The Maze Runner Trilogy: The Death Cure / the Scorch Trials / the Maze Runner

It took me awhile to warm up to the Maze Runner.

As I was reading the first book, I was repeatedly irritated by the lack of character development, the many choice bits of possible dialogue that seemed ignored or discarded without thought, and the inconsistency in the way things were represented. As a fairly non-spoilery example (there are many others), these kids are supposedly geniuses, but fail for two years to figure out a basic acronym, even though the book clearly states they had seen it written many times.

Everything, in fact, seemed to take a backseat to the action sequences, which were frequent and, truth be told, rather exciting. Still, I was fairly convinced that I would not want to read the next books in the series.

Yet, by the time I was done, I found myself hooked anyway. And so I went and read the second book, which was more of the same, yet even more so - and still, by the time I ended that one, I immediately opened the third and read it in its entirety that same day. I simply couldn't let it out of my hands, with every short chapter ending in a perfect teaser, forcing me to stay awake to read the next one.

The truth is, these books just never let go. Like a good action flick, you are constantly in thrall to the "what's gonna happen next?!" syndrome, slightly dazed by the pace, entranced by the visuals and special effects, your heart racing together with the people and things and stuff going on all around, all the time. Who cares about character development when you have Bruce Willis running around blowing things up and yelling "Yippee ki-yay" when he gets the bad guy? Die Hard is a friggin' awesome movie even with characters as flat as cardboard.

And such is the truth of this series. It is far from a literary masterpiece, but it still delivers in spades. The Maze Runner is easy to get into, easy to enjoy, highly entertaining, and just plain fun all the way through. it is a guilty pleasure, and who doesn't like those? in the end, I sure did.

This is a really amazing series. I’m a fan of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire movies (I didn’t read the books), but I read Mockingjay, so when others started comparing the two, I thought i’d give this series a shot. I can’t compare the first two books of THG trilogy with this, but going by the movies i’d hazard to say this series is more dramatic than THG. I read The Kill Order first since it’s the prequel for the trilogy.

Mark, the MC, teams up with Alec and they try to find a cure for the plague that’s killing the survivors of the solar flares that nearly wiped out Earth. He is recalling all that happened the year before, while also living in the present. The details are truly frightening to me. I was so keen on stopping, but it kept getting to the point where I couldn’t. And while I appreciate details, I think that some of the goriness could have been left out. This is supposed to be YA after all. After reading all of the books, I realized that The Kill Order really left me with questions. I assumed that it would be better to read it first, but I was wrong. There were characters that added nothing to the other books, I’m pretty sure that they didn’t need to be mentioned at all. Yes, you get to know what happened before the Glade, but this felt like a different story. Maybe I should have just read the trilogy, then maybe I wouldn’t think it was such a waste of my reading time.

In The Maze Runner, Thomas wakes up in the Glade with memory loss, surrounded by various teenage boys. He’s asking questions but getting no answers. There are multitudes of rules to follow, yet the place doesn’t seem half bad. Soon Thomas finds out what exactly is outside of the walls protecting the Glade. He and the others start to formulate a plan to leave the Glade. Apparently no one is allowed inside the Maze, except the Runners. Once a girl is brought in, things change exponentially. The fight for survival is all to real for Thomas and the others. The author only gives out certain information in spurts, clearly to keep the reader wanting more. I immediately jumped to the next book.

The Scorch Trials nearly had me pulling out my hair. They are created to test out the survivors of the Glade by WICKED. It is really insane!! I couldn’t, for the life of me, stop reading. By the end, I was questioning my own mind. You never know who to trust, and there are new characters that make you want to hide under a rock. Seriously, it was just that gruesome. And yet, I kept reading like the masochist that I am. There is so much action in this one, much more than The Maze Runner. If WICKED isn’t enough to give you an idea of the dangerous situations, let me tell you what it stands for. World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department, is that enough to make you cringe? This book was the least of my favorite in the trilogy. Again, Dashner gives you just enough to make you keep reading. It was beyond brilliant writing, but I can’t say that I would read it again. I’ll just wait for the movie (if there is a second).

Thomas goes through a lot in The Death Cure. And the character deaths were shocking, to say the least. I thought that a lot more would be revealed about WICKED, but it wasn’t. I’m not sure what to think about this book. The Maze Runner is the only book that I liked from the whole trilogy. James Dashner clearly doesn’t do too much character development here. We learn that the flare was created to control the population. Shocker there! (sarcasm intended)! In all the dystopian books, everything is about control. Yeah, kinda had that figured Mr. Dashner.

I was going to say that it was just okay, but that is an understatement of epic proportions. It is brilliant writing on parts, but others just made me want to throw it out with my garbage. I’m not so sure this should be classified as YA. It involves teens yes, but would I want my teen reading the gruesome details of this book? Not sure. Just like The Hunger Games trilogy, I am hesitant to let my cousins read it, simply because of all the deaths and kids killing kids thing. But, it is a good series to read, so therefore the 4 stars is warranted.

