Book: The Death Cure
Author: James Dashner
this is such an amazing series of books and I can’t recommend them enough. each book is better than the next and this finale to the original trilogy (there is now a prequel) is thrilling. This last book is explosive and action packed-WICKED is at its all time worst in this book and there is no doubt in my mind after this book that WICKED is not good. Here is a synopsis from the book:
The Trials are over. WICKED have collected all the information they can. Now it’s up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test. But something has happened that no-one at WICKED has foreseen: Thomas has remembered more than they think. And he knows WICKED can’t be trusted … The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than anyone could have imagined. With the Gladers divided, can they all make it?
At the end of the Scorch Trials, Thomas was taken to a white padded cell. Teresa reached out to him in a dream and told him that he was taken away because the flare was too deep rooted in his mind. Obviously her parting words are her favourite mantra-WICKED is good-as if.
As you may have expected, Rat Man (who appears in the Scorch Trials) tells the Gladers that there was never a cure and that most of the gladers are actually immune to the flare, whilst others are not and they were hoping to study the immune to see why their brain resists the flare so that they can develop a cure for the diseased. Thomas can’t decide whether to fight for a cure or to flee from WICKED and be free once and for all. Throughout this book Thomas is trying to work out if WICKED are the good guys or the bad and it’s not always clear to us as readers either. I don’t feel that WICKED is good but you may disagree with me after reading the book-i think Dashner leaves us free to make up our own minds as Thomas also does.
When Teresa and her group disappear (leaving only Newt, Minho & Thomas), Thomas finds his loyalties tested to the limit particularly when he discovers that Brenda and Jorge work for WICKED. As the plot unfolds an old enemy of Thomas’s returns (I won’t tell you who as this will spoil the plot) and a new group The Right Arm (sort of the anti WICKED) is revealed. Thomas is torn between whether to trust Brenda, who he now knows work for WICKED, or Teresa, after her betrayal in the previous book and whether WICKED or The Right Arm are really the good guys? To make his decision even harder, one of his friends (I won’t say who) is deeply infected by the Flare, which makes his decision to stay with WICKED and hope they do in fact find a cure, or leave to stop the manipulation from WICKED.
This third book in the series is by far my favourite. The chapters are fast paced and intense and as with all of the books, there is a twist at the end of each chapter. Without the constraints of WICKED or the Maze, we get to see the flare infested planet in all of it’s horror-the part at the crank palace is particularly horrific but it’s incredibly well described by Dashner. Also with WICKED no longer manipulating him, Thomas becomes far more rebellious and free spirited and we learn more about the personal intentions of different characters and how far they will go to get their revenge on WICKED. The mind games from WICKED are far from over though-there’s a great scene in which Thomas is being manipulated by WICKED that shows how evil they truly are and all of Rat Man’s scenes are incredibly creepy and show just how far he will go for a cure-in sheer creepiness the Rat Man is one of the best characters Dashner has created. Thomas is forced to make difficult decisions in this book, but it’s not just him so do Brenda, Jorge and Minho. The themes of love, trust and friendship are beautifully portrayed in this book.
Death Cure is set across a far wider landscape than the Scorch trials or the Maze runner were and we get to see a lot more places-the Crank Palace being my particular favourite-not because of what it contains but just because it is so well described by Dashner. The pace is very rapid and could easily be seen as a movie-in fact a little too fast in someways-I think this could actually have done with another book to finish the series just so more of the loose ends are tied up-you are still left with so many questions by the end of the book, but maybe that is the way Dashner wanted it, like the characters, we never know everything about everyone in this book. The only character’s back story we get to see is Thomas’s (and by extension Teresa’s) and I almost wish we’d been able to see more of the others’ past.
I think the ending is what it should be. I don’t want to spoil it for everyone else but it is a logical way to end the series and fits with the way his written the story. The final few chapters are explosive and I feel a well written ending to an amazing book.
This is such a brilliant trilogy that I really cannot recommend it enough to people. It’s incredibly written, exciting and an overall enjoyable experience reading these books.
My rating: 5/5 (and if i could give it more, I would)
The next book I will be writing a review for is Burn-the final book in the Pure trilogy by Julianna Baggott
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