The Death Cure (Maze Runner Series #3) (Maze Runner, #3)

by James Dashner

• ISBN10: 0375896120
• ISBN13: 9780375896125
• Publish Date: 10 May 2014 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
• Imprint: Random House Children's Books
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 248
• Language: English

Reviews

[adamfortuna]

The final book in the Maze Runner series was easily the worst. The world, which was still mostly unknown to us readers, was simplified perhaps too much with an easy solution out.

[zooloo1983]

This is following the same flow as all the other young adult books in this genre. the first book is all action action action, the second is the come down and the third is fighting the big bad that started it all.

The series seemed a bit pointless and not going anywhere but then you read the epilogue and it just made sense to me. The fact that it was infact a man made disease released in order to start afresh in a new world, just seem realistic in way (not the billion of pounds to make a maze etc) the world could go, with all the threat of wars all around and a nuclear one then this could be realistic in the future - harrowing thought!!

The saddest moment for me was Newt, the clunk head has always been my favourite and then announced that some people were immune and some werent, my heart sunk as i know the author would be cruel and kill my favourite off, and i must admit i cried when Newt and Tommy had their final showdown.
i did find it a bit anti climatic with the death of Teresa but i did have a feeling it was coming so they could pave the way for Thomas and Brenda. However, i had a feeling that maybe Brenda was Councillor Page at one point, as we never meet her and only Brenda mentioned her and she seem very intuned with what she wanted........

[Angie]

I am completely unsatisfied with this ending. I didn't hate The Death Cure, but it really didn't answer most of the big questions that arose during the series. In fact, that ending kind of felt like a subtle cliffhanger, and there's more to come. It's almost like the author had so many ideas and twists, but they got too tangled and messy, so he just wrapped up the one main plot and left everything else dangling. That is not how you end a series! Especially once that started out so fantastic!

So let's start with what I did like about The Death Cure. It's pretty fast paced, so I breezed through it. There's a lot going on, so I was never bored, just increasingly frustrated. The story took on this super escape vibe, which was pretty fun, until that turned into the whole resolution. Seriously. Thomas and everyone who is left escape from WICKED and that is the end. And...end of the what I liked portion of this review.

The Death Cure really doesn't provide any additional answers to what we were given in The Scorch Trials. Thomas and the other teens are being tested so WICKED can create a cure for the Flare. Okay, well, why those tests? It seems to be like a major waste of resources and time. Obviously nothing went the way they wanted or needed it to in order to make the cure, but instead of switching tactics, WICKED just continues on with their manipulative games. It took me like ten seconds to come up with an alternate way to map their brain patterns in response to various situations. Make a life-like simulation! They obviously have that technology, and they could control a whole heck of a lot more without the kids ever finding out until it was over! Same themselves some trouble, and put some money toward helping the healthy people in the mean time. Duh.

Teresa also continued to frustrate me to no end. Whenever she pulls the "we need to talk" card with Thomas she never says anything! She claims she's trying to help, but nothing that comes out of her mouth is helpful! She knows how she and Thomas fit into WICKED before they entered the maze, but she never says anything about it, and I'm certain that would be helpful information! Also, we never learn what their connection was! Thomas continues to have random snippets of memories, but the boy flat out refuses to have his memories restored, so we never know! This has been a major plot thread since book one and it's not even answered! WTF?! And why is WICKED good?! Telll me that, Teresa!

The Death Cure had a lot going for it until that ending. I was waiting for some big surprise to wow me, and it never came. I also waited for answers, which also never came. They all got out, so what? It seems like all this happened for nothing. The scope also got too huge. Everything was good when it was just the Gladers vs WICKED, but everything got out of the control. While I'm not happy with this ending, I am very curious about The Kill Order. I'll likely read that sometime soon, and hopefully it'll shed some light on the situation.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

4.5

[vagasker]

This was my least favorite book in the series. It didn't ruin the series though. I still very much enjoyed it. One big plus of the series was that Dashner didn't let everyone live just because they were the main characters. I always hate it when writers do that just to pleasure the readers. Overall I am glad I picked up the series and I hope they won't screw up the movie next year..

[Stephanie]

I was really excited for this book. I was really looking forward to finally getting some answers and for Thomas to get his memories back, but that doesn't happen. And it made the reading experience not all that enjoyable.

There are so many questions left open, and even more questions raised in The Death Cure, but they never get answered. I spent half the book annoyed with Thomas because he refused to get his memories back. It took me over 200 pages to realize that Thomas wasn't stupid and that WICKED was actually the bad guys. I was convinced that WICKED was good (hello Teresa?!) until I was well into the book.

There was one part where Brenda held Thomas back to have a private conversation with him, and was about to tell him something important about her past, but Thomas stops her, refuses to let her tell him. At that point in the story, I figured we would hear what Brenda wanted to tell him later, I thought she was going to tell him that Chancellor Paige was her mom or something, but we are never told what she wanted to tell him. What was the point of even having that little scene in there then? Even at the very end of the story, I felt like Dashner was trying to hint that Brenda knew more than what she was saying, but it's never shown. It just ends. UGH!

