Have you ever read those novels about a future dystopian society? Do they make you just a little bit nervous that that is what your future will indeed be like? I know they make me a little nervous. These kinds of novels make me wonder, what would I do if this actually did happen to our world? How would I react? Probably not like the characters in most of these novels. Lets face it. These characters usually turn out to be heroes in the end. But I can honestly say, I’d probably be the one who’d barricade myself in my house and hope to survive the disaster that has overcome the world. On that note, I have just finished The Scorch Trials by James Dashner, which I would say is somewhat of a dystopian novel. Now, I can’t really give the summary of this book without giving away the first one (The Maze Runner) since it picks up right where The Maze Runner left off….so, I will be content with summarizing the Maze Runner and then critiquing The Scorch Trials.
So, The Maze Runner begins with Thomas being dropped into the Maze. There are about 50 (don’t quote me on that) other boys already there, and basically they have to try and survive in this maze. Obstacles keep getting thrown at them, monsters are terrorizing them, the action never stops and as the reader, you never know what to expect next. And once it ends, you immediately want to read the next one. Which brings us onto The Scorch Trials. The Scorch Trials basically follows the same suit as The Maze Runner in that the action never stops. You feel bad for Thomas because everything terrible keeps happening them, supposedly to better society. And of course, this one ends with a cliff hanger (why am I not surprised?) and I absolutely cannot wait for the next book. I want to know what happens next!
I loved The Maze Runner and would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves action packed novels. I also thought it was an original idea, something that I hadn’t really read before. Which are both reasons that I also loved The Scorch Trials. Again, this book is packed with action, you don’t want to put it down because you absolutely have to know what happens next. Because of that, I’d say it’s a very quick read. You get to the end, and you’re like “wait, it’s done? But what happens next?” I think this is one of the reasons why James Dashner is such a great writer. He has the ability to pull you into the story, and make you never want to leave. I also think that he creates characters that you want to see win. Thomas, for example. Since struggle after struggle keeps happening to him, you want all his struggles to end. You want him to finally be free of all the bad things and live a happy life (is that too much of a spoiler? I don’t think so, since obviously the series isn’t done yet…) You’re rooting for Thomas the whole time because he’s such a likeable person. He genuinely cares about all his friends, and places them all before himself. And when you see all these bad things happen to him, you just want to take them away and make everything better. At least I do….that’s kind of the way I feel when I read Harry Potter too. Harry had so many bad things happen to him, you just wish you could make it all better. I think that’s what marks a good book. When you care what happens to the characters.
I think it’s obvious that I liked this book quite a lot. Unfortunately, it’s the last book I have up at school with me, so I do not have anything to read until I go home on Thursday. Hopefully I can survive until then. I suppose I can find something else to entertain me…..