The Death Cure

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Appropriate for: Ages 13+

Genre: Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi

Length: 336 pages

Year of Publication: 2011

(This book is a sequel to The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials.)

It’s been twenty-five days. Twenty-five days alone in a white cell in the headquarters of WICKED. Thomas is alone—separated from his friends, the rest of the Gladers. They had survived the Scorch Trials, and their promised reward was supposed to be a cure for the Flare, the deadly disease that ravages a world half destroyed by sun flares. Before the Scorch Trials, Thomas and his friends had been told that they were all already infected by the Flare and that the cure would be given to those who survived the trek across the burning desert land known as the Scorch. But it had just been another one of the organization WICKED’s lies. There had been no cure at the end for Thomas or his friends. For Thomas, there was only his white-walled cell and three weeks alone with his own thoughts. Where his friends are—he has no way of knowing.

On day twenty-six of his solitary confinement, however, the door of Thomas’ cell opens. The man who had spoken to the Gladers before the Scorch Trials enters and tells Thomas something he doesn’t quite expect: Thomas is immune to the Flare, and he always has been. In fact, most of the other Gladers and girls from Group B are immune too. The Maze, the Scorch… it was all an experiment. It was a test performed to see how brains of people immune to the Flare react to certain variables. The goal was to find a cure for the Flare.

But every experiment needs a control group. Some of the Gladers aren’t immune. Some of them are already on their way to succumbing to the Flare—on their way to becoming Cranks. And WICKED still hasn’t found a cure.

Which of Thomas’ friends aren’t immune? And is WICKED finished messing with their brains? What more do they want with the Gladers? Can Thomas trust WICKED? Can Thomas even trust his friends? Thomas is let out of his cell and soon reunites with his friends. No more maze. No more Scorch. They must face the real world now. The Trials may be over, but Thomas’ real test is just beginning.

This third and final book in James Dashner’s Maze Runner series is yet another suspenseful and action-packed novel about the teen-aged character Thomas as he struggles for survival in the post-apocalyptic world. This time, Dashner follows Thomas and his friends as they experience the world outside of the maze and the Scorch and as they make decisions that may affect the future of the entire human race.

Although Dashner’s main focus is—yet again—on suspense, action, and intrigue, he does touch on some important life questions. The characters must determine whether an honorable end justifies the unethical means used to reach that end. They must decide if it is right to put the few at risk in order to save the many—if it is okay to endanger some people for the greater good—if it is moral to treat people like lab rats. Thomas and the other Gladers also face the question of what makes someone human. According to Dashner, the characters who have been infected by the Flare disease slowly lose their humanity until they are no longer human. Although this and other assertions in the book are contradictory to the biblical worldview, they still give readers the chance to think over important questions related to morality and human worth. They also encourage Christians to look to the Bible for the answers to these tough questions and to remember that it is the image of God in all of us—not our sanity, not our compassion—that makes us human. Although the questions brought up in this book are important for even young people to consider, the issues presented could likely serve to just confuse teen readers who blunder through this book without guidance. Therefore, teens should not read this book without either an active mind, a Bible, or guidance from an parent or spiritual leader.

The writing style is easy to read, but the philosophical questions mentioned above combined with the overall subject matter of the book make Dashner’s third Maze Runner book inappropriate for younger readers. Teens are best suited to handle the content of The Death Cure, but parents of teens should still be aware of a few content issues in this novel.

As in the previous two Maze Runner books, the characters enjoy spouting certain offensive words and phrases. The Gladers continue to glean many of the expletives from their own made-up vocabulary, but the count of widely known cuss words used by the characters continues to rise in this book. God’s name is also misused about three times. In addition to some disappointing vocabulary, Thomas and the Gladers continue to speak with a disrespectful undertone of sarcasm to pretty much everyone—even their friends. They can be especially rude to adults, most of whom are the “bad guys” in the story. To top it off, the book includes a smattering of crude humor to complement the offensive language and disrespectful bantering.

