The Scorch Trials was a fun concept which was poorly executed, it kept me hooked more than the first book in the series but I didn't think it was anything special.

Full review on my blog: www.thepunktheory.wordpress.com

So guys, I know that there is a huge fandom around the Maze runner series, but I have to admit that I am less than impressed.
I'll begin with my thoughts on the novel by James Dashner. The first part in the series was not perfect, but it featured some interesting aspects and I was excited to see where Scorch Trials would take us.
However, I ended up disappointed. Not all of it made sense, over quite a few chapters it was boring and you could see where this was heading from the beginning. Nevertheless, I was rather by the way finished this novel. To be honest, it seemed like even the author didn't really know what to do with the story or what to come up with. After this let-down of a book I was still interested to see what the movie would look like!

Amber (The Literary Phoenix)

Written on Jan 17, 2018

Hmm.

Some mixed feelings on this one? I'm sort of on the edge of meh, but just curious enough about the plot to continue forward. That's weird for me - I'm a character reader, and if I don't care about any of the characters, then I usually opt out. Interesting change.

1. There was a lot of room for incredible world building in this one, but I feel like Dashner fell a bit short. The characters must have spent half the book in pitch black and after the first time, that got boring. There's this whole wasteland of opportunities, but he kept plunging them into the dark. Why?

2. As a middle book, The Scorch Trials held up well. I remember distinctly not enjoying The Maze Runner, and although its been several years, I feel like this one was better in retrospect.

3. Maybe it's because I'm a girl, or I'm too old, or something, but... anyone else out there think Thomas was irrelevant and boring? I know he's the main character and obviously he's going to end up being a Chosen One, but I'm just booooooored with him. It feels forced.

4. I feel like there are some books that need to be about adventure. Trials. Self-discovery. Not weird love triangles? The romantic relationship in this book is weird.

5. I do like that we're seeing more sides of the story. Evil isn't always evil and good isn't always good, and that's starting to be well-represented. WICKED's involvement got complicated in this book, and Minho's temper made him stand out as a good-guy-who-doesn't-always-do-good-things.

6. I have issues with Jorge? It may have just been the narrator, but Jorge was a very I Saw It On TV-esque stereotypical Mexican representation? I felt like we were talking to a young Machete or something.

7. On the other hand, I did quite like other voices the narrator did? Newt, for example. I like Newt. And, apparently, he's Irish. It's been a while since The Maze Runner - is that canon or interpretive? Whatever it is, I enjoyed it. Also he's just a good guy.

8. The action in this one was so much better. I'm genuinely interested in the testing now, and I was groaning right alongside Thomas as they had enemies and catastrophes torn at them. The girls seemed to be doing okay, but the boys needed a break....

9. I think there's a lot of potential in the added characters. Brenda had her ups and downs, but she could be good... as well as the whole new group of girls. I'd like to see further character development in The Death Cure.

10. There was a lot of repetition and explaining in this book... and since we're at the second book, I feel like we should be good and over that. The addition of the flashbacks helped even out the pacing, but the third time Thomas had to explain who he was, I wanted to slam my head on the desk.

All and all, I have a lot of nitpicks about this one, but it's not bad. Not my favorite, but not bad. Good enough that I'll read the sequel, but not so good that I'm gushing. Especially since I think Teresa is a bit annoying and could care less about Aris and Thomas is boring. So I guess I'm reading for Newt and Brenda and to find out how the mind-mapping plays in with the cure.

mrs_mander_reads

Written on May 7, 2017

First of all, in a world where like, half the population is dead and there's only a couple of spots safe to live, why on a Earth is WCKD spending their time creating horrifying monsters like grievers and the lightbulb things? I personally think their time could be used more wisely.

Secondly. Tyler and I listened to this together on audio, and we enjoyed it. The book is extremely suspenseful and has some surprising twists that kept us guessing. There are some parts that are gross and I could do without them, but whatever.

I thought we might be over this series after listening to the first two, but we both feel compelled to read #3.

ammaarah

Written on Jun 27, 2016

"All I will say it that sometimes what you see is not real and sometimes what you do not see is real." (Rat Man)

The Maze Runner doesn't have great character development, but the plot works and I enjoyed reading about the Glades. In The Scorch Trials, there is no character development and no substantial plot. The Scorch Trials is a failure!

