The Death Cure, by James Dashner

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Well, um. That was an experience, to say the least. I'm still dealing with the emotional upheaval that this book has caused me, and not because it's an emotionally-driven book, but because I experienced so much anxiety through the reading of this series.

For the first time in a very long time these books transported me into their world. I wish I had this experience with more of the novels that I've read, and I find it strange considering that I read widely and from a tremendous range of authors (adult and young adult, with some mid-grade novels mixed in). Most authors are better than Dashner is. What he provided was a better story than most I've read in the last several years. 

In fact, I was sure that this series was going to become a new favorite, one I recommended to everyone who reads in the young adult dystopian genre. 

Ugh. The Death Cure ruined all of that. This had to have been one of the worst endings of a series that I've ever read, and my recommendation for the entire series is fully canceled as a result of the clumsiness of this book.

If you haven't read The Maze Runner but intend to, stop reading right here and be assured that I cannot recommend this series for a number of reasons (including the fact that it gave me -- a 34 year old adult mother! -- nightmares). 

Otherwise, proceed but be warned of spoilers for The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials and (I'm sorry) The Death Cure.

What on earth possessed Dashner to include a love triangle in this series? It's not a romantic series to begin with, but in the eleventh hour, he throws a flimsily-formed love triangle at us, complete with tragedy. I'd convinced myself with The Scorch Trials that Brenda's feelings were one sided and disposable, and that Teresa was only a friend and nothing more. Boy, I clearly don't get the way that the male mind works, after all!

And that's not my only complaint! There's no story here, really. Where I was drawn through the other two books chapter by chapter because they had such an incredible story to tell, this book read as though Dashner was in a hurry to be finished or that he forgot what he was intending to write about. I fully expected certain deceased characters to reappear at any moment.

Moreover, I'm disappointed to conclude the series with the feeling that I didn't get to know any of the pertinent characters. For all that we're told that so and so is Thomas's friend, I don't see so and so (there are several so and sos) as having enough of a personality or attachment to Thomas to be considered his friend. 

I wanted to love Minho the most. For some reason he was the most appealing character to me after Gally and Alby (both of whom are such brief fixtures that focusing on them is redundant), but his character never made it any where.

The book finishes in a very anti-climactic way. Let me just put it to you this way: We reach the climax in the final chapter of the book. There is no downward motion after that point, no coming down off the high of the climax. And, frankly, not a whole lot of build in this book.

Whatever you're expecting, having finished The Scorch Trials, this book isn't going to give it to you. For heaven's sake, just skip the whole series altogether!