12 April 2011

The Scorch Trials


This is the second book to that The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

I wanted to love The Maze Runner when I read it last year, but didn't really. I felt like it lacked something—something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it's because I'm not a young man ages 13-16 (or whatever YA is targeted at).

This second book was better. Of course by the end of it I was sick and tired of these kids pretty much being tortured. Maybe it's the ninja girl in me, but I was ready for them to fight back. The end hints that this will happen in book three.

The basic plot is the world is in chaos, sun flares have fried the equatorial regions, killing a lot of people. A disease called the Flare turns people into decaying corpses that are still alive (not really zombies, but close). These kids have been put through the Maze and now the Scorch Trials so that the experimenters can get patterns from their behavior that will supposedly save the human race.

Yes, it sounds strange. Hello, dystopia Sci-fi. Love it. My next project is the same genre, totally different story, obviously.

Anyway, I enjoyed this second novel more than the first. The characters weren't so stereotypical and it seemed like the author was more at ease writing them, which was cool. Everyone got into their groove, which made the book really easy to read and hard to put down. Good setting, always varied and loads of action.

If you don't like unhappy stories, don't read this book. I've vowed to read something happy before I go on to the second book of the Hunger Games. Two in a row might make me pretty grouchy.

3 comments:

Cindy said...

You know, I felt the same about The Maze Runner. I was disappointed in it. Can't decide if I want to attempt the second.

-Jo- said...

The second one is better. Mostly pure action with a little bit of plot thrown in. You should read it and then we can figure out why the first one was only "okay".

Grow Family said...

I've been wanting to read the Maze Runner Jo. I am glad I now know someone who has and to hear what you had to say. I have yet to delve into The Hunger Games because everyone is reading them so I am waiting.