The characters suck! Thomas is a Gary-Stu who is good at everything and can do no wrong. In The Scorch Trials, he is always sleeping and passing out. Great protagonist! After all the crap he's gone through inThe Maze Runner, he's still coping, quick thinking and better than everybody else. His experiences do not change him. Minho is the sarcastic, smart-ass with all the quips, Newt is the calm, rational guy who holds the team together, and all the other Gladers, well, Thomas doesn't give a crap about them so why should we?

Many secondary characters are introduced: Group B (which is the Gladers gender-swapped with a bunch of girls and one guy), Brenda and Jorge. However, they are stereotypical characters who aren't developed. Brenda, Theresa and the rest of the girls are literally the same character. I also didn't get to see any new sides of the characters that I loved from The Maze Runner. Where's Minho's vulnerable side and Newt's angry side? Huh? The only character that I cared about in the The Maze Runner, isn't around in The Scorch Trials. Chuck would have made this book great!

The romance in The Scorch Trials feels so out of place. Theresa and Thomas? Brenda and Thomas? I don't care! Even after what happened with Theresa in The Scorch Trials, I DON'T CARE. Thomas can have a romantic relationship with whoever he wants and live his Gary-Stu life.

The Scorch Trials suffers heavily from second book syndrome. The Gladers are put in a desert environment and have to reach a 'safe haven' in order to receive a cure for the Flare, a disease that they are infected with, that has gripped their dystopian world and that makes people become Cranks and go mad.

The following is me having a normal, ranty conversation with The Scorch Trials. No, I'm not crazy! :
Book: Apparently these trials are supposed to save the human race?
Me: Okay, then... How?
Book: By dropping a bunch of kids in the desert to see which of them will survive?
Me: But doesn't WICKED already have a cure?
Book: Huh... Yeah, but did you notice all the scientific words, that Thomas got some of his memories back, and that there's a bunch of questions that need to be answered.
Me: But, where's the plot going and when are these questions going to be answered?
Book: Oh, don't worry about that! Here's some action and plot twists that will confuse you so that you don't notice that the plot's going nowhere and that you aren't going to get any answers.
Me: WHY?!?! What did I do to deserve this? How many ants did I kill in my past life?!?

The 'shocking' plot twists don't work because I don't care about the characters. If the characters succeed or fail, I would feel the same way that I felt while reading The Scorch Trials, indifferent. The action and plot twists are also extreme. On every second page some type of action takes place. I literally became immune to all the action that was going on in The Scorch Trials. My overexposure to the action made my indifference towards the characters worse. I also never got a sense that Thomas's life was in immediate danger. So whenever he was injured or at the brink of death, I knew that he wouldn't be killed off.

The Scorch Trials makes me feel nothing... Wait! The Scorch Trials makes me feel extremely angry for wasting my time. I was so frustrated because a bunch of important questions were being thrown at me and in The Scorch Trials, there's no attempt to answer those important questions. There's too much of mindless action and plot twists and I felt so detached from the plot and the characters. I'm not impressed!

tweetybugshouse

Written on Sep 7, 2015

This book was a bit more on the gruesome side i felt then Maze Runner but it was a lot more intriguing i say as you are not really sure what going on, what characters to believe and if what you think going to happen will happen. Also at the end your like is this the end or are they just yanking my chain again because their is another book. This series is one that totally plays with your mind and the movies are making it that much better. I will be reading and reviewing book 3 about the time the next movie comes out just so i can keep fresh what they change.

Baroness Book Trove

Written on Aug 30, 2015

Another awesome and wow book ever from Mr. James Dashner. Just wow. That’s all I could think of throughout this book. In this one we definitely see character development along with a sense of the urgency and how much effort it must have took for all of them to get to where they needed to go. And poor Thomas. That’s all I am going to say.

In this one though we get some new characters who are like the opposite of the Gladers. This whole book was just one big whirlwind of emotions and trying to get to where they needed to go before their end date. I don’t want to ruin any part of this book for anyone but I do hope that Thomas and the rest of the Gladers get to live out their lives in peace away from WICKED! I mean that group has put them through hell but all they care about is trying to figure something out between these two groups.

