The Death Cure by James Dashner | Rating: ★★★★★

“Awww,” Minho said. “That’s almost as sweet as that time she slammed the end of a spear into your shuck face.”

My review is going to start with a simple “I can’t believe it’s over!” and a sigh. Because I can already tell this story will be staying with me for a long while and I’m sad to say goodbye to these characters. At least, in the sense that this world isn’t new to me anymore. But we all have that sudden sadness that sneaks in when we finish our favorite books for the very first time.

I can promise you guys, this will be going on my favorite young adult novels shelf and will have a permanent place there among Harry Potter, The Darkest Minds, Splintered and The Hunger Games. I honestly can say I love it that much and look forward to dipping my toes into the prequel when I have the money to afford it.

With just as many twists, turns, heart pounding and breaking moments as the two previous books in the series, The Death Cure is certainly one of the best last hoorah’s to a series I’ve read. There were moments I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin with nerves and I became more and more worried for who remained of The Gladers, both Group A and Group B, as well as Jorge and Brenda.



Who thankfully return for this final installment and lead us into a few surprises and are once again great additions to the playing field.

We find out just what WICKED has planned right away. And it isn’t pretty. Then, we also find out who is immune and who will begin their downfall into the disease known as The Flare. It’s a tragic thing — to find out that your friends may end up losing their minds and becoming less of themselves.

Though they are held at WICKED’s headquarters, there is a massive breakout that occurs in two groups. One, being a majority of characters such as Teresa, Aris and Frypan, and the second being Newt, Thomas and Minho. Unstoppable trio, they are, and one of the raddest groups of male friends I’ve seen in literature in a while.

(I usually flock towards the female friendships of media and literature.)

Our trio is joined by Jorge and Brenda — who are revealed to have been working for Wicked and are both immune. Shocking as it is, the two certainly formed a connection with our trio and begin their travels to try and have these pesky little chips removed from each boys minds. This doesn’t go easy, as you’d expect — and we see a much darker side of Newt come into view.

Which is horribly sad, since he is definitely one of my favorites of the series.

There are some cute moments between Brenda and Thomas, who I genuinely enjoy seeing together, in spite of all the action and complications they run into. Including run ins with some less than friendly cranks and many dangerous moments. We begin to wonder if our group of five brave people will ever truly be able to find peace.

Newt has his time to be a bit more upfront in the storyline, and we soon find ourselves losing him to his disease. And finally in the moment he goes to live at the Crank Palace, leaving Thomas with a saddening note. His request is simple. He wants Thomas to kill him.

But does our main boy have the strength to kill one of his best friends, before said best friend descends into madness? You’ll have to read to find out the outcome.

I won’t say whether we have a happy ending or not to the trilogy. I won’t say who dies by the final chapters and how. But I will warn you: there will be deaths. There will be conflict. There will be action. There will be nerves. There will be heartbreak. And there will be a slight resolution to the ongoing plot we’ve come to witness throughout these three books.

My only complaint is that we didn’t hear much of Teresa in the novel until the end, essentially. I would have loved to hear more of her side of things, more from Frypan, more from Aris and everybody else that escaped with her group. I feel like the Thomas/Teresa plot did get tied up somewhat decently (I won’t confirm anything or deny anything) but I still wanted a little more to it before I finished those last pages.

And we can all agree that “Rat Man” is a creepy bastard, right?

And we better hope that our future is not as grim as the one these kids, this world, has to face everyday. There’s something in fiction such as this that sticks with you and frightens you in a “what if?” sense.

Naturally, my review will end on a positive note: I would recommend this trilogy to any and everyone. Whether or not you like it is impossible to tell unless you pick up your copy today. So go read it, you shuck heads.

Seriously. Go.