At the point of writing this review, I have now finished the original Maze Runner trilogy. I'm trying really hard to not let my opinion of the third book affect my review of this one but yeah, it probably is going to. I also read this book in effectively one day so that may also affect things.
I think the thing with The Maze Runner series is that the plot of the first book is essentially completely separate from the plot of the other two. The Scorch Trials is a very different book from the first in terms of both actual story line and also tone. Instead of a contained story about teenagers trapped in a mysterious place trying to work out why they're there, you now get teenagers being given a quest to reach a location by a certain time to...work out why they're there. It still has elements of the first but one of the reasons this series throws me so much is that it does change plot so dramatically.
Anyway, I still really enjoyed The Scorch Trials despite it now kind of being a sci-fi series about zombies. This book continued with the same issues from the first only ramped up. The plot is even more disjointed and (what really bothers me more) you still don't get given answers in a clear way. You sort of find out why they're in the maze but it's such a stupid reason that it really doesn't help to not have it fully explained. Even worse, Teresa's supposed betrayal isn't given an explanation beyond her going 'well, they told me you'd die if I didn't do these exact things'. She behaves appallingly but then Thomas also hates her so instantaneously that it comes across as bad writing. Her character is completely assassinated in this and I'm not really sure why.
This brings me to the next point which is the bizarrely juvenile language. I know, I know-it's YA. But Thomas and Teresa are allowed to make out which is followed by declarations of...'best friendship'? And then at the end when she betrays him and kisses Aris, she loudly declares that he is her best friend now. It's such a weird thing to censor and it stands out like a sore thumb.
I know this is a largely negative review for a book I said I liked but I think my opinion of the third one is making me look back less favorably now. There are a lot of good elements, they're just outweighed heavily by the bizarre ones. Brenda is another character I don't get and don't particularly enjoy having around. The idea of Aris and there having been another maze all along is fantastic but it isn't executed particularly well. When you eventually meet the girls, nothing is actually explored with them. There are some nice dark elements in this and some of the stuff is really cool. It's just a shame that this series ends so badly with the next one.
Overall Rating:
.5
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