"The Fever Code" by James Dashner || Book Review & Book Discussion

This was probably my favorite book in the whole series. It was very enjoyable and interesting, I didn't get bored or lose interest even for one page. It goes by really fast, the pacing is great, the story is good and ties in with everything else in the other books and it seems like the writing is also better than the rest of the books. It's the beginning of the characters' journey, the memories some of them chose to never get back, the backstory we never got to see in the other books and it's a good pay off. Seeing the lives of the characters before the Maze helps you understand their choices and why their characters were shaped the way they were. You can understand some if not all of their choices and actions, and wonder if maybe even subconsciously in some hidden part of their brains they had some kind of memory or feeling from their past. This book also gives you more of an idea of how things were inside Wicked and you learn more of what was going on. 

Overall it was a very good read and I was pleasantly surprised after the disappointment of the "Kill order" (if you'd like to know what I thought of it, you can find a small review here). But, now, let's get on with my review for this book...

****POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD****

I mostly speed-read the "Kill order" so I didn't remember any mention in the previous book that Deedee was Teresa. I either completely forgot about it or it wasn't mentioned, whichever it was, I was shocked when I found out it was her. I was also shocked and sad when I read about Newt and his sister. I hated Paige and Wicked even more and I disliked Teresa more than before, even though I now understand more her beliefs and motives. Her actions are still inexcusable but somewhat more understandable.

The ending, for me, was half expected and half unexpected. I knew that Thomas would be betrayed and things would go wrong, but not really in this way. I had started to grow some faith in Teresa I thought and believed that she really was on his side this time and that she was betrayed too, but it turns out that all along she has never been any different. I also thought that it would be someone else's idea to swipe his memories, not Paige's. But the most shocking was the fact that she was the one behind the infection. She was so ruthless and unstoppable she did not hesitate to infect her co-workers with the Flare and condemn them to a horrible fate. And not only did she do that to accomplish her impossible-to-achieve goals, not only she did everything to keep torturing innocents, but when it was done she asked children, teenagers, to clean up the mess. She had children terminate her opponents, to take the lives of people, and on top of everything else, she distorted the truth about it. She then took over and screwed everyone's lives up for three more books.

I loved how the book ended with some of the words used in the first book (cold darkness and stale dusty air) and I also really liked how Teresa ended her message about the words she'd write on her arm ("Wicked is good"). I loved the way Thomas' swipe was described, it was a beautiful and poetic visualization of what was going on inside his head.

****END OF SPOILER SECTION****

As I see it the main theme of this series is this "Do the ends justify the means?". I think that this question sums it up and it is, of course, answered many times throughout the stories. It is even mentioned in the book that this should be Wicked's moto that "the ends justify the means. The truth is that no end, no noble cause could ever justify the abuse of children, the messing up with other's minds, the torture and manipulating of young people, the destruction of families, the deception of people, and so on and so forth... All these are despicable acts done by people with great power in their hands that chose to shape not only their fates but everyone's. Their distorted beliefs and ambitions lead to outrageous actions and the chain of events that follows leads to a disastrous dead end that by the end of the book is unavoidable.

I gave this book 4* even though it feels a bit more like 4,5* to be exact. This book adds to the overall story in contrast with the "Kill order" which felt pointless and indifferent. This one is a nice addition and it contributes to the story and mostly to the characters. I'm glad I read this series and that I finished it with this book. It was a great trip with many adventures and I enjoyed it more than I expected! 

"The Kill Order" by James Dashner || A Mini Book Review

This one was my least favorite from the series, so this review is going to be short (indicative of how much I didn't care about it). If, however, you want to read my thoughts on the previous book in the series you can find my full review here.

It was very boring and I didn't like it very much. I couldn't care for the characters. I felt like I did not really know them and couldn't care what happened to them. Changing the set of basic characters and introducing new ones was a distraction for me. The story follows the same formula with the rest of the series and many of the scenes seem familiar and repetitive. I speed-read a big part of it and only read properly the interesting parts. The writing was not very good.

I didn't enjoy this book at all and I was tempted at many points to just give up and DNF it. It was a bit of a struggle to get through and it is definitely the weakest one in the series. I had first given it 2* but after some thought, I decided to give it 1*. Most important for me was that I could really just skip this book entirely and nothing would change about the overall story. Reading it didn't give me anything new or add anything to the plot. I could have gone through the rest of the books without knowing exactly how the first contamination happened and I wouldn't miss it at all. If there had to be a book about how it all started it should have at least been good with a solid plot and engaging characters. It should have something exciting and new to add.