On the boy-girl side of things, there’s a bit of romance, but nothing overdone or inappropriate. Two of the characters hug and hold hands occasionally. They also kiss each other a few times—mostly on the cheek. That is pretty much the extent of the romance.  

As in the previous two books, the violence and overall intensity of the book is the main cause for this book’s PG-13 feel. To name a few of the violent and intense moments, characters are knocked out, threatened at gunpoint, and shot at. Others are electrocuted by futuristic weapons created for the purpose of stunning enemies. After being hit, the characters are overtaken by spasms as they lay helpless on the ground. One character’s leg is grazed by a bullet. A main character has a bad habit of regularly instigating fistfights with people he disagrees with. Another character shoots someone in the head and later throws a knife into an enemy’s neck. People are crushed by falling debris. Near the middle of the book, WICKED takes over a character’s control of his body and makes him attack his own friends with a knife against his will. The book also contains some talk of brain operations to remove chips inserted there by WICKED. The most disturbing elements of the story are the Cranks. The Death Cure features the creepy, zombie-like characters from The Scorch Trials—including descriptions of their not-so-hygienic bodies and of some disturbing encounters between them and uninfected characters. At one point, a bunch of Cranks swarm a car and try to get at the people inside by tearing away the windows with their bare hands. One very likeable character succumbs to the Flare and becomes a Crank himself. In addition, the huge, slimy, and dangerous “Griever” creatures from the first book return for a final intense fight. In all, the violence is at a level similar to the previous book, The Scorch Trials, if not a little higher. The death toll, however, has certainly gone up from the last book.

The Death Cure is another fun, exciting, and intense sci-fi action book—a must-read for adults and teens who have read and enjoyed the previous two Maze Runner books. Although the author doesn’t adequately answer every question raised by the previous books, The Death Cure brings a somewhat satisfactory ending to Thomas’ story. Even while the story is pretty unrealistic (as with most futuristic movies and books), the book still presents some interesting questions about right and wrong that are especially pertinent to today’s world. To those of you who have not read the previous two books, however, I would suggest skipping the series altogether and waiting for the movies. To me, reading the books was pretty much just like watching a movie. There’s not much to the stories beyond the plot and action, so you could save a lot of time—but still have a similar experience—by just watching the movies that are almost certainly going to be released within the next half decade.

The Scorch Trials

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Appropriate for: Ages 13+

Genre: Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi

Length: 368 pages

Year of Publication: 2010

(This book is a sequel to The Maze Runner.)

The maze was all a part of an experiment. Led by the organization WICKED, the “Maze Trials” were used by WICKED to study the reactions, brain waves, and thoughts of the Gladers as a way to find a cure to the Flare—a disease that ravages a world nearly destroyed by sun flares. But Thomas and the Gladers—they survived the maze. They were rescued from WICKED. They are safe. It just all seems too good to be true.

The morning after escaping the maze and being rescued from WICKED, Thomas and the twenty other surviving Gladers discover that it was all too good to be true. Their world starts to fall apart all over again. They wake up to a mass of crazy, zombie-like people who call themselves “Cranks” swarming at the dormitory windows. The dead bodies of the people who had rescued them from WICKED are hanging from the ceiling of the dorm’s common room. Only a short time later, both the Cranks and the dead bodies suddenly and inexplicably disappear without a trace. To top it all off, the only girl Glader, Teresa, is missing. In her dorm room is a teenage boy named Aris who claims to have also escaped from a maze and to have never heard of Teresa before. What’s going on? Has the world gone mad?