Amazing series for anyone that liked The Hunger Games. It may be in the YA category, but I'm 22 and I loved it. The Maze Runner is deep and complex enough to keep anyone intrigued to the very end. Like The Hunger Games, it is a little intense and graphic for the lower side of the YA spectrum, but 14 and up should be alright. The overall pacing is good. The first couple chapters of the first book is a little bit slow and confusing, but don't give up. It is entirely worth it. Whether the author did this on purpose or not I have no idea, but it is actually kind of cool because it ties you emotionally to the main character right off the bat since that is exactly how he is feeling. After you get through the initial confusion, it all falls into place and the story explodes into a thrilling, action-packed adventure. Don't forget the prequel, The Kill Order. I haven't read it yet, but intend to as soon as finals are over lol.

We bought this trilogy for our son who mostly enjoyed "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent", and was looking for more dystopian literature to sink his teeth into. I decided to read this series with him since he was having problems with the narrative style of the first book. After finishing "The Death Cure", I wish I had instead tossed the books right into the recycle bin.

The story starts out well enough with some comfortable sci-fi mainstays... erased memory, caught in a death trap (as seen in The Hunger Games, the Bourne series, etc,), observed by unseen captors (think "The Prisoner"), stalked by moaning clanking mystery monsters (think "Lost"). However, the mystery of how the boys got into the maze never really develops. Instead, Dashner relies on scene after gratuitous scene of bloody mayhem to keep the reader engaged. Well, if I wanted brainless fights and explosions I would watch the latest drivel from Hollywood. I come to books when I want something at least marginally thought provoking. "The Maze Runner" provides none of this.

At the risk of being a spoiler, I have to say that seldom have I seen an author use the tactic of bumping off key characters to so little emotional effect. In "The Game of Thrones", the death of story leads comes as a huge shock and brings pain to the reader. In the Maze, I just shrug and flip the page. The characters are annoying and disposable, just like the books.

Finally, I really have to take exception to a final detail in "The Death Cure" (spoiler alert, marginally). What possessed Dashner to convert the smarmy villain bureaucrat "Rat Man" into a physical threat to the hero, Thomas? I mean seriously... Thomas is a teenager who has been running and fighting for his life for months. At the climax of the story, the final obstacle put between him and freedom is a skinny pencil-pushing middle aged man in a suit? Please!

The whole series feels like a very un-funny shaggy dog joke. So much time is spent delving into the secret of the maze and the trials, only to have the whole scenario written off in the last chapter, and explained in one paragraph of the epilogue. Mr. Dashner clearly has little respect for the intelligence of his readers. Apparently he believes, like the directors of most Hollywood dreck, that a good fist fight is a far better way to end a story than actually putting a sensible end to loose plot threads. Perhaps he should write the next "Mission: Impossible" movie script.

I just finished all 3. All I can say is that I want to punch Dashner in his SHUCK, SHANK, CLUNK face! (words the characters use NON STOP in all 3 books) There was so much potential in the concept of the book. But it seems like all Dashner did was think up a title for the book, then just started writing it. No planning whatsoever. I kept waiting for more character development, it didn't come. More plot development, it didn't come. There is nothing but one bad situation after another, followed by bad decisions, pointless running around....and then more bad situations. To the point where it's just predictable.

Lots of other reviews compare Maze Runner to Hunger Games. My advice; if you haven't read Hunger Games, read it instead of this. If you have read Hunger Games.....Read it again instead of this.

Fantastic series! First book my 12 year old has shown a real interest in. Looking forward to more from Dashner.

Fast paced and lots of action throughout the trilogy. Kept me guessing. I liked this trilogy more than the Divergent trilogy. Strongly recommend this trilogy if you like fast paced books and action.

definitely an interesting story, not as much depth as I wanted, but a very good story. The character development somehow fell a little flat; I can't pinpoint it, but I enjoyed the story so much and the mystery (and it is a good one) that it kept me very engaged. BY the third book though, it was so much happening and coming at me, kind of like in the divergent series, it was so much about the story and one event after another, I actually felt overwhelmed and had the put the book down. Overall, I am really glad I read it. Dashner is a good writer, and what it takes to write is huge. He should definitely continue to write. I'd read his work again; I just hope he works on scene development and pacing the story with more in the moment reality, like being in the present moment with the characters and less summarizing of feelings, more showing of feelings....

Many will compare this to the Hunger games or Divergent but I think this series has a lot of its own merit and does a lot of things different from those two series. In a lot of ways the only two similarities is that they are post apocalyptic. That being said if you liked those serious you will love this one. I bought this for my son and he burned through them in a week. I read them after him and for what they are they were very enjoyable.

I loved these books!
There were several times where I was so caught up with the story I had to pause for a few "holy s***" moments. At one point during the Death Cure I actually cried.
I haven't been so hooked on a series since the Hunger Games and Game of Thrones!
And I loved having the trilogy in one box, so I could grab the next one as soon as I was finished.