Sunday, November 13, 2011

James Dashner

The Death Cure
written by James Dashner



No, really, what did I read and why?  James Dashner, what, what, what are you doing?  There are a few cool reveals along the way, but as far as books go, this was not a satisfying conclusion to a trilogy.  We get answers, but the one thing I wanted to know most of all (Thomas' past) remains a mystery.  It felt like most of this book was pointless action that dragged on for no reason, so even though there were things happening, it felt like nothing was happening at all.  The plot was not advanced.  It was violence for the sake of violence.  Theresa and Thomas were, at this point, the only two characters I cared about, and Teresa barely showed up at all in the entirety of the story.  The ending was rushed, and yes, I enjoyed the few twists we got at the very end (the last page), but come on.  This was a story that needed answers and plot twists and instead, we got epic battle scenes that I didn't care about in the slightest.  This is not a movie.  This is not that kind of book.  More LOST, less epic ending of oh, I don't know, Harry Potter saga?  When there's a book that I've been looking forward to for a long while, it really sucks to end up ultimately disappointed.  I wish the story had been condensed into one book, because The Maze Runner was truly one of my favorite books, where the last two books were just pointless battle scenes one after the other.

I got this book from...:  Barnes & Noble

Annnd because I just realized I never published my review of The Scorch Trials...


I always struggle with the second book in a series.  So much time is spent just stretching the story out to fit the designated three-book series format.  This silly trope of introducing a love triangle in the second book in a trilogy just needs to go.  Better yet, let's throw love triangles out altogether, is that something we can do?  I spent a large portion of my time reading this book alternating between wanting to chuck it and screaming "WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS BOOK?" at it.  I understand that the book was set up for the reader would have those unrelenting questions and want those answers desperately, setting up a pretty effective marketing model, but I'm sick of the same story format repeating itself over and over again in YA trilogies, and I want to be engrossed in a book without asking why it's stretched so thin and seemingly pointless.

I got this book from...: My friend, Laura!

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