Two for One

So today I have two books to talk about! Since I didn’t have much to do this weekend, and I was very productive today (I don’t know what got into me…) I had free time to read! And in that free time I finished both The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien and The Death Cure by James Dashner. Both were pretty good reads.

I’ll start with The Hobbit. For those of you that don’t know, which I’m guessing isn’t that many, The Hobbit is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins. In it, you figure out how Bilbo comes to have the Ring, and the adventures that ensued after he obtained it. I think I liked it about as much as I liked the Lord of the Rings. They’re good books, but not necessarily ones that would be on my read again list. I think the thing that puts me off about these books is the amount that JRR Tolkien goes into detail. In a way, it kind of reminds me of Christopher Paolini. He includes details that aren’t really necessary to the story, and that puts me off. I’d rather he just cut to the chase. Don’t get me wrong, details are important in allowing a reader to fully imagine the scene that’s going on in the story in their own mind. But to go into so much detail…it just bothers me. So yes. He’s a good writer. But not at the top of my list.

Now The Death Cure is totally different from The Hobbit. It’s the third book in the Maze Runner trilogy, and I’m glad that I know how it ends. The first two books ended in cliff hangers, and this one really brought everything full circle. It’s hard to summarize The Death Cure without giving away what happened in the first two books, but I can give you the basic idea of what happens in the trilogy. It’s a dystopian novel, set not too far into the future where human kind has acquired this disease called the Flare. The Flare makes people go completely crazy, and Thomas and his friends are the ones that have been chosen to help WICKED find a cure. But can they trust WICKED? That’s something they struggle with until the very end.

What I like about these books is how action packed they are. There’s never a dull moment, and James Dashner definitely gives you surprises along the way, and they’re not always good ones. The novels are very fast paced, which means they’re rather fast reads. Once you start, you really just want to know how it ends. Are they going to survive and find a cure? Or is the whole world going to perish because of this deadly disease? Those are the questions that drive the whole trilogy. The most disturbing thing about this novel, and any dystopian novel in general, is that if you think about it, it could actually happen. It’s something that you could actually see happen in our society, and it makes you think about what you would do if you were placed in the same situation as the characters in the novel. Would you be as brave as them, or would you go into hiding, hoping to never catch the Flare? And honestly, you’d probably surprise yourself if  you were in the same situation. People don’t really know how they’ll react unless they’re placed in life or death situations. It’s scary to think about. And hopefully we’ll never have to be placed in situations like that.

Well enough of that for now. Next I’ll be reading It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. Until next time, happy reading!