Review Detail

Considering my dislike for both The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials, I seriously considering abandoning this series. However, the first two books in the series did pique my curiosity enough that I decided to read The Death Cure in order to find out a) why these group of children were subjected to such horrors and b) how WICKED could possibly hope to create a cure out of their struggles. Unfortunately, The Death Cure continued to use Thomas’ lack of memories to keep the reader in the dark for most of the book, and then gave us the weakest explanation for a series’ sequence of events I have ever had the misfortune of reading in a dystopian.

In my review of The Scorch Trials, I commented on how Dashner’s various plot twists seemed pointless, “like Dashner was just making things up as he went” giving the book “an almost careless and unplanned feel” and I hate to say it, but that feeling of meandering continues with The Death Cure. And then I finally realized what was happening to make me feel that way! Dashner has not written a layered tale.

"Think back on those really satisfying endings. Those “AHA!” moments in a story when the final twist is revealed and the carefully laid–yet hidden!–clues are suddenly so obvious. All those connections you had missed were right before your nose the whole time!"

Here, Susan Dennard is talking about a story having resonance, where different subplots are woven together to create one “deep, complex, echoing plot.“ The Death Cure (and then I guess I would also argue, The Scorch Trials) lacks resonance. While Newt’s subplot gave his journey a definitive conclusion, it did nothing to further the main plot. I felt the same about the note he had given Thomas; I was hoping it would contain information that would explain something, anything. Or that it would give Thomas the information he needed, during a pivotal moment, to outsmart WICKED. Unfortunately, it proved to be merely a plot device to create suspense and intrigue. The same argument could be made with the tension between Thomas and Theresa; the words left unspoken between Thomas and Theresa were used to keep the readers in suspense. By the end of The Death Cure, when she had given us no new insight into the motives or history of WICKED, I realized that her subplot also did nothing to further the main plot. But the biggest disappointment when it came to subplots was Thomas’ refusal to get his memories back. I kept waiting for that “AHA!” moment Susan talked about, where the reasons behind Thomas refusing to get the answers he was looking for made sense. For the moment where it was revealed that WICKED had been lying, or that there was some purpose to Thomas being kept in the dark. Unfortunately, it was also used as just another device to keep the reader in the dark and did nothing to move the main plot forward (if anything, it held it back!)

So after hundreds of pages where it felt like we were merely spinning in circles, as nothing was connecting and nothing was being done to actually defeat WICKED, you could say that I was ready to completely throw in the towel when Thomas started considering helping WICKED with their next round of trials.

"For some reason, Thomas couldn’t get Janson out of his head. Could going back really be a way to save [name removed]? Every part of him rebelled against the idea of returning to WICKED, but if he did go back, and was able to complete the testing…"

Seriously? My frustration with Thomas was only increased when it was finally revealed how the trials were supposed to have found a cure. Here’s where things get slightly spoilery. Considering that the brain, or killzone, is the area that the Flare attacks, the doctors of WICKED decided that a map of the killzone would lead them to a cure. So they rounded up the brightest kids they could find, most of whom were immune to the effects of the Flare with a couple of non-immunes as variables, and put them through various trials in order to watch their brain activity. Why the trials needed to be as barbaric or dangerous as they were, was never explained. Why the trials only tested children, was never explained. Why the doctors couldn’t have gotten the same kind of data from simulated experiences, was never explained. Considering what those children were put through, many of whom didn’t make it out with their lives, for the explanation to be so lacklustre is an insult to my intelligence as a reader.

On top of my frustrations with Dashner’s lack of resonance or resolution, I also had to suffer through some of the worst writing of the series. I actually lost count of the amount of times Dashner started a sentence with (or some variation of) “Thomas knew they had no choice but to…” It made Thomas unaccountable for many of his actions, as he was always being forced into making an impossible decision. There were also some truly awkward phrases, which forced me to re-read several sections in order to make any sense of it. One example would be this line, during one of the many action scenes where Thomas is somehow able to overpower several more experienced fighters:

“He blocked the next punch with both of his forearms, then threw both fists up and at Janson’s face, connected.”

I had to read that sentence out loud to my husband to ask him if I was just being picky, or if it actually didn’t make any sense.

I’m not even going to touch on the characters; I found them as flat and dull as ever, with most of them being quite interchangeable.

In short, The Death Cure lived up to its predecessors by being a mixed bag of unconnected plots, poor decisions and weak resolutions.