I didn't completely hate the book. There were moments when I was really into the book. But that was just because I was driven to read by the false hope that some questions would be answered. I kept waiting for a twist, but it never came.

[KitsuneBae]

For a full revie, please visit: Thoughts and Pens

You must have noticed that the summary I’ve written is directly copied from Goodreads when I usually create my own gist for every book that I’ve read. I am using symbolism here, guys. It means that just like the book, I’ve lost my fire in writing an original summary. For me, The Death Cure is a sore disappointment when you think about the Maze Runner and Scorch Trials.

So it was good that the major question in our mind was answered, why there’s a need for a test, would the characters we’ve come to love survive the deadly disease, would everything be okay. That was fine and everything. What irked me was that there are a lot fight scenes in this book that it was almost an exaggeration. Yeah, I understand that it’s got to be action packed but some of the scenes were just unessential.

Another major problem that I have with this book is that, where’s the mature Thomas that I’ve come to love in book 1 and book 2? It seems that with all the things going on in his world, he’s also losing his heart. For some reason, I didn’t feel that he grieved for Newt, who had stuck with him from the very beginning, when the latter was proven to be not immune to the disease. It was near the end when he remembered that he had a heart afterall by trying to save Theresa. But even that looked like a last attempt of JD to say that Thomas has grown.
And there’s Theresa who had been a major character from book 1. What about her? I admit that I didn’t like her but what I didn’t like most was how James Dashner dispatched her like a secondary character in this book. She played a major role in 1 and 2 but suddenly, she’s gone blending into the background like a dull wallflower. And Brenda, who’s supposed to be a secondary character, became the instant heroine of this book. How did that happen? And why the almost insta-love with Thomas? @_@

My last problem would be why in the world that Thomas and the gang suddenly ended up in a green paradise where majority of the world is ridden with Cranks? I mean come on, the ending is just like that when JD could have done a better job? JD could have just hinted that upon arrival at the paradise, the heroes are working on a cure or Thomas has discovered in his uncured amnesiac something that might be able to restore the good in the world. But no, instead we are treated to a scene where the heroes are building their new home unmindful of what’s happening in the other realm.

On a positive note, this book still has a few good things to think about. One is Minho who had always been a consistent character from the very beginning. He’s just an awesome leader, focused, firm and just cool. And then Newt. I didn’t expect that he was so brave in accepting death and asking Thomas to kill him. And I think it wouldn’t hurt to say that this book has at least provided some clarifications to our major question.

On a general perspective, this book is okay with the fact that I finished it. But I’m still hanging with the loose ends JD has failed to connect at the end. To put it in a simpler note, the momentum is there with The Scorch Trials but The Death Cure simply failed to reach its climax.

Anyway, I still recommend this book if you are an action book addict or just to complete the whole series. No loose ends, remember? Don’t mind my wicked review because WICKED is good.

[Stephanie]

Something about this one bothered me (I think it was the setting, but I'll have to think on it for a bit.)

Didn't hate it, but didn't love it. That's why it gets a solid three stars.

Overall, good series.

[sstaley]

What a fantastic ending to one of my favorite series! I was very satisfied and was happy to not be shaking my head after reading the last page.(I will not reveal which series ending did that to me; but...if you are close to me you know what series I am talking about.) I love this 3rd book as much as I did the 1st book in the series.

I love reading books written by James Dashner. His writing sucks you in, and you don't even realize that you are reading because you get so involved with the story and it's character's. I would describe it as if you are watching a movie. I so excited to read the prequel to this series.

This is a must read book, and series, for readers that love a fast paced dystopian novel.

[rakesandrogues]

I think that it’s quite a problem that I’m struggling to write a review of THE DEATH CURE just a few days after I had finished reading. I was a fan of the Maze Runner series with its action-packed mystery and surprising conclusions. Unfortunately, everything that I loved about the series were lacking in the final installment of the Maze Runner series.

I couldn’t get into THE DEATH CURE, but at the same time, it wasn’t a struggle to read. I read the book in two days, more or less, but I felt entirely disconnected from the reading experience. I just couldn’t immerse myself into the world that Dashner had created. Furthermore there was a lack of variation in the tension of the novel. The characters were always on their toes, watching their backs, and I feel as if the constant high tension just made the novel anti-climactic. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat.

In the previous book, The Scorch Trials, Dashner hinted at a bit of romance. While there are still some suggestions of romantic tension between the characters, Dashner does not delve into it any deeper. At its core, THE DEATH CURE remains to be about Wicked’s “good” intentions to find a cure for the Flare.

I think I’ve always had a problem connecting to Thomas, partly because of the third-person perspective. I just didn’t understand his character which made it difficult to root him on. I was apathetic to his cause the entire time I was reading. There was no one character I particularly liked, nor was there a character that I disliked.

The ending was satisfying because it ties up the story well. I had no lingering questions. But as an ending to a series that I had enjoyed, it was a bummer. I enjoyed the first two books immensely and it’s disappointing to end the series on a sour note. THE DEATH CURE is still worth a read for fans of the series, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

Why I’m Biased: I had high expectations for this book since I was a fan of the series.