The Death Cure

If there had been more snarky Minho comments I may have enjoyed this book more, but alas, he was barely even mentioned throughout this disappointing conclusion to what started out as a promising trilogy. The Maze Runner had its flaws, yes, but I was engrossed in the story. I wanted to know what would happen to Newt and Minho and Chuck. I wanted to know how they'd escape the Maze. And most importantly, all I wanted to know was why!? As the series progressed, there was presumably a thousand whys I wanted to know, and I thought The Death Cure would answer at least half of them...I thought wrong. Very, very, very wrong.What was that one little thing Thomas was constantly itching for when he was first sent up to the Glade? Anyone remember? Naturally, he'd want his memories back after WICKED stole them from him and he got himself shredded to bits from a griever just for a little snippet of them. Right? It was killing him as he trekked across the Scorch that he couldn't discern the flashes of his memories, so it should be a no-brainer that Thomas would jump the first ship that can grant him his memories, right? Well now, WICKED is handing him his memories back on a silver platter. Thomas, since he's such an incredibly ingenious individual will of course accept this offer, right? Right? Well, surprise surprise! He doesn't.Let me just wrap my head around this. You, Thomas, have been yapping on and on and on about how you've been wanting your memories back, since the moment we met you, correct? Not only, are you given an opportunity to get your memories back, but also, to possibly save the human race, including (view spoiler). You don't think that there's even a remote chance that you alone could help WICKED find a cure and save thousands of lives? After everything that's happened, I understand that you don't trust WICKED, but honestly, what else do you think they're going to do to you? Do you not realize that if they really wanted you dead, you'd be that way already. I thought you were the one who stupidly ran into the Maze to save a guy you didn't even like. You may have been an idiot, but at least you were a selfless idiot.James Dashner, that was a very cheap way for you to keep Thomas in the dark. *glares furiously at laptop screen*What I find quite ironic, is that I never would have discovered that the entire trilogy revolved around a tremendous plot hole, if Dashner hadn't invented it himself. For those of you who don't know, James Dashner has another series called The Mortality Doctrine, which centralizes around the idea that human beings have become obsessed with the VirtNet - a virtual reality, similar to the Matrix. In the VirtNet, humans plug into the NerveBox (very creative names, indeed) which enables the user's brain to feel everything he/she experiences in the virtual reality...including pain. Sounds like a much simpler solution to an otherwise difficult problem, eh?If WICKED has the technology to create a FlatTrans, don't you think they'd be able to construct a virtual reality that can manipulate the subject's brain to perceive essential emotions and feelings? We're talking about the same organization that has a chip in Thomas' brain, so he can speak telepathically to Teresa. Clearly, they have the advancement in technology to construct a virtual reality and create seemingly real, stressful situations. It would also be a much more controlled and effective experiment.Variables. It's all about the variables. I still don't understand why finding a cure relies on variables. Why did the variables have to be so specific (i.e. Teresa making Thomas feel betrayed)? How does that affect the Munies' brains? Is whatever makes them immune encoded in their genetic makeup, or is it some kind antibody or combating pathogen that's only secreted in their brain? How does studying their behaviors to x and y variables help you find a cure?Deus ex machina. I say this phrase quite often, even when it doesn't entirely make sense in the context. It simply means an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel. Very fitting for the ending of The Death Cure. (view spoiler)There you have if, folks! This poorly written, potential-filled story ends as a train wreck. I feel like The Maze Runner could've been spectacular if it was written better, ended on a more realistic conclusion, and didn't have a sorry excuse for a protagonist. I'll still watch the movies of course, because so far, they're better than the books. “As we tried to instill in each of our subjects over and over, WICKED is good.”

