The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST & SECOND BOOKS.

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

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I'm gonna be honest, I hadn't heard great things about The Maze Runner. It seemed to materialise near the tail end of the whole Hunger Games dystopian craze, and while it was popular enough for me to have heard of it and to warrant a movie series, I haven't actually met anyone who has seen or read it. That being said, reviewers I admire have not been kind to this book. I had heard it was dull and badly written. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

This is definitely nowhere near being a bad book. It's not brilliant granted but the writing, characters and plot are all decent enough. After finishing this first one I actually sped through the sequel and while I haven't yet read the third and final one, so far I am interested and immersed in this universe. The thing about The Maze Runner is that its biggest weakness might also be one of its strengths. The plot is pretty unique and weird, so much so that it isn't easy to see where it is going. It was refreshing to read a YA dystopian that doesn't info dump and isn't horribly predictable.

Having said that, this book does suffer from being a bit of a mess. The same applies to an even greater extent in its sequel but the plot constantly moves forward at a breakneck pace. You get thrown into the world at the start through the standard device of 'newcomer arrives in established place' but this is one of the most frantic and fast-paced examples I have ever seen. Thomas arrives, has no questions answered, girl arrives, immediately goes into coma for most of the book until she's needed and only then does the novel slow down a teensy bit for some world-building and explanation. Even then, all explanations are extremely limited. This doesn't exactly harm the book (it isn't difficult to follow what's going on for example due to a simplistic style) but it is very unusual compared to other books in a similar genre and it is a little relentless as a reader. You read eagerly to find out what's going on but instead of getting bits and pieces until the ending, you instead get bombs dropped on you which are promptly swept to one side to make room for more action. Maybe this is simply a feature of reading a YA book aimed specifically at boys but it was quite distracting at times.

One thing I did really enjoy were the characters. Dashner succeeded in making each boy feel fairly distinct, and you do become attached to all of them. A minor downside of this is that sometimes the author doesn't bother to explain what's happened to certain side characters (for example, Frypan who I really liked) so you are left wondering if they are okay for several pages until they show up in a scene again. Again, this is a flaw the sequel shares perhaps to an even greater extent because the danger is more frequent in that one.

Despite a few niggles, I still really enjoyed this book. It's easy to read, has a plot which is both unique and interesting and it is a far better series than some people give it credit for. I will definitely be finishing the original trilogy and I will probably even pick up the additional books which have been tacked on. I am keen to see where the story ends up.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

SPOILERS AHEAD (Technically. You should be able to figure this one out anyway but yeah)

What do I do with this book? On the one hand, A. J. Finn is a very talented writer and I was completely sucked into the world of this book. On the other hand, the plot absolutely sucked. I mean, for a thriller this was bad. Let me tell you, there is nothing more frustrating than when you're reading a thriller and you've figured out the 'twist' because it's insanely obvious and yet the main character remains painfully oblivious. The Woman in the Window is a particularly bad example of this because there are literally only two possibilities and the character completely glosses over one of them.

So, let me introduce you to the main plot. An agoraphobic drunk woman named Anna meets her neighbour's wife, sees her being murdered a few days later and then is told by the police and everyone else that she has never actually met his wife who is now a completely different woman. The main character insists the new woman can't be his wife, even when papers are produced showing she undeniably is. So the other possibility you immediately come to is that the first woman wasn't his wife and was in fact lying while this new woman is his wife.

Not if you're this main character!

Instead she continues on for hundreds of pages wondering who this new woman is instead of focusing on the identity of the victim. It is very frustrating to read and it means that the first intended 'twist' of her realising the first woman was lying and not the second comes off as anticlimatic and very poorly done. This is especially bad when the second major twist also turns out to be fairly guessable, though admittedly not to the extent of the first. Even so, the reveal that Ethan is the evil killer all along falls very flat and is unsatisfying. It is extremely easy to guess that the person Anna has been talking to online is a fake and is fishing for information, to the point where again you wonder why the supposedly smart Anna isn't making these simple connections.

The other major problem of this book can be defined as a distinct lack of originality. The main character reeks of the protagonist from The Girl on the Train, what with them both being alcoholics who witness a murder through a window and have their testimony doubted due to their substance abuse. This is even more obvious when you consider both protagonists jump to the wrong conclusions about the married couple they spy on. The other obvious influence is Rear Window. Anna is obsessed with old black and white movies and does mention Hitchcock several times, and yet she never draws direct parallels between Rear Window and her own situation. I actually enjoyed the constant use of movie quotes at first and thought it was quite a nice character quirk to include in a thriller, but said quotes quickly become overused near the end and the lack of the connection is honestly baffling. A throwaway line about it might have been cheap but at least it would have been something.

You may have noticed that neither of the things I have mentioned are what you could call small problems. By all rights I should hate this book for being a dumb, derivative, forgettable work.

AND YET.

By god this book is well-written. I didn't think much of it at the time beyond it being really compelling and hard to put down but honestly, this author deserves some kudos. They have an obvious plot with obvious twists and somehow I still enjoyed every minute of the characters and writing style. I guessed the first twist astonishingly early on but I still read eagerly, keen to find out what was going to happen. Then I guessed the second and third twists and yet I still read on. I minded a lot but it didn't make me rush through it or roll my eyes every other sentence like some thrillers I've read. Anna may be a bit of an idiot but she is likeable and has some decent depth to her. Also this book is much longer than the average thriller but it didn't feel like it for one second. I really, really hope this author writes more and writes something with a far better plot because he could go so far.

Overall, I am left with very conflicted feelings about this book. I cannot ignore its very painful and crucial flaws but I can't dismiss it as thriller trash either. Is it worth reading? Maybe. Do I regret reading it? Definitely not. This is the first book of 2018 I'm reading as part of my 'new releases, new reviews' schtick and it seems to be carrying on the noble tradition of not being that great. However, there are some really fantastic elements in here and I can't fault it too hard thanks to those. In terms of thrillers, you could do a whole lot worse.

Overall Rating:

.5

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

First blog post of 2018! Also first Victoria Schwab book I've ever read! I have heard such high praise for this author and yeah, I completely understand why now. This Savage Song is often described as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but it's far less derivative than that. It tells the story of a monster named August and a human named Kate and honestly, I wouldn't even class it as a romance what happens between them. Both characters are the offspring of the people in charge of two sides of the city. Kate's dad is like a mob boss who rules out of fear and makes people pay him for protection from monsters while August's 'dad' is a gentler human who controls the other half of the city. As a result, Kate spends all her time trying to prove herself to be as mean as her father, while August is desperate to not be a monster. They meet when August gets sent to her school to pretend to be a human as there is a fear that the truce between the monsters and the humans will break.

First off, this book is really well-written. The writing style is clear, it flows excellently and it is poetic without being over the top or pretentious. The characters are well-developed and the plot is well-paced-in short, I can see why people rave about this author. The world itself is also very compelling and is built up brilliantly. Schwab skillfully avoids doing a huge info dump and while you might be lost for the first few chapters (particularly August's ones), overall you get information precisely when you need it without it intruding on the story.

Her concept of monsters and the different mechanics of each one is another aspect I really liked. The three species of monster are all very unique and I love how they came to be. Something I am hoping for in the sequel is more development of the other species of monsters beyond Sunai, but this is really a very minor flaw.

Overall, this was an excellent book to kick 2018 off with and I am very much looking forward to reading the sequel. If you're looking for a city-based fantasy book that is grounded in reality, I definitely recommend giving this a try. I suspect this author might become one of my new favourites.

Overall Rating: