[Review] The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Title: The Scorch Trials
Series:  The Maze Runner Trilogy
Author:  James Dashner
Genre:  ya, dystopian, post apocalyptic
Format:  Trade Paperback, 384 pages
Publication Date:  September 2011
Published By:  Random House, Inc., Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
Source:  Purchased

Synopsis from Goodreads

The Scorch Trials picks up where The Maze Runner left off. The Gladers have escaped the Maze, but now they face an even more treacherous challenge on the open roads of a devastated planet.
And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Can Thomas survive in such a violent world? 

My Thoughts

This book (book 2 in The Maze Runner trilogy) picks up right where The Maze Runner left off. As mentioned in my review of The Maze Runner, James Dashner is an amazing writer, and his writing remains up to snuff in this second installment. Once again the book opens with an intense and intriguing opening that immediately pulls the reader right into the story, but this time we are shoved into a room cramped with the surviving gladers, but we already know things are going to be bad.

"She spoke to him before the world fell apart."

I felt the pacing was a bit off with this novel. I was often left wondering what was really going on, why they were where they were, and what everything meant. It felt a little slapped together to be honest. It wasn't nearly as scary and creepy as The Maze Runner, and the whole back and forth thing with Theresa was just plain annoying.

Thomas felt completely detached from the rest of the group, which I am sure was part of the point, but it just seemed like all those relationships that were built up in The Maze Runner didn't matter at all and were a waste of space. I hope things come together better in The Death Cure.

Another thing that really annoyed me was the whole thing where Thomas would meet someone new, debate whether he should basically tell them his whole life story, then decide he either can trust them or has no other choice, and then those characters have no real main part in the book. Again it just feels like filler...and annoying filler at that...

I guess it just felt like overall there wasn't enough surprises to keep my interest, especially since I knew there would be one more book. I find most trilogies tend to slack in the second book...almost as if there really should have been only two books in the first place.

The chapters were kept short, yet involved, which keeps the readers interested and coming back for more. So that's a plus. There were also a few new characters added that made the story interesting, and hopefully continue to do so into The Death Cure. The writing was fantastic as was to be expected, just felt jumpy and unnecessary at times. Overall it was still a very enjoyable read, despite my complaints. It was interesting to see what happened to all the surviving gladers after they thought they were finally safe from the maze.

I recommend this book to anyone who loved the first one, and plans on finishing the series off with The Death Cure.

My rating?