"The Death Cure" by James Dashner || Book Review & Book to Movie Comparison

Out of the three books of this trilogy, this one was the hardest one to get into. If you want to know my opinion about the previous book in the series ("Scorch Trials"), before reading about this one, you can find it here. This one was still an enjoyable read, but not as attention-grabbing as the other two. My main problem was the first 2/3 of the book, while the last 1/3 becomes quickly and vastly more interesting. I thought the pacing was a bit problematic and I had to skim read a bit at the beginning, but thankfully it got much better after the middle and up until the ending and it did not disappoint me at all.

Once more, the worldbuilding, setting, and scenery was very well done. The characters have definitely developed since the previous 2 books. They have changed and it is obvious in this book and until the end, they continue to change as a consequence of all the horrors that have happened to them. The action and suspense scenes were as always written perfectly.

****POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD****

I loved the connection between Thomas and Brenda and how it slowly but steadily develops and unfolds. You get a few but strong interactions, the moments between them are not many but are evenly spread throughout the book and each one of them is strong enough on its own just as well as all of them combined together when you're finished. Their relationship felt natural and it made sense, so I was very happy they ended up together. 

I also liked Teresa's character development even though we didn't get to see much of her in this book. Her death was sad but not as impactful as I think it should and could have been. It felt sudden and weird when it could have been a much stronger scene. I much preferred the movie version of Teresa's death, because in the movie it felt shocking, strong, and impactful, but also much more real and believable. Then again, in the book, it was much more of a sacrifice, while in the movie it was less of a sacrifice and more of an accident, but I still preferred the movie version better. On the other hand, I hated the romance between Thomas and Teresa in the movie. I understand that they had to work and develop an already existing romance, rather than start a new one with a less familiar character, but I still much prefer Thomas with Brenda than with Teresa so in this part I preferred the book. 

The strongest moment in this book was beyond a doubt Newt's death. It was the most impactful, devastating, and heart-wrenching moment and it gave me tears. I kept thinking about it for a couple of days before reading on and I had to go back and reread it because that's how much I liked it. It was so sad and painful and it still shocked me even though I'd been spoiled about it and I knew it was coming. On the other hand, Newt's death in the movie was neither as powerful nor as sad and painful as it was in the book. Not even close. What I loved about the book version was that Newt's insanity was obvious, real, and very believable. In the book, he was completely paranoid with a few moments of sanity here and there, but in the movie, he was mostly sane with a few moments of slight madness. In the movie he wasn't completely lost and his death felt more like it had a physical cause, while in the book it's all about his mental decay and about how in this madness he had the sense to choose to die before he gets worse. The realization of his own situation and the despair he had and him begging his friend to free him from the pain; it's all so traumatic. Thomas' pain and remorse after he did it and how it all happened it was all so tragic. His final words to Thomas were heart-wrenching and strong! In the movie, it felt like they didn't give it as much attention as they should and as it deserved. It felt a bit strange and not nearly as sad and painful and it was really annoying because it felt like if they had rushed a little maybe he could have been saved!

I was really expecting Thomas' confession to Minho about Newt's death and I was a bit disappointed that it never happened and that Thomas decided to keep it a secret because I'd love to see them talk about it with all that this includes: they would get angry, they would fight, they would cry and in the end, they would probably forgive each other and understand.

Gally's comeback was also a strong and unexpected moment and I really liked that he came back and played his role on the outcome of the story. I felt sorry for what happened to him but also happy that he survived and changed and wanted to help. It was so nice that they made peace with Thomas.

The final battle and the escape was satisfying and left me feeling very well. The scene was action-packed and suspenseful. I really loved how Thomas finally killed the "rat-man", it was so satisfying! I really hated the guy and loved it when it happened. The ending overall leaves a bittersweet feeling as you see that they couldn't make a cure and save everyone, but at least they saved all the immunes and humankind still has a chance. The solution came from within WICKED which had been the cause for most of their problems and this was both ironic and meaningful and I loved it. The ending was bittersweet and contradictory and the outcome was better than I expected. It's not a typical happy ending but I liked it very much. Once more, I preferred the book version of the ending. The movie version didn't make as much sense to me, but still, it was done very well, it felt interesting enough and it was entertaining. It was beautifully shot and nicely directed but story-wise the book made much more sense.