Soon, a mysterious man arrives and explains to the Gladers that the maze and their subsequent “rescue” were the first of many “trials” or “tests” to aid WICKED’s study of their brain functions in order to find a cure for the Flare. This highly contagious disease reduces people to animals, making them heartless and violent, and the man tells the Gladers that all of them are already infected with the virus—although the symptoms will not start appearing for a while yet. The next experiment needed to discover a cure is called the “Scorch Trials.” Thomas and the Gladers are transported to a desert-like area of the world. Their task is to cross one hundred miles of the treacherous land in two weeks. In return, WICKED promises them their lives and a cure for the Flare. Between them and their goal lies miles of burning sun and sand, confusion, betrayal, and a city filled with heartless, violent Cranks. Thomas and his friends continue their struggle for survival—now more dangerous than it ever was in the maze.

James Dashner’s sequel to The Maze Runner is another page-turning post-apocalyptic novel that is big on action, thrill, and danger but low on character and plot development and valuable themes. Although The Scorch Trials does not quite match its prequel in originality, it surpasses The Maze Runner in suspense and excitement. With this extra dose of suspense and excitement comes more language, violence, and gruesome descriptions.

As in the previous book, the Gladers continue to be well-versed in insults, often speaking to other characters in a very disrespectful manner, and they also continue to frequently utilize their own made-up cuss words. Unfortunately, the use of common expletives seems to go up a notch from the previous book. God’s name is also used in vain a number of times.

Even if the language is not actually much more offensive than the previous book, the violence and gruesome descriptions in The Scorch Trials certainly bring the PG-13 content in James Dashner’s novels to a new level. Since the new characters have left the controlled environment of the maze and are now in the “real world,” they must face the dangers and horrors of post-apocalyptic earth—including a new disease. Humans infected by the Flare disease slowly lose all compassion and become more and more brutal and violent as the disease eats away at their brains. This leads to a number of frightening and disturbing characters who play a big role in most of the more scary scenes. Dashner’s descriptions of these “Cranks” resemble the description of zombies. Some Cranks who have completely lost their minds talk about eating the body parts of other humans and also attack some of the main characters. In addition to this new element of the zombie-like creatures, Dashner introduces several other innovations to add to the excitement of the novel, such as a strange substance that encircles a victim’s head and decapitates the body and an oven-like desert that scorches its visitors. Among other things, a character is shot, several are struck by lightning, characters are drugged against their will, others are threatened at gun- and screwdriver-point, and another character stabs an enemy in the chest with a knife. Needless to say, the blood and gore of this second book make it even more scary than the previous book.

Unlike the previous book, The Scorch Trials has a bit of boy-girl content that is also cause for caution. Although there is nothing sexually explicit, a couple scenes contain kissing, and, in one scene, Thomas dances with a girl in a shady, bar-like place filled with people who are all partying to loud music. Dashner describes the two dancing with “their bodies pressed tightly together, clasping each other.” It’s not exactly a romantic scene, and that’s about as steamy as it gets, but it still something for parents to keep an eye out for.

In all, the second book of Dashner’s Maze Runner series is a quick, exciting, and easy read but contains enough objectionable content to make it out of the question for children and pre-teens. This book is not one to be avoided altogether, but parents of teens who are interested in this series should not hesitate to guide their children through the issues in the book as well as the occasional valuable lesson it presents. Although the book is not big on valuable themes, Dashner still promotes ideas such as perseverance and working as a team. The book can also spark some profitable discussions on what makes someone human—what gives people their humanity. Both Dashner’s protagonists and antagonists are fighting for the good of the human race, yet they have different views of what exactly “the good” is. The characters also present interesting views on the sanctity of human life. Parents should guide their teens through these issues, teaching them to not simply accept the concepts presented in books but to examine them from a Christian worldview. As a discussion-starter, this book does have its value. On the other hand, however, it might be a good call for potential audiences to simply wait for the movie and spend their time reading something more nutritious.

The Maze Runner

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Appropriate for: Ages 13+

Genre: Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi

Length: 376 pages

Year of Publication: 2009

His name is Thomas. That’s all he can remember.

