Scorch Trials

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I devoured it, loved it, it destroyed me. On the other hand, I do agree with some people’s analysis that this book could have been way trimmed down. With more of a point. And with more “Ah ha!” moments. We are in the dark almost as much as we were by the end of book one.

But am I going to read book three? Absolutely! I have it on my bookshelf waiting for me to dive right on into.

****Warning: Spoilers****

Girl Problems:

I cannot even express how disappointed I am that Dashner brought in a love triangle. My respect for the books decreased by 30%. The moment Brenda started being all clingy and Thomas was feeling things for this slightly crazy girl he just met, I wanted to bash my head against the wall. I didn’t even want Theresa and Thomas to be “together” in book one. The books seemed so much stronger without them falling in love. Connection and emotion, okay, but not kisses, ect. Honestly, if I were in the Maze, or the Scorch, I wouldn’t be worrying about whose lips I was going to kiss! Priorities!

But the triangle is the least of Thomas’ problems. Turns out Theresa has betrayed him after all. I don’t hate her, I don’t NOT hate her. But I definitely don’t trust her. So then the question becomes: Why did Thomas have to feel betrayed? Why by Theresa?

Then there is Brenda. Why can she speak in Thomas’ mind? Did I miss something huge? Because I was really confused at the end when she spoke to him that things were going to get worse.

Prediction:

This could be so far off, but I really feel like the books are leading to Thomas being the leader of WICKED. The originals died, we know that, but what originals? I’m guessing the people who trained them died, and they were left in charge. They being Theresa, Avis, Rachael, and Thomas. Why else would Thomas’ memory be so completely missing? Because if it wasn’t, then the readers would know too much and we couldn’t have a huge epiphany moment.

Complaint:

I’m really agog and irritated with the amount of chaos Dashner is capable of pulling off. In the middle of National Novel Writing Month, one of my mottos is “What is the worst thing that could happen to your character right now? Do it.” James Dashner has this down pat. Killer lightning? Crazy monsters? Cranks who want to bite off your nose! Drugged drinks. Blistering killer heat. Silver stuff that consumes your head and kills you! Seriously, the amount of random nonsense that kills or injures boys is astounding. That being said, (and the jealousy reigned in) ¾ of the books seem to be horrific randomness and questions that are never answered. I put up with it in book one because it was book one. Obviously more things would be answered in book two, and then final reveal in three, right? Wrong.

This book was fantastic though, 4.5 stars. So hopefully all the questions will be answered in the next book, rather than Dashner killing and torturing more kids and introducing more questions.