****END OF SPOILER SECTION****

I'm not sure how to rate this book since I struggled for about the first half of the book, but I loved the second half and especially the ending. I definitely liked it in the end and the overall feeling was positive and kind of unexpected. The first half feels like 2* and the second half feels like 4*, so I'll have to rate it somewhere in the middle. I'm going to rate it 3,5* because overall I really enjoyed it and the general feeling was positive and in the end, this is the most important for me. I'm going to get on with the prequels since I really enjoyed the trilogy so far. I hope the other two books will be as good!

"The Scorch Trials" by James Dashner || Book Review

The second book of the series was - for me - a much faster and easier read. I generally think that it was better than the "Maze Runner" - you can find a full review of it here and read it before this one, if you want - it sucked me right in from the first pages and kept my attention throughout the story up until the very end! I didn't get bored for a moment and I was always interested and intrigued to read on. The story is full of suspense and it has many intense moments that make you hold your breath. I also found the writing slightly better in this book.

Most of the descriptions - especially the descriptions of the storms - were excellent and transported me right into the place and moment! The images painted were so vivid I could see them in front of my eyes. My favorite descriptions were those of the places (the abandoned and destroyed Scorch and all the new places we saw) and those of the unexpected and wild weather phenomenons (all the rain, wind, the thunders). All these descriptions grabbed my attention and made the whole atmosphere incredibly strong and atmosphere is of great importance when it comes to this kind of book.

The pacing was great throughout the book it never got me tired or bored. Almost every chapter ends in a cliffhanger and it keeps you turning the pages, unable to stop.

One of the things that bothered me was that Thomas was always either falling asleep or fainting. I counted so many times that a scene ended with Thomas falling asleep or fainting or somehow losing consciousness that after a certain point it got kind of tiring. I can't tell if it was intentional or if Dashner missed noticing the repetition, but I certainly did and I did not love it.

 

****POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD****

I enjoyed the new character additions, mostly Brenda and Jorge but also the girls from GROUP B that we finally got to see, even though I kind of wish I would have seen even more of them. I even enjoyed some of the characters that were there for just a couple of pages, like the drunken cranks; I thought they were very funny. I have to say though, that I thought that some of the older side characters (like Newt and Minho were a bit neglected especially from the middle and on. I loved the existing interactions between characters, but I'd like to have seen a bit more with the neglected characters as well. Also I have to add that in this book Thomas seems to have much less of a personality than in the previous book as well as the rest of the characters and as well as the reader would expect him to have since he's supposed to be a leader and the chosen one and all.

I had been spoiled about Teresa's betrayal, so I was kind of expecting it, but I didn't know when or exactly how it'd occur, so I was still very anxious about it! I'll confess I was a bit disappointed when I saw that her betrayal was kind of justified (how she did it only because she wanted to save him) because this made it feel less like a betrayal, but in the end when it is implied that she is still with WICKED, still lying to him, or playing games, this made me think that she was - and still is - just lying and deceiving everyone all along and this really made me feel for Thomas and understand the betrayal better. So it was until after it all had happened and the seeds of even more doubt were planted that I felt the whole betrayal incident actually have an actual impact.

The only part that I didn't really like about the plot was Thomas getting shot and saved by WICKED, because this didn't make sense to me on many levels. I also did not love the ending, I thought it was just okay, but I guess this is how it should be, considering that there is one more book to follow. Even though the ending did not feel particularly satisfying, for the time being, I am quite confident that it has set a good foundation for the beginning of the next book which I expect and hope to be thrilling. It is a pivotal transition point in the whole story. 

I really liked the development in Thomas' character! He's finally done with it, he won't take more shit anymore, he knows what's happening and understands more now and he is fed up with the games. His character has gotten to a crucial point to his arc and I could really feel the change and the confidence that he will be stronger from now and eventually resolve all the problems that come to him. I also loved how he decided to get away from Teresa, it was a big and important decision for him, but it also felt normal and natural as if there was no other choice, as if it was the only thing he could do.

****END OF SPOILER SECTION****

To sum it up, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I liked it much more than the first installment of the series. It was suspenseful, intense, and interesting. The writing was overall improved; better pacing, slightly better vocabulary, stronger descriptions, better atmosphere... generally a much more solid story, stronger writing and more engaging characters and situations. There were only a couple of things I disliked about the book, but for the most part, I loved it. I rated this book 4* and I am very confident about my rating. I'm curious about the next one and I can't wait to get started!