This book for me is a five butterflies in rating from me. It just has everything in it needed for a prefect book to get you into it and worried for all the characters. I think that is it for me since once again I don’t want to spoil anything for you guys. Yes though I would recommend this book to anyone that would ask me about it. Especially so that I can talk to them about it as well and see what they thought of it.

Anyways until next time enjoy this book review brought to you by

Baroness’ Book Trove.

To read my other book reviews please go to my blog site: baronessbooktrove (dot) com!

Kim Deister

Written on Apr 9, 2015

The Maze Runner had me hooked from the beginning and The Scorch Trials kept that going. This one was non-stop action and even more of the mysteries of the world they live in are revealed.

The Gladers have been told that their trials are over now, but in reality, they are just beginning. There is no more Maze, but then they are thrown out into the post-apocalyptic, scorched world with a miimum of resources and told to cross the Scorch. They are made promises if they make it successfully across within the alloted time. And then the obstacles begin, different from the Maze, but just as serious and often horrifying.

This air of mystery is something I love about these books. Secrets are revealed, but never very many at the time. But instead of being frustrating, it amps up the anticipation. WICKED, its people and its motives, is still a blur outside of their immediate circumstances and it leaves a lot of room for the imagination.

There are a lot of new characters in this book and, even though I have finished the novel, I am still not sure how I feel about some of them. In this series, where what is good seems bad and what is bad may have a positive purpose, it is sometimes hard to neatly categorize the characters into simple "good" and "bad" groups. But I like this because there is a lot of gray in humanity.

There were some harsh lessons to be learned in this novel, especially that of betrayal and trust. From moment to moment, it is difficult to determine what is real and what isn't. Who is sincere and who isn't. This is not exactly conducive to building a trustful environment. And once again, we are left with almost as many questions as we got answers.

My Recommendation: The mystery behind the story is what builds the anticipation for me. While generally, I gravitate towards more character-driven stories, this one is very much plot-driven and I truly love it.

adamfortuna

Written on Dec 31, 2014

It's not often the 2nd one in a series is better than the first one. For me though, I enjoyed this one more than the original. That's not to say it was a great book, but I did enjoy where it took the story. After reading the first in the series, I wasn't sure I would read anymore of it. After re-watching the movie with some friends, I knew I had to see where the story went.

cornerfolds

Written on Dec 6, 2014

Well, I did this thing where I waited around to write this review and now I'm not sure what to say. I wasn't sure what to say once I finished the book either, which is probably why it's taken me so long to do it.

The Scorch Trials was just a really weird book for me. Thomas and co. wake up to find Teresa missing from the place they've been taken. After a weird guy shows up behind an invisible barrier, they learn that their trials are far from over and they'll have to spend the next two weeks trying to find a safe haven in the middle of a wasteland. Each of the characters is assigned a role - Minho is "The Leader," Newt is "The Glue," and Teresa is "The Betrayer." Unfortunately, Thomas is "To be killed by group B." There is also a new boy added to the Gladers - Aris from Group B, which is explained in much greater detail in The Scorch Trials.

The pacing for the second Maze Runner book is about on par with the first - that is to say, it can be very slow at times. Maybe if I had read it instead of listening to it, it would have kept me turning pages to see what happened. Then again, maybe I would've given up halfway through. While the storyline is very interesting, I feel that it could have been written in a way that would have kept me more invested. I found myself not caring a heck of a lot when a character died or was injured... And the Cranks weren't nearly as terrifying as they should have been.

On their way to the safe haven, the boys have to fight the elements, the Cranks, and more weird creatures created by Wicked. They meet two new characters, Brenda and Jorge, who help them through the Scorch. Wicked is unpredictable, helping when it fits their master plan and abandoning everyone in every other situation The Gladers eventually do find Teresa, who lives up to her new title, but might not be as bad as she seems.

The ending of The Scorch Trials is just as weird as the rest of the book, introducing new monsters and hidden agendas. It remains to be seen if the Gladers really are through with their trials, but I'm not sure if I can muster enough interest to read The Death Cure. I'm surprised to say that I'm really enjoying the Maze Runner movie series (well, the one that's out) more than the books so far.