Review: The Death Cure - James Dashner

The Death Cure by James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner #3
Genre: YA, post-apocalyptic
Published on October 11, 2011
Published by Delacorte Books
Pages: 325
Read From: 12.26.12 - 12.27.12











SYNOPSIS

Thomas knows that WICKED can't be trusted. They stole his memories and locked him inside the Maze. They forced him to the brink of death by dropping him in the wilds of the Scorch. And they took the Gladers, his only friends, from him. 

Now WICKED says that the time for lies is over. That they've collected all the data they can from the Trials and will rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission: to complete the blueprint for the cure for the Flare. But Thomas must undergo one final test. 

What WICKED doesn't know, however, is that Thomas has already remembered far more than they think. And it's enough to prove that he can't believe a word of what WICKED says. 

The time for lies is over. And the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever have imagined.

Review

Cover Blurb: Yes or No? I like this one a little better than the last two. The fortress is ominous and intriguing. But the covers for this series still don’t do a whole lot for me.

Characters: I was very unsure of Brenda in The Scorch Trials, but she proves her worth and “coolness” in this one. She doesn’t have any mood swings and she’s not constantly flirting with Thomas. Theresa once more disappears from the story before I even get a chance to know her, so I never developed much of an attachment for her. I didn’t particularly care for Jorge - he just got kind of annoying after a while, - but I finally settled my opinion of Minho, and it is a decidedly positive one, though out of all the original Gladers, Newt is still my absolute favorite. Thomas continues to be a strong, caring protagonist that I felt continually sorry for. He overcomes one problem, only to be faced with another. This guy never gets a break.

The Romance: With Thomas not really trusting Teresa, there isn’t any opportunity for romance, though Brenda certainly seems to have some feelings for Thomas. But the Author doesn’t waste time on it.

Plot: It isn’t as creepy as the last two, and not quite as weird. But the Author has instilled so much distrust of WICKED in the Reader, that I was convinced through the majority of the book that WICKED really was lying to Thomas, and that they were still in the Trials. The Author doesn’t try to backpedal and paint WICKED to be good - in fact, he does quite the opposite, - but I certainly kept waiting for it to be revealed that the Gladers were being subjected to another test, even though WICKED said that “the time for lies is over.” That’s how thoroughly the Author made me distrust them, and so I was completely able to sympathize and agree with the characters.

Believability: Still not really applicable.

Writing Style: The style is the same as it always has been: works for the story, blessedly in past-tense, and exciting.

Content: The violence is a lot less brutal or constant in The Death Cure as opposed to last two.

Conclusion: Here’s where the book earned a lower rating than the last two. While I liked the bittersweet end - because a story like this can have no other kind, - the climax felt rushed. The Author introduced way too many new characters all at once, and then had them vanish, and some characters kept showing up in the oddest places. I was expecting the explanation behind the Maze and the Trials’ purpose to be a bit vague, and for the most part I gathered the general idea behind it. But there were a few things that the Author failed to explain, namely: Why was it that Brenda was able to communicate with Thomas telepathically? And how (or why) was Teresa’s group deceived into believing that Thomas escaped WICKED before them, while Thomas thought that Teresa escaped first? It was, as a whole, a good and natural conclusion to the series, and maybe the prequel will explain some things. Aspects were just a little too rushed, and not everything was explained that needed to be.

Recommended Audience: Guy-read, older teens because it is still creepy, fans of post-apocalyptic fiction.

Others in This Series:

1)The Maze Runner

2)The Scorch Trials

3)The Death Cure

4)The Kill Order