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Loading... The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner, Book 2) (edition 2011)by James Dashner
Work InformationThe Scorch Trials by James Dashner
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I'm giving this one three stars but that is no fault of the book. I'm just not its intended audience so I think you need to take my rating with a grain of salt. It had been a few months since I read book one of this series(The Maze Runner) so it took me a few chapters to regain my footing and understand who the people were and what was going on in their universe. Once I did that, I started to enjoy myself. The whole book feels like a screenplay for a teen action flick. The kids face a bunch of super creepy, violent, and scary obstacles on their way to the "safe haven". Thomas, our lead character, doesn't know who to trust or what to believe and neither do we. By the end of the Scorch Trials we are all just left with more questions. Bring on Book 3! Mostly, I enjoy this series, but I really hate the fake language that they occasionally sprinkle into the conversation. Either use real curse words or don't! I'm so bugged by reading about klunks,shanks, or slints. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesThe Maze Runner (2) Is contained inHas the adaptationAwardsNotable Lists
After surviving horrific conditions in the Maze, Thomas is entrapped, along with nineteen other boys, in a scientific experiment designed to observe their responses and gather data believed to be essential for the survival of the human race. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Despite that, the first half is actually somewhat decent. I think it's well-paced and well-structured, and the plot is mildly entertaining. It feels very grounded and gritty, even more so than the first book. The situation seems more dire, and the Trials of WICKED feel even more brutal and horrifying. The story is also pretty straightforward. The Gladers wake up in their dormitory, and things start getting extremely weird. Then, Rat Man shows up and tells them that they have to go 100 miles north after entering a Flat Trans and reach a safe haven to get a cure for the Flare. It's a pretty simple premise, and it works well.
However, around the time Thomas and Brenda reach the dance club, things start getting very strange. The story starts to feel pretty disorganized and random, and then things just... happen. The plot doesn't feel like it has much of a rhythm to it. Thomas gets shot and instantly healed, Teresa's massive betrayal happens, it's revealed that her betrayal was all an act to stimulate some killzone patterns, the Gladers arrive at the Safe Haven, a battle with massive robots ensues, Thomas makes it into the Berg and wakes up in a white room, and then the book just sort of... ends. It just doesn't feel like a contained story. It feels like Part 2 of a 3-part story, so it doesn't hold up on its own very well. Also, we still don't know much about WICKED's grand plan by the end. I'm sorry, but we're two-thirds of the way through this damn thing. The main premise shouldn't be revealed in the beginning of the final chapter.
That's pretty much my main problem with this book. It feels messy, not just as its own story, but also as the middle chapter of a trilogy. A lot of my other problems with this book are the same as those I have with the first book. James Dashner is still the author, and he's still not that great. The dialogue isn't much better, the Glade slang is as annoying as ever, and the characters feel just as shallow as they did in the previous story. I don't know, man, but I really don't feel anything towards any of these people. Sure, Minho is really funny, and Newt is a tad-bit interesting, but besides those two, I don't feel anything for anyone else. Thomas just seems like a massive idiot who doesn't have the world's interest at his heart and only cares about himself and his friends. He can't think for more than two seconds about what Teresa's options were when it came to what WICKED had asked of her, resolving instead to be as bratty, whiny, and stubborn as he always is. Dude, Teresa's only options were either to do what WICKED had told her to do or let you die. You ever think of that, or is your skin that important that a couple of bruises are enough to make you lose trust in your best friend forever? Grow up. Percy Jackson and Harry Potter would never.
Anyway, I don't really have much else to say. This book is kinda bad, and I'm dreading re-reading "The Death Cure" because I remember how much I hated it the last time I went through it. ( )