This review is on the second book of "The Maze Runner". I have provided no spoilers to the actual plot, but have provided an honest review.
Author: James Dashner
Publication: August 1st 2011, by Chicken House
Genre: Young Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, Survival
Pages: 359
Goodreads and Amazon
Rating: ★ ★ ★
The Scorch Trials picked up where The Maze Runner left off. The Gladers have escaped the Maze, but now they face an even more treacherous challenge on the open roads of a devastated planet.
And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.
Can Thomas survive in such a violent world?
I almost feel bad about rating The Scorch Trials only three stars, but I just cannot force myself to rate it anything higher. I had enjoyed The Maze Runner profusely -- Thomas really became an excellent protagonist, with the secondary characters slowly becoming well-rounded characters themselves. However, whilst The Scorch Trials was still a good book, I personally felt as though it had lost a little of what had made The Maze Runner great.
The Scorch Trials picks up immediately where The Maze Runner ended. This was definitely one of the novel's greatest strengths. Thomas and the group of Gladers, now only a small group, discover that whilst they may have escaped the maze, they have not escaped WICKED's clutches. Instead, they are still part of an elaborate experiment. Thomas and the Gladers are forced to navigate themselves through the Scorch -- a large expanse of sand and heat, occasionally touched by harsh storms. The Scorch is littered with infected humans, two of which become secondary characters. Their task? Fight through the obstacles placed out before them and get to the safe haven in two weeks.
I was very disappointed that there were large portions of this novel that Thomas left the Gladers for long periods of time. This meant that there was very little time to focus on Minho, Newt and Teresa -- three characters that I have grown incredibly fond of. Instead, a lot of this novel focused on Thomas building a new friendship with a new character: Brenda. At times I found her frustrating, almost infuriating, mainly because her personality was constantly changing and was unpredictable. Furthermore, Thomas constantly feels guilty for his growing feelings towards Brenda, and this is repeated continuously throughout the novel. It felt as though what made Thomas a good main character was overlooked because of his focus on her.
Overall, despite these faults, I did enjoy The Scorch Trials. It was a good sequel, flowing well from the previous novel. However, I do think it could have been a lot better if the novel had focused on Thomas and the Gladers, instead of having Thomas running around by himself or with a newly introduced character. There were a number of twists and turns along the way, some of which surprised me, keeping me reading because they were intriguing. But sadly, I still have to give this book three out of five stars.
What are your opinions of The Scorch Trials?
No comments:
Post a Comment