The Scorch Trials... I'm not quite sure where to begin. I must say I was a bit dissapointed, as I was expecting more from James Dashner after reading (and loving) the first in this series: The Maze Runner. The Scorch Trials was undeniably a GOOD book, but it wasn't the GREAT book I had been hoping for. My biggest issue was the confusion, which I will elaborate more on later in this review.
Nothing too special regarding vocab and writing. The writing was just as descriptive and detailed as it was in the Maze Runner. I still love the made up words that Dashner sticks in here and there.
The plot started off okay. Thomas and his buddies find out the horrors are not yet over; they are subjected to "phase two" of WICKED's plan to save the world (whatever that may be), and Teresa has dissapeared without a trace. New characters are introduced, and new problems are discovered in a barren desert known as the "Scorch" that the Gladers are thrown into. Great, fine, nothing too unexpected there. We all knew escaping the maze wasn't the end; Dashner has to have SOMETHING to put in the remaining two novels in his triology, right?
Anyway, this is where things start getting muddled. The Gladers have been travelling across the Scorch for days, when suddenly, a random thunderstorm strikes and a shack appears in the middle of nowhere. Thomas has a "feeling" that he should go explore the shack ALONE, so he proceeds to do so. And what does he find? TERESA! But Thomas didn't quite recieve the big reunion I'm sure he had been hoping for; Teresa is acting all wierd and does nothing more than give him a cryptic message and a kiss on the lips. Thomas freaks out and makes his friends sprint through the thunderstorm away from the shack and into a village infected by the "Flare", where he meets two "cranks" who apparently work for WICKED. He and the other Gladers are separated in a fight, only to be reunited at a crank party where Thomas is partying with his new friend Brenda, who has hurt feelings because Thomas won't kiss her. Then, Thomas is dragged across the desert in a brown sack by a group of girls who were apparently living in a maze identical to the Glade, and is told by his supposedly best friend Teresa that he is to be killed.
Me no comprende.
First of all, why is there a THUNDERSTORM in a desert?! Speaking of deserts, what is with the random shack in the middle of nowhere? And taking into account that they barely know each other, why does Teresa kiss Thomas? WHO is Brenda? How does she have any right to be angry at Thomas for not wanting to kiss her when they have barely met? It seems like James Dashner is desperately trying to create a love triangle here - and it is NOT working. And since when is Teresa against Thomas? I thought they were both on the same side! What in the world is going on here?
And there's more! Thomas convinces the girls to let him go, but is again captured by Teresa and his new "friend" Aris who is SUPPOSED to be on his side. He is forced to watch a display of affection between Teresa and Aris, and is then thrown into a rectangular box where he is drugged and falls asleep for a few hours. He wakes up to Teresa opening up the box and telling him that she never wanted to kill him and that WICKED forced her to do what she did so that Thomas would feel "betrayed". Thomas is then reunited with the Gladers, and the whole lot of them sit and stare at a stick in the ground for a couple hours, hoping to be rescued by WICKED.
I could continue with explaining the confusion and overall ridiculousness of the plot, but I think you get the point. It just makes no sense whatsoever. As predicted, the Gladers are rescued in the end by WICKED, and are told that the trials are now officially over. It was a satisfactory ending for me. It was unique in The Maze Runner, but I felt like James Dashner took the same exact ending and stuck it onto The Scorch Trials. Hello, Dashner? You can't use the same ending for two different books. It just doesn't work.
I loved the overall idea that James Dashner had come up, and there is no denying that he is a very unique and original author, but the plot just seemed way too confusing for me. I wish he had explained more of what was going on in his story to readers, rather than focusing on non-stop action.
With that being said, I was very impressed with the amount of character development that took place in The Scorch Trials. I always loved Dashner's characters, and they grow on me more and more as the series progresses. I thought that it was impossible for such perfect characters to be improved upon, but Dashner raised the bar with his sequel and did a phenomenal job developing his characters. Teresa was the only character who wasn't quite up to par for me in The Maze Runner, but stands out in particular as being a very developed character in book 2. She loses her mysterious side and I get to know her a little bit better.
Overall, I would give this book a 7/10, because although it was extremely confusing, all the other elements that make up a good book are present. It wasn't as bad as I make it out to be, and I'm a sucker for Dystopian. Dashner came up with a phenomenal, unique plot idea that could have been done very well if he just kept it simple. I love his ideas, I love his writing, I LOVE his characters. I just don't love all the unneccessary elements he felt the need to include in The Scorch Trials.
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