"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!