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.

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner | Rating: ★★★★★

“He didn’t care about the others anymore. The chaos around him seemed to siphon away his humanity, turn him into an animal. All he wanted was to survive, make it to that building, get inside. Live. Gain another day.”

I’m going to start by saying that I love, love, love The Maze Runner. But The Scorch Trials blew me away — I think I enjoyed the novel much more than the first one. With that being said, this trilogy is on fire and has the potential to be huge. It also has the potential to break your heart in a few more ways and when it introduces the world of Cranks and this new set of tests comes to challenge our Gladers, you’ll be hooked.

With the loss of many characters in the first novel as well as deaths in the pages of our sequel, we are introduced to some new characters as well which includes a group that parallels the experiences of the characters we’ve come to know. Only, the genders were flipped in this second group — aside from that, nearly everything that happened to these boys and Teresa happened to these girls and the token member of the opposite sex, Aris.

We are also introduced to two key players, among the Cranks — humans who have been infected with The Flare — Brenda and Jorge. Who both prove to be useful and entertaining. Jorge is quite witty and tough, Brenda is intelligent, tough and forms a friendship with Thomas.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner | Rating: ★★★★★

“I promised him!” he screamed, realizing even as he did so that his voice was laced with something wrong. Almost insanity. “I promised I’d save him, take him home! I promised him!”

The Maze Runner is a dystopian young adult novel that is the start of a fast paced, unique trilogy. Although it is only similar in various elements, the story will surely grab the attention of fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent with this futuristic and bizarre world full of mystery and well, more mystery.

There are plot points within the story that may confuse you at first, and a whole bunch of slang we would never use, but don’t let that intimidate you. This story is certainly something else. It will intrigue you and make you question many things in their world, including this so called maze and the people who run it. You will wonder who to trust among the characters and will find yourself wondering just what is happening and what is meant to happen.

You will also find yourself emotional by the end of this first book. There are many touching moments as well as a particular plot that is truly devastating. But all the same, you’ll begin wanting more — to know this world, why these boys can’t remember anything and why they’re seemingly trapped. What sort of cruelty lay beyond the makers of this?