in the end. The book held up in caliber to the other two in the series though, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys dystopian fiction. ( )