Book Review: The Scorch Trials, By James Dashner -- ✭✭✭½

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The Scorch Trials, the second installment in The Maze Runner series, blazed in and matched the intensity felt at the end of The Maze Runner.

On the heels of The Hunger Games movie debut, I finished The Scorch Trials with the same earnest that I started it. Much different from my experience with Catching Fire.

Oh, my dystopian young adult fiction. I really love you and all of your futuristic fallen societies and weird diseases.

Summary

Out of the maze, but far from safe, Thomas and the Gladers embark on a whole new horrific trek through the Scorch -- a vast wasteland burnt to a crisp by sun flares. They must also fight off the inhabitants of the Scorch: creeping disease-filled, cannibalistic Cranks, whose bodies are covered with sores and whose minds have deteriorated as a result of the epidemic Flare disease.

The group now knows that WICKED is comprised of the people who put them in the maze and and also sent them on this wild goose chase across the Scorch, but they don't know if they should trust WICKED. Regardless, though, they must survive.

As they set out across the Scorch, faced with a multitude of trials, each member struggles with his ability to trust and once again, all we can do is join them on their journey and watch as the horror of the unthinkable unfolds.

And you're left wondering: Who can I trust?

Review

Somehow, Dashner continues to keep us guessing. I was reading so fast because I desperately wanted to know what was going happen. Was WICKED good? Was WICKED bad? Should I trust Thomas? Should Thomas trust himself?

The Scorch Trials opens where The Maze Runner left off:

She spoke to him before the world fell apart. 

Theresa is gone and Thomas is left to his own devices. The strong characters Dashner created in The Maze Runner become even more developed as they are faced with what seems to be the unfathomable.

More often than not, I find that trilogies lack suspense as you move through the series, but that's really not the case here. I felt The Scorch Trials actually gained momentum.  With the introduction of new characters, comes new mysteries. I actually liked this book better than The Maze Runner. There's so much more action, a unique setting and I think that Dasher has skillfully built the perfect precipice to tell his story.

In typical Dashner style, he dangles answers in front of you and you're clawing at them in the air with each page turn. When you finally get them, he is able to masterfully crack open wide another mystery.

Why are these things happening? Is Thomas responsible?

I highly recommend The Scorch Trials because once again, intrigue lasts to the very last word.

Verdict: Absolutely Recommend
Rating: ✭✭✭½