The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner

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Okay, I gotta say that this thing where I'm trying to write reviews before I sink my teeth into the next book is proving to be difficult. The Scorch Trials leaves me with such a cliffhanger that I cannot wait to get going on the final book in the trilogy (and hoping that it answers my personal questions about this dystopian world).

So before I say anything else about this book, let me put it to you as simply as I can: It's not as good as The Maze Runner. I'm surprised, in fact, to see that it gets a higher rating on Goodreads than the previous novel, but that's alright; Everybody is entitled to their opinion even if it's the wrong one.

If you haven't read The Maze Runner please be warned that there are spoilers from book 1 of this series coming your way, and maybe a tiny handful of bits you might consider spoilers for The Scorch Trials. 

Fans should forgive me, because I think my view is going to be unpopular, but I want to say that what I wasn't expecting from this book was for it to be about zombies. In fact, throughout this book I kept thinking of Resident Evil as much as I was about another series of dystopian books for teenagers.

It was good; I liked it. But at some point I was hoping to have more answers than I did, even knowing that there are three books in the trilogy (and a prequel with The Kill Order).

I also figured out how these books connect to The Hunger Games and why they might be good for fans of that particular trilogy (and I was proud of myself for figuring this out). These stories pertain to a group of children (two groups of children, actually) who have been forced to go through a series of trials in order to run an experiment apparently intended to repair and reunify the world. It's gruesome, it's bloody and it's adults being cruel to teenagers. I can see this connection, but it's abstract for me, not something I can exactly explain.

This book was great. If you enjoyed The Maze Runner you should read it. If you didn't enjoy The Maze Runner you should still probably read it because why not? Some people found this book better than the previous novel. Some also found it worse.

The Scorch Trials was almost as good as it's predecessor, in my opinion. This series went from a clear favorite to a "probably won't read again" with this book. The same complaints I had about The Maze Runner and Dashner's writing still applies, with the added frustration of how often Thomas passed out, fell asleep, or something similar. That was irritating. Someone on Goodreads counted 29 times in the book, and I'm pretty sure it was close to that (at least).

I recommend this book, particularly for tween and teen boys!