He is riding in a dark, clanging, swaying elevator, barreling upward. He doesn’t know where he’s going or where he came from. His only memory is of his name. When the elevator stops and the doors open, Thomas emerges and finds himself in a large courtyard surrounded on all four sides by enormous stone walls. He is gruffly greeted by few dozen teenagers—all boys. And so begins his life in the Glade.

Surrounding the Glade, behind the enormous stone walls, is a labyrinth of mazes. Every morning, when the doors of the maze open, runners enter and search for a way out. Every night, the doors close and strange, deadly creatures called Grievers roam the maze. If the runners don’t make it to the doors by nightfall, they are trapped in the maze until the morning with no way out, making them easy targets for the Grievers. It’s been two years, and, still, no one has found an exit. No one has ever survived a night in the maze either. Not until Thomas arrives, that is.

Thomas is more curious than any of the boys who arrived before him. And, even before he knows much about the Gladers’ situation, he finds himself experiencing an inexplicable desire to be a Maze Runner. He doesn’t understand it, but the Maze and the Glade almost seem familiar to him, and he feels like he was sent there to do something big. 

Things start getting weird soon after he shows up. When an unconscious girl arrives in the elevator, carrying a note that says she’s the last newbie they’ll ever get, Thomas realizes that, whatever he was sent there to do, he needs to figure it out and do it fast.

This first book in James Dashner’s Maze Runner trilogy is full of mystery and excitement, aimed at readers who enjoy books such as The Hunger Games trilogy and the Divergent series. The story contains some valuable themes such as the importance of teamwork, loyalty, and friendship. It also lauds self-sacrifice and second chances. However, the author’s attention is on presenting an engaging plot to engage readers, not on developing these themes.

The writing style is easy to read. Although the plot starts out a bit slow, the chapters are short and the action picks up after a while, making the material manageable for even less experienced readers. The PG-13 content, however, poses some problems for less mature audiences.

The book is not as intense as The Hunger Games, but it still contains those life-or-death situations, creepy creatures, and somewhat gory descriptions that have become standard in post-apocalyptic literature. Some of the main sources of danger and conflict in the book are the Grievers—huge slimy creatures with retractable mechanical arms used to “sting” the Gladers. Throughout the book, some boys are attacked, injured, and even killed by these Grievers. A number of boys are “stung” by the Grievers and survive, but their bodies go through a troubling and frightening process called “the Changing” in order to recover. The author’s description of “the Changing” could be especially disturbing to young readers. There is also some strife between the Gladers themselves that leads to some PG-13 content. One boy attacks another and attempts to kill him. Another Glader explains how one boy was killed by being sliced in half. Someone is shot in the head with an arrow, and someone else is killed by a knife in the chest. The book is cluttered with other such frightening and bloody descriptions that make the novel out of the question for more sensitive readers.

In addition to the violence, there is a bit of inappropriate language and toilet humor. Many—although not all—of the bad words are actually terms made up by the Gladers to substitute for certain frequently used expletives. However, the made-up words are still used by the boys for the purpose of degrading or insulting people, and the fact that they are made up doesn’t necessarily make them less offensive. Even the way that the characters talk to each other is so frequently filled with stinging sarcasm and implied insults that it made me wonder how the Gladers ever even function as a community. Although it can be funny at times, the manner of their conversations gets a little numbing and annoying after a while.

I decided to read this book after seeing a trailer for the movie that is coming out in September 2014. While I enjoyed reading it and had fun being immersed in the mystery and adventure of the story, I now kind of wish that I had waited and only watched the movie. If you read the first book, you almost have to read the next two if you want your questions answered, and all three of them are hard to put down. They absorb your time without really offering you any enrichment. Ultimately, The Maze Runner is perfect for teens and young adults who are looking for a fun and exciting summer read. If you choose to read the series, however, don’t let it be the only books on your summer book list. Reading too many books like this is like eating cotton candy without having any real food: it can be extremely unhealthy. This book isn’t toxic to the soul or something to be avoided completely. However, if you read it, make a point to balance out its “processed sugar” with another book that is both tough and wholesome.