The Scorch Trials by James DashnerPublication Date: October 12th, 2010
Publisher: Ember (paperback)
Page Count: 384 pages
Format: Paperback
Source: Won from Sash and Em!
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Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.
In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety . . . until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.
Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated—and with it, order—and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal.
The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.
Thomas can only wonder—does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?
Scorch Trials picks up, literally, where The Maze Runner leaves off and there is no lack of excitement!!! I've been staring at my computer screen for about an hour now, contemplating what I want to say about Scorch Trials and I still don't have any idea. This book absolutely blew me away! Typically, I don't expect much from sequels. They're usually a little boring and the only purpose they serve is to build a bridge between the first and last books. However, Scorch Trials was like a completely different book!! Also, there was just enough romance to keep my attention on that situation.
The same group of Gladers is on yet another trial in The Scorch, a wasteland completely burned by the sun flares, and there is no lack of adventure!! I honestly felt like I was reading a completely different book! Thomas is his same old self, always jumping in to save his friends and quick on his feet whenever the Gladers are threatened. Minho and Newt provide the same tension and comic relief as can be expected. We also meet some new characters who were a lot of fun to read about as well! Teresa isn't as involved in this story, and I'm honestly still confused by that relationship; I don't really know how I feel about her anymore!
The whole story is incredibly fast-paced and so much happens that I was never bored or even wanted to put the book down! It isn't often that I completely immerse myself in a book so much that I forget everything else around me, but with Scorch Trials I found myself so into the story that hours went by without me even realizing! Everything that happens is just such a "WTF" moment, that I ended up annoying a lot of people with my constant gasping about the situations that occur. I'm still not sure what to think about everything that happened, or what to believe even!!
Dashner continues to amaze me with his fantastic writing style and completely relatable characters. Reading Scorch Trials was another goose bump filled experience, and I'm still thinking about all of the crazy things that happened! I can't wait to get my hands on Death Cure, I need to know what's going to happen to Thomas and the Gladers!!! If you haven't read The Maze Runner yet, you definitely need to. This series is amazing, definitely one of the best dystopian series around!! (If you couldn't tell by the massive amount of exclamation marks, I really loved this book!!!!)
