The Death Cure

Book Title: The Death Cure

Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner #3

Date Started: August 3rd 2015

Date Completed: August 4th 2015

Genres: Dystopian, Action, Thriller, Adventure
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

I've enjoyed The Maze Runner trilogy, but Dashner really upped his game for this last book, both writing and story. Though the conclusion to the series may be slightly over-convenient and frankly a little simple, I was satisfied by the outcome and had a lot of fun reading it.

The issue I've had with this series has been the writing style: I love skilled writing, and up to now Dashner just hasn't cut it for me to really enjoy and get into the story because I've been so distracted by the prose. I don't know what happened between the penultimate and final instalment in this series, but the writing was so much better this time. The slang didn't distract me as it has before - in fact it actually blended so well into the Gladers' language, despite the fact they were surrounded by people that didn't use their vocabulary - the action was pulled off so that I could actually picture a lot of it; the general structuring of the book itself was also better.

Of course there will always be little things that get to me: the inability to sustain chapters for more than a few pages makes everything feel quite disjointed; the fact the adults talk exactly the same as the teenagers, just without the slang; the persistent tendency to tell the reader what's happening as opposed to implying it.

The Death Cure had a really nice cause-and-effect plot line: everything really did feel like a chain-reaction that got out of control and just pulled the characters along with it. While a part of me feels like Dashner was making it up as he went along and get caught in storm because he was a little careless, the resulting effect does contribute a lot of atmosphere to the story and it's a bit harsh to criticise the means if the ends works well.

The inclusion of the Flare was really nicely done as well. If you've managed to avoid the biggest spoiler of the series (first of all, congratulations - and if you're really sensitive about it, maybe skip this part) I'll try to be vague, but Dashner explored the virus in a very personal way for the audience when he inflicted it on some of the Gladers. In this way, it's the first time we really appreciate the impact it's had on people and how dangerous it really is. The progressive deterioration of the characters infected was also very well done in my opinion.

I like to look at the whole novel being the climax to the trilogy, since the book's own climax is a bit strange. I absolutely love it when series' reference back to previous books at the end but still have their own story, and Dashner really pulled elements from all three books together right at the end. However, the conclusion itself doesn't seem to fit in my mind: I can't decide whether it was satisfying or not. it was definitely a good conclusion, but was it too good? Did the characters end in such a happy position that it doesn't fit with the bleak danger of the series? While everything has been tied together, it still feels like there's a lot unsaid where we left off.

The characters are the things that hold up these books, and Dashner was tough in The Death Cure over who he included, but ultimately he made good choices. Though I'm disappointed the girls from Group B weren't really involved, I appreciate the focus we got to have on the mighty Gladers and a few others.

As much as I love the Gladers as a whole, watching Thomas go it alone for parts of this book was awesome. It really highlighted how far he's come from the first book and how much he cares about his friends. The relationships between the Gladers are often overlooked for the individuals, but Thomas was so invested in helping the people he cared about, and it really got to him when he made mistakes and wasn't able to do things.

I like Brenda a lot more than in the last book, and was happy that she continued to have her independence from the others but still be friends. I especially like the subtlety of her romance (especially when compared to what Teresa was like). On the subject of Teresa, I still don't really care about her.

Newt and Minho were the characters that shone out for me. In the first book, Chuck was my favourite. In The Scorch Trials, Newt (though Minho was pretty damn close). But in this final book they both had special places in my heart. I often found it unfair how fast their parts were - they're key characters and included a lot, but they're never constantly around - because I just wanted to keep reading about them. They were best when with Thomas, but honestly I could read a whole book solely about either of them. Minho I would happily have as my best friend, and Newt I've been falling in love with since The Maze Runner.

While reading this book in the BookTubeAThon 2015 helped keep up the pace of my reading, I did feel that the storyline moved a lot faster than in the previous books. A lot of the time in The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials there were lengthy sections of downtime where it felt like the characters talked in circles; once past the opening expositions, The Death Cure throws you into a sequence of events that don't really stop until the last few pages.

If you've been disheartened by some of the earlier instalments of this series I think The Death Cure will overcome any worries about how the series might end. Of course there's quite a few little things that stop this book from being brilliant, but to draw Thomas' adventures to a close it does a good job. Packed with action, danger and the unavoidable sarcasm of the Gladers, each character's story ends in a way that doesn't leave too many loose ends.

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