I say this at the end, but I want to iterate it here, prior to spoilers: If you're considering this series my recommendation is to read the first book and stop.I have no problem with a series in the teen-dystopian genre borrowing from other stories or some of the other criticisms lobbied at the book by others. I can suspend belief when Thomas and Minho routinely take more stabs, punches, cuts, falls, and abuse than Bruce Willis in all the Diehard movies combined, only to recover hours later to run for miles and fight again. What this book fails to do is far more basic. Warning: there are spoilers in the following parts for this book and those in the series that precede it.First, as is a problem in all three books, the dialogue is absolutely awfully rendered in this novel. It is unbelievable, stiff, and terribly cliche in many, many instances. Even if it didn't seem like it was written by an online protagonist phrase generator, a reader can only be subjected to so many uses of "shuckface", "slinthead", and "good that" before they wear out. Also, apparently Dashner believed his readers can't tell that Jorge is supposed to be Hispanic, which is the only explanation for him ending every sentence he says with "muchachos". The conversations between characters feel mechanical and predictable, and would lack authenticity--except that the characters don't feel authentic to begin with, so it would be difficult to have authentic dialogue from inauthentic characters.Second, the characters--already predictable and flat--actually become more predictable and less dynamic in this story. Will Minho overreact angrily to something and punch a person multiple times in this book? How many times will he respond to Teresa with spiteful, sarcastic remarks? Will Thomas make irrational decisions for his "friends" (who, like the readers, he knows nothing about other than their stereotypical behavior)? How many times will Brenda act affectionate toward Thomas for an undetermined reason? Will Thomas's veins fill with hatred every time Rat Man speaks? There are dozens and dozens of questions like this that a reader can answer without ever picking up this book, because the characters were cast in their mold hundreds of pages ago and not only fail to evolve, but repeat their stereotypes multiple times (in some cases, dozens and dozens of times) in this book. The most dynamic character, and the only one who truly evolves, isn't even an active character in the story. It's the Chancellor. Aside from her deus ex machine moment when she saves Thomas from surgery (the how and why of that is skipped by expositioning a surgical blackout) she makes no appearances until the epilogue. In her memo she laments the failure of WICKED, while still acknowledging their noble, original goal. The fact that she evidences this duality of understanding, and her ability to also transition to an alternate plan--demonstrate a change in a character not present anywhere else. Thomas pays lip service to moral dilemmas, but never considers them for more than a paragraph or two. He's too busy being irrational and acting through the linear plot line he's been tracking since the beginning.Third, the exposition is very lazy. As an example, consider when Thomas is being told to plant the device in WICKED's headquarters. "Planting" a device is a pretty cliche thing to do, except in this case an advanced weapons expert has to instruct him on how to "plant" it; only we discover that planting it involves nothing more than pressing a button and putting it somewhere. Anywhere, it seems. So Thomas's instructions, which required an advanced engineer to explain, would have been no more than "press this button and put it anywhere in any of the buildings". This of course means that Thomas wasn't necessary to plant the device. Any one of the immunes could have pressed the button and put the device somewhere at any point. In fact, they apparently didn't need to put it anywhere specific. It didn't actually even need to be planted. It just needed to be there. Even "though that's going to be our hardest task" according to Vince. Apparently not. Thomas strolls in, leaves it in the bathroom, and voila: the world's strongest organization is overthrown by a couple hundred rebels. That's just one example, and there is no need to itemize them all at length.Mostly though, this story lacks the compelling elements of the first book. The poor dialogue and stereotypical, flat characters are still present as early as The Maze Runner, but we're distracted by a dynamic, unique environment in the maze. Dashner is able to deliver intrigue with an imaginative setting that he does a good job of creating. The maze itself, and the uncertainty about why it exists, stands as a sort of character unto itself. Once that evolving, interesting, and dynamic pseudo-character is gone we're left with little other than the flaws: below-average exposition, scant and repeating imagery, terrible dialogue, and characters who don't grow enough to sustain interest.I was glad to finish the book to know how it actually ended, though despite all WICKED's lies and tricks and the duration of the trials and variables, and the late-introduced characters and organizations there was almost no satisfaction in its conclusion--other than relief. I'd recommend reading the first book and stopping when the characters press the PUSH button. That's the high point of the entire trilogy, and the last moment when there truly is a compelling reason to wonder what is going to happen next.

Having read the first two books in the Maze Runner series, I decided to venture into book three, The Death Cure by James Dashner. This book picks up right where book two left off, the main character Thomas being recaptured by the organization WICKED. They have chosen Thomas and his remaining friends to participate in the final stage of testing to fight a disease called “The Flare”. We are brought alongside Thomas on a journey out into a zombie-like apocalyptic world.I had a two-sided experience with reading this book. On one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure Dashner takes us on. I loved the picture he paints of how biological warfare could lead to the crumble of society as we know it. The fictional, yet realistic take on what the future of earth could hold thrilled me. The world Dashner describes resembles what we see around us today, only with an eerie twist. On the other hand, I felt that the dialogue was slow and a bit sticky. I would recommend devouring this book at a fast pace, enabling you to speed through the sometimes-stale dialogue and enjoy the plot. I would definitely recommend this book for young adult readers but perhaps not any higher reading level.