The Death Cure (The Maze Runner #3) – James Dashner

The Death Cure (The Maze Runner #3) – James DashnerTitle: The Death Cure (The Maze Runner #3) by James Dashner
Publishing Info: October 11, 2011 by Random House Publishing Group
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: September 27, 2012
Related Posts: The Scorch Trials (The Maze Runner #2), The Kill Order (The Maze Runner #0.5)

    Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test.
     What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says.
     The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine.
Will anyone survive the Death Cure?

bookreview1

Oh, THE DEATH CURE. What can I possibly say about you? I know there were other reviews around that were disappointed with how this series concluded — and I had expected to feel the same way — but secretly, I was hoping to enjoy it. Nope. Didn’t happen. I was disappointed too.

Firstly, I felt a little bit like I did at the end of Lost. We were left with a somewhat satisfying but mostly unresolved ending. We know where our characters end up and can imagine a future for them as we leave them at the end of the series, but I still had a lot of questions. It bothered me so much because I wondered why Thomas WASN’T curious. WICKED was all he knew of his whole life – and other people’s lives hedged on what he knew about WICKED and his decision whether it was ultimately good or if they had a hidden agenda (well, of course they do). I guess I can understand that he didn’t want to know about all of the horrible things he may have spawned before the Maze, but don’t you think ultimately, good or bad, knowing what he did could help him change things for the greater good if that’s what he wanted to do? Anyway. The whole thing just bothered me. As a reader, I hate being left in the dark unless it’s for suspense/mystery purposes. Since this was the final piece of the puzzle of the series, I expected WAY more reveals than we had.

I’m glad Minho was still with the group, but I also didn’t like that we almost completely lost all of our favorite Gladers, the people we knew and trusted from the first book. Minho is actually one of my favorite characters, so if he would have been absent from this book, I would have been really upset. I don’t really care for Brenda — even in this book I didn’t know if I could trust her – and I’m still upset that Thomas never really came back around to Teresa. We were left with Brenda and Jorge. And even after seeing him in The Scorch Trials, who is Jorge? He seemed to be there simply for the fact that he can fly a Berg and that’s it. Not to mention Dashner’s portrayal of Jorge as a Hispanic character is wildly stereotypical with every sentence ending in “muchacho” or “hermano” (which as a Spanish major, I’ve personally experienced that there’s WAY better slang than that and I’ve rarely heard Spanish-speaking people call anyone else “muchacho”) so that actually really bothered me.

Overall, I was just really disappointed with the book. The ending picked up when we got into a bit more of the action, but the first two books were definitely more exciting and suspenseful for me.

character_breakdown1

Thomas: I don’t feel like Thomas really changed much. If anything, I really liked him less in this book and really didn’t like a lot of his decisions. It felt like we were straying from the character we were building up instead of making him stronger.
Brenda: I still don’t care for Brenda. I didn’t like the introduction of her character and I kind of think she’s unnecessary. Personally, I think we could have combined her whole story line and made it Teresa’s. It would have created a much better connection AND conflict all at the same time between Teresa and Thomas.
WICKED: Okay, so WICKED isn’t a character. But close enough. I’m still disappointed with how little we learned. I guess we did find out what they were ultimately doing with the Maze, with the Gladers, how they were working against the Flare, but I still felt like there were giant holes that were never filled.

addiction_factor1

Library Read

I wanted so badly to have a GREAT finish to this trilogy but I felt so let down. I’d still say to finish the trilogy but maybe get this one from the library instead of purchasing.

book_recommendations1BOOKS LIKE THE DEATH CURE

   

Hi, I'm Brittany!
Hi, I'm Brittany!

I'm an avid reader, candle-maker, and audiobook lover! Here you'll find book reviews, fun blog posts, and my other loves of photography & craft beer!

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10 thoughts on “The Death Cure (The Maze Runner #3) – James Dashner

  1. Heidi

    I’m in almost total agreement. I just felt…deflated after this? It was exactly like the end of Lost. A really disappointing and non-satisfying ending to what started out as an amazing edge of your seat story. I never liked Brenda either, but I also was glad he didn’t end up back with Teresa. I think it’s good for books to sometimes reflect the reality that relationships don’t have happy endings, and you don’t have to end up with your first love, I feel like this isn’t reflected enough in YA. At least there was Minho!

    Reply
    1. Brittany

      Oh no! I think you’ll still enjoy it (I hope). I really, really liked the first two books. I just felt like I didn’t get all the answers I wanted in the third. I’d definitely say still try it! I’ve heard from other people that they really liked how it ends.

      Reply
  2. eddiesbookreview

    Fair enough. I understand that. I just think that it ended a lot better than other dystopian novel series I’ve read. I haven’t read it yet but I’m really excited to. I actually just found out that it existed a couple weeks ago. As soon as I can, I’ll be reading it. Have you read it/plan to?

    Reply
    1. Brittany

      Ooh now I’m interested in what other dystopians you’ve read! Which ones did you feel ended badly? I wonder if I’ve read any of the same ones.
      Yep, I plan to read the prequel. Maybe it’ll give me some of those answers I was looking for too! Even though I think it’s supposed to be before Thomas’s time.

      Reply
  3. eddiesbookreview

    I actually really liked the way it ended. I mean, I know it wasn’t perfect, but I think that for a dystopian apocolypse, it had about as good of an ending as you could hope for. People you like died, which sucks but make it more real, and at least there is some hope for humanity at the end. Just my thoughts!

    Reply
    1. Brittany

      Absolutely! I’m glad you liked it more than I had 🙂
      I guess I was just miffed about us being left in the dark about Thomas and the fact that we never really find out what he did for WICKED, his memories, how he and Teresa were really tied together before the Maze. I think I was just longing for more answers and I felt like a lot weren’t answered.
      Have you read the prequel?? I’m interested to see what people think of that!

      Reply
  4. Candice

    So… I’m kind of back and forth on whether i want to read this series. On the one hand, YES! A series that is FINISHED! On the other… I don’t really know what this series is about! Maybe one day I’ll read it 🙂

    Reply
    1. Brittany

      After finishing the third book, I really can’t say if I’d recommend it or not. The first book I was like “Wow, this is interesting. But I’m still confused”. The second I was totally wowed and thought it was awesome. And the final book, I was so let down! I don’t know if I could tell anyone, “Yeah, start this series, but you’ll probably be let down by the way it ends” because what kind of a recommendation is that!? lol 🙂

      Reply

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