The Kill Order (Maze Runner, #4)

by James Dashner

Book four in the blockbuster Maze Runner series that spawned a movie franchise and ushered in a worldwide phenomenon! And don’t miss The Fever Code, the highly-anticipated series conclusion that finally reveals the story of how the maze was built!
 
   Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth, killing most of the population.
   Mark and Trina were there when it happened. They survived. But now a virus is spreading. A virus that fills humans with murderous rage. 
   They’re convinced that there’s a way to save those who are left—if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some you’re worth more dead than alive. 
   The end is only the beginning.

The Maze Runner, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, and Maze Runner: The Death Cure are all now major motion pictures featuring the star of MTV's Teen Wolf, Dylan O’Brien; Kaya Scodelario; Aml Ameen; Will Poulter; and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
 
Also look for James Dashner’s edge-of-your-seat MORTALITY DOCTRINE series!

Praise for the Maze Runner series:
A #1 New York Times Bestselling Series
A USA Today Bestseller
A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of the Year
An ALA-YASLA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book
An ALA-YALSA Quick Pick
 
“[A] mysterious survival saga that passionate fans describe as a fusion of Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, and Lost.” —EW
 
“Wonderful action writing—fast-paced…but smart and well observed.” —Newsday
 
“[A] nail-biting must-read.” —Seventeen
 
“Breathless, cinematic action.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“Heart pounding to the very last moment.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“Exclamation-worthy.” —Romantic Times
 
“James Dashner’s illuminating prequel [The Kill Order] will thrill fans of this Maze Runner [series] and prove just as exciting for readers new to the series.” —Shelf Awareness, Starred

“Take a deep breath before you start any James Dashner book.” —Deseret News

• ISBN10: 0385742886
• ISBN13: 9780385742887
• Publish Date: 14 August 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780385742887

Reviews

My reasons for reading The Kill Order was because:
1) It came with the whole entire Maze Runner series that I booked from the library months ago.
2) Because I hoped that it would redeem The Maze Runner Series for me.

"We made it, and that's all that matters. Somehow you need to let go of the past." (Trina)

I didn't care about anything in this book, the characters, the plot, the action and the violence and as a prequel it didn't add anything important to the story.

THE CHARACTERS
The prologue made me believe that the characters from The Maze Runner would feature in The Kill Order, but I was mistaken. None of the Gladers or characters in The Maze Runner appear in this book. Entirely new characters are introduced and these characters have already developed relationships a year before this book starts. I feel neutral (I didn't hate them, nor did I like them) towards these characters and this was due to fact that I didn't get to know who they are and why they interact with each other the way they do. Because I didn't know much about the characters, I could not relate to them and I wasn't rooting for them.

Dashner tries extra hard to make his characters likable and sympathetic, but ends up making them untouchable and invincible "heroes" that are difficult to form a connection with. The characters in The Kill Order go through emotional and trying times, but I didn't feel the emotions and horrors with them. The characters in this book are also stereotypical and aren't developed. I could literally replace these characters with characters from The Maze Runner and it wouldn't make a difference.

THE PLOT
When I read a prequel, I always ask myself, "How does this book impact on the series and does it add anything to it." In this case, the answer is a definite "No!" This book doesn't deal with the Sun Flares and how it impacts the earth as I thought it would. Instead, it's told in disjointed flashbacks by the main character, Mark.

This book doesn't even deal with Thomas and Theresa and their past with WICKED as the prologue makes me believe it would and this is something that I was definitely looking forward to. Instead, this book deals with the Virus that infected the human population, a year after the Sun Flares have ruined the earth. Instead of answering questions that I still hve after the end of The Death Cure this book proceeds to make me more confused and make me ask even more questions and I doubt these questions will be answered now. It's extremely frustrating and annoying.

The plot is also extremely random and disjointed. It felt as though Dashner wanted to deal with a lot of themes and issues in this book and he introduces them, but fails to carry them through. In terms of plot, this book goes nowhere! I didn't know what the end-game of the characters are or what are were trying to achieve.

THE ACTION AND VIOLENCE
The action and violence over took everything else in this book. The plot and the characters are overshadowed by the action. I love books that are fast-paced and can keep me on the edge of my seat, but that's not the only thing that makes me love a book. The book has to include either characters that blow me away, a world that makes me think the author is a genius or a story line that makes me wishing that I thought of it first. The Kill Order has none of that going for it.

The only thing it has is action and violence and it's used to the extreme. Something involving fighting and weaponry happens on almost every single page and I got so bored of it all. The same thing that happened to me while reading The Maze Runner series happens in The Kill Order. My head isn't racing when the characters get into trouble and I didn't even care when they do. I was immune to the action that was going on and instead of feeling like I was reading a dystopian book that kept me guessing, I ended up feeling as though I was reading a sports magazine. (There are many people who enjoy reading about sports, but I'm not one of them. When I read about sports, I'm usually bored, unattached, uninterested and confused - i.e. the way I felt when reading The Kill Order)

The Kill Order favours action and violence over character development and a solid plot and for me, a book cannot stand on its "shock-factor", which is it's action and violence, alone. I feel no emotions or connections towards this book.

[Baroness Book Trove]

Okay so I have never read this series before but I decided to read the prequel and the other books after I was done watching the first movie. And holy fudge this story is really good. I loved how we are able to see what happened to the world after the sun flare killed mostly everyone off and what the world looks like.

Granted we get most of that information from Mark but it’s still pretty good. I know that some people say not to read this book until after I read the other books but I wanted to read it first because I wanted to know what happened before Thomas entered the Glade.

Mr. James Dashner is a really good author and I am quite pleased to finally get to read this series now. I loved all the characters that Mark and Trina knew in the book and was sad to know with what happened to each and every single one of them. **SPOILER*** I know that some people have their ideas that Mark and Trina are Thomas’s parents but I don’t see how that is possible after the second to last chapter before we met little Thomas. Plus I’m not convinced that Deedee could be the young Teresa. I guess noone would really figure it out.

Anyways I am going to give this book five butterflies. Many of you would probably be wondering with why I took so long with this book and why I am giving it five butterflies. The reason it took me so long is because I have had a lot of recent developments happening around me that needed my attention at times but I will still be here. The reason I gave this book a five butterflies is mostly because it held my attention the whole time, when I wasn’t reading it I was wondering with what was going on for Mark and Trina and their friends along with the fact that Mr. James Dashner was captivating me from the first chapter in the book.

[Kim Deister]

The Kill Order The Kill Order is the first prequel to The Maze Runner series, soon to be followed by The Fever Code. This book takes place 13 years prior to the events of The Maze Runner and, although I have read many reviews that expressed disappointment because of the lack of connection between this book and the trilogy, but there is a connection. It comes at the very beginning and at the very end, but it brings it all together. This provides some excellent backstory to The Maze Runner.
 
The story takes place long before the Maze and the Glade, even before WICKED came into being. The majority of the story occurs after the sun flares have hit the earth, when groups of people have created new communities and have struggled to survive. The story of the flares and the immediate aftermath is told through memories of the past, giving the reader a taste of the horror and chaos of the time, the struggle to survive not just the flares, but some of humanity's worst.
 
Most of the story is centered around Mark, Alec, Trina, and Deedee, along with other members of their group. They have struggled, but, with the others, they have created new lives for themselves. Until the day that a government Berg (an aircraft) shows up and begins shooting darts at them, darts that seem to be filled with some kind of poison. Once again, their lives are turned on edge and they are fighting to survive.
 
This is a book that shows humanity both at its best and at its worst. There is madness and agony, pain and loss. There are those who will do most anything in the name of the greater good, and those that see things differently and fight for their beliefs.
 
While it is true that the connections to the main series are only in the beginning and the end of the book, I think that the story told in this book sets the stage for The Maze Runner books. It explains so much about how the world came to be as it is in ways that the main series does not. I think it adds a lot to the overall story.
 
My Recommendation
 
I read this prior to beginning The Maze Runner and it definitely set the stage for it, although I do think that it could be read after the main series.

[Stephanie]

I listened to the audiobook because I knew I would never get around to actually reading it. I decided to listen to the book when a coworker told me that Mark ends up being Thomas in the end. Which is not true. Mark is Mark and Thomas is Thomas, and really, Thomas has nothing to do with this book. In her defense, she hasn't read the book yet, it was her brother who told her that. So I'm just gonna go with she misunderstood her brother, because one of the characters do end up being someone from The Maze Runner, but not Thomas. And unless you get some special edition of The Kill Order, you would not know this unless you look it up online (like I did because I was so confused).

I really don't know how to discuss this book. As a book by itself, it's not that bad. If I read this book before I read The Maze Runner, I probably would have liked it more.

The only thing the book really adds to The Maze Runner series is it gives more information on what happened right after the sun flares hit and how the virus was introduced to the world. Now, looking back, it was actually kind of boring. There's a lot of action, and between the action is Mark and Alec resting to get their strength back before they go back for more action to save Trina, Lana, and DeeDee.

Now. There is an epilogue. I was so confused after listening to the epilogue that I had to go back and listen to it again. It has nothing to do with Mark or Trina, Alec or Lana. It's about Thomas. It made no sense to me why the epilogue was even there. It really adds nothing to the story and just left me more confused.

Since I was so confused I started reading reviews, and found out that there was a special Barnes and Nobles edition of The Kill Order, and after the acknowledgements there is an additional scene that actually ties The Kill Order to The Maze Runner. If you didn't get the special edition (like me) then I highly suggest looking it up. It would have made a lot more sense for that special edition scene to be the epilogue, because it leads up to The Maze Runner perfectly (a lot better than the actual epilogue).

So, to sum up my feelings for the series: I really enjoyed The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials was okay, The Death Cure pissed me off, and The Kill Order barely adds anything to the series (unless you go digging around the internet and find that special edition scene).

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

4.25

[Mercy]

Estoy tratando de procesar lo que siento luego de terminar de leer esto. Así que tratará de ordenar mis pensamientos y mis emociones antes de dar una opinión u.u
Fuckin' CPC! Fuckin' CCP! I can't...