Review: The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

You know you’ve caught the Flare when:

• Your thoughts are hard to focus
• You aren’t afraid to drop 30 feet to the ground
• You’ve forgotten why you ever wanted to escape the Scorch

Thomas and the Gladers left the Maze only to begin another round of trials by WICKED (World in Catastrophe Killzone Experiment D). If you thought The Maze Runner was exciting then you won’t be disappointed with The Scorch Trials.

As Thomas’ memories slowly come back he figures out he is more connected to WICKED than he ever knew. The mind games keep the Gladers in a constant state of confusion and cause Thomas to question everything he knows about himself and his friends. To top it off, the Gladers are informed they have a disease known as the Flare which causes people to lose their minds and slowly mutate into zombie-like creatures known as cranks.

The cranks were creepy and not your typical zombies. Some of the not quite full-blown cranks are still able to talk and groups of cranks roam together in groups according to the stage of the disease. Definitely creepy. As was the setting. Dashner does a good job describing the crispy, sun-baked Scorch which the Gladers must travel across. Some of the descriptions were a little gruesome. This is a violent book. People get hurt and die which only adds to the mystery surrounding WICKED’s intentions.

Like Thomas, I never knew exactly what was going on, who to trust or what to expect. The only thing you can expect is that WICKED is going to run its experiments on the Gladers and will stop at nothing to get the data it’s looking for. I’m with Thomas – how can WICKED by good (no pun intended)? I’m really looking forward to the third book to find out what the trials are all about and how Thomas and Teresa are connected to it all. So, no you won’t get any definitive answers in this book – just the kind of answers that make you ask more questions.

As with the first book, The Scorch Trials is fast paced. Each chapter is short, only 3-5 pages long and ends with a teaser making it a good book for reluctant readers. The prose is fairly simple and linear but the plot is interesting and exciting. Dashner knows how to create suspense. It was the perfect book while I was busy in school and needed something fun to read.

The Scorch Trials is book two in the Maze Runner Trilogy.

Publisher: Delacorte, 2010.     Pages: 368       Recommended Age: 13 and up

Rating: 4 Stars                           Source: IC Public Library