Last Hope


Darren Kabunga
6/1/20

Maze Runner: The Death Cure
By James Dashner

“He knew enough about the Purge, about it being the shift from the original creators to their replacement. He and Teresa had to exterminate the entire staff after an outbreak-- they’d had had no choice, were the only ones left who were immune. He swore to never think about it again”( Dashner Chapter 28). Thomas’s memories about his past years had been gone; the only way he knew anything was learning it or from little snippets he got from his dreams.

The Death Cure is the third book of the Maze Runner series. Thomas, Minho, Newt, and two others are the main characters of this book. After going through the first two trials--revealed within the previous books--Thomas and the others are tired of working for WICKED. WICKED is a group created by the leading countries, who are left after The Flare ravaged the world. WICKED’s job is to find a cure for the disease. The Flare is a disease that infects your mind and it makes you go insane, but there are some upsides only for the infected though. It gives your strength a boost and lowers the body’s pain receptors. It also takes away your humanity, so I guess you don’t have to feel as bad about the terrible stuff you may do. The infected are referred to as Cranks. Thomas and his friends are immune to the disease except for Newt. That’s why WICKED was using them as test subjects. The tests were a bit different from normal tests. No blood samples and needles. They were called trials or phases. The point of the tests was to figure out why the Flare didn’t affect the people who were immune. Thomas and his friends fought all kinds of people and creatures and also witnessed many other kids die in these tests. In order for the trials to go well, WICKED had removed their memories and left them with little. WICKED decided to give them their memories back; they had decided it was no longer important for them to not have their memories. Thomas, Newt, and Minho don’t want their memories back since one of the WICKED representatives, Janson, gave them an option. The boys were tired of WICKED messing with their minds and then they were sent back to their room, but the next morning, Janson walks into their room with a few guards. He says they are getting their memories back whether they want to or not. They are then taken to a lab where they are supposed to get sedated. Thomas’s friend Brenda happens to be the person who will sedate him. Brenda isn’t the biggest fan of WICKED, so she already has a plan that WICKED may not like that much. Brenda will be the key in the whole plan of them escaping while they are also on a timer for how soon Newt’s going to get fully infected.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t just read books for fun. I only read when it’s assigned by a teacher. This book and this series are amazing. Even on days where I didn’t have any assignment that required me to read, I would still read this book. So many mysteries are added and resolved in this book. A lot of what went on in the second book is explained. You find out so much interesting stuff that isn’t explained in the previous book. For example, Brenda. She was a Crank during the second book that supposedly wasn’t fully insane and just happened to be in the town where Thomas passed through. But in reality, she was just a part of the test: “Then she was letting go, stepping away. Sorry, she mumbled. I’m just glad to see he made it through Phase Three. I forgot myself” (Dashner Chapter 7). Thomas was completely shocked, so was I. I thought she was just part of the test in the second book, but she was actually working for WICKED. She knew about the tests they were going through. This began answering some of the questions I had, but I also gained more questions. If you love mystery, then this is definitely a must-read. Everything that happened left you with an urge to read more to answer those questions you had. 

One of my favorite quotes in this book shows Dashner’s descriptive talent . James Dashner’s descriptive writing makes a simple scene seem alive and happening: “He was struck by all the activity around him as he joined them. A bustling crowd of men and women -- many of whom clutched rags to their mouths -- filled a huge atrium topped with a glass ceiling far above, letting in loads of sunshine. Through one corner he could see the tops of several skyscrapers - though these looked nothing like the ones they'd come across in the Scorch. They were brilliant in the sunlight"(Dashner Chapter 23). If there is a movie option for a book, I would rather watch that than read. And that option does exist for most popular books nowadays, so that contributes to why I don’t read too often. I like seeing rather than trying to imagine something that degrades the scene. Dashner’s writing makes your visualization easy; the writing is perfectly descriptive. The book didn’t get boring when it described scenes like this especially when it came to the action. And my favorite genre is action in: movies, books, games, and whatever else. This book had no spare of interesting action-filled scenes: “ Again the van jolted backward. The man holding the sledgehammer tumbled onto the front hood before he could slam again and landed in the street. A Crank with a long gash on top of his bald head yanked the tool from the man’s grip and got two more whacks in before a group of other people started fighting him for his weapon. The cracks in the windshield almost completely obscured the view from inside the van. The sound of breaking glass came from the rear; Thomas spun around to see an arm wiggling through a gash in the window, the jagged edges tearing its skin” (Dashner Chapter 49). This scene was complete chaos, and I enjoyed it. The constant high pace of it made me feel like I was part of the scene or at least watching a movie. It was interesting and just kept making me want to read more to see what would happen. That brings me to what this book did the best job on in my opinion. Every chapter felt like a cliffhanger; it’s hard to find a breakpoint when you’re reading The Death Cure. Every bit of the book kept getting more and more interesting and it never got boring at least to me. Without a doubt, this is one of my favorite books and I still haven’t even finished it yet. That’s just how good it is.

As for my recommendation… Maze Runner: The Death Cure is an amazing book. It has a bit of what anyone would want. Action, drama, mystery, and romance. Though the romance is not really my taste, everything else is. The constant action and mystery are what keeps you going. I do suggest reading the first two books will definitely help you when you read this, but it’s up to you. There aren’t many bad things I can say about this book since I also haven’t even read the end, so far. This book is something you should add to your future reading list no matter who you are unless you get attached to the characters really easily.

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