City News

I’m reviewing the third and final book of the Maze Runner series, The Death Cure, by James Dashner. The previous two were The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials.

The book continues from the ending of The Scorch Trials. Thomas wakes up in a white room, and is told he’s immune to the Flare, a deadly disease causing animal instincts to be heightened. After reuniting with the others, the subjects are given their old memories back, before the events of The Maze Runner. Thomas, Minho, and Newt refuse, even though they might have had some good memories before the Flare, and with help from Thomas’ friends Brenda and Jorge, take down guards and escape the facility. They touch down in Denver, Colorado, with Newt acting strangely along the way. The others wisely decide to leave him in the vehicle because they discover that Newt has the Flare. While the group explores the city, they run into Gally, who the boys haven’t seen since he got beaten up by Thomas in the Maze. Gally works for the Right Arm, an organization dedicated to stopping WICKED at all costs. They heard a rumor that WICKED was kidnapping Immunes of all ages to repeat the Maze Trials (since the original members all escaped), and Thomas finally finds his other friends there, including Teresa. They rush to meet the Right Arm leader, but it’s too late for Newt, who had already succumbed to the effects of the Flare. Finally, after lots of action and strategy, Thomas finds the location of the Maze and helps everybody escape through a portal, at the cost of many lives.

This book was good, ending Thomas’ story well. The characters were very well-rounded, and Cranks got more detailed descriptions. I liked how the city that was mentioned, Denver, had a lot of different protocols for the Flare, like notifying authorities about people who were acting strangely, social distancing whenever possible, and special places guarded by Immunes for those who were infected. The plot seemed kind of bland, though. I liked the “secret experiment” idea that happened in the first two books, and knowing that the boys escaped, their actions seemed off-task and irrelevant. Teresa wasn’t that good of a character either, saying that Thomas had abandoned her, when she escaped WICKED first with everyone else. Thomas going into the WICKED compound made the story feel long and boring. Going back to the Maze basically repeated the first book’s events, but the ending more than made up for that with the fight scenes, action, and feelings of panic and danger. However, I wonder how the people who helped Thomas and his friends set up the land they went to at the end without Cranks interrupting them. After all, the world isn’t that big.

Overall, this book ended the series nicely. I would recommend the series to tweens and teens who like action, dystopian series, and are okay with blood. The prequel to this book is The Kill Order, when the Flare was first discovered.

Check out The Death Cure at the Newport Beach Public Library.